RCA fought Philo Farnsworth for the television patent, lost, paid him royalties, and he died in debt while television made others rich

Philo Farnsworth filed the first of more than 300 patents on 7 January 1927. On 7 September 1927 his image dissector sent a picture of a line to a receiver in the next room. In 1931 RCA's president David Sarnoff offered $100,000 for his laboratory and patents, and Farnsworth refused. In May 1932 RCA began a patent interference case, claiming priority for its engineer Vladimir Zworykin. In 1935 the Patent Office ruled for Farnsworth. In 1939 RCA agreed to pay him royalties, which it had never done before, in a deal reported as worth $1 million. His key television patents and the RCA licence expired just after the Second World War, as demand for sets took off. He fought depression and drink during the RCA appeals. He sold his television company in 1951 after selling only a few thousand sets. His research company went bankrupt in 1970, and he was in serious debt. He died of pneumonia on 11 March 1971. His widow, Elma "Pem" Farnsworth, spent years restoring his name. The Utah Legislature chose him for National Statuary Hall in the US Capitol, and Utah schoolchildren raised money for the statue. It was placed in the Capitol in 1990^†.