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 000388 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 #:
000388
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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1006 Thomas H. Bates, Cross Examination. Q. That is your testimony? A. That is the way I want it. Q. At any rate, after July, 1909, you don't know what machine he had down there? A. No, sir, I did not. Q. Prior to that it was a Powers No. 4? A. Yes, sir. Q. You bought it yourself? A. No, I didn't buy it, the Imperial Moving Picture Company bought that, a co-partnership. Redirect examination, by Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Mr. Devery, you were interrupted in making several answers during your cross examination. Is there any answer which you wish to fill out with a further statement, or have you said all that you care to say as to any of those matters? A. I guess we have corrected everything. Q. Did Mr. Kennedy ever make any inquiry about what kind of a machine that was that was being used down in Porto Rico? A. No, sir. Thereupon THOMAS H. BATES, resumed the stand for cross examination. Cross examination by Mr. Kingsley : Q. When was it, Mr. Bates, that you took the moving pictures of your boy? A. It was in June, I think, 1911. I think it was. Q. Now, were these pictures taken upon a translucent or transparent film with small photographs about an inch by three-quarters at equal intervals from each other throughout its length and depicting the character of and change in the movements of the boy? A. Yes, the entire matter of the furnishing of the film and cost of getting up the motion picture, so as to be satisfactory to me, was left to the operator, or man, that I gave the contract to. Q. And were there perforations along the side of the film? A. I don't recall that at all. Q. You don't recall that at all? A. No, sir. Q. Did you ever have occasion to examine the projecting machine in which the pictures were shown at any of the theatres? A. No, sir.