Digital BW, The Print

What may have contributed as much to photography as the invention of 
photography itself is the very nice gesture of the French government to 
grant annuities to Daguerre and the son of Niepce in exchange for the 
rights so the invention became free for everyone to use.

Today we see the opposite of that, patents issued for the silliest 
inventions and when the rules are bended even more they actually could 
patent photography again in the US 200 years after its invention.

See also:

http://yro.slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=155

Ernst