Hipp, Ann e al.
A icle
Comp ehensi e pa en da a o he Ge man Democ a ic
Republic 1949-1990
Jou nal o Economics and S a is ics
P o ided in Coope a ion wi h:
De G uy e B ill
Sugges ed Ci a ion: Hipp, Ann e al. (2024) : Comp ehensi e pa en da a o he Ge man Democ a ic
Republic 1949-1990, Jou nal o Economics and S a is ics, ISSN 2366-049X, De G uy e Oldenbou g,
Be lin, Vol. 244, Iss. 1/2, pp. 149-158,
h ps://doi.o g/10.1515/jbns -2022-0058
This Ve sion is a ailable a :
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Da a Obse e
Ann Hipp, Michael F i sch*, Ma ia G e e, Ju a Gün he ,
Ma cel Lange, Ch is ian Liu ik, Bea e P ei e ,
Ma iia Shkolnyko a and Michael Wy wich
Comp ehensi e Pa en Da a o he Ge man
Democ a ic Republic 1949–1990
h ps://doi.o g/10.1515/jbns -2022-0058
Recei ed Sep embe 20, 2022; accep ed Sep embe 26, 2022
Abs ac : We documen he gene a ion and he con en o he Comp ehensi e
Pa en Da abase (CPDB) o he Ge man Democ a ic Republic (GDR) (1949–1990),
which is eely a ailable a GESIS h ps://doi.o g/10.7802/2448. The da abase
con ains all pa en s g an ed in he GDR and published by he O fice o In en ions
and Pa en s (la e : Ge man Pa en and T ade Ma k O fice/DPMA). The co e da a-
base co e s he yea s 1950–1990 and con ains 24 a iables wi h manually cleaned
and p ocessed in o ma ion on a o al o 261,822 unique pa en s o he GDR.
Keywo ds: pa en da a, Ge man Democ a ic Republic (GDR), in en ion
JEL Classifica ion: O31, O33, P29, P39, B24
1 Pu pose
Pa en da a a e a key sou ce o analyzing inno a ion ac i i y (Acs e al. 2002).
Acco dingly, pa en s play a key ole in mos s udies o inno a ion and
*Co esponding au ho : Michael F i sch, F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena, Jena, Ge many,
E-mail: [email p o ec ed]. h ps://o cid.o g/0000-0003-0337-4182
Ann Hipp, Ju a Gün he , Ma cel Lange and Ma iia Shkolnyko a, Uni e si y o B emen, B emen,
Ge many, E-mail: [email p o ec ed] (A. Hipp), [email p o ec ed]
(J. Gün he ), ma cel.lange@uni-b emen.de (M. Lange), [email p o ec ed]e
(M. Shkolnyko a)
Ma ia G e e, U ech Uni e si y, U ech , The Ne he lands; and F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena,
Jena, Ge many, E-mail: [email p o ec ed]
Ch is ian Liu ik and Bea e P ei e , F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena, Jena, Ge many,
E-mail: [email p o ec ed] (C. Liu ik), bea e.p ei e @uni-jena.de (B. P ei e )
Michael Wy wich, Uni e si y o G oningen, G oningen, The Ne he lands; and F ied ich Schille
Uni e si y Jena, Jena, Ge many, E-mail: [email p o ec ed]
Jou nal o Economics and S a is ics 2024; 244(1–2): 149–158
Open Access. © 2022 he au ho (s), published by De G uy e . This wo k is licensed unde
he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License.
echnological de elopmen s in he communis Eas Ge man S a e, he Ge man
Democ a ic Republic (GDR), which exis ed om 1949 ill 1990.
1
Howe e , he
pa en da a used in hese s udies a e o en a he incomple e,
2
and i is unclea o
wha ex en hese da a ha e been subjec o plausibili y checks and da a cleaning.
