Court Opinion

ID: 9419685
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:51:02.875407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:19.964826
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
concurring.
I join in the opinion of the Court. But in view of the broader issues which have been injected into the discussion of the case, I add a few words to indicate what I deem to be the narrow compass of the decision.
Every exclusive arrangement in the business or commercial field may produce a restraint of trade. A manufacturer who has only one retail outlet for his product may be said to restrain trade in the sense that other retailers are prevented from dealing in the commodity. And to a degree, the same kind of restraint may be found wherever a reporter is gathering news exclusively for one newspaper. But Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 221 U. S. 1, construed the Sherman Act to include not every restraint but only those which were unreasonable. Starting from that premise, I assume that it would not be a violation of the Sherman Act if a newspaper in Seattle and one in New York made an agency agreement whereby each was to furnish exclusively to the other news reports from his locality.
But such an exclusive arrangement, though innocent standing alone, might be part of a scheme which would violate the Sherman Act in one of two respects.
(1) It might be a part of the machinery utilized to effect a restraint of trade in violation of § 1 of the Act. Cf. United States v. Bausch & Lomb Co., 321 U. S. 707. I think the exclusive arrangement employed by the Associated Press had such a necessary effect. As developed in the opinion of the Court, the by-laws of the Associated *24Press were aimed at the competitors of the Associated Press’ members; their necessary effect was to hinder or impede competition with members of the combination. The District Court not only ordered the by-laws to be revised; it enjoined continuance of the exclusive arrangement until the restraint effected by the by-laws had been eliminated. That was plainly within its power. For it is well settled that a feature of an illegal restraint of trade, which is innocent by itself and which may be lawfully used if independently established, may be uprooted along with the other parts of an illegal arrangement. Ethyl Gasoline Corp. v. United States, 309 U. S. 436, 461; United States v. Univis Lens Co., 316 U. S. 241, 254. We certainly cannot say that the District Court abused its discretion in adopting that course here as an interim measure pending a revision of the by-laws.
(2) Such an exclusive arrangement as we have here might result in the growth of a monopoly in the furnishing of news, in the access to news, or in the gathering or distribution of news. Those are business activities subject to the Sherman Act (Indiana Farmer’s Guide Co. v. Prairie Farmer Co., 293 U. S. 268) as well as other Acts of Congress regulating interstate commerce. Associated Press v. Labor Board, 301 U. S. 103. The District Court found that in its present stage of development the Associated Press had no monopoly of that character. Those findings are challenged here in the appeal taken by the United States. They are not reached in the present decision for the reason, discussed in the opinion of the Court, that they cannot be tried out on a motion for a summary judgment. The decree which we approve does not direct Associated Press to serve all applicants. It goes no further than to put a ban on Associated Press’ practice of discriminating against competitors of its members in the same field or territory. That entails not only a discontinuance of the practice for the future but an undoing of the wrong which has been *25done. If Associated Press, after the effects of that discrimination have been eliminated, freezes its membership at a given level, quite different problems would be presented. Whether that would result in a monopoly in violation of § 1 of the Act is distinct from the issue in this case.
Only if a monopoly were shown to exist would we be faced with the public utility theory which has been much discussed in connection with this case and adopted by Me. Justice Frankfurter. The decrees under the Sherman Act directed at monopolies have customarily been designed to break them up or dissolve them. See United States v. Crescent Amusement Co., 323 U. S. 173. There have been some exceptions. Thus in United States v. Terminal Railroad Assn., 224 U. S. 383, an action was brought under the Sherman Act to dissolve a combination among certain railroads serving St. Louis. The combination had acquired control of all available facilities for connecting railroads on the east bank of the Mississippi with those on the west bank. The Court held that as an alternative to dissolution a plan should be submitted which provided for equality of treatment of all railroads. And see United States v. Great Lakes Towing Co., 208 F. 733, 747, 217 F. 656, appeal dismissed, 245 U. S. 675. United States v. New England Fish Exchange, 258 F. 732. Whether that procedure would be appropriate in this type of case or should await further legislative action (cf. Mr. Justice Brandéis’ dissenting opinion, International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U. S. 215, 248, 262) is a considerable question, the discussion of which should not cloud the present decision. What we do today has no bearing whatsoever on it.