The Telephone Cases
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 24–28, 31, February 1–4, 7–8, 1887 Decided March 19, 1888
Full case name	Dolbear v. American Bell Telephone Company; Molecular Telephone Company v. American Bell Telephone Company; American Bell Telephone Company v. Molecular Telephone Company; Clay Commercial Telephone Company v. American Bell Telephone Company; People's Telephone Company v. American Bell Telephone Company; Overland Telephone Company v. American Bell Telephone Company
Citations	126 U.S. 1 (more)
Holding
The Bell Company patent was valid and that the Molecular case was reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan T. Stanley Matthews · Horace Gray Samuel Blatchford · Lucius Q.C. Lamar II
Case opinions
Majority	Waite, joined by Miller, Matthews, Blatchford
Dissent	Bradley, joined by Field, Harlan
Gray, Lamar took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

The Telephone Cases were a series of U.S. court cases in the 1870s and 1880s related to the invention of the telephone, which culminated in the 1888 decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the priority of the patents belonging to Alexander Graham Bell. Those telephone patents were relied on by the American Bell Telephone Company and the Bell System –although they had also acquired critical microphone patents from Emile Berliner.

The objector (or plaintiff) in the notable Supreme Court case was initially the Western Union telegraph company, which was at the time a far larger and better financed competitor than American Bell Telephone. Western Union advocated several more recent patent claims of Daniel Drawbaugh, Elisha Gray, Antonio Meucci and Philip Reis in a bid to invalidate Alexander Graham Bell's master and subsidiary telephone patents dating back to March 1876. Had Western Union succeeded it would have immediately destroyed the Bell Telephone Company and then Western Union stood to become the world's largest telecommunications monopoly in Bell's place.

The U.S. Supreme Court came within one vote of overturning the Bell patent, thanks to the eloquence of lawyer Lysander Hill for the Peoples Telephone Company.^[1] In a lower court, the Peoples Telephone Company stock rose briefly during the early proceedings, but dropped after their claimant Daniel Drawbaugh took the stand and drawled: "I don’t remember how I came to it. I had been experimenting in that direction. I don’t remember of getting at it by accident either. I don’t remember of anyone talking to me of it".^[1]

In this case the court Affirmed several other lower court cases Dolbear et al. v American Bell Tel. Co., 15 Fed. Rep 448, 17 Fed. Rep. 604, Molecular Te. Co. et al. v American Bell Tel. Co 32 Fed. Rep 214, People's Tel. Co. et al. v American Bell Tel. Co., 22 Fed. Rep. 309 and 25 Fed. Rep. 725. Well reversing American Bell Tel Co. et al. v Molecular Tel. Co et al. 32 Fed Rep. 214.

Bell’s second fundamental patent expired on January 30, 1894, at which time the gates were then opened to independent telephone companies to compete with the Bell System. In all, the American Bell Telephone Company and its successor, AT&T, litigated 587 court challenges to its patents including five that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and aside from two minor contract lawsuits, never lost a single one that was concluded with a final stage judgment.^[1][2]

Notable cases[link]

Among the notable court cases involving the Bell Telephone Company, later renamed to the American Bell Telephone Company, were those related to challenges by Elisha Gray, a principle in Western Electric, as depicted in the Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy.

Additionally the Bell Company became embroiled in a number of challenges from those companies associated with Antonio Meucci, as shown in the Canadian Parliamentary Motion on Alexander Graham Bell.

See also[link]

• Alexander Graham Bell
• Bell Telephone Company
• Bell Telephone Memorial, a major monument dedicated to the invention of the telephone
• Canadian Parliamentary Motion on Alexander Graham Bell
• Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy
• Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first president of the Bell Telephone Company
• History of the telephone
• Timeline of the telephone
• Western Union

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

External links[link]

• Volume 126, Supreme Court Judgment 126 U.S. 1 Dolbear v. American Bell etc at Open Jurist
• Volume 126, Supreme Court Judgment 126 U.S. 1 Dolbear v. American Bell etc at Justia
• Legat, V. 1862. Reproducing sounds on extra galvanic way [cited March 26, 2006]. Available Litigation Series – Telephone Interferences: Edison Exhibits contained within:
  • Legat, Wilhelm von (1862) Litigation Series – Telephone Interferences: Edison Exhibits, which covers: (Reis, Philip) Telephone; Sound and Acoustics; Thomas Edison National Historical Park, [TI2459; TAEM 11:635]. Quote:

"The Edison National Historical Park (ENHP) archives has seven bound volumes and one pamphlet of Patent Office proceedings relating to conflicting claims over who invented the telephone. Four of these volumes contain the record of a group of interferences entitled Cases A through L and Case No. 1. The disputant parties were Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, A. E. Dolbear, J. W. McDonough, George B. Richmond, William L. Voelker, J. H. Irwin, and Francis Blake, Jr. Although Edison's preliminary statements were filed in September 1878, testimony was not taken until 1880. This record was printed in 1881. The second volume contains Edison's exhibits, including photo-lithographs of laboratory drawings, patents and patent applications, and newspaper and journal articles. The drawings have exhibit numbers corresponding to a page/volume numbering scheme used by Edison and his patent attorney Lemuel W. Serrell in 1880 when Edison's technical notes and drawings were numbered and examined for possible inclusion as exhibits in these interferences. Many of the documents in this numbered series were not selected as exhibits; they remain in the archives at the Edison National Historical Park...."

