“(Indeed, the movie industry located there precisely because of the climate.)”
A common misconception that makes sense intuitively — More sunshine, more movies! — but that’s not the real explanation.
The early twentieth century movie industry, which was thriving in New Jersey, relocated to California to elude the Edison movie camera patent enforcement officers, who collected fees from anyone making a film,
Had always heard this. Perhaps it is just urban legend.
The early twentieth century movie industry, which was thriving in New Jersey, relocated to California to elude the Edison movie camera patent enforcement officers, who collected fees from anyone making a film,
Do not see how this would work. Presumably they would release the movies and they would eventually get back to New Jersey where Edison's team could learn of their existence. How are you gonna sneak a movie past them if you have to show it to the public?
Don't really see how moving to California would prevent legal action against them in Federal court. I would also expect a federal judge would award huge punitive damages for a company trying such a tactic.