Photocopy of a typescript index of early unnumbered patents. The entries in the document are arranged chronologically with the "X" patent number provided. Patents that were recovered after the Patent Office fire of 1836 are hand-recorded with class and subclass numbers in the right-hand column.

A study of how patents and citation data can serve empirical research on innovation and technological change.

Introduction -- Defining the public interest in the US and European patent systems -- Confronting the questions of life-form patentability -- Commodification, animal dignity, and patent-system publics -- Forging new patent politics through the human embryonic stem cell debates -- Human genes, plants, and the distributive implications of patents -- Conclusion