Stuart M. Kaplan, as Trustee in Bankruptcy for Palmer Data Corporation D/B/A Computerminal v. Burroughs Corporation

Plaintiff Stuart M. Kaplan, as the Trustee in Bankruptcy for Palmer Data Corporation, doing business as CompuTerminal, appeals the decision of the court below entering judgment non obstante veredicto (n. o. v.) in favor of defendant Burroughs Corporation on Kaplan’s action alleging a violation of Section One of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 . We affirm the judgment, though on different grounds than those advanced below.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Kaplan, as Trustee in Bankruptcy, asserts the claim of Palmer Data Corporation against the defendant Burroughs Corporation for an alleged violation of Section One of the Sherman Act, prohibiting every “contract, combination . . ., or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.”- Suit is brought under the “treble damages” provision of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15 .

CompuTerminal Corporation, the original entity on plaintiff’s side, was organized early in 1969, and began doing business shortly thereafter as a data processing center in San Francisco. Leonard J. Palmer, a data processing specialist with several years’ worth of experience in the organization and administration of data processing centers, was primarily…