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 #:
00088
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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66 Circulars to Rental Exchanges. 1 EXTRA TITLES. To Exchanges who may place separate standing orders for titles, the Manufacturers will hereafter supply extra titles five feet in length for twenty-five cents per title, the titles to be shipped with the film. NEW OFFICE AT BALTIMORE, MD. The Patents Company has licensed a new office to be conducted at Baltimore, Md., by Miles Bros., Inc. 2 Mr. Grosvenor: I offer in evidence this paper, to be marked Petitioner's Exhibit No. 18, which is as follows: Petitioner's Exhibit No. 18. Exchange Bulletin — No. 5. 3 MOTION PICTURE PATENTS COMPANY 80 Fifth Avenue New York City April 7, 1909. EXHIBITORS' ROYALTIES. We are enclosing a copy of Exhibitors' Bulletin, No. 4, 4 which we mailed to exhibitors to-day. From this Bulletin you will learn that it is our intention to have the rental Exchanges act as our agents to collect exhibitors' royalties on and after May 3, 1909. This arrangement will be more convenient to exhibitors and will enable Exchanges at all times to know whether an exhibitor is licensed or is not licensed. The Exchanges are representatives selected by this Company and by the Manufacturers for the distribution of licensed film. The business relations between the Ex