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 #:
000608
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:
July 11, 2024
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1834 Fred Jefferys, Direct Examination. in Hackensack. Now, you have liis reels, and in all probability yon are paying twenty-five or thirty dollars a week more than Bill Smith, only he happened to get there before you, and he took the first film case that came along, and he dusted toward the Erie and took his train home and left the reels for you that were lying there when you got there. That was the reward of being late. There was no idea of being fair, or anything of that kind, unless you were one of these fellows that dipped down and gave Bill Brady or Sam Malinsky a couple of dollars at the end of each week in order that he will slip you the other fellow's case — but all men don't feel inclined to do those kind of things, and for that reason I think this kind of straightened up this film business more than anything else, because there are men who would not do that, and they demanded a good film service with a clean system, where a man could get just what he was paying for, and I think the exhibitors are getting that today. By Mr. Kingsley: Q. Did you in those day have any trouble in keeping a clear program from the opposition? A. Oh, yes, there was nothing but trouble. You could not keep clear of them. Q. And when you say you could not keep clear, you mean to say you had conflicting programs? A. Conflicting programs all the time. Q. What did you ever do to try to remedy that situation? A. Go over and holler over in the exchange, but that would not do any good. It would only give you the feeling that you had done the best you could under the circumstances, but that would not give you a change of pictures. Q. Did you ever increase the price of service on the theory that perhaps you might be able to get it so much earlier that you would be clear of your competitors? A. Yes. You would beat him on the first reel and he would come back on the second reel and beat you out on that. Q. At such times, did it frequently happen that the opposition was taking service from another exchange than the one that was serving you? A. Why, yes. In that event there was absolutely no hopes of keeping them apart. If one happened to be taking from the Vitagraph Exchange, we will say, and I was taking from Kleine, why, the Vita