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 2
Leaf #:
00032
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:
June 13, 2024
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G50 William H. Swanson, Cross Examination. I was opening up in different places, stock on hand, such as material stocks, merchandise of various kinds. Q. Merchandise of various kinds and film you had on hand? A. No. I do not consider — I do not think I considered that incident to any portion of the profit. We film men usually consider only what money we have in actual tangible things that we can turn into money, as being of any value. Q. Now, Mr. Swanson, you have testified that you made |100,000 or more during a year, and I have asked you a simple question. In estimating that amount, what property you included other than cash? A. Everything except film that I owned. Q. WTell, did not you include film? A. No, sir. Q. Are you sure of that? A. Positively. Q,. Will your books show whether you included film or not? A. Surely they would. Q. Have you got those books? A. No, sir. Q. Where are they? A. They are in Chicago. Q. They are in existence, aren't they? A. I think the larger portion of my books are in existence. Q. I mean the books that would show that you made $100,000 or more a year, are they in existence? A. Well, when I left my Chicago business, I left the whole lay-out just as it was, and walked away from it, and stayed here in New York several months, and wrote back to another young fellow to lock the place up. Q,. Another young fellow like yourself? A. No. A young man working for me. However, it did not require the books to know that I was making so much money. Everybody in the business knew I started in business with ten cents, half of which was furnished by Mr. Selig, and the various enterprises that I had, the furniture and equipment which I had, which of course must have been paid for, were very expensive, and they were indicative of my making money, and I had not but one source of making money, and that was my film business and the theatre business. Q. And the mercantile business? A. The film theatre business and theatre business. Q. And the mercantile business you were in? A. The mercantile were side issues. Q. Yon were in them, weren't you? A. Not to any degree or consequence.