titre d’exploitation

14:36 May 20, 2015 

Thanks @writeaway – this is very close to the source text (which is another text by Liliane Hilaire-Pérez along similar lines).
Apologies for not explaining 'l'affaire'. It relates to an anecdote in the previous paragraph in which the bourgeois Parisian merchant Jean Maille presented an invention to John Law in the hope of gaining exclusive rights for 30 years. John Law went bankrupt and Maille lost 170,000 livres. However, he was able to reclaim this sum in damages later and obtain the exclusive rights. Then the above paragraph begins "This case was typical of an era in which inventions were integral to companies vying in an unstable economy...".

13:24 May 20, 2015 

What is "l'affaire"?
It could mean intellectual property, but it would be helpful to know the context.