In o de o p o ide a solid empi ical basis o u he analyses o inno a ion
ac i i ies in he GDR, we compiled a Comp ehensi e Pa en Da abase (CPDB) as pa o
a collabo a i e esea ch p ojec unded by he Fede al Minis y o Educa ion and
Resea ch in Ge many (2018–2023).
3
The da abase is eely accessible a GESIS, Leibniz
Ins i u e o Social Sciences (h ps://doi.o g/10.7802/2448). Compa ed o o he sou -
ces o GDR pa en s, ou da abase has h ee main ad an ages. Fi s , i is much mo e
comp ehensi e han any o he a ailable sou ce.
4
Second, e oneously de ec ed da a
was manually e ified and, i necessa y, co ec ed o comple ed.
5
Thi d, he da a
con ains in o ma ion ha allows o a meaning ul assignmen o in en i e ac i i y o
ce ain loca ions a he o ganiza ional le el ( o de ails, see Sec ion 6).
We begin his echnical epo and o e iew wi h a b ie desc ip ion o he GDR
pa en sys em (Sec ion 2). Sec ion 3 in o ms abou he me hods applied in ga h-
e ing and p epa ing he da a and Sec ion 4 desc ibes he da a in some de ail.
Finally, we desc ibe he gene a ion o egional iden ifie s o 17,772 pa en s o he
yea s 1989 and 1990 (Sec ion 5).
2 Pa en ing in he GDR
A e he ounda ion o he GDR, a pa en law based on he So ie - ype model was
es ablished (Wiessne 2015). Based on he GDR Pa en Ac o 1950, he O fice o
1Fo example, Bäh and Pe zina (1996; 1999), G upp e al. (2002), Gli z and Meye sson (2020).
2Gli z and Meye sson (2020) o example used agg ega e da a o he numbe o pa en applica-
ions (no app o ed pa en s) a he le el o combines (Kombina e) ha is limi ed o he pe iod
1970–1989.
3P ojec i le “Mode nisie ungsblockaden in Wi scha und Wissenscha de DDR”(Obs acles o
Mode niza ion in he Economy and Science o he GDR) (p ojec numbe 01UJ1806DY).
4The ecen ly published Pa en ci y da a (Be geaud and Ve luise 2022) co e s only sligh ly abo e
hal o he pa en s in ou da abase. The co e age o Pa en ci y a ies conside ably be ween single
yea s and sub-pe iods. Pa en ci y eco ds conside ably lowe numbe s o pa en s be ween he
mid-1960s and he la e 1970s. Mo eo e , in mo e han 80% o he obse a ions, he Pa en ci y da a
does no con ain he loca ion o he in en o o o he applican ha was published in he yea s
1989 and 1990. I loca ions a e included, hey a e qui e o en a he imp ecise.
5We ound a numbe o yping e o s and mul iple coun s in he o iginal da a. Mo eo e , he e
we e some handw i en anno a ions on some pa en documen s ha we included in he da ase i
ele an . Qui e equen ly, some In e na ional Pa en Classifica ion (IPC) codes we e added o he
o iginal pa en ex-pos , which we included in he da a.
150 A. Hipp e al.
In en ions and Pa en s (A EP) in Be lin, subo dina ed o he Minis y o Planning,
was esponsible o all issues connec ed wi h pa en ing. The GDR joined he Wo ld
In ellec ual P ope y O ganiza ion (WIPO) in 1968, only one yea a e he WIPO’s
ounda ion. This ensu ed uni o m in e na ional s anda ds o filing pa en s—
i.e., he deg ee o no el y, he in en i e le el, and he echnical applicabili y
(WIPO 1970). Despi e he simila i ies in he dynamics o filing and g an ing
pa en s, he compa abili y o he GDR pa en da a wi h hose o he Fede al Re-
public o Ge many (FRG) emains highly con o e sial (see F i sch e al. 2022a;
Gün he e al. 2020a; G upp e al. 2005; Kogu and Zande 2000).
