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 #:
000626
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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600 Gov't Ex. 134, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. parent hereafter owned or controlled by the Patents Company, and also twenty-four (24) per cent, of the gross royalties or rents collected by or paid to the Patents Company for the use of such machines during each year, counting from June 20, 1909, and within fifteen (15) days from the end of each such year, the money so paid to the Eastman Company shall be apportioned and hereafter paid to the "Patents Company licensees" as follows: Each such licensee shall have apportioned and paid to it by the Eastman Company, after each installment of said twenty-four per cent. (24%) of said gross royalties is paid to the Eastman Company by the Patents Company, such a share thereof as the number of thousand feet of film (whether "N. I. Licensed Film" or "Licensed Film" supplied under the aforesaid agreement of January 1, 1909, which is modified to this extent) of a greater width than approximately one (1) inch ordered by and shipped to such licensee, added to the number of thousand running feet of film of a greater width than approximately one (1) inch having positive motion pictures thereon, imported by such licensee (if such licensee has imported the same) during the period for which such installment is paid to the Eastman Company, bears to the total number of thousand running feet of such film ordered by and shipped to all of the "Patents Company licensees," added to the total number of running feet of film of a greater width than approximately one (1) inch having positive motion pictures thereon imported by all such licensees, during the period for which said installment is paid to the Eastman Company, after deducting the amount of such film of a greater width than approximately one (1) inch ordered by and shipped to the Edison Company and the Biograph Company during the period for which such installment is paid to the Eastman Company, which two latter Companies are not to share in or be paid any part of said twenty-four (24) per cent, of the gross royalties or rents; that such apportionment shall be made as aforesaid through Price, Waterhouse & Company, chartered accountants, or through some other accountants that may hereafter be mutually agreed upon by and between the Eastman Company and the Patents Company, and the "Patents Company licensees," and the Eastman Company shall pay to the "Patents Company licensees" their respective shares of