Improved Gram-O-Phone Record

US label produced in 1900 by Eldridge R. Johnson's Consolidated Talking Machine Company of Philadelphia. Johnson's improvements to the gramophone record included a method of recording and copper-plating wax disc masters, resulting in a product that was superior to Emile Berliner's acid-etched zinc masters. In addition, Johnson developed a method to apply paper labels to discs, and the Improved Gram-O-Phone Record was the first brand to carry a paper label on the playing side. Both black and olive green labels exist. In late 1900, Zonophone's Frank Seaman and American Graphophone Company (Columbia) sued Johnson for infringing on an injunction that prevented Berliner from marketing Gramophone products in the U.S. and succeeded in preventing Johnson from using the term "Gram-O-Phone". Johnson dropped the term, began marketing records as simply "Improved Record" credited to Eldridge R. Johnson, and moved his business to Camden, New Jersey. A few months later he reorganized his business as the Victor Talking Machine Co..