Epstein Secrets

duction of high quality films, NITE's board of directors, in April 1977, created a "Film Fund," to which its members could make donations, and gave Patterson the job of soliciting their contributions. He, in r 41 turn, devised the following plan. NITE's member theatres would show several minutes of on-sc

ceive a discount on the rental of these movies in return for their contributions to the Fund. Daily Variety, a leading trade newspaper, reported on the NITE Film Fund in a front-page story on April 26, 1977. The story related strong interest in the program from film producers and exhibitors alike. r605] In June 1

arate itself from SAFFCO and NITE in order to save its business. These efforts came too late, and in 1978 Cinemavision went out of business. NITE, Patterson, and SAFFCO, invoking section 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15 (1982), brought this private anti-trust action against the eight defendant film d

threatened to compete vigorously in their oligopolistic market. The plaintiffs alleged that the statements by the defendants' executives concerning the NITE Film Fund and the subsequent meeting of the MPAA Advertising-Publicity Committee evidenced this conspiracy and that Warner Brothers' and Twentieth Century Fo

duction of high quality films, NITE's board of directors, in April 1977, created a "Film Fund," to which its members could make donations, and gave Patterson the job of soliciting their contributions. He, in ['* 4] turn, devised the following plan. NITE's member theatres would show several minutes of on-

ceive a discount on the rental of these movies in return for their contributions to the Fund. Daily Variety, a leading trade newspaper, reported on the NITE Film Fund in a front-page story on April 26, 1977. The story related strong interest in the program from film producers and exhibitors alike. ?605] In June 1