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 000354 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 #:
000354
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
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972 Thomas H. Bates, Direct Examination. the Premier, the Theatre Comique, and the Palace Theatre, and I did; and so Mr. Brooks very eagerly grasped the opportunity to engage the picture. I engaged it with him for one week, I think in the month of July, 1911. Q. Now, what else did you do? A. After completing my engagement with Mr. Brooks, I then went to Mr. Campbell— no, I am a little ahead there. Mr. Green's manager of the theatre on Revere Beach, Mr. Ashley, he had seen the picture on exhibition in the Theatre Comique, and he asked me if I would be willing to give an exhibition of the picture at Revere Beach for one week, and I told him I would, and we entered into a contract for two weeks, and I took the picture to Revere Beach, and exhibited it for two weeks. Q. Now, Mr. Bates, did you endeavor to display these pictures in the theatres in Boston? A. I did. Q. Are you familiar with the terms "licensed theatres," that is to say, theatres so-called, licensed by the Patents Company, and the so-called "independent theatres?" A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, please state about how many of the theatres in Boston, and in vicinity, in this period namely, the Summer of 1911, were so-called licensed theatres? A. I should, without wishing to be exact, think that all of the theatres in Boston using motion pictures where licensed pictures of the Motion Picture Patents Company were shown, were licensed, except five. Q. About how many were licensed at that time? A. I should think anywhere between ten and twelve. Q. Now, were you able to display these films which you have mentioned in the licensed theatres? A. I was not. Q. Please state what efforts you made to display the films in these licensed theatres, and what reasons were given for the declination and then what correspond once you had with the Motion Picture Patents Company in an effort to display those films in those theatres? A. After closing my engagement at Revere Beach, Mr. Ashley engaged me to go to Portland, Maine, to exhibit the picture in the New Portland Theatre, at an increased salary, and I went to Portland, Maine, under a week's engagement, taking the little boy along. At the termination of the week's engagement, Mr. Keith, manager of Keith's Theatre across the street from the New Portland Theatre, came to me and asked me if I would be willing to take the picture with the little boy upon the