Siegel

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT

This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs’ motion for a directed verdict following the close of defendants’ case case and the submission of the evidence. The Court being fully advised and having considered all of the testimony and evidence, including the numerous and lengthy oral arguments of counsel, all of the briefs, depositions and affidavits, has now reached the following decision and opinion.

The issues, simply stated, are: (1) Are the defendants’ standard contract and practices requiring the purchase of various packaging items, cookers and fryers, and certain mix preparations for food a tying agreement in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act? (2) If so, have the plaintiffs been injured by the said violation ?

Tying arrangements, by definition agreements in which the seller offers two separate items for sale but will not sell the first item (or tying item) unless the buyer agrees to purchase the second item (or tied item), have uniformly been treated harshly by the United States Supreme Court. International Business Machines v. United States, 298 U.S. 131 , 56 S.Ct. 701 , 80 L.Ed. 1085 (1936);…