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 #:
000198
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
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2648 Robert G. Pet/tier, Redirect Examination. in Mount Clemens, if you had seen fit to do so that on a certain day you were going to show such and such a picture? A. There was nothing to have prevented me, if I had the pictures. Q. Didn't you get what you ordered, generally? A. No, sir ; not always. Q. Didn't you get it, generally? A. Well, no, I can't say exactly, generally. Q. How often did you get it? A. It was only once in a great while that I would make the request of them to give me something, and possibly I would get it. Q. You took the service that the exchange gave you then just as to-day you are taking the service which the General Film Company gives you? A. No, I don't take the service that the General Film Company gives me. I get a pretty good pick at it. If I am getting a certain maker's reels on Monday I will say: "Can I shift that to another maker's reels that I like better'' and they state "Yes, go ahead" and maybe if they can't do it to-day, they will say "We can't do it to-day, but we will do it at the earliest convenience." Q. Have you ever tried to show independent pictures? A. No, I have not, not since the organization I have — Q. Not since the organization of the Motion Picture Patents Company? A. You mean if I have shown one particular picture or gone to that service, do you mean? Q. Have you ever given up the licensed service? A. No, sir, I never have. Re-examination by Mr. Kingsley: Q. Mr. Peltier, will you tell us in your own way just why it was that before you began to take service from the General Film Company you could not advertise a program a week in advance with any certainty of being able to show that program on the date set out in your advertisement? A. Well, one particular one was there was no regulation of purchases there. They were not purchasing a stated amount of films all the time. One week they would purchase fifteen a Aveek, and maybe another week twenty, and I might look up the trade paper advertising a certain film, and make a request for it, and would find they were not buying it, and for reasons like that, and at that time I didn't make any special efforts like I do now, to get programs any way, and