April 15th in Gennett History, 1919: Gennett announced via an ad in Talking Machine World, that it was defying Victor’s patent claim to the lateral process. Victor immediately sued and lost each case between 1919 and 1923, when the Supreme Court upheld the Second Circuit Court’s opinion that Eldridge Johnson / Victor Talking Machine Company’s claim to the invention was baseless. This led to many other small labels, such as Okeh and Paramount to switch to lateral cut 78s and able to access the majority of record players throughout the world.
April 15, 1919 Gennett Lateral Ad
Gennett Records Discography 