Says Marconi Ideas Made Wireless.

New York Times 100 years ago today, June 20, 1913:
Expert Witness Testifies That the Inventor Established a Utility.
HE DESCRIBES THE PATENTS
Defendants Say That If Contentions Are Sustained Monopoly Will Be Established.
    Expert testimony, reviewing the history, of wireless telegraphy from the time of the experiments of Sir Oliver Lodge of England, Hertz, the German scientist, and Prof. Popoff of Russia, offered with the idea of showing the achievements accomplished by William Marconi, was introduced yesterday before Judge Veeder in the United States District Court, Brooklyn, at the trial of an injunction and damage suit brought by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America against the National Electric Signaling Company of Pittsburgh, Penn.
    Marconi, the inventor, who says that his patent rights are infringed by the defendants, sat near his attractive-looking young wife. Both listened attentively to every word spoken by Frank L. Waterman, an expert in patents and regarded as an authority on matters relating to wireless telegraphy. According to the witness, Marconi's improvements on the theories of Hertz and the other scientists in wireless telegraphy are new. The inventor, according to the witness, not only made wireless practicable, but through his inventions it became a commercial utility.
    Waterman was the first witness called by the attorneys for Marconi in behalf of the inventor. His testimony took up the entire session yesterday afternoon. The court and spectators were interested in an account of the experiments of Sir Oliver Lodge, who demonstrated the fact that electricity could be sent across space as well as stored. The testimony of what Lodge and his contemporaries have accomplished was offered to show that it had something to do with the wireless achievements of to-day.
    The witness in his account of the development in wireless communication got down to the time of the first patents filed by Marconi, in 1896. This part of the testimony was of a technical nature. He described the inventions of Marconi covered by the patents of 1896, such as the transmitting station having an upright vertical insulated wire, the device for detecting the Hertzian waves with grounding connections, and the receiving station with its upright vertical insulated wire connected with an apparatus to render the signaling intelligible.
    This part of the testimony is the beginning of an account of the Marconi patents, based on improvements by this modern inventor which have caused millions of dollars to be invested in commercialized wireless communication. That Marconi's ideas alone made wireless practicable and a utility was the opinion of the witness. He had reached the stage of the first patents of the inventor when court was adjourned for the day. His testimony will be resumed when the trial is continued at 10 o'clock this morning.
    Marconi told his life story on the witness stand on Wednesday — how he developed wireless from a mere toy when he sent messages a few feet across a table on his father's estate in Italy, to the immense distances he has achieved at the present time. In support of his claim to the sole use of his patent rights experts are ready to testify for him.
    When he was asked what he had to say concerning an author whose work contradicted him in some ways, he said:
    "If I followed the formula of a man, and repeated experiments showed results were not satisfactory to me, I would differ with him on that particular point, no matter how eminent an authority he might be."
    So absorbed was Marconi in catching every word of testimony and everything said by lawyers and the court at the trial that he was eager to get to his seat beside Mrs. Marconi when court reconvened, after a few minutes' adjournment during the afternoon session. In the brief time he met the reporters he was asked if he was working on new inventions.
    "I am always working," he replied, with a smile, as he caught the announcement from the Court Clerk that recess was over, and walked to the front of the court room.
    Not the least important person in the court room was Mrs. Marconi. During the trial of the case in the last few days she has been an attentive listener. Especially interested in her husband's story of his achievements, she expressed confidence in the outcome of the trial in his favor.
    "I think he will win," she said, "and he ought to. I believe that a man who obtains a patent on his ideas is the man who deserves all the credit for what those ideas have accomplished rather than a person who improves on the patent."
    Marconi did not testify yesterday. He may be called to the witness stand again on Monday.
    From present indications, the trial will continue for several days. In support of the contentions of the defendants that they have the right to improve on Marconi's ideas just as he improved on the ideas of the scientists from whom he derived his inspirations, they will call witnesses to testify in their behalf. It is not denied by them that they have profited by the Marconi inventions, but they say that their wireless expert, R. A. Fessenden should be entitled to the same privilege as Marconi had of improving on the ideas and theories of others.
    It is alleged by the defendants that a decision of the court in favor of the plaintiffs would confer a complete monopoly of wireless telegraphy. Such a decision, they say, would affect wireless plants in every part of the country, including the government plant at Arlington.