Intersection 12: Likely lawful, but undeniably unjust

This article by Matthew Lasar over at arstechnica.com caught my eye because it has all three of my interests (if one goes by my academic history in the University): journalism, cinema, law. Aside from these, it involves a key subject in this course: technology.

Oh, and there’s a celebrity to boot: Thomas Edison.

The two-page feature chronicles the Edison’s attempt to control the filmmaking industry during its early years. Edison, one of the most famous (or infamous, depending on your allegiances) inventors of the world, did this by using technology and law: he recruited a barrage of lawyers to file infringement cases against film companies that use the camera system he had patented.

The article says that this was a deliberate step one. Armed with resources that apparently dwarfed those of his opponents, the plan was to wear them down, and then proceed to step two. Assemble the enemies, and offer a peace pipe: a cartel.

And it nearly worked. It took the guy who built what is now known as Universal Studios, to step up, rally the troops, and consolidate the indie filmmakers at the time to combat the Edison-led cartel.

What Edison did at the time exemplifies how the law can be used by big business to bully the competition into submission. Using it as a means to an end, Edison engaged the legal machinery purportedly to protect his rights as patent-holder. But, he actually exploited the same to create a cinema cartel and attempted to control how films were to be produced and distributed.

Legally, there appears to be nothing wrong with what Edison did (well, the court eventually did say something was legally wrong with that Edison et al. did). He had the patents. He thought the film companies infringed his patents. So he sued. He supposedly wanted justice.

But he wasn’t after justice; he was after the dollars. This was big business using—abusing—the law not for just ends but for very greedy goals. This is one of those instances when “legal” and “just” simply do not go together, when “law” and “justice” do not necessarily intersect.

And this is a kind of intersection I don’t like.

-- William G. Ragamat