Part Of: Legal Series -- Legal Department Records -- Motion Pictures -- Case Files

[QM018-F] Thomas A. Edison v. Sigmund Lubin

This folder contains material pertaining to the suit brought by Edison against Sigmund Lubin in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case was initiated in June 1902 and involved the alleged infringement of Edison's copyright on the film, Christening and Launching Kaiser Wilhelm's Yacht Meteor. The selected items include the bill of complaint and brief for complainant, along with correspondence regarding the case and its subsequent appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. Also selected is the decision of the appellate court, which reversed the decision of the lower court and established that motion pictures could be protected in the same way as still photographs under the Copyright Act of 1865. The items not selected include pleadings and affidavits; correspondence among attorneys and members of Edison's staff; still photographs of the Edison film; and material prepared for later copyright litigation over Edison films such as Jack and the Bean Stalk and The Great Train Robbery.

Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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