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 #:
000334
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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2784 X 1.1 Gibbons, Direct Examination. ent, and by that I mean motion picture houses? A. Four. Q. What are the other two? A. The Patee and the Oread. Q. Do the Patee and the Oread use the licensed or unlicensed film? A. They do not use the licensed, they use the other. Q. What kind of service does the Patee Theatre use? A. The Universal. Q. And what kind of service does the Oread Theatre use? A. The Mutual. Q. What is the seating capacity of the Patee Theatre? A. I should judge about three hundred. Q. What is the seating capacity of the Oread Theatre? A. About two hundred and sixty-five, I heard them say. Q. Are these two theatres in active business in competition there? A. They are. Q. Mr. Gibbons, when you were taking your motion picture service from the Yale Film Exchange in the latter part of 1909 and the early part of 1910 did you have any difficulty in determining upon a program and announcing and advertising it in advance? A. Yes, I did. I could not arrange to do so. Q. Did you try to arrange that matter? A. Yes, we always tried to arrange to book films ahead, you know, and try to get them and was unable to do so. Q. What was the situation with respect to getting your program; when did you g^t the motion pictures that you were to exhibit? A. I had to wait until the day the pictures were exhibited at my theatres before I could know whai they were. Q. After you began to take service from the General Film Company what was your experience with respect to fixing upon a definite program and announcing it in advance? A. I have been able to arrange my program from a week to two weeks in advance and can announce it and be assured of receiving it. Q. Have you done that? A. I have been doing it. Q. ITave you been receiving your programs in accordance with the announcements you have been making, and the selections you have made? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you select your program yourself or permit the exchange to select it for you? A. I select the majority of the pictures I show.