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 #:
000615
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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Gov't Ex. 134, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. 589 commercially of positive and negative motion pictures, and sell such "N. I. Licensed Film" to the "Patents Company licensees", and such other film to other persons, firms and corporations provided for in Paragraph 13 the right and authority hereby granted to the Eastman Company being sole and exclusive, even as to the Patents Company, in the "territory aforesaid", but, except as hereinafter provided, strictly limited to the manufacture of such "N. I. Licensed Film" and such other film and the sale of such "N. I. Licensed Film" to the ''Patents Company licensees", and the sale of such other film to said other persons, firms and corporations, and not including any right to the Eastman Company, to manufacture, use or sell, in the "territory aforesaid", motion picture cameras embodying any invention covered by said reissued patent No. 12,037 and said letters patent numbers 629,063 and 707,934, except that the Eastman Company may and is hereby given the right to use such motion picture cameras as it may desire for its own use, including film testing; and it being further provided that the right and authority hereby granted is personal to, and not assignable or otherwise transferable in whole or in part, by the Eastman Company, which shall have no right to delegate any part thereof, or grant any right or privilege whatsoever thereunder or under either of said reissued letters patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192, and letters patent Nos. 629,063 and 707,934, to any person, firm or corporation, unless the said Eastman Company should dispose of its entire motion picture film business to a single purchaser, in which case it may assign the right and authority hereby granted to it, together with all its rights under this agreement, to such purchaser, who shall then and thereafter be rocognized and dealt with by the Patents Company as the successor of the Eastman Company in the ownership of said right and authority and all other rights of the Eastman Company under this agreement and be entitled to all the benefits and privileges thereof; but before any such purchaser shall be rocognized as such assignee and successor of the Eastman Company, said purchaser shall first, agree in writing to accept, act under, and perform the covenants, stipulations and conditions of this agreement. 11. The Patents Company covenants and agrees to promptly notify the Eastman Company of the names and addresses of all the "Patents Company licensees" to whom it