The Sneeze That Got a Copyright

The story as it is told

A man sneezes. That is the whole plot of what is often called the first film, or the first copyrighted film, made by Thomas Edison.

Fred Ott, an engineer in Edison's employ, sat in front of the camera in West Orange, New Jersey, and let go. The clip runs about five seconds, and it has been remembered ever since as the moment American movies began.

What we can confirm

In early January 1894, in Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey, a camera operated by William Heise filmed Fred Ott, an Edison engineer, sneezing (LoC). The clip runs about five seconds.

Forty-five of its frames were printed on one sheet of photographic paper, about 7 by 5 inches, and mounted on card. W. K. L. Dickson put his name on it as the copyright claimant. The handwriting at the bottom reads "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, Taken & Copyrighted by W.K.L. Dickson, Orange, N.J., Jan. 7th/94." The Copyright Office stamped it received on January 9, 1894.

The Library of Congress explains why the film went in as a photograph: "In 1894 there was no provision in the copyright law for the registration of motion picture film." The Office "allowed the Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze to be registered as a photograph." The LoC calls the card "the earliest surviving 'motion picture' registered for copyright" at the Library.

Howard Lamarr Walls later searched about a million entries in the Copyright Office record books from 1893 to 1913 for films hidden among photographs. In the Office's 1953 catalog of his findings, the first registration he found is this one: "© W. K. L. Dickson; 9Jan1894; 2887." The law did not get a motion picture class until August 24, 1912.

The LoC says the sequence was made for publicity, to run as still photographs with an article in Harper's Weekly. That makes the first copyrighted "film" something meant to be seen on a printed page. Paying audiences first saw Kinetoscope films at the Holland Brothers' parlor, 1155 Broadway, New York, on April 14, 1894 (Walls).

Whether a whole strip of frames could be protected by one registration stayed unsettled until 1903. In Edison v. Lubin that year, a federal appeals court ruled that requiring each of the "numerous undistinguishable pictures to be individually copyrighted" would be unreasonable.

The facts

• Filmed January 7, 1894, Black Maria, West Orange, NJ; camera William Heise; appearing Fred Ott. LoC MBRS record 00694192
• Card of 45 frames, 7 x 5 in., received January 9, 1894; registered as a photograph. LoC P&P record 95505651 (image viewed; Jan 9 stamp visible)
• First film-as-photograph registration found by Walls: 9Jan1894, no. 2887. Walls, Motion Pictures 1894 to 1912 (Copyright Office, 1953)
• No motion picture class until August 24, 1912. Walls preface
• First paid Kinetoscope showing: April 14, 1894, 1155 Broadway. Walls preface

Related: What enters the public domain in 2027

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