The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-25
KODAK CO.. DECLARED
ILLEGAL MONOPOLY
Eastman Concern Controls Tn.
terstate Trade, Says L. s.
Judge in Buffalo.
A~BROGATION DEMANDED

BUFFALO, Aug. 24.-An interlocu,orv
decree declaring the Eastman Koda.
Company of Rochester ian illegal mo.
nopoly which unduly and unreasonable
restraints Interstate trade an commercs-
was handed down to-day In the Unit.a
States District Court by Judge John "A
Hazel. Though II is asserted that n.
irremediable hardship would result from
separation of the present business into
two or more independent companies,
Judge Hazel say that 1t Ia not intended
to indicate dissolution. division or IA.
organization Of the business Of tho ia.
PENDANTS, but to give them opportunity
to present to the court on November I,
a plan for the abrogation of the
monopoly.
Judge Hazel holds the defendants I'm.
lawfully controlled Interstate trade in
Photographic supplies but not In moving
picture films.
Action by the Government was In.
stituted on June 8. 1918. against tho
Eastman Kodak Company. a corporation
of New Jersey the Eastman Kodak
Company. a corporation of New York,
and George Eastman. Henry A. Strong,
Walter 8. Hubbell and Frank S. Nobla
officers and directors. The New Jersey
company is owner Of the capital stock
Of the New York corporation.
The defendants denied restraining
trade or competition or engaging in .
monopoly. and asserted tina their status
was the result solely of the creation
and development within their plants Of
products Of a superior quality.
"It makes no difference says Judge
Hazel, that the defendant corporations
and the Individual defendants were not
In fact competitors or rivals In business
or separate entities
Regarding an agreement OF the East
man company with tho General Paper
Company of Brussels, whereby control Of
high class paper in the United States and
Canada was obtained, the court says:
ut was provided in the event of com
petition arising IL should be driven OUT
OF the market, and the General Paper
Company agreed TO pay a rebate on all
raw paper purchased from it. .
The American makers OF Photographic
| paper thus became subservient to the
General Paper Company and the East
man company accomplished its purpose
OF controlling in this country the raw
paper stock industry. both foreign and
domestic.
1T is undisputed that the Eastman
company controlled from IS 10 So per
cent. OF the entire Photographic supply
trade. The burden rested upon the defend
ants to prove that this was accomplished
by lawful methods. | have concluded
that the Government has shown aifirna-
lively that interstate trade and com
merce hav been unjustly and abnor-
mally restrained by the defendants by
the formation OF a monopoly induced by
wrongful contracts. with regard 10 raw
paper stock preventing the trade from
procuring such stock by the acquisition
OF stock houses. competing plants and
businesses. accompanied by covenants
restraining the vendors from reentering
the business; and by the imposition On
dealers OF arbitrary n oppressive terms
OF sale Inconsistent with fair dealing.
and suppressing competition. Such acts
when taken together are most significant
and seem to me ~indisputahly To disclose
an intention to violate the Sherman act"