The Big Five Court Case Summary

Paramount was accused of being n monopolizing force in the movie industry in 1921 by the FTC. The FTC believed that the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was buying the other companies to monopolize the industry. The Department of Justice opened an investigation against Paramount for allegedly block booking to keep the industry in an anticompetitive state. Almost seven years later in 1928 Paramount- Famous Players-Lasky and nine other companies were facing antitrust charges. Due to the great depression the case sentencing from this case was never enforced. Years later the five major studios were accuses of theatre pooling and causing restraints in trade. These accusations were brought about because other independent industries felt that Paramount was causing there to be barriers to enter into the market. …show more content…
The monopolizing companies would block all the showing space so there would be none left for anyone else. This was one major barrier that the Big Five companies put up. In 1948 the District Court, the Department of Justice decided that the only way to fix the problem would be to make the Big Five studios to sign a decree that will make them separate their theatres from their production and selling of movies. If the companies agreed to sign the decree it would free them from any more legal fees. Even though the decree would cost the companies it was cheaper than the legal fees they faced. By 1954 all the top five studios had signed the decree and allowed the market to be competitive again. Throughout all the cases against Paramount the Government and the District Courts used the Sherman Act to help as a guide line for the