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 000566 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 #:
000566
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

2416 William C. Pkeller, Cross Examination. record that I have of all the accounts I have during that period. Q. I mean, does this weekly report which you send in to the home office state upon it your estimate of the total number of theatres in your district? A. No, sir. Q. Do you, at any time, send in to the General Film Company a report showing your estimate of the total number of theatres in your district? A. No, sir. Q. Or of the total number of theatres being supplied by the Universal? A. No, sir. Q. Or by the Mutual? A. No, sir. Q. How long has the 'Famous Players been doing business in your territory? A. Six months. Q. How long have the Warner Features? A. About one year, I judge. Q. Do you know a man named J. S. Bassett, of Independence, Missouri? A. Yes, sir. Q. In 1911, did he run a theatre by the name of the "Gem Theatre''? A. I think that was the name of it. Q. I show you some correspondence on the letterhead of the General Film Company, addressed to J. S. Bassett, and signed, "William C. Preller, Manager/' and also several letters on the letterhead of the Motion Picture Patents Company, and signed, "Motion Picture Patents Company, by J. B.," all dated in the months of May, June and July of 1911, and ask you to state whether you recognize those papers and identify them as being letters written by you, or "J. B.," and also letters written by the Motion Picture Patents Company on the same subject? Mr. Kingsley: I object to the method employed by counsel in attempting to prove letters written by the Motion Picture Patents Company. The Witness: I identify the letters that I have written. By Mr. Grosvenor: Q. All of these blue letters were written by you? A. No, they were not. Some of them were written by Mr. Jeffrey. Q. And who is he? A. The correspondence clerk. Those I have signed are the ones written by me.