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 #:
000313
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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Defendants' Exhibit No. 184. 33 UJ DETAILS OF THE $1,0 00 1 PHOTO PLAY CONTEST The Evening Sun, in cooperation with the Vitagraph Company, oilers : |1,000 for the best Photo Play, whether Drama, Comedy or Melodrama, submitted under the conditions following: $250 for the Second Best Photo Play so submitted. $100 for the Third Best Photo Play so submitted. In addition the Prize Plays will be produced by the Vitagraph Company in its best style and widely advertised as Prize Photo Plays. The names of the authors will appear on the films, and they will receive all due publicity. The prize winners, if suitable, will be produced at the Vitagraph Theatre, New York. The Vitagraph Company will also purchase, at its usual liberal rates, such others of the plays submitted as it can use, and reserves the right to so purchase any manuscript submitted provided the price offered is acceptable to the author. The Evening Sun reserves the right to publish in fiction form the stories of the prize winning plays. All plays must be capable of being made in America, must be from one to six reels in length and must be in The Evening Sun office at noon May 1. Contestants may send any number of plays, but only one prize will be awarded to any one person. Employees of The Evening Sun, The Sun and the Vitagraph Company are barred. Only original work will be considered. Dramatizations of printed works are barred. The prizes will be awarded by May 15, if possible, and awards will be made according to the best judgment of the five judges, who will be John Bunny and Maurice Costello of the Vitagraph Company, two experienced members of The Evening Sun staff and E. M. La Roche, associate editor of the Motion Picture Story Magazine. The judges may reject any and all plays. Should all be rejected, the offer will be renewed. The controlling factor in the award will be the novelty, vitality and the acting value of the dramatic or comedy idea submitted.