The role of patents in establishing global telecommunications

In the 21st century we have access to virtually instantaneous communications: for instance, our interaction with the Internet has given us unlimited opportunities unknown to our forefathers. It all began with telegraphy, an innovative application of new discoveries in electricity and electromagnetism in the early 19th century. From around 1840 electrical communication systems became highly commercialised and eventually very profitable, attracting entrepreneurs and inventors such as Wheatstone, Thomson, Bell, Edison and Marconi who, between them, revolutionised communication systems in the late 19th century and led to global telecommunications by the early 20th century. This paper explores the role of patents in driving this telecommunications revolution.