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 00053 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 #:
00053
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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Circulars to Film Rental Exchanges. 31 royalty fee of $10 to cover the period of the first five weeks from February 1st to March 8th, 1909. Before any license is granted to an exchange by the Patents Company, the exchange must furnish a list of theatres now being supplied by it, together with certain data as to the character of each theatre, its size and location, and kind of film service it takes, all as called for on the blank which will be furnished to the exchanges. These lists must be at the office of the Patents Company in New York City, by January 20, 1909, and the Patents Company will refuse to grant a license to any exchange failing to furnish such lists on that date, unless the distance of the exchange from New York City warrants lenience. After February 1, 1909, an exchange, before accepting an order for service, must ascertain whether or not the exhibitor desiring service has a license for his projecting machine and must refuse to supply licensed film to that exhibitor until he shall have obtained a license. On accepting an order for service from an exhibitor having a licensed machine the Exchange must mail to the Patents Company at its office in New York City the data in relation to the place of exhibition, etc., including the time the service is to begin, and a blank will be supplied by the Patents Company for this purpose. In a similar manner each exchange losing a customer must notify the Patents Company. Exchanges will be obliged to cease supplying with film any exhibitor whose fees are not paid. Each exchange should advise all of its exhibitors to apply immediately to the Patents Company for a license for the machines used by the exhibitors, so that the exhibitor may not be in danger of being cut off from his supply of film on February 1st. In addition to the foregoing change the following are the only material differences between the old and new agreements : (a) Hereafter licensed motion pictures will not be sold outright but will be leased by the various licensed manufacturers and importers, so that the latter may at all times retain title and be in a position to recover possession of such pictures should they be found in the hands of exchanges or exhibitors not entitled to use them. (6) Exchanges will be permitted to sub-lease film only