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These folders contain correspondence and other documents relating to legal matters involving Edison's phonograph. The selected documents cover the period 1899-1910. Among the correspondents are Edison, Frank L. Dyer, Herbert H. Dyke, Howard W. Hayes, and other members of Edison's legal staff. Some material pertains to labeling phonographs and records, particularly to names or works used as trademarks and trade names. Some items concern existing patents and their relation to perfected or proposed innovations by Edison, his employees, or others. Research subjects include nickel-in-the-slots devices, modified reproducers, attachments, a feed mechanism, a tapering tone arm, a return device, and "indestructible" records. The patent holders include Edison, Thomas H. Macdonald, Ademor N. Petit, and Peter Weber. In addition, there is material dealing with proposed litigation, along with items that were collected in anticipation of legal agreements or disputes. Some of the documents pertain to the formation of the Douglas Phonograph Co. and to contracts with sales agents. Other items concern research done on state tax codes, state laws regarding hawkers and peddlers, the municipal boundaries of Belleville, New Jersey, and installment sales contracts. Also included are letters and interoffice communications regarding Daniel Higham's mechanical amplification patents; the development and sale of celluloid and 200-thread records; and musical copyright in Great Britain and under the Berne Convention.

Records not selected

Infringement Searches

This folder contains correspondence, printed patents, and other documents relating to the evaluation of non-Edison patents. Included are materials collected in regard to patents by John F. Barber, John C. English, Charles J. Kintner, Albert K. Keller, Thomas H. Macdonald, and Abner M. Seeley. Among the patent claims researched by the Legal Department are those pertaining to nickel-in-the-slot devices, feed mechanisms, celluloid records, a return device, a record box, a tapering tone arm, and other technical modifications.

Petit, Ademor N.

This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to patents obtained by Ademor N. Petit and others for improvements in cylinder records. The correspondents include Petit, Frank L. Dyer of the Legal Department, the United States Patent Office, patent agent George Croyden Marks, and the attorneys involved in transferring assignment of Petit's patents from the International Phonograph and Indestructible Record Co., Ltd., to the New Jersey Patent Co.

Trademarks and Trade Names

This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the labeling of phonographs and records and to the use of specific words as trademarks or trade names in the United States and elsewhere. Included are discussions of the words "amberola," "cygnet," "phonograph," "conqueror," "fireside," "home," and "Victor." The correspondents include Frank L. Dyer and other legal representatives of the National Phonograph Co., as well as representatives of the American Graphophone Co. and the Victor Talking Machine Co.