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{{short description|Airplane flight control patent dispute}}
[[File:821393 - Flying Machine - Wright Brothers - NARA - 2524937 (page 1).jpg|thumb|[[Oblique projection|Oblique view]] of the airplane - Wright 1906 Patent]]
'''The Wright brothers patent war''' centers on the [[patent]]
▲'''The Wright brothers patent war''' centers on the patent they received for their method of airplane flight control. The [[Wright brothers]] were two Americans who are widely credited with inventing and building the world's first flyable [[airplane]] and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air [[Flight#Mechanical|human flight]] on December 17, 1903.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/
|publisher=[[National Air and Space Museum]]
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|access-date=2011-02-12}}</ref>
In 1906, the Wrights received a U.S. patent for their method of flight control. In 1909, they sold the patent to the newly
In 1910, they won their initial lawsuit against Curtiss, when
{{blockquote|It further appears that the defendants now threaten to continue such use for gain and profit, and to engage in the manufacture and sale of such infringing machine, thereby becoming an active rival of complainant in the business of constructing flying-machines embodying the claims in suit, but such use of the infringing machine it is the duty of this Court on the papers presented to enjoin.<ref>[https://cite.case.law/f/177/257/ Wright v. Herring Curtiss. 177 F. 257 (C.C.W.D.N.Y. 1910)]</ref><ref>[[Ricky James|James, Ricky]]. "Correlated Intellectual Property Rights". ''[[University of Helsinki]]'', [https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/262146?locale-attribute=en (2018) pp. 172.]</ref>}}
Of the nine suits brought by them and three against them, the Wright brothers eventually won every case in U.S. courts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCullough|first=David|title=The Wright Brothers|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4767-2874-2 |pages=255}}</ref><ref name="nasa_sp4103">Roland, Alex (foreword by [[Jimmy Doolittle]]), [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4103/ch2.htm Chapter 2: "War Business: A Laboratory and Licensing; Committees and Engines, 1915–1918"], in SP-4103: ''Model Research: The National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics 1915-1958'' - Volume 1, [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA), 1983, retrieved December 4, 2017</ref><ref name="greed">Nocera, Joel (business columnist), [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/opinion/nocera-greed-and-the-wright-brothers.html Opinion essay: "Greed and the Wright Brothers,"] April 19, 2014, [[New York Times]] (citing Lawrence Goldstone’s new book, ''Birdmen''), retrieved November 12, 2018)</ref>
Even after Wilbur Wright had died, and Orville Wright had retired in 1916 (selling the rights to their patent to a successor company, the [[Wright-Martin Corporation|Wright-Martin Corp.]]), the patent war continued, and even expanded, as other manufacturers launched lawsuits of their own—creating a growing crisis in the U.S. aviation industry.<ref name="nasa_sp4103" /><ref name="greed" />
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The patent's importance lies in its claim of a new and useful method of ''controlling'' a flying machine, powered or not. The technique of wing-warping is described, but the patent explicitly states that other methods instead of wing-warping including ailerons,<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCullough, David G.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/897424190|title=The Wright brothers|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4767-2874-2|edition=First Simon & Schuster hardcover|location=New York|pages=240|oclc=897424190}}</ref> which would eventually become the most common method, could be used for adjusting the outer portions of a machine's wings to different angles on the right and left sides to achieve lateral roll control.<ref name="nasa_sp4103" /><ref>
[
</ref> The concept of lateral control became essential to successful flight and nearly all airplane designs,
with the exception of some types of [[ultralight aircraft]].<ref name="centennialofflight">{{citation
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In 1908, the Wrights warned [[Glenn Curtiss]] not to infringe their patent by profiting from flying or selling aircraft that used [[ailerons]]. Curtiss refused to pay license fees to the Wrights and sold an airplane to the Aeronautic Society of New York in 1909. The Wrights filed a lawsuit, beginning a years-long legal conflict.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pattillo |first=Donald M. |title=Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2001 |pages=17}}</ref>