The e we e wo ypes o pa en s in he GDR: he “exclusi e pa en ”(Auss-
chließungspa en ) and he “economic pa en ”(Wi scha spa en ). The exclusi e
pa en gua an eed he pa en holde he igh o exploi he in en ion and was e y
simila o he FRG pa en . This ype o pa en was mainly e ec i e o o eign
applican s, especially om Wes e n coun ies, who we e g an ed exclusi e igh s
o 18 yea s o use he egis e ed in en ion in he GDR (Wiessne 2015). The
dominan ype o GDR pa en was he “economic pa en ”, which was assigned o
he espec i e in en o bu did no g an him o he any exploi a ion igh s o he
in en ion; he igh o use was ins ead ans e ed o he en i e economy o he
GDR, and he usage was allowed a e he esponsible cen al au ho i y had been
no ified. All in en o s who success ully applied o a pa en as employees o a
s a e-owned en e p ise (VEB), esea ch ins i u e, o o he public ins i u ion
ecei ed an economic pa en , which ecognized him o he as he in ellec ual
sou ce. In case ha he pa en ed in en ion gene a ed economic benefi s, he
in en o ecei ed some emune a ion (Wiessne 2015).
3 Me hods
3.1 Da a Sou ce
Wi h he uni ica ion o he wo Ge man s a es in 1990 and he Uni ica ion T ea y,
he pa en law o he FRG became e ec i e in he e i o y o he o me GDR. The
pa en s o he A EP we e ans e ed o he Ge man Pa en and T adema k O ice
(DPMA) and included in he Ge man Pa en In o ma ion Sys em (DEPATIS) da a-
base (DPMA 2019a). Fo he compila ion o he CPDB, we used he online e sion o
he documen a chi e DEPATISne . DEPATIS con ains da a on g an ed pa en
applica ions o he GDR o he pe iod om 1949 o 1990, including bo h economic
and exclusi e pa en s (DPMA 2021a, 2021b). The DPMA egis e pla o m, which is
he o ficial egis e o all pa en applica ions, also p o ides an elec onic da a se
wi h cu en legal and p ocedu al s a us in o ma ion om 1981 onwa ds (DPMA
Comp ehensi e Pa en Da a GDR 151
2019b). Howe e , conside ing he in o ma ion a ailable, his da a se is incom-
ple e, as no all da a om he GDR pa en specifica ions we e co ec ly ans e ed
o DEPATIS.
3.2 Da a P epa a ion
All co ec ions and ex ensions pe o med o he published CPDB conce n he
in en o and applican da a as well as he applica ion and publica ion da es. In
case he da a ex ac ion pe o med by he DPMA in he p ocess o pa en digi a-
liza ion esul ed in inco ec da a, we sough o co ec all de ec ed e o s
manually.
The ollowing da a p epa a ion s eps we e pe o med:
S ep 1: The aw da a was ex ac ed om he DEPATISne da abase by he Pa en
In o ma ion Cen e o he F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena in he yea 2019 based
on a sea ch que y. Da a access was limi ed o a maximum o 1,000 pa en s pe
que y. The p ojec eam a he F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena p ocessed he aw
da a and c ea ed he da abase.
S ep 2: The eam a he Uni e si y o B emen was esponsible o u he p o-
cessing o hese da a. This pa icula ly included manual da a cleaning as well as
subsequen c ea ion, p epa a ion, and a chi ing o he da abase.
S ep 3: The eam a he F ied ich Schille Uni e si y Jena c ea ed an addi ional
module wi h egional in o ma ion o he pa en s o he yea s 1989 and 1990 (see
Sec ion 5).
Each summa y able downloaded in s ep 1 con ained he ollowing in o ma ion
lis ed in columns: (1) se ial numbe , (2) publica ion numbe , (3) iling da e, (4)
publica ion da e, (5) IPC main class, (6) IPC mino /index classes, (7) eclassi ied IPC,
(8) P ü s o IPC, (9) in en o , (10) applican /owne , (11) i le, (12) abs ac , (13) PDF
URL, and (14) sea chable ex URL. This esul ed in a o al o app oxima ely 300
Excel ables, which we e ans e ed o a da abase. In addi ion o he o e iew ables
in Excel o ma , all ela ed pa en specifica ions we e downloaded in PDF o ma .
