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.

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.

2.0 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

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.

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