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 #:
000100
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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1950 J. <A. Burst, Direct Examination. that T am one of the Executive Committee of the General Film Company, and I don't mind telling you that your exchange is in the way of the General Film Company." A. No, I never told him such a thing, because it was far from my ideas. Q. Did you say to him on that occasion in terms or in substance this : "You understand what is the matter. The General Film Company was created for the purpose of absorbing all of the rental business, and it has absorbed all of the rental business. You are the only one on the outside. Now, Ave left you for the last, because we are all very friendly inclined. Just because you have been a good boy all this while and before that. You have had numerous friends in our organization and these all have stuck by you. Now, you have got to go with the rest of them. We were organized to control the business and monopolize it, and we are going to monopolize it, and you have got to get out of the way." A. I never made such a statement to Mr. Fox. Q. Or anything like that? A. Or anything like that. I am a little more diplomatic than that when I talk to anybody, anyway. Q. Did you say to him in terms or in substance on that occasion : "Fox, I am an executive man of the General Film Company, and these matters are brought to me from time to time. I had it put before me every day of the week that our customers cannot be advanced in price because of this. We know that they are going to become customers of the Greater New York Film Rental Company. Now, we want to advance our prices, and we want to get more money for our merchandise, and we cannot do it because you are in the way. Now, we are not going to continue that way any longer. You have done it long enough. You have been a stumbling block of our raising the prices and serving the film as we see fit, and every time we tried to raise the price or did not give a man a reel of film that he thought he ought to have, he simply went to you, and we want to stop that condition, and we don't want you around any more." A. I never made such a statement, on the ground that I ignored absolutely what anybody paid for service of films to the General Film Company or to Mr. Fox. Q. Did you say to him on that occasion in terms or in substance as follows: "I realize it is only a few days more