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)

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 3
Leaf #:
000574
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
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 21, 2023
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1800 Jonas A. Koerpel, Direct Examination. By Mr. Kingsley: Q. Mr. Koerpel, have you had any experience, or any knowledge of the treatment of theatres by exchanges where the proprietor of the exchange was also the part, or the whole proprietor, or owner of the theatre? A. I have had to this very day. My opposition, that is, my worst opposition, of course, is Mr. Fox, at the Audubon Theatre, at 165th Street, and another theatre of his at 149th Street. Now, I know that his men, perhaps by his instructions, had a practice that whenever I had advertised a release of the General Film Company, and I had spent time and money in doing it, that just about one or two days before that, that picture is shown in his house. Q. Has this happened more than once? A. It has happened many and many times. I know, in fact, I have seen his men come right up to my lobby with a pencil and paper and copy off the titles of any advance subjects that I had advertised on the outside, and I have followed them right to either one of his theatres or the other. Q. Did you find that this practice of your competitor taking advantage of your advertisement, and showing the pictures you were advertising a day or two before you showed them, was injurious to your business? A. It is bound to be. This fellow has houses of very large seating capacity, one house seats thirty-two hundred people, and another house seats about two thousand, and the result is that when I get ready to show the pictures at my place the people say, "Oh, I saw that; I saw that last night, or I saw that night before last," and I can't do the business. Q. How many specials are available a week from the licensed manufacturers, Mr. Koerpel? A. Eight, I believe. Q. How many do you receive in a week? A. I never run more than four because I leave four. There is four left for the competitor. I have a competitor, for example, two blocks away, and he has his pick of these four, and I have my pick of the other four. Q. Do you find that the General Film Company shows favoritism to any theatre? A. To the theatre? Q. Yes, such as you have described? A. No, sir. This theatre, that I mentioned, this man, I think he owns the Greater New York Film Exchange, which gets the licensed film, that Mr. Fox does.