The con en o columns 1)-6) as well as 9)-12) was au oma ically e ie ed om
he pa en speci ica ion o he DPMA and co esponds o he INID codes o he same
names (see Chap e 3). Columns 7)-8) and 13)-14) e lec in o ma ion ha is no
di ec ly con ained in he pa en speci ica ion. Column 7) s ands o he s a e-o - he-
a adap ed and eclassi ied IPC classes. Since he echnical de ini ions may change
wi h each IPC e ision, indi idual documen s we e eclassi ied using WIPO’sMas e
152 A. Hipp e al.
Classi ica ion Da abase (MCD). The eclassi ica ion is no done in he pa en docu-
men bu in he da abase (DPMA 2020). Column 8) en ails an adjus ed echnological
classifica ion. This adjus men was made by he expe s o he DPMA, who belie e
ha in ce ain cases he echnological a ea specified in he pa en documen is no
accu a ely and/o solely eflec ed in he gi en IPC code(s). This column may con ain
no only in e na ionally lis ed IPC codes, bu also codes om a mo e efined Ge man
pa en classifica ion (“Deu sche Pa en -Feinklassifika ion”, DEKLA). These so-called
P ü s o IPC and eclassified IPC a e no assigned in all cases by he DPMA exam-
ining s a , and he e o e, columns 8) and 9) ha e many missing alues ha canno
be filled ou manually. Columns 13) and 14) ep esen hype links ha con ain he
copy o he o iginal pa en specifica ion and he pa en ex ha has been gene a ed
om he o iginal documen by using au oma ic Op ical Cha ac e Recogni ion (OCR)
con e sion, espec i ely. The la e documen is dep i ed o any d awings and al-
lows a quick in o ma ion sea ch wi hin he pa en documen .
In s ep 2, he de ails o he applican s and in en o s in all emp y ields we e
manually compa ed wi h he da a in he espec i e pa en speci ica ions, digi ized,
and supplemen ed. Fo he applican /owne , all pe sons indica ed unde INID
codes (71) and (73) we e added om he pa en speci ica ion. In some cases, he
in o ma ion on he ep esen a i e (74) was added.
In some cases, he machine eading o he applica ion and publica ion da a by
he DPMA led o inadequa e eco ding o he da es. Fo example, he e was an
indica ion ha a pa en was published in 1968 bu no iled un il 1988. In such
cases, he yea o iling and he yea o publica ion we e manually checked and
co ec ed. In addi ion, pa en s o which he publica ion da e co esponds o he
applica ion da e we e manually checked and he in o ma ion was co ec ed.
The da e o ma was adjus ed o he s anda d DD.MM.YYYY o all pa en s.
The placeholde s in he i le and abs ac we e emo ed and he language
in o ma ion om he ex (DE o EN) was ans e ed o a new column (sp ache i el
and sp acheabs ac ). Ob ious ans e e o s ha led o inco ec in o ma ion in
he i le we e co ec ed manually. The CPDB was p epa ed acco ding o he o mal
equi emen s o he Leibniz Ins i u e o he Social Sciences (GESIS) and he
necessa y in o ma ion was added.
The e we e se e al e oneous en ies in he da abase. The espec i e pa en
numbe s a e summa ized in Hipp e al. (2022, Table A1).
