Walter Eucken on patent laws: are patents just nonsense upon stilts’?
- As recent newspaper headlines show the topic of patents/patent laws is still heavily disputed. In this paper I will approach this topic from a theoretical-historical and history of economic thought-perspective. In this regard I will link the patent controversy of the nineteenth century with Walter Eucken’s Ordoliberalism – a German version of neoliberalism. My paper is structured as follows: The second chapter provides the reader with a historical introduction. At the heart of this paragraph are the controversy and discourse on patent laws in nineteenth century Europe as well as the pro and contra arguments presented by the anti-patent/free-trade movement respectively by the advocates of patent protection. The focus of my paper is on the struggle for the protection of inventions and innovations in nineteenth century Germany, since Walter Eucken, main representative of the Freiburg School of Law and Economics, picks up the counter-arguments presented in the national debate and in particular by the Kongress deutscher Volkswirthe. The third chapter deals intensively with the question whether patent laws are just ‘nonsense upon stilts’ from an ordoliberal perspective. Here, Eucken’s arguments against the current patent system are elaborated in great detail. The paper ends with a summary of my main findings.
Author: | Manuel Wörsdörfer |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-332876 |
URL: | http://ssrn.com/abstract=2354435 |
ISSN: | 2049-3509 |
Parent Title (English): | Economic thought |
Publisher: | World Economics Association Community Interest Company |
Place of publication: | St. Andrews |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2014/03/19 |
Year of first Publication: | 2012 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2014/03/19 |
Tag: | Ordoliberalism; Patents/patent laws; Walter Eucken; nineteenth century patent controversy |
Volume: | 1 |
Issue: | 2 |
Page Number: | 19 |
First Page: | 36 |
Last Page: | 54 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 399487964 |
Institutes: | Wirtschaftswissenschaften / Wirtschaftswissenschaften |
Exzellenzcluster / Exzellenzcluster Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft |
3 Sozialwissenschaften / 34 Recht / 340 Recht | |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |