In Eaton Corp. v. ZF Meritor LLC et al., the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari, refusing to review a Third Circuit decision upholding the imposition of antitrust liability on a truck transmission manufacturer for encouraging its customers to deal with it exclusively by offering low prices.
Most federal circuit courts that have considered whether loyalty discounts should trigger antitrust scrutiny have concluded that dominant companies may offer rebates if the ultimate price paid by the customer is above the provider’s cost. The Third Circuit, by contrast, recently held that long-term loyalty agreements could violate the antitrust laws when companies have market power because the agreements amount to “de facto exclusive dealing contracts” that foreclosed a large portion of the market. Despite the split in the circuits, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.