|
Search By:
|
|
15/7/1901: Edison Wins Another Battle
On 15th July 1901, Thomas Edison's legal battle with Biograph over patent infringements came to a seemingly victorious conclusion for the inventor. Judge Hoyt Henry Wheeler, sitting in the US Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, temporarily brought three years of bitter legal warfare to an end when he declared that "The defendant appears to have taken the substance of the invention covered by these claims and the plaintiff, therefore, appears to be entitled to a decree." This wasn't the most decisive of rulings, and it was only natural that Biograph would launch an appeal. With one tentatively worded statement Judge Wheeler had sounded the death knell for the numerous small film-making concerns throughout America and handed a virtual monopoly of the industry to the Edison Manufacturing Co.
The Biograph company was rocked by the decision. The past couple of years had not been good to the organisation. Despite the technical superiority of their film, their earnings had plummeted due largely to audience familiarity with their subjects and the fact that 35mm gauge exhibitors could offer similar films at a lower cost. To remain competitive, Biograph were forced to lower their prices and, as a result, their exhibition service began to lose money. The obvious answer to their predicament would have been to change from their 70mm gauge film to the 35mm gauge offered by their competitors but, while in the midst of their legal battle with Edison, they dare not do so, as they felt that their distinctive gauge size offered a strong defence against Edison's charges of patent infringements. The more distinction between the the two systems, the stronger they felt were their chances of emerging victorious from the lengthy court battles.
Desperate Biograph executives sought a suspension of the injunction pending an appeal. Harry Marvin stated in a deposition to the court:
" An injunction against us at this time would not only stop the production and reproduction of new films, but would render valueless most of the large stock of films on hand, for even should we ultimately succeed in the suit, those films which are in present demand because of their novelty and public interest, would have become obsolete and uncalled for, because of the distraction of the public mind by intervening events. Besides this, such an injunction would, of course, necessitate the immediate breaking of every contract we have with users of mutoscopes and biographs, for it would mean the withdrawal from the latter of all the films which they now have, and would stop the supply of mutoscope reels to users of the mutoscope. I have every reason to believe this would result in such a multiplicity of damage suits against us by our licencees as would bankrupt and utterly ruin our company."
Marvin's heartfelt plea was successful, and Biograph were allowed to continue making films - although they confined themselves to news and actualities - under certain conditions imposed by the court.
Meanwhile, other parties were attempting to cosy up to Edison in an attempt to carve themselves a share of the spoils. Thomas Armat, who possessed important projector patents, suggested to Edison that the two of them and Biograph, form a trust into which each would contribute their patents in order to form a monopoly that would freeze out the myriad number of smaller "infringers". Armat's proposal was a precursor of the Motion Picture Patents Trust that would come into being later in the decade - but of which he would not be a part - but, in 1901, Edison wasn't interested.
Curiously, Edison failed to capitalise on the brief period of virtual monopoly that he would enjoy throughout 1901 and into the Spring of 1902. More money was directed toward legal fees than the making of films and, apart from films produced by Edwin S. Porter, all of which were relatively low-budget, the company largely produced inexpensive actualities and dupes of large budget European spectacles. [ADD]
Further Reading:
© 2009-2012 moviemoviesite.com