Illinois Bell Telephone Co. v. Haines and Co.

744 F. Supp. 815, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5670, 1989 WL 223108
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 11, 1989
Docket85 C 7644
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 744 F. Supp. 815 (Illinois Bell Telephone Co. v. Haines and Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Bell Telephone Co. v. Haines and Co., 744 F. Supp. 815, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5670, 1989 WL 223108 (N.D. Ill. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONLON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Illinois Bell Telephone Company (“IBT”) filed this copyright infringement action against defendants Haines and Company, Inc., Haines Criss + Cross Publishers, Inc. (collectively “Haines”), William K. Haines, Sr. and William K. Haines, Jr. Haines filed a counterclaim against IBT, Ameritech Publishing, Inc. (“Ameritech”), Ameritech Publishing of Illinois, Inc. (“Am-eritech-Illinois”), The Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation (“Donnelley”), and AM-DON (collectively “counter-defendants”) alleging violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 1px solid var(--green-border)">2), Section 4 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 15), and the Illinois Antitrust Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 38 ¶¶ 60-3 and 60-7). On April 13, 1988, this court granted IBT's motion for summary judgment, holding that IBT has a valid copyright interest in its telephone directories and that Haines’ 1982 and 1983 directories infringed IBT’s copyrights. Illinois Bell Telephone Company v. Haines, 683 F.Supp. 1204 (N.D.Ill.1988). IBT currently moves for summary judgment on damages, attorneys’ fees and injunctive relief. Counter-defendants move for summary judgment on Haines’ counterclaims.

FACTS

IBT is a public utility that provides telephone service. IBT is the only source for names, addresses and telephone numbers of residents and businesses in the Chicago area. McDowall Dep. at 54-55, 71-74, 80-81. IBT licenses its directory information primarily to two groups of publishers. One group publishes street address directories, without Yellow Pages advertising. Haines and Donnelley (through AM-DON) are the only two publishers of street address directories in the Chicago area. Melton Dep. at 41; O’Brien Dep. at 24, 28, 41; Haines’ memo, at 19. A second group publishes co-bound directories, or alphabetical directories with Yellow Pages advertising. The markets are distinct; the second group does not compete with the first. Haines’ memo, at 2.

Haines publishes cross-reference street address directories under the trademark Criss + Cross. The directories contain a street address and telephone numerical directory. Haines publishes 54 street address directories in major metropolitan areas of the country. Haines’ memo, at 5. It began publishing Chicago-area directories in 1969. Haines and IBT entered into a licensing agreement, renewed each year from 1971 through 1980, whereby IBT provided Haines with pre-publication advance listings from IBT’s Chicago-area directories on a cost per listing basis. IBT allegedly charged Haines the same price per listing as co-bound publishers. Id. at 8. In 1971, Haines paid IBT $.01 per listing. From 1974-81, Haines paid $.0125 per listing. In 1981, IBT raised the price to $.028 per listing. Haines chose not to renew its licensing agreement with IBT in 1982, but continued to utilize IBT's published directories to obtain listing information.

IBT also has a contractual relationship to provide listing information to Donnelley, Haines’ only competitor in the Chicago street address directory market. O’Brien Dep. at 24, 38. Donnelley originally obtained listing information from IBT under a directory publishing agreement dated June 26, 1966; the agreement remained in effect through January 1, 1985. Donnelley, Am- *819 eritech-Illinois, and AM-DON Rule 12 statement at ¶ 11. IBT provided customer information to Donnelley, and Donnelley solicited those customers for advertising in the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages were then co-bound with IBT’s white page directory. Arden Ex. G at 5. Under a 1971 amendment to the agreement, IBT provided Donnelley with billing and collection services for street address directories. The agreement did not allocate the amounts charged for subscriber information, billing and collection services. Donnelley memo, at 11. The total cost to Donnelley was calculated by a formula that included Don-nelley’s revenues and sales costs. O’Brien Ex. 10 at 4.

In July 1984, IBT entered into a ten-year directory agreement with Donnelley, Amer-itech, Ameritech-Illinois and AM-DON. The agreement apparently was approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Arden Ex. G (transcript of hearing on IBT’s petition for approval, Aug. 15, 1984). The agreement provides that IBT will furnish all subscriber information, billing and collecting services for directories to be published by AM-DON (a partnership between Donnelley and Ameritech-Illinois) and prepared and marketed by Donnelley. O’Brien Ex. 12; Haines memo, at 19. The agreement sets one charge for all services provided by IBT to AM-DON, rather than a price per listing. For 1985, IBT received $49.5 million; for 1986 through 1994, IBT receives a minimum of $75 million annually. O’Brien Ex. 12 at 34. The agreement does not restrict IBT’s alternative uses of the listing information during the contract term. Arden Ex. G at 37-38.

Haines contends that IBT, Ameritech, Ameritech-Illinois, Donnelley and AM-DON misused IBT’s copyright to restrain trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1) and conspired to monopolize, attempted to monopolize, and monopolized the market for street address directories in the Chicago area in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 2). Haines also charges that counter-defendants’ conduct violated the analogous provisions of the Illinois Antitrust Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 38 ¶ 60-3) and Section 4 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 15).

DISCUSSION

A party is entitled to judgment where the pleadings, depositions, affidavits and other supporting materials show there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Summary judgment is appropriate in antitrust litigation unless the non-movant presents sufficient evidence to survive a motion for directed verdict. Collins v. Associated Pathologists, Ltd., 844 F.2d 473, 476 (7th Cir.1988) (the mere existence of a triable issue is no longer sufficient). Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment against parties who fail to establish the existence of an essential element of their case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

I. IBT’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Statutory Damages, Attorneys’ Fees and Injunctive Relief

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Bluebook (online)
744 F. Supp. 815, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5670, 1989 WL 223108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-bell-telephone-co-v-haines-and-co-ilnd-1989.