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Galileo Presents One of the First Records of Litigation over an Invention

1607
The Richard Green copy of the first edition of Galileo's work that sold at Christie's in New York for $230,500 in 2008. 

The Richard Green copy of the first edition of Galileo's work that sold at Christie's in New York for $230,500 in 2008. (I was instrumental in building the Richard Green collection and brought the sale to Christie's for auction.)

In 1607 Galileo Galilei issued from Venice at the press of Tomaso Baglioni Difesa di Galileo Galilei ... contro alle calumnie & imposture di Baldessar Capra. This booklet published the transcript of the trial resulting from the lawsuit that Galileo successfully brought against Baldessar Capra for copying the proportional and military compass that Galileo had invented. It was among the first, if not the very first, record of litigation over an invention, and most certainly the first litigation in the history of computing.

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