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)

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 #:
000215
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:
June 27, 2024
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Motion Picture Patents Co. and George Kleine. 197 pictures, on film of a greater width than approximately one (1) inch, shall be made in the •"lease territory aforesaid" by tin* License.', except upon and subject to the following terms and conditions, the substance of which « with the exception of the condition as to the return of positive1 motion pictures hereinafter referred to) shall be expressed In a printed notice on the labels, as provided for in Paragraph 7, accompanying each positive motion picture, namely (1) that the lessee of such positive motion picture shall not sell or otherwise dispose of tin1 same outright, hut shall only have the right to use such positive motion picture in giving motion picture exhibitions in machines licensed by tin1 Licensor under the said Letters Patent Nos. r>7S,lsr>, r>S0.740, :>S<;,0:>3. 588,916, 673,329, 073,002, 707,1)34, 722,3S2, 744,251, 770,1)37, 771,280, 785,205, and 785,237, or one or more of them, or under any other Letters Patent that it may hereafter acquire or control, or to sub-lease such motion picture for use in such machines, and that (2) the lessen1 shall not make or permit others to make any reproduction commonly known as a "dupe" of such positive motion picture or any other positive motion picture1 containing the invention of said reissued Letters Patent No. 12,192, or (3) sub-lease the same or any other positive1 motion picture on film of a greater width than approximately one <li inch containing the invention of said reissued Letters Patent No. 12,11)2, for use in giving motion picture exhibitions, at a lower lease price directly or indirectly than that prescribed by the Licensee at the time of the lease of such motion picture; and (4) that the lessee of such positive motion picture shall not remove the trade1 mark or traele1 name or title1 therefrom, ami (5) that tin1 lessee shall return to the Licensee from whom sue-h positive1 motion picture has been leased (without any payment therefor except the1 transportation charges incident to the return of the same) on the1 first day of every month, beginning with February 1st, 100!), an amount of positive motion pictures, (on film of a greater width than approximately one1 ( 1 | inch t in punning feet (not leased by the Licensee over six months before) ami of the make1 of the1 Licensee, to whom it is returned, equal to the1 amount that was *<> leased during the1 sixth month preceding the1 elate of each sue-h return; with the1 exception, however, that where any sue-h positive1 motion pictures are destroyed by lire1 or lost in transportation, ami proof satisfactory to the1 Licensee is furnished as to such destruction or loss, the amount so destroyed or lost shall be deducted from the1 amount to be returned, as aforesaid.