American Booksellers Ass'n v. Barnes & Noble, Inc.

OPINION AND ORDER

In this antitrust action brought by the American Booksellers Association on behalf of all California members (“ABA”) and twenty-seven independent bookstores against various defendants associated with Barnes & Noble, Inc. (“the Barnes & Noble defendants”) and Borders Group, Inc. (“the Borders defendants”) , three motions are currently before the Court. The Barnes & Noble defendants move for summary judgment, and the Borders defendants join in that motion. The Borders defendants, joined by the Barnes & Noble defendants, move for partial summary adjudication with respect to distribution center discounts, the statistical reserve program, and cooperative advertising allowances for placement. Plaintiffs move for partial summary judgment on defendants’ “no harm to competition” and functional discount defenses. For the reasons set forth below, the motions are granted in part, and denied in part.

I.

In this action, the ABA and twenty-seven independent bookstores allege that defendants receive secret discounts and other favorable terms from book publishers and distributors that are not available to independent bookstores. Plaintiffs contend that these practices harm…