A Tangled Tale of the Wright Bros., Attorney Selden and Mr. Ford

Squabbles concerning intellectual property are nothing new. At the turn of the last century, it was George B. Selden vs. the automakers, the Wright Bros. vs. Glenn Curtiss—and Henry Ford was in the thick of both. Our historical diversion here is amplification of a piece ¹ first appearing in Road & Track magazine. It examines the patent fights occurring with these fledgling technologies and several remarkable parallels that existed between them. The early SAE was strengthened through resolution of one of these squabbles. The other one continues to simmer to this day.