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 00045 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 #:
00045
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
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Harry N. Marvin, Direct Examination. 23 ment December 18, 1908, entered into between the Patents Company and the American Mntoscope and Biograph Company. This agreement is offered in evidence as Petitioner's Exhibit No. 6. but is not to be copied, but counsel for the Government refers to Exhibit Xo. 3, of the petition. All of the exhibits introduced are admitted subject to correction later on, and if no corrections are made prior to the submission of the case to the Court it is understood they are admitted as true copies. By Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Mr. Marvin, in this license agreement between the Biograph Company and the Patents Company it refers to the license granted by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company to the firm of Marvin & Casler, "to manufacture and sell cameras and exhibiting or projecting machines, under Letters Patent owned by it, some of which are hereinbefore referred to." Will you produce a copy of that license agreement for examination? A. I will try to. Q. The agreement also refers to a certain license granted by Armat Motion Picture Company, to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company under the letters patent enumerated, and to other licenses, granted by the Biograph Company to the Armat Company. Will you also please produce copies of those licenses? A. Yes. Q. Mr. Marvin, who made for the use of the manufacturers the film upon which they print their pictures? A. Most of that stock comes from the Eastman Kodak Com. pany. Q. This license agreement between the Biograph Company ami the Patents Company provides in Paragraph 4: "The licensee covenants and agrees that in the manufacture of motion pictures, * * * during the continuance of this agreement, the licensee will use exclusively sensitized film manufactured and sold in the United States by a manufacturer or manufacturers authorized by the