Motor manufacturers associated – in suing motor manufacturers

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Now this is a picture with some context. What we see is a meeting of engineers in 1910. To be more specific, the caption tells us the following: “Clubs – Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. ALAM engineers met and drove each other’s cars in 1910, exchanged many ideas.”

Now isn’t that sweet, and isn’t that just what colleagues are for? One big bunch of like-minded motor manufacturers.

But perhaps there is another, not quite so supportive, side to the story. Look up the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers and you will soon find that the association was born out of a number of muddy lawsuits over automobile patents from patent lawyer George B. Selden. Selden had been granted a patent for the manufacture of the automobile as early as 1895, demanding royalties on every car built by any motor manufacturer. That’s what the ALAM was all about. No surprise then that it eventually controlled just about the whole industry and profited from it, too: receiving at least 0.75% on every car produced by its members.

That is, until Henry Ford was rejected from joining the association in 1903, leading to “a messy public relations battle.” The ALAM in fact even launched a campaign threatening to sue those who purchased Ford automobiles. Ford’s response: “We believe that the art would have been just as far advanced today if Mr. Selden had never been born.”

We are not making this up. This polemic didn’t last long after that statement was published. In January 1911, Ford eventually won the case, and the ALAM seems to have disappeared not long after.

Back to the 1910 photo, which remains a gem, even now that we know more of its doubtful background. What do we recognize here?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: The New York Public Library

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