On This Day in Telephone History September 12TH 1878 the Great Telephone Patent War began. On Valentine’s day in 1876 at the U.S. Patent and trademark office in Washington, DC, Elisha Gray filed a caveat entitled "transmitting vocal sounds telegraphically” and Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent application entitled "improvement in telegraphy". Although Elisha Gray entered the USPTO early in the morning when the office first opened for the day, and Bell's attorney arrived just before noontime, Bell’s entry was recorded as the 5th entry of that day while Gray’s entry was recorded as the 39th of that day. Additionally, the margin of Bell’s application contained artwork from Gray’s entry. Because of a non-existent rule referred to as “Time of Filing”, the USPTO awarded Bell with US patent number 174,465, the first patent for a telephone, instead of honoring Gray's filing. Subsequently, the Western Union Telegraph Company hired Elisha Gray to design and build telephones. On September 12th, 1878, The Bell Telephone Company initiated what became a decade long patent litigation battle against the Western Union Telegraph Company and Elisha Gray for patent infringement and won.

On This Day in Telephone History September 12TH 1878

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On This Day in Telephone History September 12TH 1878 the Great Telephone Patent War began. On Valentine’s day in 1876 at the U.S. Patent and trademark office in Washington, DC, Elisha Gray filed a caveat entitled “transmitting vocal sounds telegraphically” and Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent application entitled “improvement in telegraphy”. Although Elisha Gray entered the USPTO early in the morning when the office first opened for the day, and Bell’s attorney arrived just before noontime, Bell’s entry was recorded as the 5th entry of that day while Gray’s entry was recorded as the 39th of that day. Additionally, the margin of Bell’s application contained artwork from Gray’s entry. Because of a non-existent rule referred to as “Time of Filing”, the USPTO awarded Bell with US patent number 174,465, the first patent for a telephone, instead of honoring Gray’s filing.