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 4
Leaf #:
00038
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 25, 2024
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1888 William Brandt, Direct Examination. censed exchanges, did you have any difficulty with respect to keeping a clear program? A. Yes; extremely difficult. Q. Did you find that your competitors frequently were showing on the same day practically the same program that you were showing? A. Very often. Q. Did you complain of this situation to the exchanges which were serving you? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did they remedy the situation? A. After a picture had been shown? Q. No. Afterwards, did they so adjust things that you had no further occasion for complaint? A. Well, they said they would, but the fact that I went away from them showed that they did not. Q. After you began to take your service from the General Film Company, did you find any difference in this respect? A. Yes. Q. What was your experience in respect to keeping a clear service after you began to take a program from the General Film Company? A. Well, I practically had an exclusive service. Q. So you had no difficulty with respect to your competitors in the immediate neighborhood showing the same films that you did on the same dates? A. No difficulty at all. Q. Have you found during the eight months that the General Film Company has been serving you, that it is giving you a reliable service? A. Yes. Q. Do you get satisfactory programs from it? A. Satisfactory. Q. Have you been able to advertise your programs in advance with the certainty that you could have the pictures in your theatres on the day advertised? A. They have never failed me. Q. Did you have any difficulty in that respect in former times before you began to take pictures from the General Film Company? A. Quite often. Q. Have you ever had any special experience with respect to engaging a particular motion picture or motion picture play, advertising the same, and then finding that you were unable to present it, or that some competitor had been furnished with it just in advance of you, so that a portion of your patronage was lost to you? A. Yes, sir.