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 #:
000636
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
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 21, 2023
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

610 Gov't Ex. 134, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. suitable for use iu the commercial manufacture, printing and production of negative and positive motion pictures, and has sold the same in the "territory aforesaid'' and in foreign countries, the parties to the license agreements mentioned in Paragraph 3 having been some of its customers therefor, and that it has special facilities for the manufacture of such film; and 8. WHEREAS, the Edison Company, not being a manufacturer of translucent or transparent sensitized film suitable for use in the manufacture, printing or production of motion pictures, entered into two agreements in writing with the Eastman Company bearing date on or about the 20th day of May, 1908, respecting the manufacture of such film, and the supplying of the same to said Edison Company and to the licensees of the license agreements with the Edison Company mentioned in said Paragraph 3, and the collecting from such parties and the payment by it to the Edison Company of certain royalties upon such film; and 9. WHEREAS, the Edison Company and the Eastman Company are desirous of terminating and cancelling said two agreements in writing, and the Patents Company not being a manufacturer of translucent or transparent sensitized film suitable for use in the manufacture, printing or j)roduction of motion pictures, is desirous of availing itself of the manufacturing facilities therefor of the Eastman Company by having it manufacture such film (having a nitrocellulose base) by its present secret processes and embodying its present secret compositions and patented invention and supply such film to the "Patents Company licensees," and is also desirous of having the Eastman Company collect from the latter, for payment to the Patents Company, the royalties referred to in Paragraph -1 of this agreement, and to collect from the other persons, firms and corporations, as provided for in Paragraph 14, for payment to the Patents Company, the royalties provided for in Paragraph 17; NOW THEREFORE, the parties hereto, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to each paid by the other, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and