Home
blogging: the first symptom of mental breakdown...
charity is the rent you pay on earth, apparently
May 8th, 2008 
10:22 pm - America's greatest innovators
Atom
Some of America's greatest innovators were thought of as pirates.

When Thomas Edison invented the phonographic record player, musicians branded him a pirate out to steal their work and destroy the live music business, until a system was established so everyone could be paid royalties, which we today call the record industry.

Edison, in turn, went on to invent filmmaking, and demanded a licensing fee from those making movies with his technology. This caused a band of filmmaking pirates, including a man named William, to flee New York for the then still wild West, where they thrived, unlicensed, until Edison's patents expired.

These pirates continue to operate there, albeit legally now, in the town they founded: Hollywood. William's last name? Fox.

This page was loaded Jul 26th 2008, 7:59 am GMT.