Who Invented The Computer: The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History
New York: Prometheus, 2003. First edition. Hardcover. Fine in fine dust jacket. First printing. Hardcover. 463 pp. with bibliography, index. In 1973, Federal District Judge Earl R. Larson issued a ruling in a patent case that was to have profound and long-lasting implications for the then-dawning computer revolution. Against expectations, the judge ruled against Sperry Rand Corp, which claimed to hold the patent for the first computer---dubbed ENIAC--- and was demanding huge royalties on all electronic data-processing sales by Honeywell and other large competitors. The judge found that in fact ENIAC was not the first computer but was derived from an obscure computer---called the ABC--which had developed in the late thirties by a largely unknown Iowa State University professor. This work cenetrs in detail on this crucial trial. Fine / fine. Item #E32478
ISBN: 1591020344
Price: $17.95