Issue of the Case

In 1948 the case The United States Vs. Paramount Pictures Inc came before the Supreme Court. The major issue in this case was anti-trust. Anti-trust laws prohibit agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between business entities, ban abusive behavior by firms dominating a market, or anti-competitive practices that lead to a dominant position, and supervise mergers and acquisitions of large corporations and some joint ventures. By 1945, major movie studios owned either partially or outright 17% of the theaters in the country, accounting for 45% of the film-rental revenue.
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pictures,_Inc.
The studios basically controlled everything. The court complaint charged that the producer defendants had attempted to monopolize and had monopolized the production of motion pictures. The complaint also charged that all the defendants, as distributors, had conspired to restrain and monopolize and had restrained and monopolized interstate trade in the distribution and exhibition of films by specific practices.
http://supreme.justia.com/us/334/131/case.html.
"Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony” http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act