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 #:
000354
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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2804: Henry R. Slocum, Direct Examination. Q. Did you know what customers they were serving in the territory through which they traveled? A. In my territory, yes, sir. Mr. Grosvenor: Did you have the whole territory? The Witness: No, sir; not all of the territory. By Mr. Kingsley: Q. Did you know the customers that you were serving in your own territory? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you know the customers that were being served in all the territory? A. Yes, sir; most of them. Q. Did you know approximately what the business of the O. T. Crawford Film Exchange Company was? A. I would say we were doing a business at that time of easily three thousand dollars a week. Q. And what was the Western Film Exchange Company doing at that time? A. Probably a little more than half of ours. I would give a guess at eighteen hundred dollars. Q. After you went on the road for the Swanson-Crawford Film Exchange Company, did you offer any other pictures to exhibitors besides the licensed pictures that you had in stock? A. We were getting independent productions then, I know. We would offer them that. Q. Did the Swanson-Crawford Film Exchange Company take the independent service immediately upon beginning business in this field? A. Yes, sir, that is my recollection. Q. How many reels of film did they take per week of the independent productions? A. I will have to stop and think. Q. Take all the time you like. A. That is back some time. I don't know. I would say that they were taking practically all of the independent productions. Q. Practically all? A. Yes, sir, and which I would say at that time was around twenty reels a week. I think they were releasing about that much. I am not sure, but I would say that was what it was. Q. Did you offer to the exhibitors whom you solicited at that time in the field, a complete program? A. Yes, sir;