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 #:
000281
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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Motion Picture Patents Co. and Eastman Kodak Co. 263 NOW THEKEFORE, the parties hereto, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to each paid by the other, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and for other good and valuable considerations from each to the oilier movingj including the covenants and agreements hereinafter entered into by them, do coven ant and agree as follows: * 10. The Patents Company hereby grants to the Eastman Company, and the latter accepts, for the term and subject to the covenants, conditions and stipulations hereinafter expressed, the sole and exclusive right and authority, for the "territory aforesaid," to manufacture the "Licensed Film" aforesaid, and also such other translucent or transparent sensitized film suitable for the production commercially of positive and negative motion pictures, and sell such "Licensed Film" to the "Patents Company licensees." and such other film to other persons, firms and corporations as provided for in Paragraph 14. the right and authority hereby granted to the Eastman Company being sole and exclusive, even as to the Patents Company, in the "territory aforesaid," but, excepl as hereinafter provided, strictly limited to the manufacture of such "Licensed Film" and such other film and the sale of such "Licensed Film" to the "Patents Company licensees." and the sale of such other film to said other persons, firms and corporations, and not including any right to the Eastman Company to manufacture, use or sell, in the "territory aforesaid," motion picture cameras embodying any invention covered by said reissued patent No. 12,037 and said letters patent Nos. 629,063 and 707,934, except that the Eastman Company may and is hereby given the right to use such motion picture cameras as it may desire for its own use. including film testing; and it being further provided that the right and authority hereby granted is personal to, and not assignable or otherwise transferable, in whole or in part, by the Eastman Company, which shall have no right to delegate any pari thereof, or grant any right or privilege whatso ever thereunder or under either of said reissued letters patent No. 12,037 and 12,102. and letters patent Xos. 020.063 and 707.034. to any person, firm or corporation, unless the said Eastman Company should dispose of its entire motion picture film business to a single purchaser, in which ease it may assign the right and authority hereby granted to it, together with all its rights under this agreement, to such ^purchaser, who shall then and thereafter be recognized and