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 #:
000501
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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William H. Swanson, Cross Examination. 479 Cross examination by Mr. Willis: Q. Mr. Swanson, have you read your testimony as far as it has been printed, in fact, up to that which has been taken this afternoon? A. No, sir, I have read a portion of the testimony that I gave day before yesterday. Q. You recollect your testimony, however, do you not? A. Very distinctly. Q. Have you any corrections to make in it? A. There were a few typographical errors that should have been corrected. Q. The typographical errors did not change the sense, or meaning of your testimony, did they? A. Well, not such of it as I saw, I don't think it would except I have not read it all, not even my first day's testimony. Q. Now, Mr. Swanson, permit me to ask you what your occupation or business was prior to entering the moving picture business in 1896? A. In a general way I was in the show business all my life. Q. What sort of a show business? A. I have been in the circus business, and in the carnival business, and bicycle riding business, and theatrical business. Q. Can you fix the date of the meeting which you say took place in January, 1909, in the City of New York? A. The 11th of January. Q. That meeting was at the Imperial Hotel? A. It was on the first floor of the Imperial Hotel. Q. And that meeting consisted of representatives of the rental exchanges, did it not? A. Not altogether so; it was a meeting of the Film Service Association, which consisted of film exchanges, machine manufacturers, and film manufacturers. Q. I understood you to say there was presented at that meeting a contract or license form which the representatives at the meeting were notified to sign and concur in with the Motion Picture Patents Company? A. The forms were presented, but they were not invited to sign them at that particular time and place. They were to be taken back to the various homes, and considered and signed, and returned within a given period of time. Q. Had you known anything about that plan before? A. Three days before that meeting I was given a typewritten copy of the contract by a certain friend of mine.