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 #:
000652
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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630 .Motion Picture Patents Co. and George Kleixe. No. 744,251, dated November 17, 1008, for Kinetoscope, granted Albert E. Smith; No. 12,192, dated January 12, 1904, for Kinetoscopic Film, granted to Thomas A. Edison, the same being based on letters patent numbered 589,168,' dated August 31, 1897; No. 770,037, dared September 27, 1004, for Kinetoscope, granted the Vitagraph Company of America as the assignee of Albert E. Smith ; No. 771,280, dated October 4, 1004, for Winding-Reel, granted Albert E. Smith; No. 785,205, dated March 21, 1005, for Flame-Shield for Kinetoscopes, granted The Vitagraph Company of America as the assignee of William Ellwood; 'No. 785,237, dated March 21, 1005, for Film-Holder for Kinetoscopes, granted The Vitagraph Company of America as the assignee of Albert E. Smith; and No. 13,329, dated December 5, 1011, for Kinetoscope, granted to the Licensor, as assignee, by mesne assignments of Thomas A. Edison, the same being also a reissue of letters patent No. 580,108, aforesaid, and for the invention set forth in a previous reissue thereof numbered 12,037, dated September 30, 1002; and that there are no licenses, shop-rights or other rights outstanding, to any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling or leasing motion pictures, to manufacture and sell or lease to others motion pictures embodying the inventions of said reissued letters patent No. 12,102, or to manufacture or use in carrying on such business, cameras embodying the inventions of said .reissued letters patent Xo. 13,329 and said letters patent Nos. 629,063 and 707,034, except as follows: 2a. A certain license granted under said reissued letters patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192 by the Edison Manufacturing Company of Orange New Jersey, (predecessor in business of Thomas A. Edisoa, Incorporated, a corporation of New Jersey, of Orange, New Jersey, said Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, being hereinafter referred to as the Edison Company) : to Pathe Preres, of New York, under an agreement in writing between it and the latter, dated May 20, 1008, and taking effed June 20, 1008, and certain other licenses granted, under said reissued letters patent, by said Edison Manufacturing Company to the Kalem Company, of New York; the