Downloadable Textbook
The complete course textbook for 6.901/6.931, Create or Perish, by Dr. Robert Rines, is provided below. This version of the text originally appeared as part of course 6.931 Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas, Spring 2008.
Create or Perish as one file (PDF - 3.2 MB)
| CHAPTERS | Topics |
|---|---|
| Cover and introduction (PDF) | |
| 1 | The origin and development of the American patent system (PDF) |
| 2 | The role of the patent office and the courts (PDF) |
| 3 | The patent law (PDF) |
| 4 | Patents in action (history of the basic telephone patent) (PDF) |
| 5 | The rights, obligations, and problems of inventors (employee-employer relations) (PDF) |
| 6 | The future of American patents (PDF) |
| 7 | The modernization of patent systems (PDF) |
| 8 | Court modernization for aiding the patent system and the law, in general (PDF) |
| 9 | A formula for economic decline (PDF) |
| Index (PDF) |