Designpiraterie, Geschmacksmusterschutz und Konfliktstrategien in der Industrie der Barmer Artikel (20er bis 60er Jahre)

Abstract

Dealing with design piracy is a blind spot in German business history, but studies on the importance of industrial property rights as an element of business strategies are also scarce in general. This article uses the example of the «Barmer Artikel», a specific segment of Wuppertal’s textile industry, during the period from the 1920s to the 1960s to examine how market strategies as well as legal disputes, conflict behaviour and juridical solutions were mutually dependent with regard to design protection. It shows that the enforcement of intellectual property rights was primarily a question of opportunity costs and that both plaintiffs and defendants carefully considered their actions, e.g. whether they appealed to the local arbitration court, took ordinary legal action or whether they avoided proceedings altogether. The findings reveal that property rights regimes are contingent and are equally determined by legal and economic considerations. As a result, the theoretical enforceability of property rights was factually more important than their practical enforcement.