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Article: "To promote the progress of science and useful arts": a role for federal regulation of intellectual property as collateral.
- Article from:
- University of Pennsylvania Law Review
- Article date:
- May 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 University of Pennsylvania, Law School. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
The practice of using intellectual property(1) as collateral to secure financing is over a century old: in the late 1880s Thomas Edison used his patent to the incandescent electric light as collateral to borrow money to start his own company.(2) That business would eventually become the General Electric Company.(3) Similarly, the problems associated with trying to obtain financing on the basis of intellectual property are not new. Lenders, seeking to minimize their exposure to risk, have historically been hesitant to lend money on the security of intellectual property, instead preferring more traditional, tangible collateral such as land, buildings, and ...