Western Union Financial Services, Inc. v. First Data Corp.

Western Union Financial Services, Inc., sued

First Data Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, Integrated Payment Systems (IPS), alleging violations of the Unfair Practices Act (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17000 et seq.) arising from First Data’s sale of certain money transfer services below cost during a five-month promotion aimed at Western Union’s customers. We affirm the trial court’s order denying Western Union’s request for a preliminary injunction, rejecting its claims that the trial court (1) incorrectly defined the “product” at issue and (2) erroneously concluded that First Data did not have the requisite injurious intent.

Facts

For decades, Western Union owned the nation’s largest money transfer business and was the only company offering money transfers on a nationwide basis. In 1988, First Data entered the field (it calls its service “MoneyGrams”) and the two companies now share the national money transfer market, albeit unequally.

First Data’s MoneyGram business is substantially smaller than Western Union’s money transfer operation (Western Union has about 18,000 agents in the United States, First Data about 8,000). To boost its client base, First Data has…