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The Hollywood Anti-trust Case of 1948 (or, in legal terms, the case of U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et. al.) was a landmark court case that forever changed the way studios are run. The anti-trust suit (and the implications that followed) could be a reason why a majority of movie fans and critics see 1948 as the unofficial end of Hollywood's classic era, commonly known as the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The legal issues had its genesis with the silent era, when the Federal Trade Commission began investigating film companies.
Ultimately, the main issue of monopolization would be the reason behind all the major movie studios being sued in 1938 by the Department of Justice. The case would then reach the U.S. Supreme Court ten years later. The verdict went against the studios, forcing all of them to divest of their movie theater chains.
This landmark decision would have its consequences. For instance, the case opened the door for more independent producers and studios to produce their film product free of major studio interference (a practice that continues to this day).
On the other hand, it would ultimately cost some of the studios the rights to their own classic film libraries, especially in the wake of the rise of television. The studios that suffered the most were Warner Bros., United Artists and Paramount Pictures. WB sold the rights to its classic library to Associated Artists Productions (which would later become part of UA, although in recent years the library has returned to WB via Turner Entertainment). UA sold a majority of its sound library to an entity that would later become the re-christianed Republic Pictures (although other companies and estates of UA stars/producers also hold rights to other components of the UA catalog), while EMKA, Ltd. (the outlet of MCA) would acquire most of Paramount's sound library up to the 1948 ruling. Universal, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Columbia Pictures were able to keep the rights to their libraries (although, decades later, Ted Turner would purchase the pre-1986 MGM library--it too is now at the hands of WB via Turner Entertainment).
The court orders forcing the separation of motion picture production and exhibition companies are commonly referred to as the Paramount Decrees. While Paramount was forced to sell its own theater chain (which merged with the American Broadcasting Company, former United Paramount Theaters boss Leonard Goldenson leading ABC for decades), it is today controlled by another theater chain, National Amusements (through its control of Viacom, which was created by, divested as a result of another antitrust action by, and now owns, CBS as well). However, it seems unlikely that a vertically integrated motion picture business will ever be revived.
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