MPPC stands for Motion Picture Patents Company, also known as the Edison Trust, also known as the First Oligopoly.

The MPPC was a trust of all the major film companies (Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig, Lubin, Kalem, American Star, American Pathé), the leading distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film, Eastman Kodak. The Black Maria (pronounced b. ... The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (also known as the Biograph Company) was founded in 1895 and is the oldest movie production company in the United States. ... American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Alfred E. Smith in 1897 and bought by Warner Brothers in 1925. ... Essanay Studios was a motion picture company founded in Chicago, Illinois by George K. Spoor and Bronco Billy Anderson under the name Essanay (S and A). It produced silent films with such stars as Ben Turpin, Wallace Beery, Francis X. Bushman, Gloria Swanson and Charlie Chaplin. ... The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 in Chicago, Illinois by William Selig. ... Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938), full name Maries-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. ... Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France. ... Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) is a large multinational public company producing photographic equipment. ...

At the time of the formation of the MPPC, Thomas Edison owned most of the major patents relating to motion pictures, especially that for raw film. The MPPC vigorously enforced its patents, constantly bringing suits and receiving injunctions against independent filmmakers. Many filmmakers responded by moving their operations to Hollywood, whose distance from Edison's home base of New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents. Also, the proximity of Southern California to Mexico was convenient for Hollywood filmmakers; word that MPPC agents were traveling to California would usually precede the agents' arrival, allowing the filmmakers to flee to Mexico. Southern California was also chosen because of its beautiful year-round weather and varied countryside, which could stand in for deserts, jungles and great mountains. Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of an invention. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ... Greetings from Hollywood Hollywood is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., that extends from Vermont Avenue on the east to just beyond Laurel Canyon Boulevard above Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards on the west; the north to south boundary east of La Brea Avenue... State nickname: The Garden State Other U.S. States Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Governor Richard Codey (acting) Official languages None defined Area 22,608 km² (47th)  - Land 19,231 km²  - Water 3,378 km² (14. ...

The reasons for its decline are manifold. The most important ones are the misjudgement of consumer interest and the quick rise of the so-called Independents, who later became the Second Oligopoly. There were also U.S. Supreme Court decisions, in particular one in 1912, which cancelled the patent on raw film, and a second in 1915, which cancelled all MPPC patents. A later suit under the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1917 ended the oligopoly, but by then, the MPPC was already defeated. Wikiquote has quotations related to United States. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, is the highest court in that jurisdiction and functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be appealed. ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... The Sherman Antitrust Act,15 U.S.C. § 1, was the first government action to limit trust companies (A corporate front for a combination of firms or corporations who agree not to lower prices below a certain rate for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business...

See also

• History of cinema