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 #:
00094
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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1320 H. N. Marvin, Direct Examination. terms and conditions of the agreement referred to in clause (3) of paragraph 24 have been faithfully observed. The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that the Licensor shall fix and determine the minimum lease prices at which such motion pictures shall be leased by the Licensee in the "lease territory aforesaid/' under this license and shall change such scale of minimum prices from time to time as in its judgment market conditions may require; and the Licensee further agrees that any changes which may hereafter be made in said scale of prices, and of which the Licensee shall be notified in writing by the Licensor, shall be accepted and adopted by the Licensee in the place and stead of the scale of prices above given or of any substitute or substitutes therefor adopted prior to such change; each such notice to be given to the Licensee at least three weeks in advance of the change to be made. 18. The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that such positive motion pictures made by or for the Licensee, and not leased or sold prior to June 20, 1913, shall be subject to the scale of prices aforesaid, and shall be leased in the "lease territory aforesaid," under this license, at not less than the prices fixed in said scale for positive motion pictures as provided for in Paragraph 16. 20. The Licensee further covenants and agrees not to lease such motion pictures for the purpose of such subleasing in the "lease territory aforesaid," under any circumstances, either directly or indirectly, during the continuance of this agreement, at lower prices than those fixed and established as provided for in Paragraph 16. 21. It is further mutually covenanted and agreed by the Licensor and Licensee that the Licensee shall have the right to sell or otherwise dispose of motion pictures in or for "said export territory," and that the prices above referred to in Paragraph 16, or any substitute or substitutes for the same hereafter adopted by the Licensor, shall not apply to sales or shipments of motion pictures made