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 000413 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 #:
000413
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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William Pelzer, Direct Examination. 391 they are made up? A. Which reports do yon have reference to, the reports from the exchanges? Q. No, these summaries that are made up, showing the results from all the reports from the exchanges? A. I believe they are in book form. Q. Will you please bring in tomorrow that book, containing all these reports, or the books containing them, and let me see those, and perhaps it will expedite the preparing of the other reports which I have asked for? A. I wish you would be a little more specific, Mr. Grosvenor. From your question I might need a truck load of books. Q. Mr. Pelzer, you have a large organization in the General Film Company, have you not? A. Yes. Q. Now, what I want is the book containing the concrete summaries which are prepared from all the reports of the branches, and which are submitted for the use of the Directors and officers? A. I don't think there is such a book that gives concrete summaries; I think they go into the different branches, or the different phases of the business, and therefore it would require a number of books. Q. Well, let me see if I can make it clear to you ; you stated that you got weekly reports from every exchange? A. Yes, sir. Q. How large are those reports, the weekly reports? A. I think they are on full page sheets — I have never examined them closely; I do not think I ever saw one of them. Q. What is done with them? A. Turned over to the auditor and then distribution is made on the books. Q. Then what? A. Distribution is made on the books. Q. Then you stated that from these forty odd reports that came in every week, either once a month or weekly a general report showing the total results of the particular reports is made up, either weekly or monthly? A. I don't think I said a general report is made. Q. Well, call it a report, or a tabulation, whatever you like? A. I believe there are a number of tabulations. Q. How often are those made? A. As I have said, I think about once a month or once in five weeks, I am not sure. Q. And what is done with those? A. They are all bound in loose leaf ledger form. Q. How large is that report that is made up once a month or once in five weeks? A. I don't know; I couldn't