By 1852, many in the photographic community felt that Fox Talbot's insistence on the economic rights in his intellectual property were hampering the development of photography in England and had called upon him to relinquish his patent.
The situation was exacerbated by Fox Talbot's insistence that Frederick Scott Archer's collodion process was covered by his patent.
[3] Laroche argued: The case was heard 18–20 December 1854 in the Guildhall, London before Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir John Jervis.
[3] Fox Talbot's leading counsel was Sir Frederick Thesiger, later to become Attorney-General, assisted by William Robert Grove, a barrister and distinguished scientist who was to go on to become a judge.
[6] The jury found that Fox Talbot was "the first and true inventor of the calotype process ... the first person who disclosed it to the public" but that Laroche had not infringed his patent.