Korrespondenzen mit Konrad Adenauer – ein Erfinder und seine Patentanwälte

Abstract

Among German private inventors, former Federal Chancellor Dr. Konrad Adenauer is a peculiar case. Despite his (few) successful patents and his fame as a politician, hardly any aspects of his inventive activity have been studied scientifically so far. His correspondence with several patent attorneys lends itself to the following question: What functions could patent attorneys fulfil for private inventors in the first half of the 20th century? Using Adenauer as an example for this, it will be examined which roles his patent attorneys played for him and what added value resulted for Adenauer.