[SIGCIS-Members] A paper on Konrad Zuse and Percy Ludgate

Fri Apr 5 09:23:44 PDT 2024

Not finding materials does not mean they don't exist, just that they (1)
have not been found or (2) are kept in the offices and files of corporate
lawyers and the firms with which they outsourced patent work (a very common
practice).

 JimCortada

On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 11:06 AM Julie Cohn via Members <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> Brian - your finding - or lack thereof - is interesting in and of itself.
> Thoughts about why? -Julie
>
> Julie Cohn, Ph.D.
>
> Non-Resident Scholar, Center for Energy Studies
> Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, and
> Research Historian, Center for Public History
> University of Houston
>
> https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/julie-cohn
> email: cohnconnor at gmail.com
> cell: 713.516.0849
>
> Author: *T**he Grid: Biography of an American Technology** (MIT Press,
> 2017)*
> https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/grid
>
>
> On Apr 5, 2024, at 5:59 AM, Brian Randell via Members <
> members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Evan:
>
> Many thanks to you and the others who have sent us encouraging comments
> about our paper, either via SIGCIS or by direct email.
>
> I strongly agree with your suggestion that  “There could be a paper on
> the topic of failed patent defences in computer history”. However, this
> would need expertise in patent law and literature, so is not something I or
> my colleagues would attempt.
>
> We did search for relevant online material about computer patents, but
> just about everything we found was either about software patenting, or just
> the ENIAC patent dispute – we failed to find anything useful about the
> overall roles that patents played during the development of the early
> computers and the beginnings of the computer industry, in any country.
>
> Cheers
>
> Brian
>
> —
>
> School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle
> upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
> URL =  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html
>
>
> On 28/03/2024, 13:28, "Evan Koblentz" <evank at njit.edu> wrote:
>
> Hello Brian,
> Excellent reading!
> There could be a paper on the topic of failed patent defenses in computer
> history. Comparing Triumph vs. Zuse and Honeywell vs. Rand might be
> especially interesting.
>
> --
> Evan Koblentz
> New Jersey Institute of Technology
> - Senior Writer, Office of Communications and Marketing
> - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing
> - Faculty/Staff Advisor, NJIT Lego Club
> evank at njit.edu <mailto:evank at njit.edu>
> (973) 596-3065
> https://web.njit.edu/~evank <https://web.njit.edu/~evank/>
>
>
>
>
> On 3/28/24 6:19 AM, Brian Randell via Members wrote:
>
> Dear SIGCIS: I trust I might be permitted to publicise here the fact that
> the paper: "How Percy Ludgate’s 1909 paper (and IBM) helped thwart Konrad
> Zuse’s Computer Patent in 1960" by Brian Coghlan, Ralf Buelow and myself
> has been
>
> Dear SIGCIS:
>
> I trust I might be permitted to publicise here the fact that the paper:
>
> "How Percy Ludgate’s 1909 paper (and IBM) helped thwart Konrad Zuse’s
> Computer Patent in 1960"
>
> by Brian Coghlan, Ralf Buelow and myself has been accepted for publication
> in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. It is due to appear in
> Volume 46, Issue 3, July-September 2024.
>
> Paper Abstract:
>
> "This investigation outlines how Percy Ludgate’s 1909 paper describing his
> design for a mechanical computer, his “Analytical Machine”, was used in
> 1960 by a German patent attorney to thwart Konrad Zuse’s computer patent,
> just in time, as the patent (first applied for on 16th June 1941), was
> about to be granted. This narrative is then followed by analyses of, and
> discovery of proof of, the role of IBM in preventing Zuse from getting what
> would have been the premier patent on the concept of a programmable
> computer, and then by an exploration of how information about Ludgate’s
> 1909 paper was found by (or for) the opposing German patent attorney."
>
> The accepted paper is available online at:
> https://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk131.html<
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk131.html__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-A0ySd2RE$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk131.html__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-A0ySd2RE$>
> >
> In addition, English translations of all the relevant Zuse patent
> litigation documents are provided onlne (side-by-side with transcriptions
> of the German originals from the ZIB.de <http://zib.de/><
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ZIB.de__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-AVjGhNW8$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/ZIB.de__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-AVjGhNW8$>>
> Zuse Archive file as interleaved PDF documents), together with a large
> number of other supporting documents, at:
> https://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk610.html<
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk610.html__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-A1AL-4cc$
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/ludgate/lnk610.html__;!!DLa72PTfQgg!Jhyad10DYlVOoIhqVZZA5iRZs8-2WgSHhPRrg1EetT9B2y2laW9tf_CxITrpdvuWUY91MVTBQ2-A1AL-4cc$>
> >
>
> Quoting from our paper's Concluding Remarks:
> "The very fact that Ludgate’s 1909 paper on his Analytical Machine was
> employed to thwart Zuse’s attempt to patent the computer refutes the
> prevalent assumption that Ludgate had no influence on modern computing, and
> that his work is just of historical interest. Whatever the scale of their
> influence, patents can impact the commercial activities in the sector they
> apply to. Hence Ludgate’s paper clearly did have a potential influence on
> the commercial future of computers, even if his work was unknown to the
> developers of the early electronic computers. However, we have deliberately
> avoided speculating on the types or the extent of the possible commercial
> consequences, either to Zuse’s company, or to the rest of the computer
> industry, of the thwarting of Zuse’s attempts to obtain what would have
> been the first patent on a programmable computer."
>
> We would however be interested to receive informed comments on this issue,
> and also suggestions as to any further avenues we might pursue in
> attempting to identify exactly how information on Ludgate's work reached
> the opposing patent attorney.
>
> Cheers
>
> Brian Randell
>
>
> —
>
> School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle
> upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk <mailto:Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk> PHONE =
> +44 191 208 7923
>
>
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> >
>
>
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-- 
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
jcortada at umn.edu
608-274-6382
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