Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

Enactment of the Patent Statute

When
19 March 1474
Where
Venice
Part of
Enactment of the Venetian Patent Statute

The Venetian Senate enacted the statute on 19 March 1474, establishing the first statutory patent system in Europe.

The Republic of Venice passed legislation on 19 March 1474. This act established the first statutory patent system in Europe and is deemed the earliest codified patent system in the world, providing a legal foundation for modern patent law.

Sources

  1. Venetian Patent Statute Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-18

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.