Motion Picture Patents Company trial records, 1911-1915

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Summary

Title:
Motion Picture Patents Company trial records
Dates:
1911-1915
Creators:
Motion Picture Patents Company
Extent:
2.0 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Motion Picture Patents Company trial records (Collection 151). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of briefs, court records, newspaper clippings, and related printed ephemera concerning the trial U.S. vs. Motion Picture Patents Co. et al. from the files of the law firm Caldwell, Masslich & Reed, which represented the principal defendants.

Biographical / historical:

Motion Picture Patents Company was organized in 1908 by a group of film producers and distributors representing Edison, Vitagraph, Biograph, Kalem, Lubin, Selig, Essanay, Pathé Exchange, Méliès, and Gaumont companies to protect their patent interests; a system of fees and royalties was set up for use of equipment covered by their patents; the General Film Company was established (1910) to distribute films of its member companies to licensed theaters; certain independent producers, who were not owners of patents or licensed by patent owners, challenged the validity of these practices; a complaint was filed to US Attorney General G.W. Wickersham, who threatened a criminal indictment; through due course a decree was rendered for dissolution of the Company.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Daniel V. Raymond, 1959.
Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Pleadings, license agreements
  • Series 2: Drafts of answers
  • Series 3: Memoranda of law
  • Series 4: Memoranda, documents

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Courtney Dean, 2020.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-12-11 10:26:44 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical objects belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Motion Picture Patents Company trial records (Collection 151). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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