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 #:
000554
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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2996 George K. Spoor, Direct Examination. By Mr. Caldwell: Q. State what you know in that respect, what was your experience as an exchange man? A. My experience was that my business in the exchange end of it was becoming less and less. We could not hold our business, and our business was not in good shape. It was not in anything like the shape it had been, some time previous, and before so many exchanges came into the business. Q. Did you know whether or not many exchanges at that time were owned by, or rather were interested in the theatres that they served? A. That is so, there were a great many exchanges. Q. Did you regard that as an objectionable thing in the business? A. Yes, sir, very objectionable, because the exchanges owning theatres gave their theatres preference as to films. The other theatres in the neighborhood could not get a look in, and they would expect the exchange that was selling them to hold right up with them, and it was impossible for an exchange to do anything, it could not supply service like that in so many quarters at once. Q. Confining your answer now to exchanges with which you had business as a producer, and to which you leased your films : as a general rule were they of good financial responsibility or not? A. As a general rule they were not of good financial responsibility. They wrere doubtful. Q. Did you lose money through the failure of exchanges to pay your bills? A. In a great many instances, yes, sir. Q. Were there any complaints on the part of exhibitors about that time as to the character of the service they got from the exchanges? A. Yes, there was a good deal of complaint. I have stated that before. Q. Personally were you in receipt as President of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company of complaints from exhibitors in your section there? A. Oh, yes, indeed — Q. — that the service was not satisfactory? A. Yes, sir. Q. So far as you were concerned, was it your purpose in organizing, or assisting to organize the General Film Company, to acquire all of the licensed exchanges in the United States? A. No, not at all, sir. Q. Did you hear any of your associates in that organiza