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 (1914)

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:
1914
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 5
Leaf #:
00026
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

2476 Fred C. Aiken, Cross Examination. "Q. Did you take any part in the preparation of the bylaws of that Association? A. I did. "Q. What part did you take? A. One of the Executive Committee. "Q. By whom were the by-laws framed? A. It was framed by the Executive Committee. "Q. And did you actively assist in the preparation of those by-laws? A. I did. "Q. Were the manufacturers members of that Association? A. No, sir. UQ. Do you know whether the manufacturers had any voice in the preparation of those by-laws? A. They did not, to my knowledge. "Q. Were the by-laws submitted to the manufacturers or any of them before their adoption? A. They were not, to my knowledge. "Q. Then the by-laws were voluntary self-imposed regulations? A. Yes, sir." Is there anything you care to add to those answers and that testimony, or any qualification you desire now to make? A. No, sir. That is as I remember it, exactly. Q. Mr. Aiken, you stated this afternoon, I think, that the Film Service Association was organized in Pittsburgh, in November, 1907? A. The first meeting was called there. Q. Now, I show you Volume I of the Moving Picture World, at page 592, being an advertisement headed "Convention of Manufacturers and Film Renters,-' signed, "Committee, J. Stuart Blackton, of the Vitagraph Company of America; J. W. Ullman, of Italian Cines," this being printed in the issue of the Moving Picture World of November 16th, 1907. Please read that advertisement. A. Yes, sir, I remember that. Q. That was an advertisement inviting the various rental exchanges to appear at Pittsburgh, November 16th, 1907, and hold a convention; is that right? A. Yes, that is right. Q. And that advertisement is signed by twelve manufacturers? A. Yes, sir. Mr. Grosvenor: I request that that advertisement be copied in the record at this point. Mr. Caldwell: I object to that being received in