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 #:
000117
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 21, 2023
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.

Fred C. Aiken, Reoross Examination. 2567 know, that any form of the theatrical business is more or less speculative and hazardous? A. Yes, sir. Recross examination by Mr. Grosvenor : Q. In what sense is it a theatrical business? A. Any business that is a form of amusement. Q. You think it is theatrical? A. Yes, sir. That is what I would term as theatrical. Redirect examination by Mr. Kingsley: Q. Is the price of the motion pictures to the exhibitor governed by the age? A. Yes, sir. Q. When you say that the price of the motion pictures to the exhibitor is governed by the age, do you mean the physical age of the motion picture, or the time that it has been released? A. I mean the time. Q. That it has been released? A. That it has been released, yes, sir. Q. When you sell a motion picture service to an exhibitor, do you quote him a sum for a whole program? A. We usually quote him a price for the program, to be changed once a week, or twice, or seven times. Q. And what does the ordinary program consist of? A. Usually three subjects. Q. Three subjects a day? A. Yes, sir. Q. Changed how many times? A. Changed daily. Q. And in furnishing such a program, do you endeavor to give him a balanced program? A. We do. Q. What do you mean by a balanced program? A. We give him a program of one subject of drama, one subject a comedy, or topical, or educational, and one subject of western, or pictures of that character; in other words, we endeavor to give him a program of variety. Q. Would it be feasible, in making up this program, to distinguish between the different pictures as to merit and desirability, and then fix different values upon each picture, and carry out the resulting bookkeeping problem? A. I would not think that it would, no, sir. Q. Do you find it more feasible to furnish a program in the way that you are now furnishing it? A. Yes, Ave find it more feasible. There never have been any objections.