In Church & Dwight Co. Inc. v. Mayer Laboratories Inc., Northern District of California Judge Edward M. Chen granted Trojan condommakerChurch & Dwight Co. Inc.’s motion for summary judgment, tossing antitrust claims made against it by rival Mayer Laboratories Inc. Mayer claimed that C&D abused its dominant market position to squeeze out other competitors through its rebate program, where it offered retailers a discount on wholesale prices, if they agreed to shelve its condoms in more visible areas. In granting C&D’s motion for summary judgment, the court held that Mayer has been unable to proffer any evidence of retailers switching or removing rival condom brands from their shelves as a result of any coercive effect of C&D’s rebate program, or that C&D misused its dominant position to the detriment of its rivals. In fact, the evidence showed that the program has little, if any, effect on retailers’ shelf-space allocations. And because C&D’s two other main competitors were not affected by the program, Mayer was unable to show any basis for attributing its own misfortune to C&D, rather than other forces.
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