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 #:
000309
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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Floyd Brown, Direct Examination. 2759 Q. Will you tell us what it was? A. We bought at one time a Kalem picture, I just forget now the name of it — which was possibly a year old, figured from the release date, although the picture itself was brand new. Our customers objected to it and the fact that it had been released a long time, and they did not look at the quality of the picture, simply figured from the release day. Q. Since you have been in the motion picture business lias the price of service been determined by the age of the release date? A. Yes, sir. Q. Has any other rule for fixing the value of motion picture service been in effect of which you are aware? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know the rule which prevails in the unlicensed exchanges with respect to the prices of motion pictures? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is it? A. The older the picture grows from the time of its release the lower the price becomes. Q. In your business of leasing motion pictures for rental purposes, is the price or quality and popularity more important? By that I mean, where you are leasing a program to an exhibitor does he attach more importance to the price, or to the quality and popularity of his subjects? A. Why, to the quality and popularity. Q. When was it you went out of the exhibition business? A. The first of February, 1909. Q. What projecting machine were you using in your house when you were in the exhibition business? A. The first one was an Edison, and the second and third, Powers. Q. And these three types embrace all you ever used in your house? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you sell projecting machines at your exchange? A. Yes, sir. Q. During your experience as a dealer in projecting machines have you found that exhibitors when purchasing of you buy because they are cheap or because they are efficient and satisfactory? A. They buy because they are efficient and satisfactory. Mr. Grosvenor: When they are supposed to be efficient and satisfactory.