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 000361 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 #:
000361
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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Motion Picture Patents Co. and Gaumont Co. of N. Y. 339 (e) WHEREAS, the Patents Company has, by an agreement of the 2nd day of March, 1909, licensed the Gaumont Company to manufacture, import, print and produce "talking motion pictures" embodying the inventions of reissued Letters Patent No. 12,192, nndcn certain terms and conditions; and i f) WHEREAS, the Patents Company is willing and desirous of securing an assignment of said Letters Patent No. 514,180, and relies upon the representations of the Gaumont Company. NOW, THEREFORE, THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH: (1) The Gaumont Company in and by these presents for and in consideration of the sum of One Dollar (fl), receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and of the covenants of the Patents Company in this agreement, does agree to assign, transfer and set over unto the Patents Company the entire right, title and interest in and to said Letters Patent No. 511,180, and the inventions described and claimed therein, and the right to sue for and recover damages aud profits for past infringement of the said Letters Patent, as soon as the Gaumont Company shall have acquired such rights, title and interest, provided, however, that the Gaumont Company shall reserve and retain to itself and its successors in business, the right and license, without the payment of any royalty therefor to the Patents Company, to make and use apparatus embodying the inventions of the said Letters Patent, and to make and sell such apparatus, provided that sales thereof, when such inventions are embodied in a camera, are made only to persons, firms and corporations, who or which are licensed by the Patents Company to manufacture motion pictures under reissued United States Letters Patent No. 12,192, owned by the Patents Company. The Gaumont Company further covenants and agrees to mark all such apparatus made by it with the words, -Patented Aug. 13, 1895." (2) The Patents Company, in consideration of the covenants and agreements of the Gaumont Company herein set forth, covenants and agrees that in case it should become bankrupt, cease doing business or should be dissolved voluntarily or otherwise, or its Charter be repealed, or in case the license to the Gaumont Company referred to in Paragraph (e) hereof, should be terminated in any manner or for any reason whatsoever, or in case the said Societe des Etablissements Gaumont should no longer have the right and license from the Patents Company to import motion pictures either directly or through its agents, to the same extent .-is it now has through