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 000424 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 #:
000424
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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1042 A. J. Clapham, Cross Examination. of the film thus listed in this catalogue, if I remember rightly, is that film which was made several years ago, and I am unable to advise you who the different manufacturers are, but I do know that the Biograph, Edison, Lubin and Selig Companies are represented therein. We are placed in exactly the same position as the Amusement Supply Co. of Chicago, inasmuch as the Amusement Supply Co. was, up until a few weeks ago, controlled by Mr. F. C. Aiken, Mr. Hutchinson, and A. C. Roebuck. They use the same identical catalogue which we use and I presume you will remember that the above gentlemen were associated in the Theatre Film Service Co. of Chicago. There has been no film which the Theatre Film Service Co. has leased from the various manufacturers, sold under any conditions whatever. It has been rented to Theatres only and the film that was sold by the Western Amusement Supply Co. were, in almost every instance, shipped direct from the Enterprise Optical Mfg. Co. to our customers. Although the Theatre Film Service Co. and the Western Amusement Supply Co. share the same building, they are two separate corporations and have two separate sets of employees and are as distinct and separate as if they were located in different cities. The same grade of film that the Western Amusement Supply Co. has been selling through their catalogue, has been sold, and, I believe, still is being sold, by Mr. George Breck of this city, such subjects being of the old stock and, I believe, running below 200 feet. I can give you an accurate record of every foot of film leased of the various manufacturers since the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Co. and I am willing to furnish you an affidavit that there has been no film sold in any event by the Theatre Film Service Co. of San Francisco. I would like to hear from you regarding the terms under which the Western Amusement Supply Co. sells film, for while they are not in any way connected with the Motion Picture Patents Company, I grant that the two concerns are so closely identified that it becomes necessary that the Western Amusement Supply Co. does not violate any of the conditions as imposed upon the Theatre Film Service Co., but at the time the Motion Picture Patents Co. was formed we took the matter up with the Enterprise Optical Mfg. Co., from whom we purchased nearly all of our goods and from whom