Opinion ID: 186414
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Refusal to cooperate

Text: 19 Although the Court in Trinko recognized that [u]nder certain circumstances, a refusal to cooperate with rivals can constitute anticompetitive conduct, 540 U.S. at 408, 124 S.Ct. 872, it concluded that insufficient assistance in the provision of service to rivals is not a recognized antitrust claim under [its] existing refusal-to-deal precedents, id. at 410, 124 S.Ct. 872. An antitrust claim based upon the defendant's refusal to cooperate with its competitor can withstand a motion to dismiss only when it is alleged either that the defendant had previously engaged in a course of dealing with its rivals, or [that it] would ever have done so absent statutory compulsion, id. at 409, 124 S.Ct. 872. Here, Covad alleges neither that Bell Atlantic had at one time voluntarily dealt with Covad nor that it would ever have been in Bell Atlantic's interest to have done so. Therefore, as in Trinko, the defendant's reluctance to interconnect ... tells us nothing about dreams of monopoly. Id. 20 In the light shed by Trinko, we agree with the district court that the following allegations do not state a claim upon which relief can be granted under § 2 of the Sherman Act: The Battle to Collocate (¶¶ 91-124), in which Covad alleges Bell Atlantic did not offer it the opportunity to co-locate its equipment on Bell Atlantic's premises upon just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms (as required by § 101 of the 1996 Act, 47 U.S.C. § 251(c)(6)); The Odyssey of Obtaining Loops and Dealing with OSS (¶¶ 125-174), in which Covad alleges Bell Atlantic violated its obligation under the same provision to share loops and OSS; The Effort to Obtain Transport (¶¶ 175-77), which similarly pertains to Bell Atlantic's duties under the 1996 Act; and Bell Atlantic's Sham, `Feel Good' Negotiation Strategy (¶¶ 196-201), in which Covad alleges Bell Atlantic failed to bargain in good faith over terms of interconnection (as required by § 101 of the 1996 Act, 47 U.S.C. § 251(c)(1)).