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)

Page scan 000128 from 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 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 #:
000128
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:
September 12, 2024
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.

746 William H. Swanson, Cross Examination. Q. Your profits? A. Yes, over f 600,000. Q. Were over $600,000? A. Yes. Q. What do you mean by that, your gross profits? A. Yes, sir, gross profits. Q. What were your net profits during the latter part of 1907, and the first part of 1908? A. That I am unable to say, what the net profits were. Q. Well, were they ten per cent, of the gross? A. Yes, sir. They were seventy-five per cent, of the gross, I should imagine. Q. Now, when you say your gross profits were $600,000, of what details did those profits consist? A. Stock on hand, money in bank, and investments in theatres. Q. Did you make a statement to Bradstreet's Commercial Agency in Chicago, on or about May 21, 1908, in which you reported assets amounting to $215,000? A. I don't know, I might have done so. Q. Didn't you make a statement on or about May 21, 1908, when you were doing business at 164 and 166 East Lake Street, Chicago, in which you reported assets, stock and equipment $200,000, accounts receivable, $5,000, cash, $10,000, total, $215,000? A. Well, I have no way of remembering whether I made that or not, but I presume I did if they have got it. Q. And didn't you make such a statement to Bradstreet's? A. If I don't admit it I should deny it — well, I don't remember it. Q. You said you presumed you must have done it, just now. A. I presume if they reported that I must have done it. Q. And this was the time you say you made $600,000 profits in those two years? A. Yes, sir, up to about that time. Q. At the time you made this statement? A. Yes, sir. Q. When did those profits begin to shrink, what time, in 1908? A. Well, when I began to live up to the regulations and rules of the Edison license agreement. Q. Then you began to lose money? A. Yes, I lost it very rapidly then. Q. Did you go in the film exchange business in Denver after you left Chicago? A. I did. Q. When did you open the place in Denver? A. I don't recall the date.