Page "Guild" Paragraph 36

Because of industrialization and modernization of the trade and industry, and the rise of powerful nation-states that could directly issue patent and copyright protections — often revealing the trade secrets — the guilds ' power faded.

After the French Revolution they fell in most European nations through the 19th century, as the guild system was disbanded and replaced by free trade laws.

By that time, many former handicraft workers had been forced to seek employment in the emerging manufacturing industries, using not closely guarded techniques but standardized methods controlled by corporations.