From: TOWN.CRIER@md-b.prime.com
Subject: (none)
Reply-To: Info-Prime@Blx-A.Prime.COM
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 21:26:01 GMT

10/13 SUPREME COURT ACTION TODAY WILL FURTHER SHAPE U.S. ANTITRUST LAW
AND IMPACT ON HIGH-TECH PARTS AND SERVICE MARKETS

  SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- An important U.S. Supreme
Court action announced today is expected to further shape U.S.
antitrust law concerning the right of large manufacturers to control
their replacement parts and service markets and, thereby, consumer
prices. The high court's action today sends the matter of Virtual
Maintenance, Inc., v. Prime Computer, Inc., back to the U.S. Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider their opinion handed down last
February reversing a jury verdict in favor of Virtual.
  The case will be reconsidered in light of the Supreme Court's
landmark decision last June in Image Technical Services v. Eastman
Kodak Company which paved the way for Kodak to stand trial on the
merits of an antitrust suit brought by various companies selling
replacement parts and services for Kodak's line of sophisticated
business machines. Broader implications beyond these limited facts
include: (1) The striking down of numerous business justifications and
defenses widely raised by high-tech manufacturers to justify their
exclusion of third party maintainer services for their products; and
(2) An affirmation that maintenance markets are subject to the scrutiny
of U.S. antitrust laws.
  Virtual Maintenance, Inc., a computer products and services company
based in Rochester Hills, Mich., in October 1990, originally obtained a
$25 million jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan, Judge Horace W. Gilmore presiding, against Prime
Computer, the giant manufacturer based in Bedford, Mass., for antitrust
violations focused on Prime's policy of tying software revisions to the
manufacturer's hardware maintenance contracts.  Essentially, Prime
refused to provide software revisions at any reasonable price,
predicating such revisions on a contract for hardware maintenance with
the manufacturer.  The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and
extinguished the verdict.  The Sixth Circuit's reversal occurred before
the Kodak decision was handed down.
  Rodger D. Young, founding partner in the prominent Detroit-area law
firm Young Hamood, P.C., said, "We are delighted by the Supreme Court's
decision today.  In our view, this action represents a continued
affirmation of the high court's antitrust philosophy in the post-Kodak
world."
  Mr. Young also said, "In particular, the Virtual case, like Image
Tech v. Kodak decided last June, represents the high court's wise
scrutiny of all aftermarkets for service and parts.  This, as Justice
Blackman noted in Kodak, is a vast and growing sector of the economy.
It cries out for stern antitrust scrutiny."
  Mr. Young and his Southfield law firm specialize in high-tech
antitrust litigation and in particular the representation of third- and
fourth-party maintenance and parts suppliers.  The firm has represented
Virtual in this matter throughout the entire course of litigation. Mr.
Young's firm also recently represented PSI Services, Inc., in
settlement of a large antitrust action against a major machine parts
manufacturer.
  /CONTACT:  Rodger D. Young of Young Hamood, P.C., 313-353-8620; or
Jayne Thorner Lynch of Whitfield Associates, Inc., 313-641-7286, for
Young Hamood, P.C./
13:13 EDT
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