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)

Page scan 000588 from 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 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 #:
000588
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:
September 12, 2024
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562 Gov't Ex. 133, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. cease doing business or should be dissolved, voluntarily or otherwise, or its Charter should be repealed, then, on the happening of either of such events, the Patents Company is to forthwith assign to the Edison Company, its successors and assigns, the entire right, title and interest in and to said reissued letters patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192, and the inventions therein set forth, together with all claims and demands, both at law and in equity, for infringement of said reissued letters patent, or either of them, and also on the happening of either of such events, all of the said license agreements hereinbefore referred to in this paragraph are to forthwith terminate and be at an end; and that the license agreements of the parties referred to in Paragraph 3 have been suspended, except that any one of them is to terminate on the termination of the hereinbefore mentioned agreement between the same party as licensee and the Patents Company, before the happening of either of such events, and forthwith and simultaneously with the happening of either of such events (if before August 31, 1911), all of said license agreements referred to in Paragraph 3, that have not been so terminated, shall be and become of full force and effect, subject to continuation and termination thereof as therein provided; and 5. WHEREAS, the Patents Company further represents that in and by the license agreements aforesaid with it, the licensees named therein are entitled to receive from the Patents Company a share of twenty-four (21) per cent of the annual gross royalties or rents collected by or paid to the Patents Company for the use of all exhibiting or projecting machines containing any of the inventions described and claimed in the letters patent referred to in Paragraph 4, which twenty-four (21) per cent of said annual gross loyalties or rents shall be paid to the Eastman Company and the shares thereof to which said licensees are entitled shall be apportioned to and paid to sucU licensees by the Eastman Company as hereinafter provided; and 6. WHEREAS, the Patents Company further represents that in and by the license agreements aforesaid with it the licensees named therein are each obligated to use