Until the 2000s, the purpose of intellectual property law was to give as little protection as possible in order to encourage innovation. Historically, legal protection was therefore granted only when necessary to encourage invention, and it was limited in time and scope. This is mainly as a result of knowledge being traditionally viewed as a public good, in order to allow its extensive dissemination and improvement.
Until the 2000s, the purpose of intellectual property law was to give as little protection as possible in order to encourage innovation. Historically legal protection was therefore granted only when necessary to encourage invention, and it was limited in time and scope. This is mainly as a re,sult of knowledge being traditionally viewed as a public good, in order to allow its extensive dissemination and improvement.