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 6
Leaf #:
000220
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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3248 Aaron Brylawski, Redirect Examination. Q. Have you always owned licensed theatres, during these three years? A. No, sir, I have tried others. Q. But you have found the licensed service is more satisfactory? A. Well, the licensed service, we can depend on that better than the others. Q. And, therefore, you think it necessary to have the licensed service to enable you to run your theatres successfully? A. If we didn't have the licensed service, probably we could do it, but our customers are accustomed to it, and we don't give them a different diet if they like the diet, so we keep on furnishing it to them. Re-examination by Mr. Kingsley: Q. You find that the system of distribution of the General Film Company is better than the system of distribution of the independents, do you not? A. That I could not tell you. I don't know their distribution. The independents at the present time, that is, the Mutual and the Universal, I think, have got identically the same system that the licensed have now. Q. That is your information? A. Yes, sir. To the best of my knowledge and belief. I am satisfied that they are following the same principle, that they are eliminating conflicting releases. Whereupon, at 4 : 30 o'clock P. M., March 20th, 1914, the hearings were adjourned until 10 o'clock A. M., March 24th, 1014, to be resumed at Room 159, Manhattan Hotel, New York City.