Law Commons^™

Licensing In The Eastern Bloc, Lajos Schmidt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article will discuss the legal problems faced by American enterprises desiring to license industrial property rights--principally patents, trademarks and know-how--in Eastern Europe. Licensing in seven countries--the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Bulgaria--will be examined. Of course, these countries form separate and independent legal and political jurisdictions; and even their cultural backgrounds differ. Any generalization about them must be taken in that context. Nonetheless, each of these countries is governed by similar political and economic principles--in particular, the principle of centralized economic planning. These common factors are reflected in common problems faced …