Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone Patents Defended by U.S. Supreme Court

A copy of the March 7, 1879, U.S. Supreme Court decision defending the patent rights of Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922). 1p, measuring 8.5" x 13", Washington, D.C., dated March 7, 1879. Clerk John J. Davenport reported the decision of Morrison P. Waite, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who upheld the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell filed on March 7, 1876 (U.S. Patent No. 174,465) and January 30, 1877 (U.S. Patent No. 86,787). Accompanied by a large glossy black and white magazine page depicting Bell demonstrating the telephone for fascinated onlookers, measuring 8.5" x 13.5". The document has expected paper folds and a few scattered closed tears, several repaired verso. OVerall very fine. 

These patents had safeguarded Bell's rights to his miraculous new invention, the telephone, and any subsequent improvements to its technology. Bell's rights had been violated by New York telegrapher Jesse H. Bunnell (1843-1899).

Reading in part:

"To JESSE H. BUNNELL, his Clerks, Attorneys, Agents, Servants and Workmen, Greeting...Now, therefore, we do strictly command and enjoin you, the said JESSE H. BUNNELL, your clerks, attorneys, agents, servants and workmen, under the pains and penalties which may fall upon you, and each of you, in case of disobedience, that you forthwith and forever desist from making, using or vending any Telephones, or parts of Telephones, such as you, the said BUNNELL, have been making and selling, and which are fitted to be put together so as to form a Telephones, embracing the invention or improvements described and claimed in the said Letters Patent respectively, or in either of them…"

Alexander Graham Bell is most celebrated for his invention of the telephone, patented in the United States in 1876, and publicly demonstrated to great fanfare before members of Queen Victoria's court at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight on January 14, 1878. Bell was also an aeronautical engineer and teacher of the deaf. It has been argued that Bell's interest in communications technology is rooted in his family history. Since both his mother and wife were deaf, Bell understood the importance of accessible, free, and universal communication.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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