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 (1914)

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:
1914
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 5
Leaf #:
00073
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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Petitioner's Exhibit No. 255. 2523 was served on Friday or Saturday of last week. Those suits are to be pushed as rapidly as possible, and 1 expect that injunctions will be granted. Of course, the suits involve the usual prayers for damages and accounting, which I imagine will be considerable. Will Prosecute Infringements. "Every film exchange not recognizing the Edison patents, and every exhibitor who exhibits infringing films infringes the Edison patents just as effectively as the man who makes films in this country, or the man who imports them, and suits can be brought just as effectively against them as against the manufacturer or importer. Evidence is now being secured against the exhibitors in this city who use infringing films, and upon my return to New York I expect to start suits against them. Those suits, in turn, will be pressed vigorously. In fact, we propose to sue everybody who infringes those patents. We intend to have them recognized so that the patents will occupy the position that we think they are entitled to occupy. They stand at the very foundation of the business. "We have retained in this city the well known law firm of Offield, Towle & Linthicum, who stand among the leaders of the patent bar of the country. Everything possible will be done to expedite the case. In the meantime exhibitors using infringing films are simply piling up trouble for themselves, because there has to be an accounting at the end for every cent they make. We are entitled to every cent of the profits that they make, and have made, within the limits of the statute of limitations, which extends back about six years, and to this end we intend to bring suits against certain exhibitors. "It is the indicated policy of the Edison company that in the case of all exchanges and exhibitors who become licensees under the Edison patents, and who agree to use licensed films exclusively from now on, that all past damages and profits will be waived, and to those people the Edison company is willing to forego any claim it has against them. Patentee Man Grant Licenses. "I do not know whether anything has been said in Chi