They also sued foreign aviators who flew at U.S. exhibitions, including the leading French aviator [[Louis Paulhan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2010/05/were-the-wrights-wrong.html|title = Were the Wrights Wrong?|date = 30 May 2010}}</ref> The Curtiss people derisively suggested that if someone jumped in the air and waved his arms, the Wrights would sue.<ref>{{
In the U.S. the Wrights made an agreement with the [[Aero Club of America]] to license
|author=W.J. Jackman |author2=Thomas H. Russell
| title = Flying Machines: Construction and Operation
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|quote=<!--The Wrights further restricted aviation progress in the United States by sticking doggedly to their basic design, despite the obvious advances being made in Europe. Improvements were made to the 1910 Model B, which had the elevator in the rear, wheels in place of skids, and did not require the tower-catapult for takeoff. The later Model C proved to be a man-killer; seven were purchased by the Army and five crashed, killing five men. -->
|access-date=2009-03-07}}
</ref>
This claim has been disputed by researchers Katznelson and Howells, who assert that before [[World War I]] "aircraft manufacturers faced no patent barriers."<ref name="katznelson" /> Contemporary and respected observers also supported the Wright brothers. In April 1910 the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "The insistence of Professor Bell upon his rights did not retard the growth in the use of the telephone. Thomas Edison's numerous suits for protection of his inventions have not kept any of them out of the market".<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCullough, David G.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/897424190|title=The Wright brothers|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4767-2874-2|edition=First Simon & Schuster hardcover|location=New York|pages=252|oclc=897424190}}</ref>
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In January 1914, a U.S. [[United States courts of appeals|Circuit Court of Appeals]] upheld the verdict in favor of the Wrights against the Curtiss company, which continued to avoid penalties through legal tactics.
In light of these setbacks and to discredit the Wright brothers, Glenn Curtiss in 1914 helped the head of the Smithsonian, [[Charles Doolittle Walcott]], secretly make major modifications to a failed
Beginning in 2011, Russell Klingaman—a prominent Wisconsin aviation/patent attorney, aviation law journalist, and instructor in Aviation Law at [[Marquette University Law School]]<ref name="klingaman_2016_waco_museum">[http://www.wacoairmuseum.org/avls-wrights-vs-curtiss.html "Aviation Lecture Series: Wrights vs. Curtis - The Patent Wars,"] 2016, WACO Air Museum, retrieved December 4, 2017</ref><ref name="klingaman_bio_2016_06_midwest_flyer">[https://issuu.com/midwestflyer/docs/mfm_junejuly2016_web Klingaman bio note] in ''Midwest Flyer'' June–July 2016, as archived at [[issuu.com]], retrieved December 4, 2017</ref><ref name="klingaman_univ_wisconsin_alumni">[http://alumnius.net/university_of_wiscon-9690-944 "Russell Klingaman,"] ''Alumni,'' [[University of Wisconsin]], retrieved December 4, 2017</ref>—researched, prepared and delivered a series of lectures, at major aviation events and lawyers' organizations, analyzing and decrying the events and outcomes of the Wright-Curtiss lawsuit, citing numerous examples of error or misconduct by various parties to the suit, including attorneys and the judge. Klingaman found that the judge in the case allowed the Wrights' attorney to make his case in a private ("[[ex-parte]]") hearing with the judge, without the opposing side present, and discovered other misconduct which he believes led to a legally inappropriate outcome.<ref name="klingaman_2014_airventure">Klingaman, Russell, "The Aileron Patent Wars: How Attorney Misconduct and Bad Business Decisions Ruined Fortunes and Cost Lives with a Negative Impact on Allied Power in the First World War," EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, [[Oshkosh, Wisconsin]], July 2014.</ref><ref name="eaa_klingaman_lecture_item">[https://www.eaa.org/eaa/event/Wrights_v_Curtiss_Patent_Wars?id=316492F1103541E1AA632616FC6DBC4B "Wrights v Curtiss Patent Wars.mht"] itenerary, for [[AirVenture]], [[Experimental Aircraft Association]]</ref><ref name="klingaman_cv">[https://www.hinshawlaw.com/attorneys-Russell-Klingaman.html#Presentations "Russell Klingaman: Presentations"], HinshawLaw.com</ref>
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|date=1917-08-07
|access-date=2009-03-07}}