4 Comp ehensi e Pa en Da abase (CPDB)
The inal da abase con ains all g an ed pa en s o he GDR published by A EP (la e
DPMA) in he pe iod be ween Janua y 1, 1939 (applica ion be o e bu g an ed in he
Comp ehensi e Pa en Da a GDR 153
GDR) and June 29, 2006 (applica ion in bu g an ed a e he GDR). The co e
da abase co e s he yea s 1950–1990 and con ains 24 a iables wi h manually
cleaned and p ocessed in o ma ion on a o al o 286,478 pa en en ies, which
co espond o 261,822 unique GDR pa en s. This di e ence can be explained by he
ac ha o a ound 24,500 pa en s (a ound 9% o all en ies), se e al (up o 3)
documen s o he pa en amily a e included in he da abase. The CPDB o he GDR
is eely a ailable in Excel o ma (.xlsx) as well as delimi ed ex ile (.cs ) a he
Leibniz Ins i u e o he Social Sciences (GESIS); h ps://doi.o g/10.7802/2423.
In o ma ion is missing in he da abase i i is no included in he pa en
speci ica ions. In se e al cases, his conce ns he IPC seconda y classes and he
abs ac . Fo he yea s be o e 1975, only a ew abs ac s a e a ailable. In o al,
abs ac s a e missing o 165,740 pa en s.
Despi e i s a ailabili y in he pa en documen s, da a may be missing in he
da abase in case o mo e han one applican o in en o , because he ocus in
p epa ing he da a was on comple ing he emp y lines. In addi ion, i is o en no
possible o dis inguish be ween applican and owne i , o example, only head-
qua e s o he pa en a o ney a e named. The pa en a o ney is included in he
a iable anmelde inhabe , al hough he o she is no he in en o o applican .
Ra ely, he e is no in o ma ion on he in en o in he pa en specifica ions (coded
as “wi d nich genann ”) because he o she did no wan o be men ioned as an
in en o . Fo he supplemen a y module wi h he egional da a o 1989/90, he
in en o names a e conside ed sensi i e da a and a e anonymized by he desig-
na ion “in en o ”.
In a ew cases, he e a e ansc ip ion e o s, wi h he co ec da a being
con ained in he pa en speci ica ions bu no in he da abase. This is pa icula ly
he case o handw i en anno a ions o special on s ha could no be p ocessed
wi hou e o by he ex - ecogni ion sys em. The co ec in o ma ion could hen be
ound in he PDF iles o he pa en speci ica ion. In some cases, no PDF URL o he
pa en speci ica ions could be e ie ed; in his case, he sea chable ex had o be
used. Table 1 p o ides an o e iew o he a iables, hei desc ip ion, and u he
no es.
5 Regional In o ma ion
Fo a o al o 17,772 pa en s om 1989 o 1990, he CPDB con ains addi ional
in o ma ion ha could be use ully eco ded because o a change in he da abase. In
he cou se o a e o m o he GDR pa en law in June 1990, he documen a ion o
applican s and in en o in o ma ion was also imp o ed. Whe eas p e iously only
he combine o he pa en company was men ioned as he applican , om summe
154 A. Hipp e al.
Table :Va iable desc ip ion.
Va iable Desc ip ion Documen /No es
e oe en lichungsnumme Publica ion numbe o he g an ed
pa en applica ion assigned by
he Ge man Pa en and T adema k
O fice (DPMA)
DPMA INID-Codea
No e: Co esponds o he col-
umns publn_au h, publn_n ,
and publn_kind om he PAT-
STAT able ls_pa _publn
anmeldeda um Pa en applica ion da e DPMA INID-Code (DPMA
)
e oe en lichungsda um Da e o publica ion o he pa en DPMA INID-Code o (DPMA
)
ipchaup klasse Main class o echnical ocus o
he pa en
DPMA INID-Code (ma ked
bold)
No e: PATSTAT does no dis in-
guish be ween he s and o he
IPC classes
ipcnebenindexklassen Fu he echnical fields (IPC sec-
onda y classes) o which he pa -
en can be assigned
DPMA INID-Code
No e: PATSTAT does no dis in-
guish be ween he s and o he
IPC classes (DPMA )
eklassifizie eipcmcd S a e-o - he-a adap ed and
eclassified IPC classes
Since he echnical defini ions
may change wi h each IPC e i-
sion, indi idual documen s a e
eclassified using WIPO’s Mas e
Classifica ion Da abase (MCD).
