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 #:
000430
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:
May 23, 2024
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408 Agreement, Patents & Gaumont Cos. lected from the Licensee by the Licensor up to June 20, 1910, or during any renewal of this agreement up to August 31, 1914, the date of expiration of said reissued Letters Patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192, and no royalty whatever (except as hereinafter provided for) shall be charged to or collected from the Licensee by the Licensor after either the first, second and third claims of said reissued Letters Patent No. 12,037, and either of the claims of said reissued Letters Patent No. 12,192, in any suit as hereinafter provided for, for infringement thereof, are held invalid by a Court that last hears and decides such suit, or after August 31, 1914, during any renewal of this agreement; and that the Licensor shall charge royalties or rents for the use of all exhibiting or projecting machines capable of exhibiting or projecting motion pictures on film of a width greater than approximately one (1) inch, containing the inventions or any of them, described and claimed in the aforesaid Letters Patent Nos. 578,185; 580,749; 586,953; 588,910; 673,329; 673,992; 707,934; 722,382; 744,251; 770,937; 771,280; 785,205 and 785,237, licensed by the Licensor and that all such royalties or rents shall be collected by the Licensor, directly or indirectly from the exhibitors, including the Licensee, using such machines, and shall be fixed by the Licensor and charged and collected from such exhibitors by the Licensor at such a rate as to average as nearly as possible a royally or rental of Two Dollars (|2.00) per week for each such licensed machine in use. The Licensor further covenants and agrees that in exacting its weekly royalty for the use of any exhibiting or projecting machines embodying one or more of the inventions described and claimed in said United States 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, to which is attached sound record synchronizing devices of the Licensee's manufacture or importation, it will not discriminate in any manner against any theatre using such devices, and that such weekly royalty for any such theatre shall in no case be greater than the royalties charged to theatres of a corresponding size and location not using such synchronizing devices. 5. The Licensee further covenants and agrees not to