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)

Page scan 00039 from 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 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 #:
00039
Language:
English
Collection:
Government & Law and Early Cinema
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 12, 2024
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.

Feed C. Aiken, Cross Examination. 2489 Messrs. Swanson, MacDonald, Miles, Peckham and Clark were appointed a committee on by-laws and constitution, to draft the form of government for the association : "At the close of the meeting, the manufacturers extended an invitation to the renters to dine with them in the banquet hall, which was accepted by all the renters.'' Then leaving off the names of some persons present: "After doing full justice to the good things put before them, Mr. Swanson called on the following for addresses : Messrs. IIopp, Patrick, Blackton, Kleine, Barker, Smith, Kennedy, Marvin, Miles, Moore, Chalmers, Howel, Saunders,'' and some others. The next paragraph is : "Sunday, the conference assembled at 1 :30 P. M., at which both manufacturers and renters were present, at which the policy, as above outlined, was adopted." Now, is that account of the meeting which I have read, in accord with your recollection of what was done at the meeting? A. I think it is pretty much correct, as I remember it. Q. I show you an article headed, "Notice, United Film Service Protective Association," in the Moving Picture World, November 30th, 1907, page 628. Please read that article. A. Yes, sir. (}. Does that refresh your recollection as to whether or not the next meeting of the Association was postponed from November 30th to December 14th? A. I think that the next meeting we had was held in Chicago. Q. Where was it? A. Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago. Q. When was it? A. That is the time the officers were elected, of the Film Service Association, and, if I remember correctly, it was in December, 1907. Q. What was in December, 1907? A. The meeting of the Film Service Association at the Grand Pacific Hotel, when the officers were elected. This meeting at Pittsburg]) was simply a preliminary meeting. Q. That is, the meeting at Pittsburgh on November lGth and 17th? A. Yes, sir. There was nothing definitely accomplished. Q. The Association had not yet been formed? A. No, sir. Q. It had been intended to hold the next meeting November 30th, which was postponed to the middle1 of Decern