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 #:
000621
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 21, 2023
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Chester W. Sawin, Cross Examination. 2471 Q. Then there are parts of your territory which come into competition with the other branches of the General Film Company? A. There are other branches shipping into our territory. Q. There is not any recognized line, then, of division between you and the Philadelphia branch? A. No, sir. Q. Nor between you and the Pittsburgh branch? A. I don't think that the Pittsburgh branch comes into much of our territory. Q. What branches do come into your territory? A. I should think that Wilkes-Barre would. Q. What other branch? A. I don't know that I can name any others. Pittsburgh may possibly be shipping into parts of Virginia. Q. What branch does business south of you? A. Atlanta. Q. And how far north does Atlanta go? A. I don't knowhow far north they go. Q. How far south are you shipping now? A. I have one customer in Florence, South Carolina. Q. Have you any customer in North Carolina? A. I may have one or two. Q. And how far south in Virginia, do you go? A. I think Roanoke, Danville, and Lynchburg are the lowest points that we go to. Q. And you count in this 275, all the theatres in these towns you have named? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did I ask you how you got your films? A. You did not. Q. Where do they come from? A. The manufacturer. Q. Where? A. From the various towns in New York; Chicago; Orange, New Jersey. Q. And then they are shipped from Washington to your customers? A. Yes, sir. Q. What per cent, of your receipts is made up from the payments of exhibitors for the rental of these films? A. It all depends on the amount of the machine and supply sales during the week. I should say some weeks it would be 90, and other weeks it would be 97. It varies. Q. Do you pay for the films, so much per foot? A. As I understand it. Q. Regardless of the character of the picture, or the name of the maker? A. T don't know how tin1 price is regulated.