The Congo Patent System and Transimperial Entrepreneurs

The Colonial Expansion of Belgian Intellectual Property (1880s to 1930s)

Abstract

This article examines the history of the patent system in Belgian-ruled Congo, from its beginnings under the Congo Free State until the end of the interwar period, providing an outline of the legal technique of patents as groundwork. The introduction presents a sample of patent registrations and defines a patent as a temporary monopoly granted for an innovation. The first section focuses on the foundation of the colonial patent system that Belgium extended to its colonies. The second section examines the transimperial influences at work in the Belgian colonial intellectual property system, and the decisive role of patent agencies as intermediaries between the patentees and the patent registration office of the Belgian Ministry of the Colonies. The third section examines adaptations to the Belgian patent system in the colony and the participation of transimperial entrepreneurs and patentees from smaller, and in some cases non-colonising, European nations. The fourth section addresses the relation between international treaties and the colonial intellectual property systems. The final section presents concluding observations.