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 000422 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 #:
000422
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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400 Agreement,, Patents & Gaumont Cos. (c) WHEREAS, the Licensor represents that it is the owner of all the right, title and interest in and to reissued Letters Patent of the United States, No. 12037, dated September 31, 1902, and No. 12,192, dated January 12, 1904, original Letters Patent whereof were numbered 589,168, and dated August 31, 1897, and that there are no outstanding exclusive licenses, shop rights and other rights under said reissued Letters Patent or either of them, and no outstanding licenses or other rights of any kind, except license agreements thereunder between the Edison Manufacturing Company, of Orange, New Jersey, and certain manufacturers of motion pictures, the operation of which agreements has been suspended, and between the Licensor and certain manufacturers and importers of motion pictures; and (d) WHEREAS, the Licensee is engaged in the manufacture and importation of a certain synchronizing device for motion picture exhibiting and sound reproducing apparatus, which is known as the "Chronophone," and in the business of selling, leasing and using the said "Chronophone," and also in the business of manufacturing, importing, selling and exhibiting "talking motion pictures" exclusively, including the printing of positive "talking motion pictures" from negatives of the Licensee's own production, and relying upon the aforesaid representations of the Licensor and induced thereby, desires to obtain from the Licensor a license under said two reissued Letters Patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192, and Letters Patent Nos. 629,063 and 707,934, to manufacture and import "talking motion pictures" and to use and to lease for use, said "talking motion pictures" in the said "Chronophones," the exhibiting or projecting machines embodied in or attached to which contain the inventions, or some of them, described and claimed in said Letters Patent Nos. 578,185; 580,749; 586,953; 588,916; 673,329; 673,992; 707,934; 722,382; 744,251; 770,937; 771,280; 785,205 and 785,237; and (e) WHEREAS, the Licensee represents that more than fifty per cent. (50%) of its capital stock is now owned and controlled by the Societe des Etablissemcnts Gaumont, of Paris, France; and (f) WHEREAS, the said Societe des Etablissements