Die Zeitschrift »Geistiges Eigentum - Copyright - La Propriété Intellectuelle« (1935-1940)

The journal »Geistiges Eigentum - Copyright - Intellectual Property« was published in five volumes from 1935 to 1940. It was founded in Zürich by a Jewish attorney, Paul Dienstag, also founder of the well-known German journal UFITA. He was forced to leave Germany due to the »Machtergreifung« of the NSDAP. Beginning with the 3rd issue of the 2nd volume the journal was published in Amsterdam. The preface of the first issue (Geistiges Eigentum 1 [1935/1936], 10-15) was signed by a number of prominent lawyers and scholars from several countries, including Germany, and describes the aims of the journal as promoting the progress of Copyright as a question of international cooperation, free of political pressures and tendencies. The journal published articles, short notes and judicial decisions from around the globe, mostly in German, English or French. Each article contained a summary in at least two of these languages. They dealt mainly with matters of Copyright. But related areas such as trademarks were considered as well. Because of the Jewish and/or emigrant background of some of the contributors, the German government warned scholars and libraries against the purchase and the using of »Geistiges Eigentum« and against contributing to the journal. Financially, the journal turned out to be a disaster. But more significantly, its scholarly reception and recognition remained minimal. Even today, historical studies on copyright law hardly ever consider »Geistiges Eigentum«. Surprisingly, one does find references to the journal in the USA (see footnotes 98-104 in this article). The journal came to an end when German troops invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Der Aufsatz gibt einen Überblick über Geschichte und Inhalte eines fast vergessenen Periodikums. Die von 1935 bis 1940 in Zürich und später in Amsterdam herausgegebene juristische Zeitschrift wurde von Paul Dienstag, einem nach der Machtergreifung der Nationalsozialisten ins niederländische Exil vertriebenen deutsch-jüdischen Juristen gegründet und widmete sich den Rechten des Geistigen Eigentums. Vorgestellt werden die Herausgeber und Autoren, das thematische Spektrum der Beiträge und die Rezeption der Zeitschrift.