The Wright Lawsuit

Abstract

While the flights of the Wnght brothers over a century ago have enshnned their names m aeronautical history, only slightly less important are the lawsuits brought forth by the brothers m defense of thetr mvention. From 1906 to 1917 the Wnght brothers mamtatned a successful stranglehold on the development and production of the airplane m the United States. This paper exammes that history, the ensumg litigation, and the impact that the Wnght brothers actions had upon the readiness of the U.S. m World War I. The Wright Lawsuit The Wnght brothers were granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office m 1906 for a flymg machme (U.S. Patent No. 821,393, 1906). Thts patent was based on the application they had submitted m 1903 that had mcluded a detailed descnption and drawmgs oftherr control system as applied to a glider (Crouch, 1981). Therr application described wmg warpmg, as well as the entire system that allowed the arrcraft to be controlled m forward flight (Wnght & Wnght, 2011 ). The Wnghts had also stated m therr application that a feature like ailerons could provtde lateral control (U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2005). Obtatntng a patent meant that no one could copy the Wnghts' design without therr pemnss1on and without paymgthem a royalty. However, the success of the Wnghts' design, bolstered by Chanute's subsequent publication of therr achievements, proved impossible for other arrcraft designers to ignore. Furthermore, the concept of lateral control was so baste to any arrcraft design that, without it, no arrcraft could have flown successfully (Heppenheimer, 2003). Wright and Wright v. the World: A Primer After the success of the June Bug, the members of Alexander Graham Bell's Aenal Expenment Association designed and built its final arrplane, the Silver Dart. It was the first Amencan arrcraft built by a team other than the Wnght brothers that performed well enough to be considered a practical arrcraft(Goddard, 2003). Bell told the members that they had not trespassed on the Wnght patent. JAAER, Fall 2013 In the midst of these discussions, Curtiss received a telegram from Augustus Hemng suggesting that the two form a partnership to build airplanes (Shulman, 2002). Curtiss unveiled the Aeronautical Society machme, which he called the Golden Flyer, on June 16, 1909 flymg it from Moms Park m the Bronx. To further differentiate his arrplane designs and the Wnghts', he mounted ailerons between the wmgs of the biplane. On July 17, he flew the Golden Flyer for 25 miles and captured the Scientific Amencan Trophy for the second year m a row (Shulman, 2002). Thts exceeded the Wnghfs patience and Wilbur filed a patent-mfrmgement suit agamst Curtiss on August 16 and another on August 19 seekmg to prevent the Aeronautical Society from flymg the Golden Flyer (Banner, 2008). Curtiss' subsequent success at Rheims did little to assuage Wilbur's anger (Brady, 2000). The Wrights' Position: A Propositional Fallacy Because of the expenences and values gamed from therr clergyman father, the brothers could be best described as hyper-vigilant towards those whom they perceived as less ethically bound and therefore likely to steal therr mvention (Howard, 1988). This mmdset led to the selection of the isolation of Kitty Hawk, the silver pamt of the arrcraft, and the retreat to Dayton all founded m a belief that the press and public scrutiny would result ma loss of control oftherr design (Brady, 2000). Orville warned Curtiss on July 20, 1908, We do not mtend to give permission to use the patented features of our machines for exhtbitions or m a commercial way. [ ... ] If it is your desire to enter the