Nova Designs, Inc. v. Scuba Retailers Ass'n

This case is about an agreement between a corporation, having retailers as both members and customers, and a magazine publisher. We must decide whether one of the terms of this agreement, a restriction against carrying mail order advertising, can be found to be a per se violation of the antitrust laws.

Plaintiff Nova Designs, Inc. (doing business as Performance) sells scuba equipment and related items at retail through mail order catalogs. It advertises those items for sale at prices lower than those charged by competing retail stores and claims to be the first to offer such items *1090 through a full-color upscale catalog. In this action, it charges defendant PADI (an acronym for Professional Association of Dive Instructors) with conspiring to deny Performance access to the market for scuba gear. PADI is a for-profit corporation providing retail dive shops and diving instructors, who are its members and also its customers, supplies and services, including training of scuba diving instructors and diver certification cards, as well as group insurance, travel programs, and diver training. Through the PADI Retail Association, a division of PADI, it also teaches small businesses to…