The article “Innovation, Intrigue, Subterfuge, and the Birth of an Industry” sheds light on the fact that patent filing has hurt inventors and stifled innovation from the very beginning. Basically, Alexander Grahm Bell, the man who was granted with the first telephone patent in 1876, represents how money has corrupted the patent industry. Antonio Meucci’s was actually came up with the idea first around 1856. However, he was unable to patent his invention because he lacked the funding. Although, some believe he may not have actually understood how the telephone would have actually worked. Elisha Gray did understand electric telephones. He was a prominent American inventor and one of the founders of Western Electric. His invention was the liquid transmitter and he would have been the first to transmit sound with this technology if it had not been for Bell. Bell and Gray were apparently working on the technology at the same time. Bill found Antonio Meucci’s work on phones and then bribed the USPTO to let him know if any other telephone patents were filed. When Gray’s lawyer filed a partial patent on Feb. 14th, 1876, Bell filled a full application on the same day. The filings were similar and Bell received the patent, although he had not even fully tested the product.
Reading
about this is frustrating as Meucci and Gray deserved to get the patents over Bell but because bell had
a good lawyer and money he was able to manipulate the situation. It is a bit
disheartening that even then, patent wars were happening on a smaller scale.
Especially as the little guy always looses out. Small start ups truly struggle
when trying to compete with Apple, Samsung, Google, and the other established
giants. Although they did make it, now it is almost impossible to break into
that market.
I agree - it is pretty disappointing how money drives the patent industry. When I worked for TiaLinx, Inc. for a summer, I was in charge of documenting and keeping track of the various costs of maintaining a patent portfolio. There were definitely more costs associated with a patent than I had anticipated.
ReplyDeleteThe new first-to-file rule comes to mind when reading your blog post. I actually think it's fair game that Bell managed to file first, especially given that they were basically working on the same issue. This cut-throat environment is what companies thrive on.
ReplyDelete