Corporate secrecy and intellectual property in the chemical Industry through a transatlantic lens, c.1860-1930
- Author
- Joris Mercelis (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- This article analyzes why late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German and German-American high-technology firms were presented as being overly secretive in chemical circles in the United States. It suggests that German chemical companies did not just develop innovative uses of the patent system, but also pioneered intellectual property strategies of which both patenting and secrecy were important components. Focusing on two German-American firms, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works and Roessler & Hasslacher, the study relates statements on restrictive knowledge management and intellectual property practices of German companies to transatlantic institutional differences. It points to a dissonance between the persistent association of German high-technology enterprises with secrecy and the actual directions in which the German and American systems of corporate intellectual property were moving in the early twentieth century. By highlighting different complementary uses of patenting and secrecy, the article also challenges the still-common idea that these two knowledge management strategies are mutually exclusive.
- Keywords
- history of chemistry, intellectual property, history of technology, business history, knowledge management
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-7205313
- MLA
- Mercelis, Joris. “Corporate Secrecy and Intellectual Property in the Chemical Industry through a Transatlantic Lens, c.1860-1930.” ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE, edited by Gabriel Galvez-Behar and Shigehiro Nishimura, no. 82, Cairn, 2016, pp. 32–46, doi:10.3917/eh.082.0032.
- APA
- Mercelis, J. (2016). Corporate secrecy and intellectual property in the chemical Industry through a transatlantic lens, c.1860-1930. ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE, (82), 32–46. https://doi.org/10.3917/eh.082.0032
- Chicago author-date
- Mercelis, Joris. 2016. “Corporate Secrecy and Intellectual Property in the Chemical Industry through a Transatlantic Lens, c.1860-1930.” Edited by Gabriel Galvez-Behar and Shigehiro Nishimura. ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE, no. 82: 32–46. https://doi.org/10.3917/eh.082.0032.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Mercelis, Joris. 2016. “Corporate Secrecy and Intellectual Property in the Chemical Industry through a Transatlantic Lens, c.1860-1930.” Ed by. Gabriel Galvez-Behar and Shigehiro Nishimura. ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE (82): 32–46. doi:10.3917/eh.082.0032.
- Vancouver
- 1.Mercelis J. Corporate secrecy and intellectual property in the chemical Industry through a transatlantic lens, c.1860-1930. Galvez-Behar G, Nishimura S, editors. ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE. 2016;(82):32–46.
- IEEE
- [1]J. Mercelis, “Corporate secrecy and intellectual property in the chemical Industry through a transatlantic lens, c.1860-1930,” ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE, no. 82, pp. 32–46, 2016.
@article{7205313,
abstract = {{This article analyzes why late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German and German-American high-technology firms were presented as being overly secretive in chemical circles in the United States. It suggests that German chemical companies did not just develop innovative uses of the patent system, but also pioneered intellectual property strategies of which both patenting and secrecy were important components. Focusing on two German-American firms, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works and Roessler & Hasslacher, the study relates statements on restrictive knowledge management and intellectual property practices of German companies to transatlantic institutional differences. It points to a dissonance between the persistent association of German high-technology enterprises with secrecy and the actual directions in which the German and American systems of corporate intellectual property were moving in the early twentieth century. By highlighting different complementary uses of patenting and secrecy, the article also challenges the still-common idea that these two knowledge management strategies are mutually exclusive.}},
author = {{Mercelis, Joris}},
editor = {{Galvez-Behar, Gabriel and Nishimura, Shigehiro}},
issn = {{1161-2770}},
journal = {{ENTREPRISES ET HISTOIRE}},
keywords = {{history of chemistry,intellectual property,history of technology,business history,knowledge management}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{82}},
pages = {{32--46}},
publisher = {{Cairn}},
title = {{Corporate secrecy and intellectual property in the chemical Industry through a transatlantic lens, c.1860-1930}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.3917/eh.082.0032}},
year = {{2016}},
}
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