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 #:
000283
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
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.

Motion PICTURE PATENTS Co. AND Eastman Kodak Co. 265 It. The Eastman Company covenants and agrees thai during the continuance of this agreemenl it will fill all orders for the "Licensed Film" aforesaid received by ii from the "Patents Com pany licensees" with reasonable diligence and at the prices hereinafter provided for, if it is satisfied that they are and will be able to pay for the same, and will manufacture all sucli "Licensed Film" (having a nitrocellulose base), by its presenl secret processes and will embody therein its presenl secret compositions and patented invention, and that it will nor, after the (hue hereof, and during the continuance of this agreemenl knowingly furnish or sell, in the "territory aforesaid," except For export, as hereinafter provided for, such sensitized film let the commercial production of negative and positive motion pictures to anyone but the "Patents Company licensees," except to the extent of two and one-half (2%) per cent. of the total amount of such "Licensed Film" supplied to the parties to the license agreements referred to iti Paragraph 3 and prior to the date hereof and to the "Patents Company licensees" from the date hereof to June 20, 1909, and to sai<l "Patents ( 'ompany licensees-' during any one year, counting from June 20, 1909, of the continuance of this agreement, which amount, of a width approximately one inch and three-eighths of an inch (1% in.) the Eastman Company has furnished prior to the date hereof by and with the authority of the Edison Company, and from the date1 hereof the Eastman Company (by and with the consent and authority of the Patents Company, which it hereby grants) reserves the right to furnish or supply to persons not engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling, loaning, renting outor otherwise disposing of or dealing in motion pictures in the "territory aforesaid"; and with the further exception that the Eastman Company (by and with the consent and authority of the Patents Company, which it hereby grants) reserves the righl to manufacture and sell such translucent or transparent sensitized film suitable for the commercial production of negative and positive motion pictures of a width not to exceed approximately one (1) inch in the "territory aforesaid" to persons, firms and corporations engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling, loaning, renting out or otherwise disposing of or dealing in motion pictures in the '-territory aforesaid" upon condition, however, that in case any of them produces thereon any picture greater in size than approximately three-quarters < "• i > of an inch, on a line either parallel to or al