Opinion ID: 518733
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Submarket

Text: 45 Describing the sales of submersible liquid manure pumps as a submarket rather than a market does not aid H.J. In merger cases, the Supreme Court has recognized the possibility of finding a submarket vulnerable to possible monopolization existing within a more broadly defined market. According to the Court, 46 [t]he boundaries of such a submarket may be determined by examining such practical indicia as industry or public recognition of the submarket as a separate economic entity, the product's peculiar characteristics and uses, unique production facilities, distinct customers, distinct prices, sensitivity to price changes, and specialized vendors. 47 Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U.S. 294, 325, 82 S.Ct. 1502, 1524, 8 L.Ed.2d 510 (1962) (footnote omitted). The practical indicia identified in Brown Shoe have been described as evidentiary proxies for direct proof of substitutability. Rothery Storage & Van Co. v. Atlas Van Lines, Inc., 792 F.2d 210, 218 (D.C.Cir.1986). In other words, the same proof which establishes the existence of a relevant product market also shows (or in this case, fails to show) the existence of a product submarket. See Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law p 518.1 at 311-15 (1987 Supp.). 48 The jury's findings of Flygt and ITT's monopolization of the pump market through tying and predatory pricing cannot support a Section 2 violation without adequate proof of the relevant product market. This is true with respect to both predatory pricing, National Reporting Company v. Alderson Reporting Company, Inc., 763 F.2d 1020, 1024 (8th Cir.1985), and tying, U.S. Steel Corp. v. Fortner Enterprises, 429 U.S. 610, 611-12, 97 S.Ct. 861, 863, 51 L.Ed.2d 80 (1977); Ryko Mfg. Co. v. Eden Services, 823 F.2d 1215, 1231 (8th Cir.1987) (... at the threshhold ... the plaintiff attacking a vertical nonprice restraint [must] prove the defendant's substantial market power in a relevant market, citing Assam Drug Co., 798 F.2d at 316). See Will v. Comprehensive Accounting Corp., 776 F.2d 665, 669-73 (7th Cir.1985).