The eclassifica ion is no done
in he pa en documen bu in
he da abase (DPMA ).
p ue s o fipc Mo e efined Ge man pa en
classifica ion ‘P ü s o IPC’
acco ding o DEKLA (“Deu sche
Pa en -Feinklassifika ion”)
Classifica ion by expe s o he
DPMA a e alloca ion o he
bibliog aphic IPC (DPMA )
e finde In en o o he pa en DPMA INID-Code (DPMA
)
anmelde inhabe Pa en applican OR/AND pa en
owne OR/AND ep esen a i e
(usually he pa en a o ney)
DPMA INID code OR/AND
AND/OR (DPMA )
i el Pa en i le INID-Code
sp ache i el Language o he i le o he pa en
abs ac Desc ip ion o he pa en INID-Code
sp acheabs ac Language o he abs ac o he
pa en
pd u l Link o he pa en specifica ion in
he DPMA da abase
Comp ehensi e Pa en Da a GDR 155
o 1990 onwa ds, he ac ual applican es ablishmen o he combine was also
named in he en ies. Fu he mo e, some o he add ess da a o he in en o (s) was
en e ed. In p ac ice, his change means ha GDR pa en applica ions o he yea s
1989 and 1990, which we e g an ed om summe 1990 onwa ds, ei he be o e o
a e Ge man euni ica ion, open up he possibili y o assign a pa en o a ce ain
loca ion, he eby iden i ying he egional s uc u e o inno a ion ac i i ies in he
GDR. Fo pa en applica ions p io o 1989, we know only he headqua e o he
espec i e combine (Kombina szen ale) ha is indica ed as applican in he pa en
specifica ion. Since he es ablishmen o he combine ha gene a ed he in en ion
was o en loca ed in conside able dis ance o he headqua e , he e was no way o
link a pa en o a ce ain egion. Mo eo e , o he indica ed pe iod i is also
possible o dis inguish he exac loca ion o he esea ch ins i u e.
6
Agains his backg ound, we addi ionally ex ac ed in o ma ion om he
o iginal PDFs o he pa en speci ica ions o he GDR pa en s o he yea s 1989 and
1990 in o de o iden i y he loca ion o he pa en applican s/owne s in mo e de ail
Table :(con inued)
Va iable Desc ip ion Documen /No es
eche chie ba e ex u l Machine- eadable documen
gene a ed by he DPMA by means
o OCR wi hou g aphics
May be inco ec because au o-
ma ically gene a ed
nameapplican cleaned De ailed eco ding o he name o
he pa en holde
Only a ailable o he yea s
and (see Sec ion “Regional
in o ma ion”). The in en o s’
names a e anonymized.
ype Type o pa en holde (: o eign
coun y; : GDR company; : GDR
in en o ; : o eign coun y wi h
pa icipa ion o GDR in en o s)
Only a ailable o he yea s
and (see Sec ion “Regional
in o ma ion”)
gemeinde_bMunicipali y numbe (as o )
whe e he sea o he pa en
holde was loca ed
Only a ailable o he yea s
and (see Sec ion “Regional
in o ma ion”)
aINID codes a e numbe s o iden i ying bibliog aphic da a acco ding o WIPO s anda d ST. and a e used by all
pa en o fices. F om o DD, he INID codes a e no ed on he GDR pa en s. bNumbe s o .
6While in he ea lie yea s, he loca ion is mos ly alloca ed o he Academy o Science in Be lin,
he egional module allows iden i ying he p ecise loca ion. I u ns ou ha among all pa en s
egis e ed by he Academy o Science, oughly hal o hem s em om Be lin, while he o he s we e
sca e ed a ound he GDR. O e all, less han 10% o all pa en s in 1989 and 1990 we e applied o
by he Academy o Science.
156 A. Hipp e al.
