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 #:
000480
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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2930 Defendants' Exhibit No. 142. Defendants' Exhibit No. 142. MOTION PICTURE PATENTS COMPANY 80 Fifth Avenue, New York Dear Sir: We are revising the Directory of Motion Picture Theatres to cover Season changes. Your courtesy in furnishing us with data for this Directory List is of service to the Motion Picture Industry and is appreciated. To avoid troubling you with unnecessary correpondence, we are enclosing a list as entered on our records. If you will make the corrections and additions necessary to bring this list up to date, noting whether active, inactive, closed to pictures or dismantled, and return same to us, we will thank you. Enclosed you will find a stamped addressed envelope for reply. Yours very truly, MOTION PICTURE PATENTS COMPANY. By ASM MOTION PICTURE THEATRES City or Town Date State Name of Theatre or Place of Exhibition Name of Exhibitor Street and Number Active or Inactive Closed to Pictures or Dismantled* (This exhibit here contains 33 blank lines as above.) * If motion pictures are being shown at present, indicate with the word "Active"; if usually shown, but the theatre or place of exhibition is now closed, temporarily for repairs