some historians question this dominant view and claim that the venetian patent statute of 1474 "functioned primarily as a codification of prior customs [and] did not introduce new principles. "neither did it mark the beginnings of the modern patent system." according to joanna kostylo, "[i]t should best understood as declaratory instrument codifying existing general principles and customs of granting patent rights for innovations in venice". accordingly she states that the significance of the venetian statute lies "in its broad and general character," in the sense that it attempted to "apply general rules to the granting of patents rather than conferring occasional individual favours (gratiae) in response to individual petitions." it is also significant that the "legislation focuse[d] on protecting and rewarding individual inventors, in contrast to monopolies reserved to organized groups (guilds)."