The Wellman-Woodman Patent Controversy in the Cotton Textile Machinery Industry

Extract

When the Constitutional Fathers decided, during that hot summer of 1787, “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Time to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries,” they sought to establish a means of rewarding men for the products of their talent and ingenuity. But, in so doing, they also laid the groundwork for many a subsequent lawsuit. Not infrequently the true originator of an idea or device could not be easily determined. Often several inventors, though starting from different points, arrived almost simultaneously at similar discoveries.