Some thousands nightly go.”By his own account Pepper, who was entitled to all profits, made considerable earnings from the patent. He ran his own performances and licenced other operators for money. In Britain he was initially successful in suing some unlicenced imitators, deterring others by legal threats, and defeating a September 1863 court action by music-hall proprietors who challenged the patent. But, while in Paris in summer 1863 to assist a licenced performance, Pepper had proved unable to stop Henri Robin and several others who were already performing unlicenced versions there. Robin successfully cited Séguin’s pre-existing patent of the polyoscope, of which Pepper had been ignorant. During the next four years Robin developed spectacular and original applications of the illusion in Paris. One famous Robin show depicted the great violinist Paganini being troubled in his sleep by a demon violinist, who repeatedly appeared and disappeared.