''Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc.'', 547 U.S. 28 (2006), was a case decided by the
Supreme Court of the United States involving the application of U.S.
antitrust law to "
tying" arrangements of
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
ed products. The Court ruled unanimously that there is not a presumption of
market power
In economics, market power refers to the ability of a firm to influence the price at which it sells a product or service by manipulating either the supply or demand of the product or service to increase economic profit. In other words, market powe ...
under the
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
...
when the sale of a patented product is conditioned on the sale of a second product in a tying arrangement. A plaintiff alleging an antitrust violation must instead establish the defendant's market power in the patented product through evidence.
Background
Independent Ink was a distributor of
printer ink
An ink cartridge or inkjet cartridge is a component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that is deposited onto paper during printing.
Each ink cartridge contains one or more ink reservoirs; certain producers also add electronic contact ...
and related products. Trident
manufactured ink-related products used in printers used to print
bar code
A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...
s on cardboard. Trident's license, when licensing its printing apparatus to those printers' manufacturers, required them to use Trident ink. However, it did not require
end users of the bar-code printers to refill the printers with Trident
ink cartridge
An ink cartridge or inkjet cartridge is a component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that is deposited onto paper during printing.
Each ink cartridge contains one or more ink reservoirs; certain producers also add electronic contacts ...
s. Trident did not, though, warranty its printer for use with others' ink cartridges.
In the course of a patent-infringement suit, Independent Ink alleged that Trident's license constituted a
tying arrangement in violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
...
. (Illinois Tool Works then bought Trident, so was added as a defendant.) Its lawsuit was thrown out of the
on
summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment (also judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition) is a judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full trial. Summary judgments may be issued on the merits of ...
, June 3, 2002.
The
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
reversed summary judgment for the most part, and the Supreme Court granted ''
certiorari''.
[.]
Opinion of the Court
The Court vacated the Federal Circuit's decision.
Footnotes
Further reading
*
External links
*{{caselaw source
, case = ''Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc.'', {{ussc, 547, 28, 2006, el=no
, cornell =
, courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/145673/illinois-tool-works-inc-v-independent-ink-inc/
, findlaw =
, googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12062423076831474839
, justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/547/28/
, oyez =
, other_source1 = Supreme Court (slip opinion)
, other_url1 =https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1329.pdf
2006 in United States case law
Computer printing
United States antitrust case law
United States patent case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court