Against many odds, Orville and Wilbur Wright solved the difficult challenge of powered flight. For their invention, the US government awarded the brothers US Patent #821393A in May 1906.
A patent was a major prize for the brothers and likely an important motivation for their years-long efforts. Such motivation is at the heart of the US patent system as enshrined in the US Constitution.
Article I Section 8 | Clause 8 of the Constitution is known as the Patent and Copyright Clause, which reads that Congress shall have power “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
One might argue that this clause did its job and encouraged the brothers to develop their Wright Flyer.
Unfortunately, it also encouraged the brothers to become the first “patent trolls.”
AI rendering of Orville and Wilbur Wright as “patent trolls.”
This term is a derogatory term used today to describe individuals who control patents to use them as weapons to sue competitors–or merely threaten to sue–for infringement not only to protect the rightful monopoly on claims violations but to discourage competition with a broader scope than within the patent claims.
As this Time article suggests, their invention not only enabled them to achieve the long-sought-after goal of powered flight but “also propelled them, over the decade to come, into courtrooms throughout Europe and North America.”
The article continues. “In the courts, the Wright brothers waged a prolonged, embarrassing and largely unsuccessful battle against other early aviators over who owned the aeronautical principles that made flight possible.”
The “patent wars”–as the events came to be known–set back American aviation for decades while Europe, particularly France, continued to innovate and lead the way in aircraft technology. By the First World War, American aviation was wholly unprepared for the Great War while European powers had the clear advantage.
As this Atlantic article points out, there’s a case to be made that the US patent system may have outlived its usefulness.
While the potential for a “golden ticket” motivates inventors, the back side of patent trolling is destructive to further innovation and can stall an industry. Maybe it’s time we rethink our patent system.