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 #:
000658
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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632 Gov't Ex. 135, Agt. Edison & Eastman Kodak Cos. Mr. Grosvexor: I offer in evidence Petitioner's Exhibit No. 135, being an agreement between the Motion Picture Patents Company, Edison Manufacturing Company and Eastman Kodak Company of February 14th/ 1911. Petitioner1 s Exhibit No. 135. 1. AGREEMENT made this 11th day of February 1911, by and between MOTION PICTURE PATENTS COMPANY, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New Jersey and having an office at Jersey City, in said State, party of the first part (hereinafter referred to as the Patents Company), The Edison Manufacturing Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New Jersey and having an office at Orange, in said State, party of the second part, (hereinafter referred to as the Edison Company), and Eastman Kodak Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York and having a place of business in the City of Rochester, in said State, party of the third part (hereinafter referred to as the Eastman Company) ; WITNESSETH:— 2. "WHEREAS, an agreement in writing was entered into on or about the first day of January, 1909, by and between the parties of the first, second and third parts, respecting, among other things, the sale by the party of the third part, of translucent or transparent sensitized film (having a nitrocellulose base) suitable for the commercial production of negative and positive motion pictures, to licensees of the party of the first part under certain patents owned by it, and to other persons, firms and corporations, which agreement in writing was modified in certain particulars by another agreement in writing entered into by and between the parties hereto of the first and third parts on or about the 15th day of June, 1909; and 3. WHEREAS, the parties hereto of the first, second and third parts are desirous of further modifying the said agreement in writing dated on or about the first day of January, 1909;