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 000388 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 #:
000388
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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2238 Ike Van Ronkel, Direct Examination. a difference in the total number. I thought I would correct it, for when the Milwaukee branch shows up, its customers would be included. Q. Now, what other special feature exchanges are operated in your territory? A. We have about fifteen others that are small, don't amount to nothing, probably all of them jointly have two thousand dollars of rental, and probably supply a hundred exhibitors, all of them combined. Q. Now, in view of the business measured by the revenue, about what percentage of the business in your territory is done by the special feature companies? A. By the special feature companies, I should judge, about fifteen or twenty per cent. — fifteen per cent. Mr. Grosvenor: You mean, of the gross business, in dollars and cents? The Witness: Yes, the gross business. They have all individual customers, as I have explained before, they are exhibitors who are supplied by all three of the exchanges, and they, in addition, get the features from the feature companies. By Mr. Caldwell: Q. Do you know about what the Famous Players Company charge for their service? A. Yes, sir; they have different priced features. One of their Famous Star Films is $50 a night, that is, in my territory; the second grade is thirty-five dollars, and the ordinary, is twenty dollars a night, and so it averages about thirty-eight to forty dollars a night, Q. Will you state what the average cost of service in your territory is, that is furnished by the General Film Company? A. About forty-five dollars a week. Q. So that, for their first-class features, they will get more for one night than you will for an entire week, based on your average? A. Oh, yes. Q. The competition provided by the Special Feature Film