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 #:
000575
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 Pelzer, Direct Examination. 549 By Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Mr. Pelzer, you have produced certain statements entitled respectively, "Statement of Undivided Net Profits credited after payment of dividends on preferred and common stock, December 30, 1911 (Petitioner's Exhibit 131), and "Distribution of Undivided Net Profits for the years 1910 and 1911, credited after payment of Dividends on Preferred and Common Stock on basis of feet of Film leased from Licensed Manufacturers'' (Petitioner's Exhibit No. 132). Are these statements produced by you in response to the request of counsel for the Government on pages 333 to 335 of the record? A. Yes, sir. Q. This Petitioner's Exhibit 131 is a statement of the undivided net profits credited to the ten common stockholders of the General Film Company, and also shows the amounts paid on such credits as of what date? A. The amounts credited to manufacturers from whom the General Film Company obtained motion pictures, and are credited in accordance with the requirements of the contract, and not as common stockholders, and shows the amounts paid, and the dates of such payments. Q. Did you receive any instructions from counsel, or confer with counsel, in regard to the answer that you should make to the question which I just addressed to you? A. No, sir. Q. Now, have any amounts been credited on the books in the same way to these ten manufacturers of undivided net profits for the year 1912? A. Not yet. Q. There have been no amounts credited to any of them for the past year, 1912? A. No; because the books have not yet beeu closed. Q. Are you able to state approximately what were the undivided net profits for the year 1912? A. No, sir. Q. Are the same greater or less than the figure here given for the amounts credited in this manner, that is, out of the undivided net profits, for the year 1911, to wit, $1,055,579.98? A. T have not the slightest idea. Q. Are you able to state what either the net profits, or the gross profits for Ihe year 1912 of the General Film Company were? A. No, sir. Q. Don't you know anything about the profits of