戦前におけるGEの国際特許管理--「代理出願」契約と東京電気の組織能力
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概要
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This paper examines the patent management of General Electric Company (GE) in Japan before World War II. It is said that its domination of the incandescent lamp industry, which occurred from 1912 to 1919, was brought about on Tokyo Electric's own initiative. But GE had controlled substantial patents for tungsten filament, which included patents applied for and registered by German companies. From 1916, GE filed a series of suits against newly established Japanese lamp companies, Taisho Denkyu, Dainihon Denkyu, and Kansai Denkyu, which were based on the foreigner-owned lamp patents not controlled by GE. By 1919, GE won the suits and absorbed those companies. Therefore, the Japanese lamp industry was dominated by GE, not by Tokyo Electric.<BR>In 1919, GE established International General Electric Co., Inc. (IGEC), and IGEC revised its agreement with Tokyo Electric. The new agreement contained a “proxy application” clause, which provided that Tokyo Electric could apply and register GE'S patents in its own name and on own cost. That is, in the interwar period, GE managed its Japanese patents through Tokyo Electric's managerial function. As similar contracts had already been concluded with British Thomson-Houston and Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft, GE had completed an international “proxy application” network.<BR>In order to carry out the contracts and patent management through Tokyo Electric, GE had to intensify the patent management function of Tokyo Electric. In 1921, J.R. Geary, charged with GE business in Japan, directed Tokyo Electric to establish a patent management department. The Patent Department started “proxy applications” in 1922. Moreover, in order to strengthen the department, Geary recruited Rinji Fujii, former engineer at the Japanese Patent Office, and put him in charge of the department in 1924. With this the functional transfer from GE to Tokyo Electric was completed.
- 経営史学会の論文