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 #:
000437
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. 415 Licensee, equal to the amount that was so leased during the seventh month preceding the date of each such return, with the exception, however, that where any such positive "talking motion pictures'' are destroyed by fire or lost in transportation, and proof satisfactory to the Licensee as to such destruction or loss is furnished the amount so destroyed or lost shall be deducted from the amount to be returned as aforesaid, and (6) That the violation of any of the foregoing conditions, including the terms and conditions of the agreement referred to in condition 3, entitles the lessor to immediate possession of such "talking motion picture" without liability for any price which the lessee or the person in whose possession it is found may have paid therefor. The Licensor further covenants and agrees to enter into an agreement for the sub-leasing of the positive "talking motion pictures," made or imported by the Licensee, with any person, firm or corporation, designated by the Licensee, provided such person, firm or corporation requests such agreement and has not violated any agreement with the Licensor or with any manufacturer or importer of motion pictures or projecting machines licensed by it, and further covenants and agrees that such agreement shall contain no terms inconsistent with the terms of this agreement, except by and with the mutual consent of the Licensee and the Licensor. The Licensee further covenants and agrees that no positive "talking motion picture" shall be leased by it directly to any exhibitor for the purpose of giving exhibitions thereof, except on and subject to the following terms and conditions, which the Licensee shall embody in any contract which it shall make with such exhibitor namely: (1) That the exhibitor shall use such "talking motion picture" at all times in connection with the sound record furnished by the Licensee with such picture and only on synchronized motion picture exhibiting and sound reproducing apparatus, the synchronizing devices of which have been made or imported by the Licensee, and the motion picture projecting machines of which are licensed by the Licensor under the said Letters Patent Nos. 578,185; 580,749; 586,953; 588,910; 073,329; 073,992; 707,931; 722,382; 711,251 ; 770,937; 771,280; 785,205 and 785,237, or one or more of them, or under any other letters patent that it may hereafter acquire or control; and