Wright Brothers vs. Glenn Curtiss

jvmatthe writes "Today's All Things Considered on NPR had a story about intellectual property and patents from America's history that could have been ripped from today's Slashdot headlines, yet it happened almost a century ago. It discussed how the Wright Brothers, considered the fathers of modern heaver-than-air-flight, had tried to lock up the skies after their patenting of the ideas used to build their airplanes. They had a long, bitter legal battle with Glenn H. Curtiss who also made airplanes; Curtiss is credited with being "the first to make a public flight in the United States, the first to sell a commercial airplane, the first to fly from one American city to another, and the first to receive a U.S. pilot license", among other things. Here's where it really gets interesting: the patent battles dragged on and apparently could have actually hindered the growth of the American airplane industry. It wasn't until World War I that people put aside their differences for the common good and the industry worked together in a spirit of free exchange of ideas! So, does is this a sign for how we might eventually get out of the patent mess we're in now? Some catastrophic event brings everyone together and the locking up of ideas with overly broad patents finally ends? For more reading, the NPR story focussed on Unlocking the Sky by Seth Shulman."

Comments

Heavier

[Squareball]

Heavier is spelled heaver in the summary... so get ready for the millions of people to tell you about it!

so whatcha gonna do about it?

[blastedtokyo]

Great story but all it does is reinforce what everyone on this site already knows and believes. Today, please, do something about it!

-Send the story to a coworker who doesn't agree with you,

-send a copy to your congressman,

-update your sig to reflect your beliefs,

-get a Free the Mouse bumpersticker and wear it,

-give money to the EFF,

-release a piece of music, writing, photo, idea you came up with to Creative Commons.

-Send a thoughtful letter to the editor to 3 different publications you read.

C'mon people, we don't need more witty remarks.

FREE THE MOUSE!!!!

Re:Patenting something already invented

[leandrod]

> I can't stand it when non-Americans

Guess what? Brasilians are Americans too. What you call Americans are citizens of the United States of North America. You can't even call yourselves Noth-Americans properly, since this would include Canada and Mexico too.

> talk to us like we're arrogant.

Guess what? Many of the ignorant among you are.

> Americans make all the cool and useful inventions, like [...] Cars (Henry Ford)

All of them? Wow... now, move on. Automobiles were invented by Germans, including one named Benz. Not to mention the Britsh jet engine and radar, the wristwatch by the sames Alberto Santos-Dumont, and the world goes ever on...