court judgment in March 1902 invalidated Edison's claim, allowing any producer or distributor to use the Edison 35 mm film design without license. Filmmakers were already doing so in Britain and Europe, where Edison did not file patents. At the time, film stock was usually supplied unperforated and punched by the filmmaker to their standards with perforation equipment. A variation developed by the Lumière brothers used a single circular perforation on each side of the frame towards the middle of the horizontal axis. Becoming the standard When films began to be projected, several projection devices were unsuccessful and fell into obscurity because of technical failure, lack of business acumen, or both. The Vitascope, the first projection device to use 35 mm, was technologically superior and compatible with the many motion pictures produced on 35 mm film. Edison bought the device in 1895–96; the Lumiere's 35 mm projection Cinematograph also premiered in 1895, and they established 35 mm as the standard for exhibition.658 Standardization in recording came from monopolization of the business by Eastman and Edison, and because of Edison's typical business model involving the patent system: Eastman and Edison managed their film patents well656 – Edison filed the 35 mm patent in 1896, the year after Dickson left his employ657 – and so controlled the use and development of film.656 Dickson left the Edison company in 1895, going on to help competitors produce cameras and other film gauges that would not infringe on Edison's patents. However, by 1900, filmmakers found it too expensive to develop and use other gauges, and went back to using the cheap and widely-available 35 mm.657 Dickson said in 1933: Until 1953, the 35 mm film was seen as "basic technology" in the film industry, rather than optional, despite other gauges being available.652 In 1908, Edison formed "a cartel of production companies", a trust called the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), pooling patents for collective use in the industry and positioning Edison's own technology as the standard to be licensed out.656 35 mm became the "official" standard of the newly formed MPPC, which agreed in 1909 to what would become the standard: 35 mm gauge, with Edison perforations and a 1.3:1 (4:3) aspect ratio (also developed by Dickson).652 Scholar Paul C. Spehr describes the importance of these developments: When the MPPC adopted the 35 mm format, Bell & Howell produced cameras, projectors, and perforators for the