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 000413 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 #:
000413
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:
September 12, 2024
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Elmer R. Pearson, Direct Examination. 22G3 but I do not recall their names, all of them. They seem to be springing up every few weeks. It is almost impossible to keep track of them. Q. Do you know how many motion picture theatres there are in the district served by the Omaha office? A. Well, taking all of Iowa and all of Nebraska, there are about 750 theatres in the two States. Q. Do you serve all of Iowa? A. Well, I do not furnish all the service in Iowa, but I ship to practically all points in Iowa. I furnish about three-quarters of the service that is furnished in Iowa that is licensed. Q. How many theatres in that territory are served by the Omaha branch of the General Film Company? A. Two hundred and fifty. Q. Do you know how many theatres are served in that territory by other branches of the General Film Company? A. I do, very closely. Q. About how many? A. Well, there is 50 at Minneapolis, 25 at Chicago, about 8 at St. Louis, and a couple from Kansas City. Q. Do you know how many theatres are served in that territory by the exchanges who distribute the Universal program? A. Well, there are about 225 furnished from Omaha and Des Moines. There may be a very few served from Chicago by the Universal. Q. And do you know how many are served with the Mutual program in that territory? A. About 175. Q. Do you know how much business is done in that territory by the special feature film companies? A. Well, it is a pretty hard proposition to know very exactly, because there are very few theatres that they supply with their service exclusively, but I should say, conservatively, that they have about a weekly rental in those two States of about $2,500. Q. What is the practice of serving theatres in your territory by these special feature companies? Do they provide a complete program or only a partial program? A. Well, most of them only a partial program, but the Warner Feature Film Company have a complete program of three changes that they can supply a theatre, and are supplying a few that way. Q. Three changes a week? A. Yes. Q. Then there are souk1 theatres in that territory that