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)

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 #:
00041
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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Agreement — Patents Co. and Vitagraph Co. 1!) (4) The Patents Company further covenants and agrees 1 to keep accurate books of account and to permit the Vitagraph Company, if it should so desire, to inspect the said books of account, through any reputable chartered accountants, to determine that the sums herein provided have been properly assigned and paid to the Vitagraph Company. (5) The Vitagraph Company covenants and agrees that it has cancelled or will cancel any licenses, shop rights or other rights which may have been heretofore granted under any or all of the said United States Letters Patent, to any person, firm or corporation, and the Vitagraph Company further covenants and agrees that it will save harmless in all respects the Patents Company from any claim under any agreement, contract or other obligation, which the Vitagraph Company or its predecessors in title may have entered into or assumed with any person, firm or corporation concerning or involving any license, shop right or other right under any or all of the said United States Letters Patent or the applications therefor. (6) It is further mutually covenanted and agreed by and between the Patents Company and the Vitagraph Company that this agreement shall take effect on the date hereof and continue until the expiration of all of the Vitagraph patents, and that if, during the life of this agreement, either party should knowingly or through gross neglect or carelessness be guilty of a breach, violation or non-performance of its covenants, conditions and stipulations, resulting in substantial injury to the other party, and should, for a period of thirty days after notice thereof from the other party, persist therein or fail to correct, repair or remedy the same, then and in such case, the party aggrieved may terminate this agreement by giving thirty days' notice in writing to the guilty party of its intention so to do, and it is further mutually covenanted and agreed that this agreement may also be terminated by either of the parties hereto in case that the Patents Company should become bankrupt, cease doing business or should be dissolved voluntarily or otherwise, or its charter should be 3