Page "Motion Picture Patents Company" Paragraph 1

The MPPC was preceded by the Edison licensing system, in effect in 1907 – 1908, on which the MPPC was 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 Biograph, which used a different camera design.

This left Edison's other rivals with little recourse but to import foreign-made films, mainly French and British.