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 #:
000245
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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John F. Hennegan, Direct Examination. 2695 Q. At the time you bought the Lubiu Film Exchange were you then operating a theatre? A. Yes, sir. Q. Is that the same theatre to which von have just referred? A. Yes, sir. Mr. Grosvenor: Did you buy that from Mr. Lubiu too. The Witness: The theatre? Mr. Grosvenor : Yes. The Witness : We bought that theatre eventually from the Moving Picture Company of America, who controls a circuit of moving picture theatres. Mr. Lubin, and I, and my brother started it originally. This Moving Picture Company of America bought out Mr. Lubin's various interests in the moving picture business as far as the exhibition end was concerned, and we were in partnership, or it was a corporation that they had for about a year and a half, and then we bought them out. So that at the present time my brother and I are the sole owners of the Lubin Theatre. We didn't buy it from Mr. Lubin, but bought it from the Moving Picture Company of America. V>y Mr. Kixgsley: Q. In what year did you buy the Lubin Film Exchange? A. In 1909. Q. Do you recall what part of the year it was in? A. I have an idea that it was in either May or June, somewhere thereabouts. Q. Did you take out a license from the Patents Company after you purchased the exchange? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you take out the license voluntarily with the Patents Company? A. Yes, certainly that was so. Q. When you signed the license agreement with the Patents Company, did you intend to live up to its terms? A. Why, certainly. Q. And did you live up to its terms? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did anyone give you to understand when you signed it that its terms were not binding and would not be enforced? A. No. Q. Do you recall that in the license agreement with the Patents Company there was a provision that each rental