His thugs changed the faces of a few union supporters back in the Thirtie's, but I digress.

I recall doing some reading on the Selden issue many years ago. One thing that I always wondered about the patent process is the application of the patent protection based on design specifics vs. application of the protection based on design concept. If Selden went so far as to provide automobile patent drawings that included the transmission design, for example, wouldn't the patent protection of the entire horseless carriage concept be negated if a competitor had some material changes to the transmission design of his version of a horseless carriage?

Conversely, would I have had a valid patent infringement claim against Selden/Ford if I had previously patented a concept for a horse-drawn carriage that employed a similar type of frame and had the same number of wheels?