TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: AT&T Licensed the Transistor For Free

AT&T Licensed the Transistor For Free

hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
17 May 2005 07:15:49 -0700

From time to time critics of the old Bell System gripe that the
company was "guaranted profits" by the regulators and as such, owed
something back to the community.

Aside from the fact that regulation actually limited profits, AT&T was
indeed required to give things back. One of which was the rights to
its invention of the transistor, which were available free of charge.
(Per Ziff-Davis history).

I had always wondered why AT&T never seemed to make any money from the
invention of the transistor.

I presume other Bell Labs patents were also available free; indeed, I
never knew of AT&T making money from licensing its many inventions.
It appears patents were more for freedom of use than profit. IBM
adopted a similar policy in the 1950s. Both did so from anti-trust
settlements.

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