4 ms·

The Wright brothers were the original patent trolls and they held up US aviation for decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war https://e

The Wright brothers were the original patent trolls and they held up US aviation for decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war They would file and stretch their patents to try and cover what others invented.

okareaman 6y ago
This is a disputed claim according to your wikipedia link
- aurizon 6y ago
  It is true!!. A dispute that had no basis. If they had asked reasonable royalties it would have been OK, but they refused to licence many makers - yet they failed to make their own planes in volume for related bad business reasons. Did you read where the early USAF on that era was forced to buy French a dn British planes due to the bad management by the Wrights
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    Yes, the Wrights were poor businessmen. That does not take away from their great success at flight. They still managed to become wealthy.
WalterBright 6y ago
> The Wright brothers were the original patent trolls Edison was not only a patent troll, but was besieged by other patent trolls. He spent much of his career in court defending his patents and trying to overturn others.
- aurizon 6y ago
  Do you even know what a patent troll is? Edison actually invented many items that he patented and defended against infringers (and he trod on a few others patents). Usually a patent troll has never registered a patent. He buys patent rights to any and all things he can get very cheaply, He then has all the claims assessed to see if there is a fragment that applies to any company that uses that technology - and writes a demand letter for infringement fees. They often ask for $10,000 to $25,000 and many companies who are faced with hiring lawyers and spending $500,000 in even a winning defence - choose to pay it. The trolls live on these fees. I could live well on one letter a month. The troll has low costs, a copy of Word on a computer abd a printer + postage and often send hundreds of letters a day. Read this. https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=newegg https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=newegg
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    I used the term in the sense of the article I replied to said: > They would file and stretch their patents to try and cover what others invented. It's definitely what Edison did and what others tried to do to him. Nothing the Wrights did in regard to patents was new.

okareaman 6y ago

This is a disputed claim according to your wikipedia link

aurizon 6y ago
It is true!!. A dispute that had no basis. If they had asked reasonable royalties it would have been OK, but they refused to licence many makers - yet they failed to make their own planes in volume for related bad business reasons. Did you read where the early USAF on that era was forced to buy French a dn British planes due to the bad management by the Wrights
- WalterBright 6y ago
  Yes, the Wrights were poor businessmen. That does not take away from their great success at flight. They still managed to become wealthy.

WalterBright 6y ago

> The Wright brothers were the original patent trolls Edison was not only a patent troll, but was besieged by other patent trolls. He spent much of his career in court defending his patents and trying to overturn others.

aurizon 6y ago
Do you even know what a patent troll is? Edison actually invented many items that he patented and defended against infringers (and he trod on a few others patents). Usually a patent troll has never registered a patent. He buys patent rights to any and all things he can get very cheaply, He then has all the claims assessed to see if there is a fragment that applies to any company that uses that technology - and writes a demand letter for infringement fees. They often ask for $10,000 to $25,000 and many companies who are faced with hiring lawyers and spending $500,000 in even a winning defence - choose to pay it. The trolls live on these fees. I could live well on one letter a month. The troll has low costs, a copy of Word on a computer abd a printer + postage and often send hundreds of letters a day. Read this. https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=newegg https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=newegg
- WalterBright 6y ago
  I used the term in the sense of the article I replied to said: > They would file and stretch their patents to try and cover what others invented. It's definitely what Edison did and what others tried to do to him. Nothing the Wrights did in regard to patents was new.