Title
The Motion Picture Story Magazine
Coverage
Brooklyn
Publisher
Motion Picture Story Publishing Company
Date
February 1911
Subject
Volume 1, number 1
Description
At its outset, the American film industry was dominated by Thomas Edison, who went to great lengths to enforce his patents on cameras, projectors, and film. In 1908, a group of competitors succumbed to Edison’s pressure and formed a cartel, the Motion Picture Patents Company to drive rivals out of business. After a legal challenge by several independent filmmakers, most notably Carl Laemmle, the cartel was broken by a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1915.