The first known patent system was introduced in 1474 in the city state of Venice, which granted protection to inventors of useful devices. As well be seen from the following declaration by the Venetian authorities, patents were to be made available not only to persons who made an invention, but also to those who introduced, or imported a device (product) into the Commonwealth of Venice from abroad.
The Venetian law read as follows:
We have among us men of great genius, apt to invent and discover ingenious devices, and in view of the grandeur and virtue of our City, more such men come to us everyday from diverse parts. Now if provision were made for the works and devices discovered by such persons, so that others who may see them could not build them and take the inventor’s honour away, more men would then apply their genius, would discover, and would build devices of great utility and benefit to our commonwealth. Therefore: Be it enacted that, by the authority of this Council, any person who shall build any new and ingenious device, not previously made in our commonwealth, shall give notice of it to the office our General Welfare Board when it has been reduced to perfection so that it can be used and operated. It being forbidden to any other person in our territories and towns to make any further device conforming with and similar to said one, without the consent and license of the author for the term of ten years.
Modern day patent systems adopted throughout the world no longer provide protection to inventions imported into a country from abroad.