Working Knowledge: Employee Innovation and the Rise of Corporate Intellectual Property, 1800-1930 (Studies in Legal History)

Skilled workers of the early nineteenth century enjoyed a degree of professional independence because workplace knowledge and technical skill were their "property," or at least their attribute. In most sectors of today's economy, however, it is a foundational and widely accepted truth that businesses retain legal ownership of employee-generated intellectual property. In Working Knowledge , Catherine Fisk chronicles the legal and social transformations that led to the transfer of ownership of employee innovation from labor to management. This deeply contested development was won at the expense of workers' entrepreneurial independence and ultimately, Fisk argues, economic democracy. By reviewing judicial decisions and legal scholarship on all aspects of employee-generated intellectual property and combing the archives of major nineteenth-century intellectual property-producing companies—including DuPont, Rand McNally, and the American Tobacco Company—Fisk makes a highly technical area of law accessible to general readers while also addressing scholarly deficiencies in the histories of labor, intellectual property, and the business of technology. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 PART I: WORKPLACE KNOWLEDGE AS A PERSONAL ATTRIBUTE, 1800–1860......Page 32 1. Stealing in the Dark the Improvements of Others......Page 36 2. The Genius Which Conceived and the Toil Which Compiled the Book......Page 72 PART II: FREE LABOR, FREE ENTERPRISE, AND THE FREEDOM TO CONTRACT OVER INNOVATION, 1860–1895......Page 88 3. If These Mill Owners Desire to Cripple a Man’s Enterprise and His Energy and Intelligence, They Must Contract to That Effect......Page 100 4. An Ingenious Man Enabled by Contract......Page 121 5. They Claim to Own Him, Body and Soul......Page 150 PART III: WORKPLACE KNOWLEDGE AS CORPORATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, 1895–1930......Page 186 6. Corporate Management of Science and Scientific Management of Corporations......Page 190 7. The Corporation’s Money Paid for the Painting; Its Artist Colored It; Its President Designed It......Page 224 CONCLUSION. Attribution, Authenticity, and the Corporate Production of Technology and Culture......Page 253 Notes......Page 270 Bibliography......Page 324 A......Page 352 B......Page 353 C......Page 354 D......Page 357 E......Page 358 G......Page 360 I......Page 361 L......Page 363 M......Page 364 N......Page 365 P......Page 366 R......Page 368 S......Page 369 T......Page 370 W......Page 372 Y......Page 373 This book presents the legal and business history of corporate ownership of employee knowledge. Skilled workers of the early nineteenth century enjoyed a degree of professional independence because workplace knowledge and technical skill were their 'property, ' or at least their attribute. In most sectors of today's economy, however, it is a foundational and widely accepted truth that businesses retain legal ownership of employee-generated intellectual property. In "Working Knowledge", Catherine Fisk chronicles the legal and social transformations that led to the transfer of ownership of employee innovation from labor to management. This deeply contested development was won at the expense of workers' entrepreneurial independence and ultimately, Fisk argues, economic democracy. By reviewing judicial decisions and legal scholarship on all aspects of employee-generated intellectual property and combing the archives of major nineteenth-century intellectual property - producing companies - including DuPont, Rand McNally, and the American Tobacco Company - Fisk makes a highly technical area of law accessible to general readers while also addressing scholarly deficiencies in the histories of labor, intellectual property, and the business of technology Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 14 PART I: WORKPLACE KNOWLEDGE AS A PERSONAL ATTRIBUTE, 1800–1860 32 1. Stealing in the Dark the Improvements of Others 36 2. The Genius Which Conceived and the Toil Which Compiled the Book 72 PART II: FREE LABOR, FREE ENTERPRISE, AND THE FREEDOM TO CONTRACT OVER INNOVATION, 1860–1895 88 3. If These Mill Owners Desire to Cripple a Man’s Enterprise and His Energy and Intelligence, They Must Contract to That Effect 100 4. An Ingenious Man Enabled by Contract 121 5. They Claim to Own Him, Body and Soul 150 PART III: WORKPLACE KNOWLEDGE AS CORPORATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, 1895–1930 186 6. Corporate Management of Science and Scientific Management of Corporations 190 7. The Corporation’s Money Paid for the Painting; Its Artist Colored It; Its President Designed It 224 CONCLUSION. Attribution, Authenticity, and the Corporate Production of Technology and Culture 253 Notes 270 Bibliography 324 Index 352 A 352 B 353 C 354 D 357 E 358 F 360 G 360 H 361 I 361 J 363 K 363 L 363 M 364 N 365 O 366 P 366 Q 368 R 368 S 369 T 370 U 372 V 372 W 372 Y 373 9780807833025 Chronicles the legal and social transformations that led to the transfer of ownership of employee innovation from labor to management. This deeply contested development was won at the expense of workers' entrepreneurial independence and ultimately, their economic democracy. From publisher description Chronicles the legal and social transformations that led to the transfer of ownership of employee innovation from labor to management. This book addresses scholarly deficiencies in the histories of labor, intellectual property, and the business of technology.