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 000218 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 #:
000218
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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2GGS Frank M. Kenney, Direct Examination. Q. By that you mean the licensed service? A. Licensed service. Q. What service did you use in the other theatre? A. Well, independent service. Q. How long did you use independent service altogether in your other theatre? A. Well, I used independent service three years in the other theatre. Q. What did you do with your theatre then? A. I closed it up and built a bigger place and moved across the street. Q. Did you close it up before you built the other place, or did you first build the other place, and then close the old one up? A. I went right from one place to the other. Q. That is, the other place was already waiting for you? A. Yes, sir. Q. From what exchange have you been obtaining your motion picture service for the past three years? A. From the Lake Shore, the Victor Film Service, and the General Film Service. Q. Did you get licensed or unlicensed service from the Lake Shore? A. I got licensed service first, and later on, unlicensed service. Q. What did you get from the Victor Film Service? A. Well, the so-called Universal service. Q. And these were all used in the theatre which you have since closed? A. No. The licensed service is the only service I used — that is, it was not called licensed service in the first part, but later on it was called licensed service, and I used licensed service up to the time I closed, and I started across the street with licensed service. Q. How long had you been using licensed service in the first theatre to which you have referred, before you closed it ? A. Well, about a year. Q. You have had the present theatre about three years? A. Four years. Q. Four years. And for a year prior to that time, you had been using licensed service in the other theatre, is that correct? A. No. When I first started the other theatre, there was no such thing as licensed service. It simply was a service, and later on, the licensed service came into effect, and I used it from that time on for about a year until I closed up.