60 Minutes and the Atlantic , recently reported that the original copy of the patent awarded to the Wright Bros( for a "Flying Machine" ) is currently missing. As you can see below, the current format of patents has changed very little in the 106 years since the Wright Bros received their notice of allowance.
In fact, many of the issues surrounding the Wright Patent are relevant to conversations we are still having today.
It took the patent office nearly 3 years to grant a patent on something so innovative as a FLYING MACHINE. While the concept of actual controlled flight was not a physical impossibility in 1903, it was clearly considered an engineering problem of supreme difficulty. Everyone who has seen the sepia-toned films of various failed flying machines ( here) could reasonably say that the below patent was "obvious". Yet, the patent office did believe that there was prior art that diminished the novelty and non-obviousness. Any patent attorney or inventor can relate to the frustration of having the patent office take 3 years to issue a patent on truly innovative technology.
Of greater importance to current state of Patent Opinion and Policy, is the fact that as soon as the Wright Bros got their patent, they engaged in a series of brutal and drawn out patent litigations against their competitors. At the time, opponents of the Wright Bros claimed that enforcement of the patent monopoly was a hindrance to the development of aerial technology. Furthermore, distinguished inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell (himself an avid patent-er) called for the reform of the patent system to limit the "abuse" of men like the Wrights.
Sound familiar.
Anti-software advocates like to stress their opposition to only a certain class of patents, arguing that mechanical and pharmaceutics don't need patent reform. They argue that the actions of software companies and non-practicing entities are somehow new. That the system was never designed to handle these sorts of "abuses." That technology can not progress unless they are unshackled from the rules.
However, the Wright Patent Wars serves as a lesson. In spite of all the dread supposedly to come to american aeronautical progress, American companies still lead the world in aviation. Additionally, the chief target of Wright's Patent wrath, the aviation company founded by Glen Curtis, is still in operation. The Wrights and their company "The Wright Company", after the expiration of their monopolies, were passed by nimbler, more innovative companies. Eventually, Wright Company merged, 2 decades after the Wright Patent Wars - into a new company with their old rival Curtis. Together they formed a small aeronautics company. The Curtis-Wright Company doesn't dominate the international aerospace market.
The larger point is that the world moved on. The patents, documented for all time (although missing) serve as a official record of innovation at a glance, but only at a glance. Patents or not - innovation constantly moves on.
