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 #:
000435
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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Agreement, Patents & Gaumont Cos. 413 and shall be leased or furnished for use by the Licensee at not less than the prices fixed m the said scale of prices. 12. The Licensee further covenants and agrees not to lease, or furnish for use, "talking motion pictures" under any circumstances, either directly or indirectly, during the continuance of this agreement, at lower prices than those fixed and established by the Licensor, as provided for in Paragraph 9. 13. The Licensee further covenants and agrees that it will not exhibit, or lease, or offer for lease, second-hand or used positive "talking motion pictures'' which are damaged or worn so as to be unfit for use in giving exhibitions thereof. 14. The Licensee further covenants and agrees that all leases of positive "talking motion pictures" shall be at the prices hereinbefore provided for without the allowance of any discounts or rebates or other reduction by which the lessee might acquire positive "talking motion pictures" at lower prices than those herein provided for. The Licensee further covenants and agrees that it will not sell or rent or offer for sale or rent other goods or merchandise, including projecting machines, sound reproducing devices or motion picture exhibiting and sound record synchronizing devices, at less than current prices in order to induce the lease of positive "talking motion pictures." The Licensee further covenants and agrees that in determining the rate which it charges to any theatre to which it supplies a complete service for the exhibition of "talking motion pictures," including the positive "talking motion pictures" and the necessary exhibiting and sound reproducing devices, with or without the operator therefor, it will charge such prices for the use of such devices and the services of such operator as not to permit or effect the lease or rental of positive "talking motion pictures" at rates lower than those provided for in paragraph 9 hereof. 15. The Licensee further covenants and agrees thai it will dispose of the positive "talking motion pictures'" manufactured, imported, produced or printed by it, only by the lease thereof to lessees for the purpose of sub-leasing or