How microfilm reshaped patent systems and global innovation networks
A new historical study reveals how microfilm technology, adopted by patent offices between 1938 and 1968, fundamentally transformed how innovations are tracked, shared, and built upon internationally. The shift from physical documents to miniaturized film created new search capabilities and collaborative possibilities—a precedent for how today's digital systems reshape entire industries and knowledge infrastructure.
Originaltitel: Patents In Miniature: The Effects of Microfilm as an Information Technology, 1938–68
<p>How did microfilm come to shape patent work? This article shows that, despite initial resistance to the new medium, microfilms changed not just search rooms but international connections and collaborations. It traces how legal and media technologies coalesced by considering how microfilm changed the patent office and the work of patent examiners and information brokers. As a photographic medium, microfilm enabled patents to be seen differently: not merely as documents, but as a distinct literature that could be abstracted, linked, and disseminated. The article explores how microfilm technology changed the ways that patents were organized, distributed, and used. </p>