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 #:
000617
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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Govt Ex. 134, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. 391 said," except for export, as hereinafter provided for, such non-infiainmable sensitized motion picture film for the commercial production of negative and positive motion pictures to anyone but the "Patents Company licensees," except to the extent of two and one half (2y2) per cent, of the total amount of such "N. I. Licensed Film" supplied to the "Patents Company licensees" from the date hereof to June 20, 1909, and to said "Patents Company licensees" during any one year, counting from June 20, 1909, of the continuance of this agreement, which amount, of a width approximately one inch and three-eighths of an inch (1%) the Eastman Company (by and with the consent and authority of the Patents Company, which it hereby grants) reserves the right to furnish or supply to persons not engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling, loaning, renting out or otherwise disposing of or dealing in motion pictures in the "territory aforesaid;" and with the further exception that the Eastman Company (by and with the consent and authority of the Patents Company, which it hereby grants) reserves the right to manufacture and sell such non-inflammable sensitized motion picture film of a width not to exceed approximately one (1) inch in the "territory aforesaid" to persons, firms and corporations engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling, loaning, renting out or otherwise disposing of or dealing in motion pictures in the "territory aforesaid" upon condition, however, that in case any of them produces thereon any picture greater in size than approximately three-quarters (%) of an inch, on a line either parallel to or at right angles to the edge of said film, and the Eastman Company has knowledge thereof, it will cease supplying such film to any such person, firm or corporation; and with the further express exception that the Eastman Company i by and with the consent and authority of the Patents Company, which it hereby grants) reserves the right to manufacture and sell, in the "territory aforesaid," such non-inflammable sensitized motion picture film of any width to persons, firms and corporations (not "Patents Company licensees") who had prior to January 1st, 1909, an established business of manufacturing motion pictures in any country foreign to the United States (hereinafter, for brevity, called "foreign manufacturers"), who now manufacture negative or positive motion pictures in the