IP before IP

Exercising and Protecting Creations and Inventions before the Modern IP Regime

By: Neil J. Wilkof

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eText | 1 August 2026 | Edition Number 1

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This illuminating book examines how people managed their creative and inventive works before the modern intellectual property (IP) system. Neil J. Wilkof explores how individuals treated intellectual creations in their respective times and across differing political, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

Written as an engaging narrative, and presenting a wide range of historical and geographical accounts, the book traces IP from the Biblical era to the Industrial Revolution and from Edinburgh to Baghdad. Each chapter explores a self-contained historical period, highlighting the diversity of people, locations, periods, and circumstances prior to the modern harmonisation of legal IP. The narrative illuminates the motivations for protecting creation and invention, underscoring notable attitudinal differences between then and now. Rather than seeking to uncover historical antecedents to the modern IP system, the book addresses intellectual historical creations and inventions on their own terms and within their own milieu.

IP before IP is an essential resource for scholars and students of intellectual property law, and legal, cultural and literary history. Intellectual property lawyers seeking to broaden their understanding of historical IP will also benefit from its diverse, expansive scope.