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 #:
000349
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Joseph Mogler, Direct Examination. 271)1) it, what I mean is they do not hold themselves in line to be careful as to what they are putting out, to be careful with the public as a general thing. Q. You don't think they show the same care and discrimination in the choice of subjects? A. I know it, and that is what has kept me in line with the Association pictures because the people were very careful in looking at a picture that was anywise suggestive. They never say much to me but would not compliment on it when they would go out. Q. Do you find that the moral quality of the pictures you are showing is very satisfactory? A. Yes, sir. And I show to an awful lot of children, and I have got to be careful. That is why I have made a success, if I do say so, I had to be careful. Q. When you pick out independent pictures do you show the same care and discrimination that you exercise as to your program in picking out the licensed pictures? A. Yes, sir. I will tell you of an instance. They tried to get me to run Sappho. This Sappho though was by the American Feature Film Company, they had it. Now the word "Sappho" I didn't like it, and I didn't think it would exactly appeal to my people. This American Feature Film Company people, they claimed that they had cut out any parts that were not exactly just right, and that it was all right, and that other exhibitors run it, and why should T not run it, and I told them that I didn't like the idea of that name of it, and I went there to look at it which they insisted on me doing, but I didn't believe I wanted to run it. Q. The title itself was sufficient to induce you to reject it no matter what censorship they might have exercised? A. Yes, sir. Q. Mr. Mogler, what projecting machine to you use? A. The Edison-B. Q. Does that comprise all the types of projecting machines that you have used in your family theatres? A. I have used the Lubin, that was years ago. Mr. Grosvenor: No cross examination.