Technological innovations and the patent system in prewar Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the technological innovations and the patent systems in prewar Japan. In the Japanese patent system, there has been a specific law for protecting small inventions. The law is called the "New Utility Model Law", and had greatly contributed to technological and industrial development in prewar Japan. In prewar Japan, the conventional industries had large market share, and their technological innovations were mainly improvements of old technologies. However, the law strongly supported the development of conventional industries. Technologies protected by the aforementioned law significantly contributed to the economic development of Japan, which had been a backward eountry.