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 00045 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 4
Leaf #:
00045
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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William A. Landau, Direct Examination. 1895 motion picture house is using or has been using. It is a high-class house. Q. What are these photos? Do they represent scenes? A. Still pictures from the original film. Q. So that now instead of a general advertising, you exhibit in your lobby still pictures taken from scenes in the motion pictures which you propose to display on some future date? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you have a fixed definite program, so that you are able to advertise safely without any possibility of deceiving your customers? A. Since I opened this house, I have a program printed, the same way like the regular theatre or opera houses, and in this program I advertise my entire weekly program in advance, every subject of it, and also I advertise my large features for a month and two months in advance. Q. And advertise them in the local papers? A. Not in the local papers — in that particular program of mine, which is distributed to the trade as they come in. Q. That is, you publish your program yourself? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, do you have any difficulty with your service from the General Film Company with respect to showing the program advertised on the date for which it is promised? A. Well, I wish to say that in the last six years that I have been doing business with the General Film Company, I never had any disappointment, with the exception of once or twice, from them. Q. In a period extending over several years? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you get the releases that you ask for or that you arrange for? A. Always do. Q. Do you find it possible to keep clear of your competitors at the present time? A. I do. Q. Do you have any difficulty with respect to conflicting programs at present? A. The locality that I am situated in, I believe, is the hardest in New York City. I am surrounded by small houses, some of 220, some of 299, and one of 1,000 seats. Still, I manage to keep clear, because I don't pay any attention to what they exhibit. I simply cany out my own ideas and my own program. I don't consider any of them as competitors at all.