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Pathé Frères, Selig, and
Vitagraph — approached him in 1907 to negotiate a licensing agreement, which Lubin was also invited to join. The one notable filmmaker excluded from the licensing agreement was Biograph, which Edison hoped to squeeze out of the market. No further applicants could become licensees. The purpose of the licensing agreement, according to an Edison lawyer, was to "preserve the business of present manufacturers and not to throw the field open to all competitors."
160:
147:, a key feature of virtually all motion picture cameras then in use. Edison sued to gain control of the patent. After a federal court upheld the validity of the patent in 1907, Edison began negotiation with Biograph in May 1908 to reorganize the Edison licensing system. The resulting trust pooled 16 motion picture patents. Ten were considered of minor importance. The remaining six pertained one each to films, cameras, and the
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The MPPC also established a monopoly on all aspects of filmmaking. Eastman Kodak owned the patent on raw film stock, and the company was a member of the trust and thus agreed to sell stock only to other members. Likewise, the trust's control of patents on motion picture cameras ensured that only MPPC
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relating to motion picture cameras. The Edison
Manufacturing Company's patent lawsuits against each of its domestic competitors crippled the US film industry, reducing production mainly to two companies: Edison and Biograph, which used a different camera design. This left Edison's other rivals with
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The patents owned by the MPPC allowed them to use federal law enforcement officials to enforce their licensing agreements and to prevent unauthorized use of their cameras, films, projectors, and other equipment. In some cases, the MPPC made use of hired thugs and mob connections to violently disrupt
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The MPPC eliminated the outright sale of films to distributors and exhibitors, replacing it with rentals, which allowed quality control over prints that had formerly been exhibited long past their prime. The trust also established a uniform rental rate for all licensed films, thereby removing price
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in an attempt to create a similar
European organisation. This group also included MPPC members Pathé and Vitagraph, which had extensive European production and distribution interests. This proposed European cartel ultimately failed when Pathé, then still the largest company in the world, withdrew in
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Patent royalties to the MPPC ended in
September 1913 with the expiration of the last of the patents filed in the mid-1890s at the dawn of commercial film production and exhibition. Thus the MPPC lost the ability to control the American film industry through patent licensing and had to rely instead
262:
in 1912–1913 from independent producers and foreign imports, the MPPC was very reluctant to make the changes necessary to distribute such longer films. Edison, Biograph, Essanay, and
Vitagraph did not release their first features until 1914, after dozens, if not hundreds, of feature films, had been
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Another reason was the MPPC's overestimation of the efficiency of controlling the motion picture industry through patent litigation and the exclusion of independents from licensing. The slow process of using detectives to investigate patent infringements, and of obtaining injunctions against the
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The MPPC also strictly regulated the production content of their films, primarily as a means of cost control. Films were initially limited to one reel in length (13–17 minutes), although competition by independent and foreign producers by 1912 led to the introduction of two-reelers, and by 1913,
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Since 1902, Edison had also been notifying distributors and exhibitors that if they did not use Edison machines and films exclusively, they would be subject to litigation for supporting filmmaking that infringed Edison's patents. Exhausted by the lawsuits, Edison's competitors — Essanay, Kalem,
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gave its landscapes the ability to offer motion picture shooting scenes set in deserts, jungles and great mountains. Hollywood had one additional advantage: if a non-licensed studio was sued, it was only a hundred miles to "run for the border" and get out of the US to Mexico, where the trust's
250:
The reasons for the MPPC's decline are manifold. The first blow came in 1911 when
Eastman Kodak modified its exclusive contract with the MPPC to allow Kodak, which led the industry in quality and price, to sell its raw film stock to unlicensed independents. The number of theaters exhibiting
102:. The MPPC ended the domination of foreign films on US screens, standardized the manner in which films were distributed and exhibited within the US, and improved the quality of US motion pictures by internal competition. It also discouraged its members' entry into feature
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Los
Angeles's distance from New York was also comforting to independent film producers, making it easier for them to avoid being harassed or sued by the Motion Picture Patents Company, AKA the Trust, which Thomas Edison helped create in
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on
October 1, 1915, which ruled that the MPPC's acts went "far beyond what was necessary to protect the use of patents or the monopoly which went with them" and was, therefore, an illegal restraint of trade under the
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studios were able to film, and the projector patents allowed the trust to make licensing agreements with distributors and theaters – and thus determine who screened their films and where.
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in 1914 cut off most of the
European market, which played a much more significant part of the revenue and profit for MPPC members than for the independents, which concentrated on
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Many independent filmmakers, who controlled from one-quarter to one-third of the domestic marketplace, responded to the creation of the MPPC by moving their operations to
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as a factor for the exhibitor in film selection, in favor of selection made on quality, which in turn encouraged the upgrading of production values.
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The MPPC was preceded by the Edison licensing system, in effect in 1907–1908, on which the MPPC was modeled. During the 1890s,
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Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that Sank United
Artists
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Biograph retaliated for being frozen out of the trust agreement by purchasing the patent to the
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was also chosen because of its beautiful year-round weather and varied countryside; its
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infringers, was outpaced by the dynamic rise of new companies in diverse locations.
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independent films grew by 33 percent within twelve months, to half of all houses.
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Thomas, Jeanne (Spring 1971). "The Decay of the Motion Picture Patents Company".
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with the licensees of the Motion Picture Patents Company (December 19, 1908)
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patents were not in effect and thus equipment could not be seized.
