Abstract :
Yet, for the fourth time in 150 years, the Supreme Court fails to clearly distinguish between an invention and an idea — Put yourself in the year 1850. You´ve just discovered electromagnetism–the idea that current in a wire produces a magnetic field. In quick succession you invent an electromagnet (a coiled wire wrapped around a nail and connected to a battery), a telegraph system employing the electromagnet, and finally, a rudimentary electric motor, including permanent magnets on a rotor and electromagnets fashioned as a stator.
