To prohibit and to prevent the trade practices known as "compulsory block-booking" and "blind selling" of motion-picture films in interstate and foreign commerce (1939)

10 TRADE PRACTICES IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Section 1 declares that compulsory block booking and blind sellingare contrary to public policy in that — such practices interfere with the informed selection of films on the part of the exhibitors and prevent the people of the several States and the local communities thereof from influencing such selection in the best interests of the public and tend to create a monopoly i,n the production, distribution, and exhibition of films. Section 2 contains definitions of certain expressions — more especially those relating to the motion-picture business — used in the bill. For those not familiar with the mechanics of sound recording, it should be explained that this is accomplished by means of a "sound tract" on the margin of the film, and the sound — music, dialog, etc. — thus recorded is reproduced in the theater. "Film" thus includes everything on the film — the sound as well as the picture. Newsreels, however, and other short subjects are expressly excluded from the operation of the bill. Section 3 (1) declares that it shall be unlawful to lease or offer to lease motion pictures under the compulsory block-booking system, or to resort to any device for attaining that end by indirection. It is fashioned after section 3 of the Clayton Act (the antitying clause provision) 15 in that it prevents compulsion by exacting a disproportionately high film rental for single pictures or groups less than a block as compared to the aggregate rental for the entire block. Subsection 2 of section 3 provides that it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to transport or cause to be transported in interstate commerce any film leased or intended to be leased in violation of subsection 1. Section 4 makes it unlawful for any distributor to lease or offer to lease for public exhibition any film over 2,000 feet in length (that is, any feature picture) without at the same time furnishing to the exhibitor a "complete and true synopsis" of the contents of the film. (It is proposed to amend this section, in the light of the testimony, to make it more liberal to the producers, since it is believed that this can be accomplished without materially weakening the bill.) Section 5 (1) provides that every person who violates section 3, or who fails to furnish the synopsis required by section 4, or who knowingly makes any false statement in such synopsis, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than a year, or by both such punishments in the discretion of the court. The penalty thus provided is the same as that which has been imposed for nearly 50 years by the Sherman antitrust law on persons who have made contracts or engaged in combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade. Section 5 (2) confers jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States, on the application of the Attorney General, to institute proceedings in equity to prevent and restrain violations of the act. Section 6 is the usual saving clause to the effect that if any part of the act shall be held unconstitutional such action shall not affect the remainder. Section 7 provides that the act shall become effective 12 months after its passage. » Upheld in United States v. United Shoe Machinery'Co. (264 Fed. 138; affirmed, 258 U. S. 451).