In my two years with Lubin, there is one incident I don't think I'll ever forget. He asked me to screen some pictures for a prospective buyer who didn't disclose his identity but said he was in the market to buy some films. As we sold to anyone who had the cash, Lubin hustled the customer into a small screening room where I was waiting to grind the projector, which was set up without a booth. After showing a few of the pictures made by Lubin without a sale, he had me run some dupes. Among them was A Trip to the Moon, one of Melies' best pictures. Practice had made me quite an expert at blocking out the trademarks, and the job on this picture was so good it was hard for our customer to believe his eyes. Suddenly he jumped up from his chair, shot his arm out in front of the beam of light from the projector, and shouted, "Stop the machine." Startled, I stopped grinding and turned on the light. Lubin stared at him wondering what was wrong. We found out soon enough when the prospective buyer shouted, "You want me to buy that film?" Lubin wanted to know why not. "I", the man bellowed thumping his chest, "I made that picture. I am George Melies from Paris." The man, quite naturally, was in a wild rage. Lubin glared at him and, pointing to me, brazenly began telling Melies what a hard time I had had blocking out the trademark. Lubin's defiant attitude stunned Melies, and he stood there speechless. Lubin seemed to consider the incident a joke, and I was dumbfounded when he went out laughing. I didn't see the humor of the situation, as Melies was in such a rage he could have become physically violent, but he soon stamped out of the room. After that, whenever I was asked to run dupes for prospective buyers I was always a bit fearful.
Some more info about Lubin's bootleg by Steve Joyce: "Sigmund Lubin lifted Melies' A Trip to the Moon and distributed it himself in the States. Now, Melies had put his Star Film trademark on the landed space vehicle to avoid this situation. But Lubin merely scatched it off frame by frame!! The existing footage is from Lubin's dupe. It makes the vessel look like it had been shot at by a machine gun!!"