</ref> This arrangement was designed to last only for the duration of the war, but in 1918 the litigation was never renewed. By this time, Wilbur had died (in May 1912) and Orville had sold his interest in the Wright Company to a group of New York financiers (in October 1915) and retired from the business.<ref name="how_wrights" />
== Aftermath ==
The lawsuits damaged the public image of the Wright brothers, who previously had been generally regarded as heroes.<ref>McCullough, David G. The Wright Brothers pp 227-240, 251, Simon and Schuster, 2015. New York Times, June 11, 1909. New York Evening Telegram, September 29, 1909</ref> Critics said the brothers' actions may have
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040224013112/http://www.publichistory.org/reviews/View_Review.asp?DBID=102
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=February 24, 2004
|title=Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company: A Virtual Museum of Pioneer Aviation
|publisher=publichistory.org
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[[File:Sports Aviation - Issy-les-Moulineaux (10 septembre) - Le Blériot VIII … (7843390842).jpg|thumb|right|Blériot VIII with wingtip ailerons in September 1908]]
There are conflicting claims over who first invented the aileron as a method for lateral flight control. In 1868, before the advent of powered, heavier-than-air aircraft — and within eleven years distant in time from the birth of all three of the involved parties in the American lawsuit — English inventor [[Matthew Piers Watt Boulton]] first patented ailerons.<ref>F. Alexander Magoun & Eric Hodgins. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UnLVAAAAMAAJ A History of Aircraft], Whittlesey House, 1931, p.308.</ref><ref name="Aerospaceweb">[http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0103.shtml Origins of Control Surfaces], Aerospaceweb</ref><ref>Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=u4dTAAAAMAAJ Aviation: An Historical Survey From Its Origins To The End Of The Second World War], Science Museum, 2000, p.54, {{ISBN|1-900747-52-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-900747-52-3}}.</ref> Boulton's patent, No. 392, awarded in 1868 some 40 years before ailerons were 'reinvented', became forgotten until the aileron was in general use.<ref>[http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0133b.shtml M. P. W. Boulton and the Aileron], Aerospaceweb</ref> Aviation historian [[Charles Gibbs-Smith]] wrote in 1956 that if Boulton's ailerons had been revealed at the time of the Wright brothers' patent filings, the brothers might not have been able to claim priority of invention for lateral control of flying machines.<ref name=GibbsLetter>{{cite journal|journal=Flight |last=Gibbs-Smith |first= C.H. |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200598.html |title=Correspondence: The First Aileron |date=11 May 1956 |page=598 |publisher=FlightGlobal.com }}</ref> U.S. District Judge [[John R. Hazel]], who heard the Wright lawsuit against Curtiss, found to the contrary, ruling in 1913 that Boulton's "assertions and suggestions were altogether too conjectural to teach others how to reduce them to practice, and therefore his patent is not anticipatory."<ref>{{
American [[John J. Montgomery]] invented and experimented with controllable spring-loaded trailing edge "flaps" on his second glider (1885) for roll control. Roll control was later expanded on his third glider (1886) to rotation of the entire wing as a wingeron.<ref name="Harwood 2012">Harwood, CS and Fogel, GB "Quest for Flight: John J. Montgomery and the Dawn of Aviation in the West," University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.</ref> Later, Montgomery independently devised a system for wing warping, using model gliders first and then man-carrying machines with wing warping as early as 1903 through 1905 such as those used on ''The Santa Clara'' glider (1905). Montgomery patented this system of wing warping at precisely the same time as the Wrights,<ref>[
New Zealander [[Richard Pearse]] may have made a powered flight in a monoplane that included small ailerons as early as 1902, but his claims are controversial (and sometimes inconsistent), and, even by his own reports, his aircraft were not well controlled.
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* [[Elevator (aeronautics)]]
* [[George B. Selden#The Selden patent|Selden patent]] and [[Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers|ALAM]], major parties of another vehicular technology patent lawsuit of the same time period
* [[Frederick Perry Fish]]
== References ==
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[[Category:Discovery and invention controversies]]
[[Category:Wright brothers|Patent war]]
[[Category:Business rivalries]]▼
[[Category:Aviation history of the United States]]
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