Motion Picture Patents Company v. Universal Film Manufacturing Company et al.

Motion Picture Patents Company (plaintiff) held an assigned patent on a movie-projector feeding mechanism and licensed it to The Precision Machine Company, with the license restricting buyers of the patented machines to using them only to project films that themselves practiced another of the plaintiff's patents. The plaintiff sued Universal Film Manufacturing and other companies (defendants) for patent infringement, the defendants argued the patent (or its licensing restriction) was invalid, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.