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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2009)

Peter Case (born April 5, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has had a wide-ranging career ranging from new wave music to folk rock to solo acoustic performance.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Case was born in Buffalo, New York and lived in nearby Hamburg. A veteran of several rock bands and the local bar scene as a teenager, Case dropped out of high school when he was fifteen (he would later earn a GED), and after several years of traveling arrived in 1973 in San Francisco, where he performed as a street musician. During this period a documentary about the local music scene, Nightshift, directed by Bert Deivert, captured the young Case on film. In 1976, he teamed up with Jack Lee and Paul Collins in to form the early new wave band The Nerves in San Francisco. The group's 1976 single, "Hanging on the Telephone", was later recorded by Blondie.

When the Nerves disbanded, Case moved to Los Angeles and formed the pop-rock band The Plimsouls in 1980. The Plimsouls found a measure of success when their songs "A Million Miles Away," "The Oldest Story in the World," and "Play the Breaks" were featured in the movie Valley Girl, but by that time the group had already broken up. Case briefly toured with Gurf Morlix, Victoria Williams (Case's first wife), and Warren Tornado Klein as the Incredibly Strung Out Band, but their collaboration never resulted in a record.

Solo career[link]

Case struck out on his own with a self-titled album released in 1986 on Geffen Records. Produced by T-Bone Burnett and Mitchell Froom, the record included three songs co-written by Burnett and one by Victoria Williams, and also featured the talents of Williams, Morlix, Klein, Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), John Hiatt, Jim Keltner, Jerry Marotta, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds), and Van Dyke Parks, among others. One of the songs on the album, "Old Blue Car", was nominated for a Grammy award.

In 1989, Case released a second solo disc, The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar, this time with the help of artists like David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Ry Cooder, and Benmont Tench. While not a major commercial success, the album was a favorite of critics and other musicians: Bruce Springsteen told Rolling Stone magazine that he was listening to Peter Case more than anyone else that year.

In 1992, Case scored a radio hit with the song "Dream About You", which peaked at #16 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock charts.^[2] After a third album for Geffen, Six Pack of Love, and a live album of cover versions, Peter Case Sings Like Hell, which was released on Case's own Travelin' Light label, Case signed a contract with Vanguard Records. His first Vanguard record, Torn Again, was issued in 1995.

In 1996, the Plimsouls reunited for the first of several reunions. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, Case continued to release discs as a solo performer, moving in an increasingly acoustic-oriented direction, and playing clubs and small venues. Torn Again was followed by Full Service No Waiting (1998), Flying Saucer Blues (2000), and Beeline (2002) all on Vanguard, in addition to Thank You St. Jude (2001), a self-released CD that featured David Perales on fiddle and background vocals.

In 2004 Vanguard released Who's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile, a compilation of tracks from his albums for the label, which also included two previously unrecorded songs, "Wake Up Call" and "My Generation's Golden Handcuff Blues". Both tracks gave evidence of Case's strongly held political convictions.

Case is an active musicologist; in the late 1990s, he curated the musical program for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In 2001, he organized, produced, and performed on Avalon Blues, a tribute album to blues music pioneer Mississippi John Hurt, which was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Case also had the chance to perform Beatles songs at the Hollywood Bowl with Sir George Martin. He frequently conducts songwriting workshops in California, where he now resides, and in other locations. Case's solo performances have featured his own compositions as well as covers of songs by Memphis Minnie, Sleepy John Estes, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others.

In February 2006, Hungry for Music, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, released a three-disc tribute to Case, entitled A Case for Case; the set featured cover versions of Case's songs performed by various artists, including John Prine, Susan Cowsill, and others.

In 2006 Case began posting on his blog sections of a memoir entitled As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport, which was subsequently issued in book form in January 2007 by everthemore books. The memoir covers Case’s very early days from the time he left his native upstate New York and wound up singing and playing on the streets of San Francisco. This period inspired some of his most memorable songs, including "Entella Hotel "and "Travellin’ Light." John Doe, co-leader of the Los Angeles punk band X, contributed an introduction to the book. Case has continued to write and post autobiographical additional material.

On December 6, 2007, Case's Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Traditional Folk Album category.

In January 2009, Case underwent heart surgery, leading to fund raising efforts by other musicians to help defray his medical costs.^[3] Case's latest project, Wig!, is a CD/LP released on June 29, 2010 by Yep Roc Records.

Reunion tribute tour[link]

In 2012, longtime musical partners Peter Case and Paul Collins announced a reunion tour paying tribute to their groups The Nerves, The Breakaways, The Beat and The Plimsouls. The touring band lineup for the Collins and Case tour was augmented by members of The Paul Collins Beat (Timm Buechler, bass, and Amos Pitsch, drums, and Tim Schweiger, a veteran musician who also tours with Tommy Stinson of The Replacements and Guns N' Roses). According to the L.A. Times Music Blog of March 22, 2012, the tour "fell apart" early due to "musical differences".^[4]

Discography[link]

• Peter Case, 1986 album
• Fast Folk: Los Angeles, 1988 compilation
• The Man with the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar, 1989 album
• Six-Pack of Love, 1992 album
• Sings Like Hell, 1993 album
• Torn Again, 1995 album
• Full Service No Waiting, 1998 album
• Flying Saucer Blues, 2000 album
• Thank You St. Jude, 2001 album
• Beeline, 2002 album
• Who's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile?, 2004 compilation
• A Case for Case, 2006 tribute album
• Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, 2007 album
• Wig!, 2010 album
• The Case Files, 2011 outtakes compilation

Bibliography[link]

• "Bomblight Prayer Vigil" Verb, Issue Two (2006)
• As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport (everthemore books) (2007)
• Epistolary Rex (with David Ensminger) (CreateSpace) (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Peter Case on Myspace
• Peter Case on Facebook
• Case's blog
• As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport
• Peter Case on ArtistDirect
• 2012 Peter Case & Paul Collins Tribute To The Nerves Reunion Tour press release announcement