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 #:
000258
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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2708 Frank Cook, Cross Examination. have seen the pictures. With these criticisms and my knowledge of the stories I then start to booking, and before I get through at five o'clock I have seen all the pictures, and I have received the criticisms, and then I often make any changes that I wish to. Q. Mr. Cook, are you solicited from time to time by representatives of independent exchanges? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do they offer you a complete program? A. Almost anything. Cross examination by Mr. Grosvenor : Q. Mr. Cook do you obtain quite a number of your pictures from this Chicago branch of the General Film Company? A. Yes, sir. Q. They are shipped from Chicago? A. Yes, sir. Q. Up to your places of business in Milwaukee? A. Yes, sir. Q. And then you return them from Milwaukee to Chicago when you are through with them? A. I have nothing to do with the shipping or returning. That is done through the Milwaukee branch. Q. Of the General Film Company? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, are you one of the stockholders of this Saxe Amusement Company? A. No, sir, I am an employe. Q. Is there any other company, Mr. Cook, in Milwaukee, which has as many large theatres, that is, large moving picture theatres, as the Saxe Amusement Company? A. The Mutual Film Company owns four. Q. Does the Mutual Film Company own those theatres? A. Mr. John Frauler of the Mutual Film Company owns them — that is a man connected Avith the Mutual Film Company. Q. Are those theatres as large as those five theatres which you operate? A. Omitting the Alhambra, yes. Q. The Alhambra is one of your theatres and is the largest theatre in Milwaukee showing moving pictures? A. Yes, sir. (J. Now, prior to the formation of the General Flim Company the theatres that you were operating were making money, were they not? A. Yes, we were making money. Q. There is no competition between these manufactur