Judge Dismisses Antitrust Suit Against Caterpillar
January 22 2016 - 2:20PM
Dow Jones News
A U.S. District Judge in Delaware dismissed an antitrust lawsuit
accusing Caterpillar Inc. and other heavy-equipment makers of
conspiring to thwart an online seller of Chinese construction
equipment.
A year ago, International Construction Products LLC, Asheville,
N.C., or ICP, filed a suit alleging that Caterpillar, Komatsu Ltd
of Japan and a North American unit of Sweden's AB Volvo threatened
to boycott IronPlanet Inc. if that website operator helped ICP sell
equipment. As a result, the suit said, IronPlanet stopped working
with ICP, depriving it of "a feasible means to efficiently bring
its products to market."
U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews wrote in a ruling dated
Thursday that ICP had provided "no facts that directly show the
existence of an agreement" among the manufacturers. He also wrote
that ICP hadn't shown it lacked alternative means of distributing
machinery. ICP's suit stated that Caterpillar had about a 40% share
of the U.S. market for heavy construction equipment, the judge
wrote, but that didn't prove the company had monopoly power.
Lawyers representing ICP didn't immediately respond to requests
for comment. A Caterpillar spokesman said the Peoria, Ill.-based
company was pleased with the decision.
Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2016 15:05 ET (20:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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