Opinion ID: 3009612
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Used Parts Upgrades

Text: Including used parts upgrades in the relevant market was also error. A used parts upgrade is an upgrade performed with parts obtained from another computer, either one belonging to the compatibility. See Edward J. Sweeney & Sons, Inc. v. Texaco, Inc., 637 F.2d 105, 117 (3d Cir. 1980) (antitrust plaintiff held to theory advanced in district court), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 911, 101 S. Ct. 1981 (1981). organization needing the upgrade or one belonging to a leasing company. See Allen-Myland, 693 F. Supp. at 277. The district court correctly recognized that the viability of used parts upgrades could be limited by the scarcity of the necessary parts. It then relied on the many memory and channel upgrades and downgrades that had been performed with used parts not acquired from IBM. The record indicates, however, that most memory and channel upgrade parts are not based on TCM technology and were thus not subject to IBM's net pricing and parts recapture policies. The parts required for MIPS upgrades, however, were mostly TCM-based and subject to net pricing and recapture. Thus, that other non-net priced parts were readily available does not support the implicit conclusion that there was no scarcity of MIPS upgrade parts. Even if used parts were available to perform MIPS upgrades, the record does not suggest any manufacturer of those parts other than IBM. Hence, the reasoning of Alcoa is as controlling here as it was for used IBM computers. To the extent that IBM controls the supply and price of the new mainframes from which upgrade parts must be salvaged, it has the power to indirectly control those upgrades as well. Accordingly, it would have been error to include used parts upgrades in the relevant market even if parts had been available.