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)

Page scan 000114 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:
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 #:
000114
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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1 2564 Fred C. Aiken, Cross Examination. ferent companies, or as to the number of theatres? A. No, sir; I have not. Q. You have not any documents or memoranda, of any sort, which you could submit in support of that testimony? A. No, sir; I have not. Mr. Caldwell: The witness has not testified, on direct examination, to figures as to numbers of theatres, and so forth. By Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Have you any memorandum, or statistics, or documents, in support of the figures which you gave on direct examination, relative to the amount of business done by these several companies? A. No, sir; I have not. Those figures were given to me, as I stated, by the branch numagers — I presume, taken from their records. Q. Did you ever see their records? A. Why, I have seen them occasionally. Q. How were these figures given to you? Orally or otherwise? A. No, sir; they were given to me, and I put them down on a piece of paper. Q. And have you preserved the paper? A. No, sir, I have not, because I can remember the figures. I knew approximately the amount of business we were doing. Q. Did jou ever make any reports to your superior, the President and general manager of the company? A. No, sir, I did not, because, ordinarily, the branches make the reports direct. Q. You said on direct examination, page 2341, Vol. IV, questioned by Mr. Caldwell : "Are there many towns in that territory where motion picture theatres are found, where the General Film Company has no customers? A. Yes, sir. there are." Now, can you name some large towns in that territory, where that condition is true? Mr. Caldwell: I object to that, on the ground that the question read the witness did not use the words "large towns." It was "many towns." Mr. Grosvenor: I did not say that the question said he used the words "large towns." Mr. Caldwell: I object to the form of the question.