Brevet
In the context of our work, “brevet” has come to be thought of as equivalent to “patent”, and for our purposes it generally is, within our French and Belgian data, and within the francophone portion of patents filed in Switzerland. Beyond our context the word has perhaps equal or perhaps greater significance in terms of certification of rank, or among accreditations.
For instances in which this latter usage becomes relevant within our data, see Brevet de pilote. This usage of “brevet” does come up, pertaining to inventors, who were also pilots, aside from other notable pilots.
For other clarification, on “brevet” as its usage slightly varies in terms of administrative usage within the francophone sphere of patenting, see patent. Briefly, in terms of the semantics, France has the “Certificat d'addition(s)”, which, if applicable, will follow the “brevet”. Belgium has the “invention”, first filing, or the “perfectionnement”, or the “importation”, a patent having been filed earlier in a nation other than Belgium.
Our data does include earlier French use of the word “patente”.[1][2][3] Most or all of these make references to a “patente anglaise”, their being non-French being possibly part of an evolving convention.
These are all matters of administrative culture, the international variability therein.
