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 #:
000463
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.

Anna S. Matthews, Direct Examination. 2913 Q. Do you have any difficulty about getting a complete unlicensed program? A. No, sir. Q. Do you find it better to run a non-conflicting unlicensed program rather than a conflicting licensed program? A. You mean conflicting with other theatres? Q. Yes? A. Yes, sir, I do. Q. Does your theatre continue to prosper? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you intend increasing the proportion of motion pictures in your program, or have you given that thought any consideration? A. Yes, I have given it a great deal of consideration. I intend doing it, I think, during the Summer months. Q. What is the seating capacity of your theatre, Mr. Rosenquest? A. About twelve hundred. Cross examination by Mr. Grosvenor: Q. How large a portion of your daily performance or program consists of moving pictures? A. It depends on the length of the vaudeville acts. I usually have six vaudeville acts, lasting — well, I attempt to give a show that will last about two and a half, or two and three-quarters hours, and sometimes have six vaudeville turns that will take seventy minutes, and sometimes the six will take a hundred minutes, and I would say I am running anywhere from three, to four or five reels of pictures in one show without repeating. I say it would depend entirely on the length of the vaudeville. Sometimes an act will take twenty minutes, and another one then to take its place will take from ten to twelve minutes. Q. You do not run an exclusive motion picture theatre? A. That is a side issue. Q. The principal part of your business has been vaudeville? A. Yes, sir. Q. And that has been true of your theatre during this entire period respecting which you have testified? A. Yes, sir. Thereupon, ANNA S. MATTHEWS, the next witness produced by the defendants, of lawful age, being first duly sworn by the Examiner, deposed as follows : Direct examination by Mr. Kingsley : Q. Where do you live, Miss Matthews? A. Plainfield, New Jersey.