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RKO PRODUCTIONS, INCORPORATED 153
however, that there were in the vicinity of 1,500 theaters with disc-only equipment of one sort or another. Various estimates placed the number of nonsynchronous installations between 2,000 and 3,000.
The theaters wired with dual systems, to reproduce sound from both film and disc, were largely those equipped with Western Electric and RCA Photophone systems. A few of the more widely recognized systems other than the Western Electric and RCA Photophone, such as the Bristolphone, Cinephone, Biophone, Pacent, etc., had announced supplementary sound on film reproducing equipment for the future, but for a number of months had been installing only the disc reproducing equipment. Exhibit 1 lists a number of sound reproducing systems. The possibility of manufacturing sound-on-film reproducing equipment without infringements of patents held by the two larger companies was questioned by the executives of RKO Productions, Incorporated. Action had been brought by the Western Electric Company against the Pacent Reproducer Corporation on April 2, 1929. The president of Electrical Research Products, Incorporated, the distributing subsidiary of sound equipment of the Western Electric Company, was reported to have stated that he was convinced that the system of disc reproduction used by the Pacent Reproducer Corporation was infringing upon no less than eight of the fundamental and important patents. An injunction and accounting of damages and profits were asked.2
The larger theaters in the key cities were for the most part wired with one or the other dual system, as were also the theater units in many distributor-controlled chains. The wired houses were estimated to represent approximately 75% of the revenue market for the company's pictures. The general sales manager stated that from 75% to 85% of the distribution was secured from about 1,200 accounts. Many small chains and circuits, however, were wired with only disc instruments. It was also probable that many theaters had installed cheaper disc equipment as a temporary measure in order to capitalize upon the novel popularity of the sound pictures without too great a financial commitment, or in order to secure an earlier delivery than was possible from Electrical Research Products, Incorporated, or RCA Photophone, Incorporated. These theaters might eventually install sound-on
2 Motion Picture News, April 6, 1929, p. 1027.