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 #:
000264
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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2714 Isaac H. Ruben, Cross Examination. money at the present time for our service than we did previous. Q. And in saying that, do you take into consideration the number of reels, and the age of the service? A. Yes, sir. Q. What projecting machines do you use in your establishments? A. I am using at the present time Powers No. 6. Q. Have you been using that altogether? A. Yes. For the last two or three years. The Improved Powers. Q. What did you use before you used the Powers machine? A. I used an Edison. Q. The Edison and the Powers, then, comprise all the projecting machines you have ever used? A. Yes, sir; with the No. 5. Q. Is that the No. 5 Powers or No. 5 Edison? A. That is the No. 5 Powers. Cross examination by Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Mr. Ruben, as I understand, your Des Moines houses were supplied with films from Minneapolis? A. No, sir. They are at the present time. Q. They are today supplied from Minneapolis? A. Yes, sir. Q. Well, where was this Van Duzee rental exchange? A. In St. Paul. Q. And when you had tins trouble with him in connection with your Des Moines houses, you were being supplied by his exchange from St. Paul? A. I was getting my service for my St. Paul houses from Mr. Van Duzee, but not for Des Moines. Q. Then you had not any trouble of the character which you have described, at your Des Moines houses? A. I was not in business at that time in St. Paul. The service that I referred to in Des Moines, understand, I was taking originally from the Calcium Light Company in Pittsburgh, and after I had branched out in business, why, I was taking my service — that is, when I got up to the north, St. Paul and Minneapolis, the only ones that was handling the licensed pictures at that time — not licensed, I mean, previous to the General Film Company taking them over — that wTas before the General Film Company had absorbed the Van Duzee exchange.