Opinion ID: 764884
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: NAA and NNN

Text: 111 Unlike the other defendants, the NAA and NNN are not direct participants in the advertising delivery business. Rather, the NAA was established with the goal of encouraging technological development in the newspaper industry in order to increase the profitability of newspapers; the NNN has the more specific goal of increasing the newspaper industry's declining share of advertising dollars. Thus, neither organization -- as long as they were acting in accordance with these goals -- had a rational motivation to join the conspiracies alleged by AD/SAT. Indeed, it would be counter to the goals of both organizations to eliminate a competitor in the market for delivery of ads in order to facilitate an attempt to monopolize the market by a newcomer that was not yet operational, especially since competition among delivery mechanisms would promote both technological innovation and fair pricing. 112 AD/SAT concedes that the NAA, after an initial meeting with AP executives in August 1993, made it clear that, while it would cooperate with the AP in its efforts to develop an electronic ad delivery system, it could not exclude other groups providing this service. Nevertheless, AD/SAT contends that the NAA reversed its position and, along with the NNN, began to boycott AD/SAT after certain meetings arranged by Newhouse between top AP executives and NAA president Cathie Black. 113 It is not seriously disputed that the NAA and NNN encouraged and assisted the AP when it was developing AdSEND. Indeed, after the AP's public announcement of AdSEND, these organizations allowed the AP to give presentations about AdSEND at NNN regional meetings. Despite this, and other evidence of the NAA's and the NNN's encouragement, AD/SAT's claim against these defendants cannot survive summary judgment because AD/SAT has failed to submit evidence tending to show that the NAA and the NNN participated in an anticompetitive refusal to deal with it. To the contrary, the evidence reveals that the NAA and NNN continued to promote other electronic delivery services beyond AP's AdSEND, including AD/SAT itself. Furthermore, even if the NAA and NNN endorsed AP's service, a conspiracy could not be inferred from such an endorsement. See Consolidated Metal Products, Inc. v. American Petroleum Institute, 846 F.2d 284, 292 (5th Cir. 1988) (holding that trade association's seal of approval for particular product, without constraining others to follow the recommendation, does not violate antitrust laws). Under these circumstances, summary judgment in favor of the NAA and NNN was appropriate. 114 Having ruled that summary judgment in favor of all other defendants with respect to AD/SAT's conspiracy claims was appropriate, we conclude that summary judgment in favor of the AP was also appropriate.