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)

Page scan 00053 from 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 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 6
Leaf #:
00053
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 12, 2024
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SlEGMUND LUBIN, CROSS EXAMINATION. 3085 General Film Company was organized an estimate of the value of the business of exchanges leasing licensed motion pictures, was made by men familiar — " A. I want to ask one question. You tell me that this letter was sent to Mr. Pelzer? Q. By Mr. Kennedy? A. Why, no, I have no knowledge about things from another man. Q. I am not asking you about the letter. Kindly concentrate your attention on what I am reading now, Mr. Lubin. A. Yes. Q. This letter states : "Some time before the General Film Company was organized an estimate of the value of the business of exchanges leasing licensed motion pictures, was made by men familiar with the manufacture of motion pictures and also with the business of exchanges. According to this estimate, the value of said business was $3,468,847/' Now, my question is, did you see any such estimate of the value of the business of the licensed exchanges prior to the formation of the General Film Company? A. I have no knowledge at all whatever of it; never heard about it, don't know whether it was three millions or fifty millions; I don't know anything at all about it. Q. Mr. Kennedy was the President of the General Film Company? A. Yes, sir, he was. Q. From the start? A. Yes, sir, from the first. At the first of the General Film Company, he was from the start, the President. Q. Was he the officer who had principal charge of buying the various rental exchanges? A. I think he was the man. I never knew what he paid to the people, never was there in such transactions, never had them. Q. Will you kindly direct your attention to Petitioner's Exhibit Xo. 80, being the minutes of a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the General Film Company, held at No. 10 Fifth Avenue, New York City, October 11th, 1910, at -1 P. M. Kindly read that exhibit. A. I have read it. Q. The minutes of this meeting report you as having been present. Does the reading of these minutes refresh your recollection as to your having been present at the meeting referred to in the minutes? A. When It says so, I was there. One thing I don't understand here is he saying, "Business of the entire country controlled by