The Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908, 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. A trust or business trust was a form of business entity used in the late 19th century with intent to create a monopoly. ... 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 Albert 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. ... Lubin Studios, Philadelphia (c. ... Kalem Studios and Hollywood staff, 1915 The Kalem Company was an American film studio founded in New York City in 1907 by Frank J. Marion, Samuel Long, and George Kleine. ... 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 an American multinational public company producing photographic materials and 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. It's a popular myth that the proximity of Southern California to Mexico made it convenient for Hollywood filmmakers to flee to in order to avoid the MPPC.^{[citation needed]} 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. A more likely reason Southern California was chosen is due to the fact the Ninth District Court of Appeals which at the time was adverse to patent claims covers this geographic area. Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee (the inventor or assignee) for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which... It has been suggested that civil trial be merged into this article or section. ... 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... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ...

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 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, 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. Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Sherman Antitrust Act, formally known as the Act of July 2, 1890, ch. ...

Two people who survived Thomas Edison's attacks were David and William Horsley. William Horsley went on to create the Hollywood Film Laboratory, which is still in operation today, processing Academy Award winning films. Now called Hollywood Digital Laboratory / Hollywood Film Laboratory, 100 years later, recently it moved from it's original location at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood to 10741 Sherman Way # 4 in Sun Valley, California.

See also

• History of cinema