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 000135 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 #:
000135
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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James S. Blackton, Direct Examination. 1985 Defendants' Exhibit No. 114. 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, Southern District of New York. IN EQUITY. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, To AMERICAN VITAGRAPH COMPANY and WALTER ARTHUR, individually and as General Manager of said Company, and their and each of their serv [jSeal.] ants, agents, attorneys, employees, workmen and confederates, and each and every of them, GREETING : WHEREAS, it hath lately been represented to us in our said Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, sitting as a Court of Equity, on the part of THOMAS A. EDISON, complainant, that he, the said complainant, hath lately exhibited a bill of complaint against you, the said AMERICAN VITAGRAPH COMPANY and WALTER ARTHUR, individually and as General Manager as aforesaid, defendants, to be relieved touching the matters therein contained, in which bill it is, among other things, set forth that Letters Patent were granted and issued by the United States to him, said Thomas A. Edison, for a new and useful invention in Kinetographic Cameras, which said Letters Patent were numbered 589,168, and were dated the 31st day of August, 1897, and that he, said Thomas A. Edison, complainant, has since said date been, and now is, proprietor of said Letters Patent ; And it being also set forth in said bill that you, the said defendants, have made, used, and vended to others to be used and sold, and that you are now making, using, and vending to others to be used and sold, apparatus containing, embodying and employing the above mentioned invention or sub