Famous Patents Drafted by GW Alumni
This page seeks to honor the achievements of GW Law alums who have spent some or all of their careers in intellectual property law. Our first project has been to collect landmark patents written by GW Law alumni. The results -- encompassing many of the highlights of technological progress in the last 130 years -- are posted below. There are many other achievements we have yet to chronicle -- more recent patent prosecutions (more difficult to attribute to an individual due to the proliferation of large firms), and achievements in patent litigation, in the Patent and Trademark Office, and in trademark and copyright law. If you have any contributions -- either your own achievements or those of others -- please e-mail Professor Robert Brauneis at [email protected].
Landmark Patents Written by GW Law Alumni
| Decade | Invention | Inventor | Attorney | Patent Number | Date Issued |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | Telephone | Alexander Graham Bell | Marcellus Bailey, Class of 1866 | 174,465 | March 7, 1876 |
| 1880s | Linotype Machine | Ottmar Mergenthaler | Philip Tell Dodge, Class of 1873 | 317,828 | May 12, 1885 |
| Calculating Machine | William S. Burroughs | Frank Leslie Freeman, Class of 1877 | 388,116 | August 21, 1888 | |
| Roll Film Camera | George Eastman |
Melville Church, Class of 1879 (later professor at GW) Frederick F. Church, Class of 1886 |
395,782 | September 4, 1888 | |
| Punch-Card Tabulator | Herman Hollerith |
Melville Church, Class of 1879 (later professor at GW) Frederick F. Church, Class of 1886 |
395,782 | January 8, 1889 | |
| 1890s | Process of Extracting Bromide | Hermert Henry Dow | Leverett Lyndon Leggett, Class of 1875 | Reissue No. 11,232 | Reissued April 12, 1892 |
| Carborundum | Edward Goodrich Acheson | Frank Leslie Freeman, Class of 1877 | 492,767 | February 28, 1893 | |
| Alternating Current Electric Distribution | Charles Proteus Steinmetz | George R. Blodgett, Class of 1887 | 533,244 | January 29, 1895 | |
| Dirigible (Zeppelin) | Ferdinand Graf Zeppelin | Hubert Howson, Class of 1877 | 621,195 | March 14, 1899 | |
| 1900s | Flying Machine | Orville Wright; Wilbur Wright | Harry Aubrey Toulmin, Class of 1882 (National) | 821,393 | May 22, 1906 |
| Triode Vacuum Tube | Lee DeForest | George K. Woodworth, Class of 1901 (National) | 841,387 | January 16, 1907 | |
| Space Telegraphy (Radio) | Lee DeForest | George K. Woodworth, Class of 1901 (National) | 879,532 | February 18, 1908 | |
| 1910s | Seaplane | Glenn H. Curtiss | Emerson Root Newell, LLM 1896; MPL 1897 | 1,156,215 | October 12, 1915 |
| 1920s | Improved Phonograph | Thomas Alva Edison | Henry Lanahan, Class of 1910 | 1,708,692 | April 9, 1929 |
| 1930s | Nylon | Wallace Hume Carothers | Ralph F. Miller, Class of 1924 | 2,071,250 | February 16, 1937 |
| Negative Feedback Amplifier | Harold Stephen Black | Newton A. Burgess, Class of 1911 | 2,102,671 | December 21, 1937 | |
| 1940s | Variable Frequency Oscillation Generator | William R. Hewlett | Paul D. Fleher, Class of 1925 | 2,268,872 | January 6, 1942 |
| Control Mechanism for Rockets | Robert Hutchings Goddard | Charles Taft Hawley, Class of 1913 | 2,397,657 | April 2, 1946 | |
| 1950s | Geodesic Dome |
Richard Buckminster Fuller |
Charles P. Pollard, Class of 1931; Albert C. Johnston, Class of 1934 | 2,682,235 |
December 12, 1951 |
| Nuclear Reactor | Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard | Robert A. Lavender, Class of 1927 | 2,708,656 | May 17, 1955 | |
| 1960s | Tunnel Diode | Leo Ezaki | Lewis Steadman, Class of 1951 | 3,033,714 | May 8, 1962 |
| Astroturf | James M. Faria, Robert T. Wright | Roy H. Massengill, Class of 1963 | 3,332,828 | July 25, 1967 | |
| 1970s | Computer Mouse | Douglas C. Engelbart | Arthur Freilich, Class of 1960 | 3,541,541 | November 17, 1970 |
| Fiber Optics (Fused Silica Optical Waveguide) | Robert D. Maurer, Peter C. Schultz | Clarence R. Patty, Jr., Class of 1950 | 3,659,915 |
May 2, 1972 |
|
|
Miniature Electronic Calculator |
Jack S. Kilby, Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel | Harold Levine, Class of 1958; Edward Connors, Jr., LLM 1962 |
3,819,921 |
June 25, 1974 |
|
|
Parallel Processing Supercomputer |
Seymour Cray |
Robert M. Angus, Class of 1966 |
3,833,889 |
September 3. 1974 |
|
| CAT-Scan Machine | Robert S. Ledley | Edward E. Dyson, Class of 1966 | 3,922,552 | November 25, 1975 | |
| 1980s | Process for Producing Biologically Functional Molecular Chimeras | Stanley N. Cohen, Herbert W. Boyer | Bertram I. Rowland, Class of 1961 | 4,237,224 |
December 2, 1980 |
| Oil-Eating Bacteria (B. cepacia) | Ananda Chakrabarty | James C. Davis, Jr., Class of 1963 | 4,259,444 | March 31, 1981 | |
|
Prozac (Arloxyphenyl- propylamines) |
Bryan B. Molloy, Klaus K. Schmiegel | Arthur R. Whale, Class of 1956 |
4,314,081 |
February 2, 1982 | |
| Medeco Biaxial Cylinder Lock | Roy N. Oliver | G. Franklin Rothwell, Class of 1956 | 4,635,455 | January 13, 1987 | |
| Multigrade Asphalt | Anthony J. Kriech, Herbert L. Wissel | Arthur R. Whale, Class of 1956 | 4,874,432 | October 17, 1989 | |
| 2000s | Tissue Growth Technique ("Guided Development and Support of Hydrogel-Cell Compositions") | Charles A. Vacanti, Joseph P. Vacanti, Martin P. Vacanti | Peter J. Fasse, Class of 1987 | 6,171,610 | January 9, 2001 |
| 2010s | CRISPR-CAS Systems and Methods for Altering Expression of Gene Products | Feng Zhang | Smitha B. Uthaman, Class of 2017 | 8,697,359 | April 15, 2014 |
