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 #:
000607
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
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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SlEGMUND LUBIN, DIRECT EXAMINATION. 3040 tion Picture Patents Company did you have any talk with James J. Lodge in which you said the manufacturers were going to have a rental exchange? A. That I said it? Q. Yes. A. Not to my knowledge. Q. Did you hear anybody else say anything of that sort that day? A. Never, never make any such remark. Q. Did you hear anybody else talk with Lodge on that day? A. Not to my knowledge. Q. Do you remember when the General Film Company was formed? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who first suggested the idea to you? A. The Edison Company. Edison, somebody from the Edison made the proposition that they would have to pay so much per foot, or pay every year for royalties so high, fifty or sixty thousand dollars. Q. You are thinking of the Patents Company, are you not? A. Yes, sir; I paid to Edison too, before that thing started. Q. Now, I am asking you about the General Film Company. Do you remember when that was formed? A. When it was formed? Q. Yes. A. I don't remember the date% I must look it up. I suppose you gentlemen have got it here. Q. Who first talked to you about the forming of the General Film Company? A. Well, business was in such bad condition. The people didn't pay their bills, and it was impossible to keep the performances from conflicting, the programs would conflict witli others. Sometimes on the same street they all had the same performance, the same films, and the people could not make it out; the theatre business couldn't make it pay, and the renter could not make it pay, and they all broke, or the majority of them did. One or two, maybe, was getting along, but the balance was not able to pay their bills, and you cannot manufacture without getting the money. Q. Your concern had some trouble in collecting its bills, did it not? A. Oh, just a whole lot. We had a whole lot of losses, thousands. Q. Did your company own a rental exchange at the time the General Film Company was formed? A. We did. Q. Did you have more than one rental exchange? A.