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In 500 BC, in the Greek city of Sybaris (located in what is now southern Italy), "encouragement was held out to all who should discover any new refinement in luxury, the profits arising from which were secured to the inventor by patent for the space of a year."
The Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi received a three-year patent for a barge with hoisting gear, that carried marble along the Arno River in 1421. In 1449, King Henry VI granted the first English patent with a license of 20 years to John of Utynam for introducing the making of colored glass to England.
Patents in the modern sense originated in 1474, when the Republic of Venice enacted a decree that new and inventive devices, once put into practice, had to be communicated to the Republic to obtain the right to prevent others from using them.
England followed with the Statute of Monopolies in 1624 under King James I, which declared that patents could only be granted for "projects of new invention." During the reign of Queen Anne (1702–14), the lawyers of the English Court developed the requirement that a written description of the invention must be submitted. The patent systems in many other countries, including Australia, are based on British law and can be traced back to the Statute of Monopolies.
In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt.
In France, patents were granted by the monarchy and by other institutions like the "Maison du Roi". The Academy examined novelty. Examinations were generally done in secret with no requirement to publish a description of the invention. Actual use of the invention was deemed adequate disclosure to the public. The modern French patent system was created during the Revolution in 1791. Patents were granted without examination since inventor's right was considered as a natural one
In the United States, during the so-called colonial period and Articles of Confederation years (1778–89), several states adopted patent systems of their own. The U.S. Constitution authorizes the American patent system in Article One, Section 8(8) which states:
The Congress shall have power...To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
The first Congress adopted a Patent Act, in 1790, and the first patent was issued under this Act on July 31, 1790 (to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a potash production technique).

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