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 #:
000223
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Arthur E. Talmadgb, Direct Examination. 3251 service, and bills were running up to eighty and ninety dollars a week some weeks to see who would get there first. Q. At the time you were in competition with him, did you have conflicting programs? A. No. We both ran Association. Q. At that time were you able to keep apart? A. No. We both ran General Film stuff. Both were fighting each other. Q. Then you were both showing the same program frequently? A. Yes, and it was hurting both of our businesses. So I bought out my partner, and I took an interest in the Photoplay, and the proprietor of the Photoplay came over and took an interest in the Sterling, and we immediately switched our program. Turned one house into a Mutual and the other into an Association. Q. After switching your programs, have you been able to run both of those theatres at a profit? A. More profitably than we did before. Q. Is it possible to maintain two theatres profitably in the same immediate neighborhood by supplying them with different programs? A. It is possible. Q. Has that been your experience? A. It has. Q. Is it possible to maintain two theatres profitably in the same immediate neighborhood by supplying them both with the same program? A. That is not possible. Q. What is the effect upon the business of two theatres running in the same immediate neighborhood and depending upon the same population for patronage if they show the same programs? A. Well, you lose business. P»ecause the people will go to either one house or the other, but they won't go to both. Q. What is the effect upon the business of two theatres running in the same immediate neighborhood, and depending upon the same population for patronage, if they show different programs and avoid all conflicts? A. Well, where you get five cents out of — five cents apiece out of a family where they run the same, where you run different programs, you have a good chance of getting ten cents, because1 in my place, the Photoplay advertises what the Sterling is running, and the Sterling advertises what the Photoplay is running, and a great many people, after getting through the show at i)w Sterling, they go over to the Photoplay, and those at the