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 #:
000351
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 Gaumont Co. of X. Y. 329 theatre or place of exhibition, for the weekly rental of "talking motion pictures" with the sound record provided by the Licensee for such "talking motion pictures/' shall in no case be less than ten per cent. (10/4 ) more than the minimum sub-leasing rate, which the Licensor may establish for that theatre or place of exhibition for the weekly rental of motion pictures without sound records, which minimum sub-leasing rate shall be immediately communicated to the Licensee when so established by the Licensor. (10) The Licensor and Licensee further mutually covenant and agree that when leasing "talking motion pictures" to any lessee for the purpose of sub-leasing such "talking motion pictures/' an order for one or more positive "talking motion pictures" of each and every new subject made l>y the Licensee when offered for lease in the regular order of business shall constitute a "standing order" within the meaning of any scale of prices which may have been established or which may hereafter be established by the Licensor, said standing order to remain in force for not less than fourteen (14) consecutive days; and the parties hereto further mutually covenant and agree that the minimum price at which any additional "talking motion pictures" shall be leased subsequent to the filling of a standing order shall be the same per running foot as the pictures furnished on such standing order, unless otherwise provided for in such scale of prices. All positive "talking motion pictures," which may be hereafter leased by the Licensee to persons not having a standing order, as above defined, shall in every case be leased at not less than the list prices which may be provided in said scale of prices. (11) The Licensee further covenants and agrees that positive, "talking motion pictures" made by or for the Licensee and unsold prior to the date hereof, shall be subject to the scales of prices provided for in Paragraph !>, and shall be leased or furnished for use by the Licensee at nol less than the prices fixed in the said scale of prices. (12) The Licensee further covenants and agrees not to lease, or furnish for use, "talking motion pictures" under any circumstance's, either directly or indirectly, during the continuance of this agreement, at lower prices than those fixed and established by the Licensor, as provided for in Paragraph 9.