In western countries, it is generally believed that the earliest patent was a 15-year monopoly right granted by King Henry III of England to a Bordeaux citizen in 1236 to make various colors of cloth. In fact, this is a form of feudal privilege, not a patent in the modern sense. Venice, the first country to establish a patent system, promulgated the first patent law with modern characteristics in 1474, and approved the first recorded patent on February 2, 1476. It is generally believed that the Monopoly Law enacted by Britain in 1624 is the beginning of modern patent law, which has a great influence on the patent laws of various countries in the future. J. Kohler, a German jurist, once called it "the Magna Carta of the inventor's rights". From the end of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century, the United States (179), France (1791), Spain (182), Germany (1877), Japan (1826) and other western industrial countries successively formulated patent laws. In the 2th century, especially after the end of World War II, the patent laws of industrialized countries were revised one after another, and many developing countries also formulated patent laws. Since the 196s, Algeria adopted a new patent law in 1966, and Brazil revised or re-promulgated the patent law in 1969-1971, India, Peru, Nigeria and Iraq in 197, Venezuela and Colombia in 1971, Mexico in 1976 and Yugoslavia in 1981. Argentina, Syria and other countries have also made major amendments to the patent law. In the early 198s, about 15 countries and regions established patent systems. Algeria and Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the Democratic Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union and other countries, in addition to the establishment of the patent system, also adopted the inventor certificate system. After obtaining the inventor certificate, the invention right belongs to the state, and the inventor obtains certain rewards, but others approved by the state cannot be refused to use his invention. Mexico adopts the invention certificate system, and the inventor has the right to exploit the invention, but he can't refuse others to use it, but he can get a certain reward approved by the state.
Britain promulgated its first patent law in 1474, and the United States promulgated its own patent laws in 179, France in 1791, the Netherlands in 1817 and Germany in 1877. There are more than 15 countries and regions that have their own patent systems in the world, and the patent laws are increasingly internationalized, such as the Paris Convention, which came into effect in 1884, the Patent Cooperation Treaty signed in 197, the Agreement on International Classification of Patents signed in 1971, the European Patent Treaty signed in 1973, and the European Patent Convention signed in 1975.