Apple Phone Patent War Like Sewing Machine Minus Violence

No one's accused Google Inc. (GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt of threatening to throw Steve Jobs down a flight of stairs.In other respects, Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s patent war inspired by its late co-founder against iPhone competitors using Google's Android system evokes an 1850s free-for-all among sewing machine makers, when Isaac Singer threatened violence after Elias Howe accused him of patent violations.The smartphone war including Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) and other rivals is the latest dispute over innovations that have transformed society since the Constitution established U.S. patent rights. Inventions of the telephone, the airplane and electric-power delivery all set off years-long clashes that featured larger-than-life characters, created fortunes, and altered the course of markets.
"When the founding fathers set it up, I don't think they were looking to foment litigation, but the inevitable outcome of a patent right is to keep other people from infringing," said Jesse Jenner, a partner at Ropes & Gray LLC in New York.The number of patents is soaring.This Beautiful Design Finally Fulfills the Washer's Round-Machine Destiny.Of more than 8.3 million U.S. patents since 1792, more than a quarter were issued after 2000.The proportion of lawsuits to patents has remained stable, said Zorina Khan, an economics professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and author of "The Democratization of Invention." The number of U.S. patent lawsuits filed has increased an average of 4.9 percent a year since 1991, while patents issued grew an average of 4.5 percent, according to a Sept. 12 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP study.
In recent years, there have been fights over diapers, air fresheners, oil drilling equipment, and one over heart devices that has lasted more than a decade. None of those got the attention that's being given to the smartphone wars, which have become fodder for late-night comedians or magazine covers. Still, the public interest isn't unprecedented: patent battles were front-page news a century ago."Everyone involved has been quite convinced, decade after decade, that the economy and innovation were being crushed by excessive litigation," Khan said.Orville and Wilbur Wright were accused of holding back the growth of aviation by demanding royalties from any airplane manufacturer or exhibitor. Glenn Curtiss, whose company in 1910 was one of the biggest aircraft makers, refused to pay, sparking a seven-year battle. It ended only when Congress forced a licensing agreement because the U.S. needed airplanes to fight World War I.