Opinion ID: 764884
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Oakland Press

Text: 78 Similarly, AD/SAT failed to adduce any evidence tending to show that the Oakland Press was not acting independently when it decided to terminate its affiliation agreement with AD/SAT. The Oakland Press signed an affiliation agreement with AD/SAT in October 1993; under the terms of that agreement, AD/SAT was required to install reception equipment at the paper's offices. The affiliation agreement also provided that either party could terminate the agreement without penalty if the other was in material default of its obligations under the agreement. During negotiations, Atkins, AD/SAT's then-president, promised to install the reception equipment within thirty days from the date of the agreement. And, in an October 20, 1993, letter to Alfred Derusha, the advertising director of the Oakland Press, Atkins said that AD/SAT would get to work right away on installation of the equipment. Seven months later, in May 1994, the equipment still had not been installed, and AD/SAT informed the Oakland Press for the first time that the Macintosh interface it had promised to install was not available. At that point, Derusha wrote to AD/SAT, informing it that the Oakland Press was exercising its right to terminate the affiliation agreement because AD/SAT was in material default. AD/SAT responded that the Oakland Press had no right to terminate and that the equipment was being delivered. 79 AD/SAT contends that the Oakland Press's stated reasons for its termination of the affiliation agreement were pretextual, and that the paper's real motivation was its desire to boycott AD/SAT and support AdSEND. This inference cannot reasonably be drawn from the evidence. At the time the Oakland Press terminated its affiliation with AD/SAT, AdSEND was not even operational. The Oakland Press did not test AdSEND at its site until January of 1995, when an advertiser requested the service. Furthermore, AD/SAT has not produced any evidence tending to show that Derusha or anyone at the Oakland Press discussed the paper's relationship with AD/SAT with anyone from the AP or another paper. Finally, the facts belie AD/SAT's claim that the Oakland Press refused to deal with it; up to the time this action was commenced, the Oakland Press was attempting to negotiate a new affiliation agreement with AD/SAT. This conduct is clearly as consistent with legitimate business activity as with an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade. AD/SAT's claim against the Oakland Press cannot survive summary judgment. 80