Thorsten Lübbers: Unternehmenskooperation auf dem Gebiet gewerblicher Schutzrechte in der chemischen, pharmazeutischen und elektrotechnischen Industrie, 1880–1914

First and foremost based on archival sources, this paper analyses property right agreements between companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering industry of Imperial Germany. The empirical findings are interpreted in the light of economic theory. At first, R&D co-operations and R&D joint ventures are investigated. Then, the focus is on cross-licensing agreements and patent pools. It turns out, that from an economic point of view most of the investigated agreements would not be labelled beneficiary. First of all, they show various design deficits. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, they were not restricted to R&D and property rights. The participating companies also restricted competition on the product market, either by fixing output, prices, and profits, or by joining production and sales in newly founded companies. Nonetheless, the three investigated industries were among the most dynamically growing and innovative in Imperial Germany.

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