The resulting litigation and threats of litigation disrupted and damaged the advancement of flying technology in the US, causing the US to lose its lead indeed.
You learn one thing about someone and they lose hero status? Neil deGrasse Tyson (one of my heroes) one said that you need to assemble your heroes out of the parts of many. No one is perfect.
You can still admire the admirable things about the Wright brothers while disagreeing with their use of patents.
I disagree. Hero in my book is doing eternal good in advancing technology. So, I like to believe in as few heroes as possible as something to strive for.
However, what they did was effectively create something and then sit on it. "The Wrights' preoccupation with the legal issue hindered their development of new aircraft designs, and by 1911 Wright aircraft were inferior to those made by other firms in Europe.[9] Indeed, aviation development in the US was suppressed to such an extent that when the U.S. entered World War I no acceptable American-designed aircraft were available, and the U.S. forces were compelled to use French machines."
They are still notable in my book for being the first aviation flight being achieved just as USA was notable in my book for being the first to land on the moon.
Guess who's harbouring the space technology these days?
The resulting litigation and threats of litigation disrupted and damaged the advancement of flying technology in the US, causing the US to lose its lead indeed.