History of Motion Picture Patents Company

Introduction

Film inudstry has covers a long period from the era of nickelodeon to the film generation, it addresses various different aspects of production exhibition, reception and distribution through various essays. Many issues have been focused on limited topics in order to examine them thorugh many case studies, it is considered to have a broader perspective in terms of goals. American cinema is known because of its unique history but at the same time it is considerd to be complicated. American cinema is understood as a development model.

Discussion

History of Motion Picture Parents Company

Creation

The MPPC was preceded by the Edison licensing system, in effect in 1907-1908, on which the MPPC modeled. Since the 1890s, Thomas Edison owned most of the major American patents relating to motion picture cameras. The Edison Manufacturing Company's patent lawsuits against each of its domestic competitors crippled the American film industry, reducing American production mainly to two companies: Edison and Biography, which used a different camera design. This lefted Edison with little recourses than other rivals, but to import foreign films he was encourged to make films mainly French and British (Conant, pp 12-34) (Ladekarl, 267).

Since 1902, MPPC 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. The one acclaimed 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 (Ladekarl, 267)."

Many filmmakers have responded by moving their operations to Hollywood , where the distance from the home base of Edison New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC imposes its patents. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , which covers the area, opposed the imposition of patent claims. Southern California was also chosen because of its good weather throughout the year and various campaigns, which could replace deserts, jungles and high mountains.

The reasons for the decline of MPPC are diverse. The most important is his misjudgment of its own consumers' interests, and the rapid rise of so-called “Independents "(who later became the second oligopoly). The independents have begun to credit the actors in their films beginning in about 1910; the MPPC had decided against credit the players because they have realized that making the famous players has meant having to pay more. However, they had do not understand that the desire for assistance to see their favorite movie stars would allow them both to recover and benefit from investment in the players named. (Edison, one of the most famous men in America, believed that his name would be imported to consumers.) To this end, independent studios could create bankable film stars, and the audience has lost interest for films with actors unnamable.

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