Logo 1954 | | The first notable confrontation occurred on March 23, 1954 in Cairo. With a massive organizational and propagandistic effort, the DDR staged its first industrial exposition in a non-communist country. Located in the main Pavilion, the state-owned enterprise from Jena presented “German high-class workmanship” using the Carl Zeiss name and the traditional trademark.
Carl Zeiss Oberkochen obtained a court order from the jurisdictional court in Cairo for the confiscation of these goods. The exposition management ignored this order and no action was taken. Soon thereafter, the corporate attorney flew to Cairo where a power struggle had broken out between General Nagib and revolting officers. The attorney found an open ear with the revolutionary committee: “The next day, the court order was re-executed – this time accompanied by a military commando. There was a physical altercation. Our attorney fell down the stairs and broke his arm. But the executive power succeeded. The pavilion was closed.”
One month after the events in Cairo, the "Carl Zeiss Foundation Jena, represented by the District Council of Gera" filed suit in a district court in Stuttgart against the Board of Management and the company in Oberkochen. The defendants were to refrain from using the Carl Zeiss name and all registered trademarks associated with the name.
According to western legal interpretation, the "Carl Zeiss Foundation" in Jena no longer existed. As a result of the expropriation of the company’s operations in Jena, it no longer existed, or was unable to function. Its domicile was therefore transferred from Jena to Heidenheim. The court in Stuttgart dismissed the suit, not only as “unsubstantiated”, but more importantly as “inadmissible”. The plaintiffs then appealed to the appellate court in Stuttgart, and finally to the Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. Gera lost at all levels. |  |  About the book
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Introduction
Cooperation
Confrontation
Coexistence
Reunification
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Fidel Castro at the Opton booth in Cuba
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Jenoptik Stand at the Hanover Exhibition in 1987
enlarge | | That was only the beginning. The owner of the name and registered trademarks had to be decided in every country. The litigation between Zeiss (west) and Zeiss (east) spread like wildfire around the globe. At the American trial, where control of the world’s largest market was at stake, Oberkochen achieved total victory. The trial in London marked the transition to coexistence. In closely observed preliminary proceedings, the state-owned operation walked away with victory. The main trial in front of the High Court of Justice began on Jan. 11, 1971. During this time, there was a change in government in West Germany. Chancellor Willy Brandt and Foreign Minister Walter Scheel pursued a “new policy towards the east”.
After six weeks of negotiations in London, the two British lawyers arranged to meet. They requested an adjournment of the trial to work out an out-of-court agreement. And, in fact they did. The quarreling brothers manage to negotiate the “London Accord”. It governed the worldwide use of the name Carl Zeiss and all its trademarks. | |