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Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taishō Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2013

Tom Nicholas  and
Hiroshi Shimizu
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Abstract

Japan experienced a transformational phase of technological development during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that an important, but so far neglected, factor was a developing market for innovation and a patent-attorney system that was conducive to rapid technical change. We support our hypothesis using patent data and we also present a detailed case study on Tomogorō Ono, a key developer of salt-production technology who used attorneys in connection with his patenting work at a time when Japan was still in the process of formally institutionalizing its patent-attorney system. In accordance with Lamoreaux and Sokoloff's 1999 influential study of trade in invention in the United States, our quantitative and qualitative evidence highlights how inventors and intermediaries in Japan interacted to create a market for new ideas.

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Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 87 , Issue 1: Special Issue: Markets for Innovation , Spring 2013 , pp. 121 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2013 

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References

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60 Sōfusho Shin 5 dai 3483 gō. Shinkō Shokuenseihō Shutsugan ni Kansuru Sateisho Sōfu [no. 5-3483. Decision Report on New Salt Production Patent Application] (11 Mar. 1891). Reference Number 198909-48, HPA.

61 Senbai Seienhō Kakuchō nitsuki Iin Yakuteisho [Agreement on Extension of Salt Making Patent] (3 Dec. 1890). Reference Number 198909-42/43, HPA. It is worth noting that the Komori family was Ono's parental home and that Ono was thus related to Mitsuta Komori by blood.

62 Shokuen Seizō Sōchi Tokkyonegai Ishoku nitsuki Tokkyonegai Seikō nosetsu Hōshū no Keiyakusho [Contract of Contingent on Success of Patenting Salt Making Facility] (11 Sept. 1893). Reference Number 198909-73, HPA.

63 Patent Number 2181.

64 Shokuen Seizō Sōchi Tokkyonegai Seikō Hōshūkinn Ryōshūsho [Receipt of Fee Contingent on Success of Patenting Salt Making Facility] (29 Dec. 1894). Reference Number 198909-98, HPA.

65 Tokkyonegai Jippi Uchikinn oyobi Inshiryōkinn Uketorisho [Receipt of Actual Expense for Patent Application and Official Stamp Fee] (10 Sept. 1894). Reference Number 198909-99, HPA.

66 Shokuen Seizō Sōchi Shitagaki Meisaisho [Draft of Salt Making Facility Specification]. Reference Number 198909-206, HPA.

67 Shō Seichi Tokkyonegai Zankinn no Uchikin Azukarisho [Receipt of Remaining Account for patent filing expenses] (28 Apr. 1897). Reference Number 198909-405, HPA; Nukiyama Shōjirō Shokan [Letter from Shōjirō Nukiyama] (18 Aug. 1898). Reference Number 198909-681, HPA.

68 Shokuen Seizō Sōchi Tokkyoken Baiyo Tōrokuseikyū ni Kanshi Manaka Naomichi o Dairinin tosuru Todoke [Attorney Registration: Naomichi Manaka as Attorney regarding to Patent of Salt Making Facility] (1898). Reference Number 198909-190, HPA.

69 Lamoreaux, and Sokoloff, , “Inventors, Firms, and the Market for Technology in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,” 20Google Scholar.

70 See further, Nicholas, “Independent Invention during the Rise of the Corporate Economy in Britain and Japan”; and Burhop, “The Transfer of Patents in Imperial Germany.”