How piracy built the U.S. publishing industry

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Autodesk did the same thing with AutoCAD software as well (became a pirated standard then got tough).

I remember that. Autodesk started getting tough on pirated copies proliferating offices around 1990. At that time the Civil Engineering consultancy I worked for ran 3 copies of AutoCAD of which only one was non pirated.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

Pirate Bay pointed out that because of Edison's patents for motion pictures, it was almost impossible to create movies on the East Coast, so studios relocated to California to circumvent the patents.

I believe they moved to California so they could shoot films outdoors year round. Sun was plentiful and land very cheap to build those huge sets.

Florida also had a movie industry for a short time but So Cal eventually became the movie capital.

Television took longer but eventually most production moved to California during the 1950s. I Love Lucy being one of the first.

[AndiPersti]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I believe they moved to California so they could shoot films outdoors year round. Sun was plentiful and land very cheap to build those huge sets.

The climate was just a (appreciated) side-effect of the move to California (as was the close distance to the Mexican border).
But the main reason for the move was Edison's strict patent enforcement policy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_...States#Origins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_...atents_Company
http://books.google.at/books?cd=1&id...#search_anchor

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by AndiPersti

The climate was just a (appreciated) side-effect of the move to California (as was the close distance to the Mexican border).
But the main reason for the move was Edison's strict patent enforcement policy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_...States#Origins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_...atents_Company
http://books.google.at/books?cd=1&id...#search_anchor

Edison's patents expired in 1913 and the MPPC's control in 1915. Many large studios moved during the 1920s and 1930s. Although some silent films were shot in So Cal prior to 1915.

Wouldn't Edison's patents affect those based in California also?

[cjr72]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Edison's patents expired in 1913 and the MPPC's control in 1915. Many large studios moved during the 1920s and 1930s. Although some silent films were shot in So Cal prior to 1915.

Wouldn't Edison's patents affect those based in California also?

From the first wikipedia link you quoted:

The film patents wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U.S. Many worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights, and thus filming in New York could be dangerous; it was close to Edison's Company headquarters, and to agents the company set out to seize cameras.

[Fbone]

We're talking about three different time periods. Before the MPPC, during the MPPC and then after.