United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.

United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948) was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusitivity rights on which theatres would show their films. It would also change the way Hollywood movies were produced, distributed, and exhibited. The Court held in this case that the existing distribution scheme was in violation of the antitrust laws of the United States, which prohibit certain exclusive dealing arrangements.

The consequences

Consequences of the decision include:

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• more independent producers and studios to produce their film product free of major studio interference;
• the end of the old Hollywood studio system and, effectively, Golden Age of Hollywood;
• the loss of the studio's rights to their own classic film libraries, especially in the wake of the rise of television.