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 #:
000288
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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2738 Samuel Katz, Direct Examination. Q. Do you run any other service at any time intermittently in these theatres? A. I do. I run the Famous Players pictures at the Illinois. Occasionally I put in a Mutual picture at the Wallace. Q. From what rental exchange are you obtaining your supply of motion pictures for these two theatres? A. I am at the American branch of the General Film Company. Q. How long have you been getting pictures from the American branch of the General Film Company? A. I have been securing pictures from the American branch ever since they are in business, with the exception of about a year ami a half when I was over at the Spoors. Q. For what year and a half was that? A. That would be the year of 1912, and part of 1913, I think. Q. From what rental exchange did you get motion pictures before the General Film Company began business? A. American Film Service. Q. That is the same exchange as the one from which you are now^ receiving motion pictures? A. Yes, sir. Q. When you were getting motion pictures from the American Film Service Exchange before it was operated by the General Film Company did you have any difficulty about securing programs in advance? A. Why, there was really no such a thing as a program in advance. It was booked from day to day, "Come in today and we will tell you what you are going to run tomorrow." Q. Did you get what they told you you would run tomorrow? A. You could not rely on it. Q. Did you do any advertising of a program in advance? A. I didn't dare to for several reasons. Q. Did you ever try it? A. Yes, sir, and I was disappointed once and that cured me. I think the picture I was disappointed on was the Vesuvius Eruption, along about 1908 or 1909, it must have been. I had advertised that very very extensively, and had an enormously large crowd of people out, and for some reason or another I didn't get the film. The other theatre I believe showed it that day. Q. Some of your rivals? A. No, it was not my rival. 1 think somebody jumped in at the eleventh hour, it was out at Forty-seventh Street, and offered to pay five dollars more to somebody down there, and they run it and I didn't run it. Q. At any rate you didn't have it? A. No, sir.