The Official Communiqué: Foundations of the Sound-Film Acoord

Film-Kurier, No. 172, July 23, 1930


Berlin, July 23
Yesterday, we were the only Berlin paper to publish the basic outline of the official communiqué issued on the subject of the Paris Sound-Film Agreement. The text of the official declaration is as follows:
"In conclusion of their negotiations in Paris, the representatives of German and American electronics and film industries have signed an agreement on the global exchange of patent rights (...). The arrangements enable film producers around the world to obtain the license to produce films using methods governed by American patents.
These films should be exchangeable in all countries and useable in all sorts of equipment built under license in Germany and America. It should be emphasized that, as a result of this agreement, the German market is now open to American film producers, and the American market to the German producers.
With respect to the manufacture and sales of equipment, the interested German and American parties have come to an agreement over the complete interchangeability of patent rights and the exchange of technical and manufacturing knowledge, so that the apparatus that combines the best of German and American ideas may be introduced in all countries throughout the world.




As a result of this agreement, the equipment used in the following countries shall be manufactured in German factories: Germany, including the free city of Danzig, the Saar and Memel regions, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, the Dutch Indies, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria. Whereas in the following countries, the equipment shall be manufactured in American factories: the United States, including its possessions, Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, the Straits Settlements, India, and Russia. The equipment used in all other parts of the world may be manufactured either in America or in Germany.
The purpose of this agreement is to ensure the full exploitation of the manufacturing potential of the German and American industries, and to ascertain that the film industry is provided with the best possible equipment and distribution opportunities for the films shall be ensured in the nearest possible future.
The agreement is not intended to serve solely German and American interests, but rather the interests of all other countries as well, since it is meant to secure the greatest possible distribution and utilization of patent rights and technical knowledge, these being controlled by the German and American parties.
The German and American parties have made it their task to promote the development of the sound-film industry."
Thus, with the signing of this memorandum, sound-film peace has been established definitively throughout the world. The communiqué quite rightly emphasizes that, from now on, the German market shall be open to American producers. (...)