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 (1912-1913)

Page scan 00094 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:
1912-1913
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 7
Leaf #:
00094
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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76 Edison Manufacturing Col and Pathe Fkeres. imported by them, only by the sale thereof, or by shipment thereof abroad, (including the insular possessions of the United States and Alaska) and will not dispose of the same by loaning or renting them to pthers, nor use them for the purpose of giving exhibitions thereof for profit directly or indirectly; it being expressly understood and agreed, however, that they shall be at liberty to give exhibitions of such positive motion pictures without profit, directly or indirectly, and to possible or prospective purchasers thereof. (19) The Licensor further covenants and agrees that it will, during the continuance of this agreement, protect, as far as possible, i he Licensee against the competition of infringers of said reissued (Letters Patent numbered 12,037 and 12,192, and each of them, and that when it is notified or otherwise obtains knowledge of any such infringements, it will promptly institute suits against such infringers and thereafter diligently prosecute the same to final hearing and decision; all expense connected with the institution and prosecution of such stiits to be borne by the Licensor, which shall also be entitled to receive and apply to its own use all recoveries had therein for damages and profits. The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that if said reissued Letters Patent numbered 12,037 and 12,192, or either of the claims of the latter or any of claims 1, 2 and 3 of the former, should be held to be invalid by a court of last resort, or not to be infringed, in any suit on said Letters Patent, then, and in such case, the Licensee may at once terminate this agreement and the license thereby granted, by giving notice of its election so to do to the Licensor. The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that the Licensor may, at its own expense (except as hereinafterprovided), during the continuance of this agreement, institute and prosecute suits against any Licensee under said reissued Letters Patent numbered 12,037 and 12,192 for any breach .or violation on the part of such Licensee of the covenants respecting prices at which positive motion pictures shall be sold in the "sales territory a foresaid'5 and also for violation of any of the other terms, conditions or stipulations entered into by such Licensee; that the Licensor shall at the end of each year, counting from the 20th day of June, 190S, render to the Licensee ami the other licensees hereinbefore provided for. a statement in writing showing in detail all legal expenses incurred by it during such year in the prosecution of