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*Issued in 1895 to George B. Selden, a lawyer and inventor, the patent was so broad it apparently covered every gasoline-driven car, even though Selden himself never built one. Virtually every U.S. automaker paid 1½% of his sales in royalties to the owner, until Ford, in 1908, sent word: "Selden can take his patent and go to hell." After eight years of court fights, Ford proved the patents invalid.