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 000163 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 #:
000163
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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Ag't, Biograph Co. and Kleinb, Feb. 18, 1908. 141 WHEREAS all the parties hereto are desirous of entering into an agreement for mutual protection of the businesses of the respective parties in films as hereinbefore described, and particularly against certain threatened patent litigation that may destroy or seriously affect such hereinbefore described businesses: NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises, terms and conditions hereof, and in consideration of the mutual benefits to be derived from the carrying out of this agreement, and in consideration of one dollar to each of the parties by each of the others in hand paid, and for other good and valuable considerations, the receipt of all of which is hereby acknowledged or admitted, the parties hereto have agreed, and they do hereby mutually agree and also each party does severally agree individually to and with each of the other parties, as follows: 1. The party of the first part agrees to buy and the parties of the second, third and fourth parts agree to sell, upon the terms hereinafter stated, all rights that the said parties of the second, third and fourth parts now have or may hereafter acquire, to purchase from their several respective foreign manufacturers moving or motion picture films; there being expressly reserved to the parties of the second, third and fourth parts the right to purchase such films from the party of the first part, and also the right to sell and distribute the same according to the ordinary course of their respective businesses as the same are now or may hereafter be established. 2. The party of the first part agrees to sell and the parties of the second, third and fourth parts agree to buy from the party of the first part all films covered or described in the paragraph numbered (1) hereof at a price equal to one-half (y2) cent per lineal foot of film in advance of the prices covered by existing or future contracts between the respective parties of the second, third and fourth parts and their respective foreign principals. These provisions numbered 1 and 2 are understood and agreed to apply to all stocks of films of the parties of the second, third and fourth parts on hand on March 2nd, 1908. The terms of payment by the parties of the second, third and fourth parts to the party of the first part shall be as follows : Invoices for such advances