Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Jury finds no antitrust injury in bull semen processing suit, (Aug 16, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

ABS Global, Inc. failed to prove that it suffered antitrust injury in a suit alleging that Inguran, LLC—a provider of sorting technology services—monopolized and exercised market power in the U.S. sexed bovine semen processing market, in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Nevertheless, the jury for the federal district court in Madison, Wisconsin, found that ABS infringed two of Inguran’s patents and awarded $2 million in damages (ABS Global, Inc. v. Inguran, LLC, Dkt. 14-cv-503-wmc).

ABS Global, Inc. provides bull semen to dairy and beef producers for artificial insemination. Inguran, LLC, doing business as Sexing Technologies (ST), provides sorting technology services to ABS and other companies to separate male and female bull sperm. ABS claimed that ST monopolized and exercised market power in the alleged "Sexed Bovine Semen Processing Market." In addition, ABS asserted that ST’s conduct, in maintaining its monopoly in the sexed semen market, was anticompetitive and that ST engaged in unfair competition through its patent acquisitions and licenses. ST counterclaimed that ABS infringed ST’s patents.

Antitrust claim. The jury concluded that ABS proved by a preponderance of the evidence that: (1) sexed bovine semen processing in the United States was the relevant antitrust market; (2) ST had monopoly power in the market for sexed bovine semen processing in the United States; (3) ST achieved monopoly power in the relevant market in approximately July 2012; and (4) ST willfully maintained monopoly power in the market for sexed bovine semen processing in the United States by insisting on anticompetitive contract terms and by its anticompetitive conduct as a whole. However, the jury also found that ST did not willfully maintain monopoly power in the relevant market by acquiring patents for other than competitive reasons. In addition, ABS failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it suffered antirust injury as a result of ST’s willful maintenance of monopoly power.

Patent claims. Conversely, the jury concluded that ABS and Genus plc infringed multiple claims of ST’s U.S. Patent Nos. 8,198,092 and 8,206,987. As a result, the jury found that ST was entitled to recover $2 million for the infringements and for trade secret misappropriation.

Companies: ABS Global Inc.; Inguran, LLC

News: Antitrust