Erfinderprinzip und Erfinderpersönlichkeitsrecht im deutschen Patentrecht von 1877 bis 1936

The German Patent Act 1877 was based on the first-to-file principle and did not ask who the true inventor was. This changed in 1936 when the National Socialist government's reform bill recognized the rights of the true inventor. The provisions introduced are still valid today. Alexander K. Schmidt traces the origins and aims of this fundamental reform. Relying upon both published and unpublished material, he shows the history of the reform bill from its early beginnings in the Empire to the Weimar Republic and then to the era of National Socialism. Despite all the political and social changes, this development was characterized by an astonishing continuity. On this basis, the author analyzes the Patent Act 1936 and classifies it in the context of National Socialist economic legislation