This company was incorporated in New Jersey on July 14, 1888. It acquired from its co-founder, Jesse Lippincott, the exclusive license of the American Graphophone Company, the controlling interest in the Edison Phonograph Company, and the exclusive rights to the commercial development of the phonograph in the United States and Canada. Edison eventually assumed financial and administrative control of the company, becoming president in June 1892 and, as its principal creditor, driving it into receivership on August 21, 1894.