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 (1913)

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:
1913
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 1
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.

Agreement — Patents Co. and Vitageaph Co. IT 21, 1905, for FLAME-SHIELD FOR KINETOSCOPES. * Patent No. 785,237, granted The Vitagraph Company of America as the assignee of Albert E. Smith, dated March 21, 1905, for FILaT-HOLDEPv FOR KINETOSCOPES (hereinafter referred to for brevity as "VITAGRAPH PATENTS'') and that there are no outstanding licenses under the said Letters Patent, and is willing and desirous of selling the said Patents to the Patents Company ; (b) WHEREAS, the Patents Company is willing and desirous of purchasing the said patents, and relies upon the representations of the Vitagraph Company ; NOW, THEREFORE, THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH, THAT: (1) The Vitagraph Company, in and by these presents, for and in consideration of the sum of One Dollar ($1.00), receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and of the covenants of the Patents Company in this agreement, does agree to assign, transfer and set over unto the Patents Company, and its successors in business, the entire right, title and interest in and to the said United States Letters Patent Nos. 673,329, 711,251; 770,937; 771,280; 785,205; and 785,237, and the inventions described and claimed therein and the right to sue for and recover damages and profits for past infringement of the said Letters Patent and of each of them provided, however, that the Vitagraph Company shall reserve and retain to itself and its successors in business, the right and license to practice the inventions described in the said Letters Patent without the payment of any royalty thereon to the Patents Company or its successors in business, such right and license being, however, subject to the same covenants, conditions and stipulations which the Patents Company may hereafter impose upon the most favored person, firm or corporation which it may license to manufacture, use and sell apparatus embodying the inventions described and claimed in te said Letters Patent. (2) The Patents Company covenants and agrees that it will not grant any licenses to manufacture exhibiting or