<P> Beginning in 1913 Armstrong prepared a series of comprehensive demonstrations and papers that carefully documented his research, and in late 1913 applied for patent protection covering the regenerative circuit . On October 6, 1914, U.S. patent 1,113,149 was issued for his discovery . Although Lee de Forest initially discounted Armstrong's findings, beginning in 1915 de Forest filed a series of competing patent applications that largely copied Armstrong's claims, now stating that he had discovered regeneration first, based on August 6, 1912 notebook entry, while working for the Federal Telegraph company, prior to the January 31, 1913 date recognized for Armstrong . The result was an interference hearing at the patent office to determine priority . De Forest was not the only other inventor involved--the four competing claimants included Armstrong, de Forest, General Electric's Langmuir, and Alexander Meissner, who was a German national, which led to his application being seized by the Office of Alien Property Custodian during World War I . </P> <P> Following the end of World War I Armstrong enlisted representation by the law firm of Pennie, Davis, Martin and Edmonds . In order to finance his legal expenses he began issuing non-transferable licenses for use of the regenerative patents to a select group of small radio equipment firms, and by November 1920 seventeen companies had been licensed . These licensees paid 5% royalties on their sales which were restricted to only "amateurs and experimenters". Meanwhile, Armstrong reviewed his options for selling the commercial rights to his work . Although the obvious candidate was the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), on October 5, 1920 the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company took out an option for $335,000 for the commercial rights for both the regenerative and superheterodyne patents, with an additional $200,000 to be paid if Armstrong prevailed in the regenerative patent dispute . Westinghouse exercised this option on November 4, 1920 . </P> <P> Legal proceedings related to the regeneration patent became separated into two groups of court cases . An initial court action was triggered in 1919 when Armstrong sued de Forest's company in district court, alleging infringement of patent 1,113,149 . This court ruled in Armstrong's favor on May 17, 1921 . But a second line of court cases, the result of the patent office interference hearing, would have a different outcome . The interference board had also sided with Armstrong, but he was unwilling to settle with de Forest for less than what he considered full compensation . Thus pressured, de Forest decided to continue his legal defense, and appealed the interference board decision to the District of Columbia district court . On May 8, 1924, that court ruled that it was de Forest who should be considered regeneration's inventor . Armstrong (along with much of the engineering community) was shocked by this course of events, and his side appealed this unexpected decision . But although the legal proceeding twice went before the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1928 and 1934, he was unsuccessful in overturning the decision . </P> <P> In response to the second Supreme Court decision upholding de Forest as the inventor of regeneration, Armstrong attempted to return his 1917 IRE Medal of Honor, which had been awarded "in recognition of his work and publications dealing with the action of the oscillating and non-oscillating audion". However, the organization's board refused to let him, and issued a statement that it "strongly affirms the original award". </P>

Who is the self named father of radio