un sort de l'artiste

Georges Melies, born to a shoe-seller, was a film-maker in the pioneering 19th century French cinema. He created fiction-based masterpieces in the early 1900's. It is truly despicable, the innovator in early cinema, had his artwork imitated by the veterans of other fileds, such as Thomas Edison, without any prior notice or indemnification! and where were all those fancy-schmancy copyrights? loss of freedom of expression... It completely escapes me that an artist would be emasculated after he is about to taste success. He went through several hardships and was not recognized for a long time. Quite a saga for an award-winning film-maker destined to sell toys.
notes: Georges was later awarded Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor) by French President. Guess they finally realized his contribution!