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Zonophone (early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone) was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey, by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company, but was applied to the records and machines sold by Seaman from 1899–1900 to 1903. The name was subsequently acquired by Columbia Records, Victor Talking Machine Company, and finally Gramophone Company/EMI Records. It has been used for a number of record publishing labels by these companies. ==1899–1910s== Emile Berliner, the inventor of the lateral-groove disc record and the Gramophone; Eldridge Reeves Johnson, the machinist who had improved Berliner's Gramophone to the point of marketability; and former typewriter promoter Frank Seaman formed a partnership. Berliner was to hold the patents; Johnson had manufacturing rights; and Seaman had selling rights. Seaman's contract contained a clause stating that if he could produce a Gramophone that was cheaper to manufacture, the board of directors would be compelled to assess it. Seaman complained that Johnson's version was too expensive, but Johnson wasn't interested in a redesign since he was already heavily invested producing the existing model. Seaman hired Louis Valiquet to design a less-expensive-to-manufacture version of Johnson's Gramophone. Valiquet's design was not only less expensive, but more rugged and more attractive. The Berliner board refused to consider Seaman's design, likely due to complicity between Berliner and Johnson. Seaman then began producing Valiquet's design as the Zonophone, and he marketed against the other machine he was promoting, the Gramophone. Berliner and Johnson sued Seaman for contract violations and patent infringement, and Seaman counter-sued. With the help of lawyer Phillip Mauro, Seaman arranged for an alliance with Columbia Records (then manufacturing only cylinder records and machines), arguing that the patents held by Columbia concerning cylinders applied to any type of recording where a stylus 'floated' on the surface of a recording, and that Zon-O-Phone would pay royalties if Columbia helped him drive Berliner out of business. In 1900 Seaman and Mauro succeeded in getting a judge to file an injunction that Berliner and Johnson stop making their products. Johnson and Berliner counter-sued. Johnson first formed the Consolidated Talking Machine Company in order to continue in business as the Berliner name had been enjoined. Johnson formed yet another subsequent company, the Eldridge R. Johnson Talking Machine Company, to evade continuing injunctions as the cases proceeded through the courts, and the following year emerged victorious in court—prompting the name of their new combined company, the Victor Talking Machine Company. Further legal actions dragged on until 1903, when all of the United States and Latin American assets of Zon-O-Phone were turned over to Victor, and the Europe and British Commonwealth assets to the Gramophone & Typewriter Company (which would later become the Gramophone Company and launch the His Master's Voice record label). The Victor Talking Machine continued use of the "Zonophone" name to market cheaper records which for whatever reason were not of the technical standard of the Victor label until retiring the label in the US in 1912. In the United Kingdom, Australia and other British colonies Zonophone was the cheaper label for Gramophone Company issues. Issue under the cheaper label appears to have been an arbitrary choice. For example from the same session in 1905 the matrices of the famed Music Hall star Victoria Monks were either issued on full priced Gramophone Company recordings or the much cheaper Zonophone label—with no technical differences (or indeed popularity of song). In 1911 single sided Zonophones were withdrawn—existing titles were doubled under the Zonophone Twin label. This made the price difference between the still single sided Gramophone Company issues and the Zonophones even greater. Ten-inch Zonophone Twins sold as 2s.6d. (£0.125) whilst single sided Gramo. issues (black label) sold at 4s.6d. (£0.225). In 1913 the Gramophone Company issued an even cheaper label ("Cinch") which sold at 1s.1d. (£0.06) whilst strangely keeping many of the titles for sale under the Zonophone label at 2s.6d. At least some Zonophone recordings were marked with early End User License Agreements (EULAs), as demonstrated by the sample label (see image). The label EULA reads, "This patented record is licensed for sale and use only when sold at retail at a price not less than the price marked upon this record, and only for the purpose of producing sound directly from this record, and for no other purpose. The patents covering this record, and under which it is made, among others, are U.S. patents NO 534,543, dated Feb. 19, 1895, NO 548,623 dated Oct 29, 1895 ... This license is valid only so long as this label remains on this record, unaltered and undefaced. A purchase is an acceptance of these terms. Universal Talking Machine MFG CO, May 1, 1911." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zonophone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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