In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants (1913)

Record Details:

Title:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants
Date:
1913
Publisher:
New York, Appeal Printing Co.
Volume:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants : record volume 3
Leaf #:
00090
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
These seven volumes contain the testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court's antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Formed in 1908, the MPPC (sometimes referred to asœ"the Edison Trust" or just "the Trust") sought to control the American film industry through pooling patents and demanding that producers and exhibitors acquire licenses to those patents. Independent producers and exhibitors, who refused to license the patents, argued that the MPPC was an unlawful monopoly. In 1912 and 1913, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard testimonies from both MPPC members, such as Siegmund Lubin, and "Independents" who later became Hollywood moguls, such as William Fox. Ultimately, in 1915, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the MPPC in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and spelled the end for the already weakening MPPC. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012
Date Added:
September 21, 2023
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1310 H. N. Marvin, Direct Examination 10. The Licensee further covenants and agrees that the Licensee will, within fifteen (15) days after the twentieth (20th) day of each month after this agreement takes effect, and during its continuance, submit a statement in writing, signed by the proper officer of the Licensee, and SAvorn to if requested by the Licensor, showing the total number of running feet of new subjects listed and offered for lease or used for profit by it, in the "lease territory aforesaid" during the period from the twentieth (20th) day of the preceding calendar month to the twentieth (20th) day of the month for which such statement is submitted, and will at the same time pay to the Licensor a royalty of one cent (lc.) per running foot on such total number of running feet of new subjects. The Licensee further covenants and agrees to keep correct books of account and to permit the Licensor to determine, by examination thereof, at all reasonable times and through any reputable chartered accountants to be selected by the Licensor, the number of running feet of new subjects so listed and leased or used for profit by the Licensee while this agreement is in effect, if the Licensor should so desire. 12. The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that the Licensor may charge royalties or rents for the use of all exhibiting or projecting machines capable of exhibiting or projecting motion pictures on film of a width greater than approximately one and one-eighth (1%) inch, containing the inventions, or any of them, described and claimed in the aforesaid Letters Patent Nos. 578,185, 580,749, 586,953, 588,916, 673,329, 673,992, 707,934, 722,382, 744,251, 770,937, 771,280, 785,205 and 785,237, licensed by the Licensor and that all such royalties or rents shall be collected by the Licensor, directly or indirectly, from the exhibitors using such machines, and shall be fixed by the Licensor and charged to and so collected from such exhibitors by the Licensor at such a rate as to average as nearly as possible a royalty or rental of Ninety Cents (90c.) per week for each such licensed machine in use; and that the Licensor shall, upon the request of any of its licensees or of any user of such projecting machine, license the use of any projecting machine containing the inventions, or some of them, of said Letters