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 000130 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 #:
000130
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.

748 William H. Swanson, Cross Examination. member that; I don't believe I made any $150,000 figure for that. Q. You don't quite recall that? A. No, sir. Q. But if you signed such a statement you made it, of course? A. Certainly. Q. I think you described the competition which existed between you and others in the latter part of 1908 as ruinous — A. (interrupting) : I didn't describe it as ruinous. Q. Didn't you say there was a time that you proposed to Mr. Dyer that the film rental exchanges should turn over half of their interests to the Edison business, in order to get the protection of the Edison patents? A. I didn't put it in that way. Q. Perhaps I can refresh your recollection. Wasn't there a time that you came East as a committee of one — A. (interrupting) : Yes, I recall. Q. (continuing) : As a committee of one representing the rental exchanges of Chicago, and you saw Mr. Dyer and said, "Can't something be done to stop this ruinous competition?" A. I came from Chicago to New York. I did not see Mr. Dyer. No. Q. You called him up on the 'phone and said, "Can't something be done to stop this ruinous competition?" A. Not to stop the ruinous competition. To keep his promise of shutting out the independents. Q. And didn't you say, "If you will stop this ruinous competition" — A. (interrupting) : I beg your pardon. Q. Don't interrupt me. You will have plenty of time when I get through. A. I don't want you to put those words in my mouth that I did not use; "ruinous competition." Q. You don't think you used them? A. I don't think I did. Q. The Omaha Exchange, I think you said, was burned while the Film Association was meeting in January, 1909? A. Burned that day. Yes. Q. At what price was the Edison Exhibition Model of projecting machine sold in 1908, before the formation of the Patents Company? A. I don't recall. That sort of thing slipped my mind. I think it was $95. Q. Wasn't it $155? A. $155? No. That was an improved model that was sold at that price.