''Weyerhaeuser Company v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber Company'', 549 U.S. 312 (2007), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case related to antitrust regulations.

Background

Both parties operated sawmills; Ross-Simmons was driven out of business by what it complained was

Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real e ...

's attempted monopsonization of the market. The theory was "predatory buying": a purchaser buys so much of a given raw material that it drives up the price and thereby excludes less pecunious rivals who depend on the same raw material.

Opinion of the Court

The Supreme Court rejected the theory on a rule of reason analysis, noting that there are any number of legitimate business strategies that involve buying large quantities of raw materials. A plaintiff alleging predatory buying must therefore prove—and Ross-Simmons had not—that the defendant caused the price to rise, ''and'' that the defendant is likely to recoup the costs incurred in such a scheme. The Court's decision symmetrized its case law, with ''Weyerhaeuser'' and '' Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.'' applying identical standards to predatory buying and predatory selling claims respectively.

External links

* United States Supreme Court cases United States antitrust case law 2007 in United States case law Weyerhaeuser United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court {{SCOTUS-stub