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 #:
000653
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 George Kleine. 63 1 Essanay Company, of Chicago; Siegmund Lubin, of Philadelphia; Gaston Melies, of New York I for himself and as attorney for George Melies, of Paris, France); Selig Polyscope Company, of Chicago, and the Vitagraph Company of America, of New York, under agreements in writing between said Edison Manufacturing Company and said several licensees, dated January 31, 1908; which said agreements, dated May 20, 1908, and January 31, 1908 (except that to which Gaston Melies was a party), were suspended by the parties, thereto in and by the license agreements next referred to, to which said licensees (or their successors) were parties; and 2b. Certain licenses granted, under said reissued letters patent Nos. 12,037 and 12,192, and said letters patent Xos. 629,063 and 707,931, by the Licensor, to Thomas A. Edison, Inc., aforesaid; Biograph Company, of New Jersey; Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, of Illinois; Kalem Company aforesaid; Lubin Manufacturing Company, of Pennsylvania, successor of Siegmund Lubin aforesaid; Pathe Freres aforesaid; Selig Polyscope Company aforesaid; and Vitagraph Company of America aforesaid, under agreements in writing between the Licensor and said several licensees, dated June 6, 1912, at which time a certain license was also granted by the Licensor, under said reissued letters patent No. 12,192, to the Licensee and also a license to Gaston Melies (for himself and as attorney for George Melies, of Paris, France), these other licensees, and their successors as such as well as any other motion picture manufacturers and importers hereafter licensed by the Licensor, being hereinafter referred to as the "additional licensees aforesaid": and 3. WHEREAS, the Licensee desires, on the termination of his license agreement aforesaid of June 6, 1912, referred to in paragraph 2b hereof to engage in the manufacture, sale and leasing of motion pictures, including the printing of positive motion pictures from negative motion pictures of the Licensee's own production, and, relying upon the aforesaid representations of the Licensor and induced thereby, desires to obtain from the Licensor a license under said two reissued Letters Patent numbered 13,329 and 12,192, and Letters Patent Nos. 629,063 and 707,934, and to lease positive motion pictures for use in exhibiting or projecting machines containing the inventions, or any of them described and claimed in said Letters Patent Xos. 578,185, 580,749. 580,953, 588,916, 673,