To give fuller context: Oliver Evans, one of America's earliest prolific inventors, wrote to Jefferson [1] discussing the extent of his patent rights and his co

To give fuller context: Oliver Evans, one of America's earliest prolific inventors, wrote to Jefferson [1] discussing the extent of his patent rights and his concern that they were being misrepresented anonymously [2]. This quote is from Jefferson's response [3] to that letter. (It's worth following the links in the letters above to see the story unfold.) Now, here's where it gets interesting: Evans asserted his patent against Jefferson, and Jefferson did grudgingly pay royalties [4]. It's interesting how the passage years and being at the receiving end of a patent changes one's perspective [5]. [1] http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0057-0001 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-00... [2] http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0057-0001#TJ173210_6 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-00... [3] http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0072 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-00... [4] "He enforced that patent against many mill operators, including Jefferson. From this experience, Jefferson understood the frustration of technology users confronted by activist patent holders. Ironically, it was his Board of Arts that granted Evans the patent." - http://www.hssonline.org/publications/Newsletter2009/July_Matsuura.html http://www.hssonline.org/publications/Newsletter2009/July_Ma... [5] "Jefferson's objections to the Evans patent are difficult to reconcile with the fact that his Board of Arts granted the patent in the first place. As much as he might argue, in 1813, that the Evans work was not novel, he and his colleagues had reviewed the Evans work in 1790 and considered it worthy of a patent at that time." - Jefferson Vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights, Jeffrey H. Matsuura (http://books.google.com/books?id=10Tol-c7xH4C&lpg=PT74&ots=bQoi3ykBE8&dq=jefferson%20oliver%20evans&pg=PT76#v=onepage&q=jefferson%20oliver%20evans&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=10Tol-c7xH4C&lpg=PT74&ots=b...)