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Before the Nickelodeon: Motion Picture Patents Company Agreements
615:
600:"The Motion Picture Patents Company vs. The Independent Outlaws"
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made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents. The
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of all the major US film companies and local foreign-branches (
230:, and covers the area, was averse to enforcing patent claims.
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Edidin, Peter (August 21, 2005). "La-La Land: The Origins".
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History of Edison Motion Pictures: Litigation and Licensees
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Projection speeds ranged from 16 to 20 frames per second.
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little recourse but to import French and British films.
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In February 1909, major European producers held the
508:American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures
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182:productions that were not licensed by the trust.
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593:Independence In Early And Silent American Cinema
330:Edison v. American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.
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289:The end came with a federal court decision in
785:Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company of Europe
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214:, whose distance from Edison's home base of
1168:Mass media companies disestablished in 1918
292:United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co.
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1178:American companies established in 1908
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780:Edison and Swan Electric Light Company
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206:, Hollywood's first movie studio, 1912
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490:Johnson Co. v. Pac. Rolling Mills Co.
378:. New York: Newmarket Press. p.
896:General Electric Research Laboratory
521:"Orders Movie Trust to be Broken Up"
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286:produced for a primarily US market.
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352:U.S. v. Motion Picture Patents Co.
258:Despite the rise in popularity of
94:) and the biggest supplier of raw
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645:
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1137:Thomas Alva Edison silver dollar
1097:Thomas Edison in popular culture
891:Storage Battery Company Building
957:The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
598:Armando Franco (May 11, 2004).
835:Motion Picture Patents Company
820:Edison Storage Battery Company
810:Edison Portland Cement Company
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487: (9th Cir. 1895). and
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411:For example, the four-reelers
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220:Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
32:Motion Picture Patents Company
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1026:The Execution of Mary Stuart
800:Edison Manufacturing Company
414:From the Manger to the Cross
222:, which is headquartered in
163:Several films in production
7:
1007:Tales from the Bully Pulpit
790:Edison Illuminating Company
477: (9th Cir. 1897).,
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154:
151:, and three to projectors.
118:owned most of the major US
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10:
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845:Oriental Telephone Company
805:Edison Ore-Milling Company
497: (9th Cir. 1892)..
263:released by independents.
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999:Edison's Conquest of Mars
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876:Memorial Tower and Museum
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360: (E.D. Pa. 1915).
337: (2d. Cir. 1907).
275:film distribution in US.
881:National Historical Park
673:Edison's Phonograph Doll
271:, formed in 1910, which
191:three and four-reelers.
139:The addition of Biograph
1132:Statue of Thomas Edison
739:Incandescent light bulb
267:on its subsidiary, the
242:climate and widespread
923:Theodore Miller Edison
840:Mine Safety Appliances
775:Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
663:List of Edison patents
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44:federal antitrust suit
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16:American films company
370:Bach, Steven (1999).
298:Sherman Antitrust Act
202:
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1173:Monopoly (economics)
1107:Pearl Street Station
795:Edison Machine Works
703:Quadruplex telegraph
424:The Battle of Shiloh
269:General Film Company
195:Backlash and decline
38:, also known as the
1117:Thomas Edison House
1102:War of the currents
754:Thermionic emission
749:Nickel–iron battery
729:Edison–Lalande cell
724:Consolidated Edison
232:Southern California
132:Paris Film Congress
72:Lubin Manufacturing
1081:Edisonian approach
532:. October 2, 1915.
529:The New York Times
450:The New York Times
358:225 F. 800
335:151 F. 767
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171:
28:
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1050:A Night of Terror
668:Carbon microphone
495:51 F. 762
485:67 F. 597
480:Germain v. Wilgus
475:80 F. 732
389:978-1-55-704374-0
310:History of cinema
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871:Depot Museum
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744:Movie camera
717:Advancements
678:Edison screw
606:. Retrieved
555:(2): 34–40.
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1018:Productions
866:Black Maria
759:Ticker tape
734:Fluoroscopy
688:Kinetoscope
654:Discoveries
280:World War I
273:monopolized
168: 1907
149:Latham loop
1152:Categories
983:Literature
886:State Park
861:Birthplace
698:Phonomotor
693:Phonograph
608:2010-09-02
316:References
244:irrigation
236:topography
228:California
216:New Jersey
96:film stock
1076:Edisonade
1058:Kidnapped
854:Monuments
708:Tasimeter
421:, 1913),
240:semi-arid
212:Hollywood
60:Vitagraph
1034:The Kiss
959:" (1998)
768:Ventures
506:Per the
304:See also
284:Westerns
155:Policies
110:Creation
56:Biograph
46:, was a
1090:Related
569:1225236
186:Content
135:April.
120:patents
64:Essanay
1061:(1917)
1053:(1911)
1045:(1910)
1037:(1896)
1029:(1895)
1010:(2004)
1002:(1898)
994:(1886)
975:(2020)
967:(2017)
952:(1940)
944:(1940)
910:Family
567:
493:,
483:,
473:,
467:e.g.,
386:
356:,
333:,
52:Edison
1069:Terms
972:Tesla
933:Films
925:(son)
919:(son)
603:(PDF)
565:JSTOR
524:(PDF)
456:1909.
429:Lubin
419:Kalem
48:trust
384:ISBN
36:MPPC
30:The
557:doi
1154::
563:.
553:10
551:.
526:.
382:.
380:30
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