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Article: Cries to change patent law: Congress resumes hearings; Supreme Court considers three appeals.
- Article from:
- The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD)
- Article date:
- April 30, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Baltimore Sun. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Tricia Bishop
Apr. 30--Ma Gray?
That's how the nation's phone system might have been known had Alexander Graham Bell's lawyer stopped for brunch on the way to the U.S. patent office on Feb. 14, 1876.
Just hours after the inventor's attorney submitted Bell's telephone patent application that Valentine's Day, a comparable idea came in from Elisha Gray, who wrote of plans to "transmit the tones of the human voice ... so that actual conversations can be carried on by persons at long distances apart."
But he was too late. Bell had won the race, and eventually, the patent - along with its ability to exclude others from using like ...