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 #:
00056
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 21, 2023
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1906 Samuel Long, Direct Examination. -*• creased the production in 1911 of pictures from two reels per week to three per week. Mr. Grosvenor: I object to all this as immaterial. The Witness : In 1912, the production Avas increased from three productions or reels per week to four per week. And in 1913 it was increased from four reels of production per week to five reels per week. 2 By Mr. Caldwell: Q. What was the capacity of your plant at the beginning of your business, in positive running feet? A. The first laboratory had a capacity of about three thousand to four thousand feet of positive film per day. Q. And in 1908, what was it? A. In 1908 it was increased to possibly eight thousand or ten thousand feet per day. Q. And you may also state for the years 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913? A. In 1909 the ofiice and labora3 tory were moved to larger quarters, and the productions increased to approximately thirteen or fourteen thousand feet per day. The studio facilities were also increased at that time. -Further increases were made in 1911. The production was then increased to about twenty thousand feet per day. In 1912 the laboratory production was increased to approximately twenty-five thousand feet per day, and at the present time the production is about sixty thousand feet per day. Q. You may state what number of actors and actresses you employed at first, early in 1907, and then in successive years? A. In 1907, when we began business, we employed a director who engaged actors and actresses by the day for the production of a picture. No stock company was at that time maintained steadily. During nearly all of 1907 we produced pictures in that manner. In 1908 we engaged two directors and five or six actors and actresses steadily in a stock company, and additional actors and actresses were engaged by the day, or for the picture in which they posed. At intervals of about six to nine months we in