Abstract
Industrial property protection is an integral part of the production and application of technology in a market economy. The smooth running of this process depends to a large extent on state interventionism, not only at the domestic but also at the transnational level.
To protect industrial property, a complex institutional architecture is built, including so-called patent courts, used to adjudicate disputed cases of patent application and implementation. The presentation aims to outline the agency of the interwar Czechoslovak patent court, which was the institutional successor of the Austro-Hungarian patent court.
The institution consisted of representatives of professional judges, ministerial officials, and technical experts. The latter were recruited from manufacturing practice, state administration and academia.
Their recruitment was the subject of negotiations between academia and public authorities, including the Office of the President of the Republic. It was the President who officially appointed the members of the Patent Court.
What were the circumstances surrounding this power dynamic, and to what extent did the specific staffing of the patent court reflect the institution's agency? How has industrial property protection been implemented in the context of the institutional agency of the patent court? Methodologically, the presentation draws on theoretical concepts of institutional history and technology transfers. The research is based on printed sources as well as archival materials from the state administration, academic institutions, and the Office of the President of the Republic.