L Amp;t Switchgear Price List 2023 Pdf Download

No. 61 C 1278 and related power switchgear assembly cases in this District bearing Nos. 61 C 1689, 61 C 2180, 62 C 23, 65 C 170, 65 C 449-65 C 451, 65 C 544, 65 C 864, 65 C 865, 65 C 900, 65 C 920, 65 C 1000-1015 and 65 C 1129.

The above captioned actions are part of the more than nineteen hundred related treble damage antitrust actions involving the electrical equipment industry which were filed throughout the country during the early 1960's.[1] Plaintiffs in the instant cases are seeking damages for alleged overcharges on their purchases of power switchgear assemblies.

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Seventeen of the twenty-one power switchgear assembly actions originally brought in this District have been dismissed. Twenty-seven additional power switchgear assembly cases have been transferred here from six other districts, one of which has been dismissed, leaving thirty suits pending. All of these actions have been consolidated for pre-trial purposes, and this Court has set one or more of them for trial on October 4, 1965.

There is no showing that the coercion allegedly exerted was illegal. I-T-E argues that General Electric's sales policy of meeting the lowest price quoted by a competitor "went beyond the requirements of fair competition for any single sale since that policy has as a substantial purpose the establishment of a uniform price and the elimination of price competition on succeeding transactions."[24] The meeting of competitors' prices may be completely legal. A major aim of the antitrust laws is an open economy in which the meeting of competitors' prices is the rule rather than the exception. I-T-E has not established that General Electric would have violated any law by carrying out its threats.

(3) (A) In this paragraph, "you" or "your" shall mean I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company, its domestically domiciled subsidiaries and its merged or acquired predecessors, its present and former officers, agents and all other persons acting on behalf of I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company, or such subsidiaries or such predecessors, including all past or present employees exercising discretion, making policy and making decisions or participating in any of the foregoing functions with respect to the sale, pricing, marketing or manufacturing of power switchgear assemblies or components thereof;

3. Another overriding principle affecting an evaluation of the significance of the major companies' statements and acts is an understanding of the respective goals of the larger and the smaller companies. One of General Electric's business methods has been to preserve price uniformity and to eliminate price competition in each segment of its business over the long run. It has been willing to sell at any reasonable price, whether high or low, and sometimes at unreasonably low prices, so long as that price and those of its competitors did not reflect significant variations. This approach is directly opposed to what is generally true for other smaller companies who for a variety of reasons, many of which are transient in nature, exercise some flexibility in pricing one or more of their products. Over the years, Westinghouse has shared these goals and methods with General Electric.

6. When General Electric's efforts to buy I-T-E failed, Upp through E. Swift Newton drew W. M. Scott, Jr., now the President of I-T-E, into a series of conversations relating to the pricing of what were then its only products, low voltage large air circuit breakers and switchgear assemblies. Others present at one or more of these meetings included F. W. Patterson, and possibly Starbuck, of General Electric, R. A. Neal, Jack Butts, and, sometime later, Tom Watts, of Westinghouse. At these early meetings, Scott was told, principally by Upp, that I-T-E should get together with the industry to discuss uniform prices, that the electrical industry was operated that way, that many customers knew about it, and that, notwithstanding some opposition, some accepted it. Scott was specifically told that I-T-E would have to cooperate on prices and stop quoting non-uniform prices. One transaction which served as an illustration in that discussion was a bid to American Gas & Electric for a 440 volt switchboard costing about $40,000. Upp said that General Electric was not concerned as much about the gain or loss of the job as it was about the non-uniformity of the prices. Such non-uniformity on I-T-E's part caused great embarrassment when customers compared the range of prices for such equipment with the virtually identical prices submitted by General Electric and Westinghouse in the heavier lines such as steam turbine generators and oil circuit breakers. General Electric and Westinghouse had theretofore explained such similarity on the basis that each manufacturer used about the same amounts of labor and material to produce a given item and thus the prices might reasonably be expected to be alike, but this explanation was questioned when a smaller company submitted *906 a significantly lower bid than General Electric in another related product line.

7. With reference to the illustrative example, Upp said that, as soon as a significant deviation appeared, General Electric had quoted substantially below what it expected I-T-E's price to be even though it believed the fair price was substantially above I-T-E's price. He said that General Electric would uniformly take this action unless it was informed in advance of I-T-E's price. Whether it made a profit on the sale or not, General Electric had to be virtually certain that it would equal the low bidder or it would submit a bid which almost certainly would be low. A far more important consideration to General Electric was forestalling the attack upon the uniform pricing of million dollar items which would arise from I-T-E's refusal to cooperate on much smaller items. However, General Electric could always explain a difference in price if it was the low bidder by attributing I-T-E's higher price to the inefficiency of a small company.

8. In subsequent meetings of competitors at about this time and during the year or two which followed, General Electric and Westinghouse continually urged Scott to make I-T-E's prices and terms and conditions of sale similar to those of General Electric and Westinghouse. Uniformity was insisted upon even for the items where I-T-E's price was higher than its competitors'. When Scott refused to lower I-T-E's price on such items, General Electric said that it would raise its prices to achieve the desired uniformity notwithstanding the possible substantial loss of business it was getting in that product line, a position from which Westinghouse did not dissent. On other occasions, General Electric and Westinghouse insisted that I-T-E change its pricing policy from one which was "f. o. b., Philadelphia, customer pays the freight" to "f. o. b., Philadelphia, freight allowed", thus looking toward a uniform price at the point of delivery. Similarly, the two major companies insisted that an I-T-E 10% discount for cash purchases of large air circuit breakers be eliminated or, alternatively, that the net price after discount be the same as the net prices of General Electric and Westinghouse.

9. In 1932, I-T-E and Westinghouse entered into negotiations looking toward the licensing of I-T-E to manufacture and sell molded case circuit breakers under certain Westinghouse patents. At the time of these negotiations, Westinghouse had substantial patent control over the manufacture and sale of this product, which was a necessary component of some switchboards and switchgear assemblies. In its dealings with the independent switchboard assemblers, Westinghouse had sometimes insisted that the assembler who wanted molded case circuit breakers buy Westinghouse large air circuit breakers as well and, at other times, it had refused to sell molded case circuit breakers at all except as components of switchboards assembled by it. Westinghouse had given licenses for the manufacture of these circuit breakers to about six important assemblers who, under the terms of those licenses, were obliged to sell complete switchboards and panelboards at prices determined by Westinghouse.

10. During the course of the negotiations referred to in paragraph 9 which were carried on by Scott for I-T-E and Victor Beam of Westinghouse, it was stated that Westinghouse was not so much interested in receiving royalties under the patent licenses as it was in using such licenses for fixing prices. At the stage of the negotiations when it appeared that the patent licenses would be granted to I-T-E, Westinghouse made it known that it was simultaneously attempting to subject the independent switchboard and panelboard assemblers to price control through the terms of licenses based upon the Jennings patent, a significant circuit breaker panelboard patent. This move in itself constituted a grave threat to I-T-E since the sale of circuit breakers to the independent assemblers constituted I-T-E's largest market and any limitations imposed upon the assemblers' ability to price their product freely would undoubtedly restrict their *907 sales and have a direct and immediate impact upon I-T-E as their supplier.

11. Initially, the Westinghouse objective in the negotiations referred to in paragraph 9 was a license which would have precluded I-T-E from selling molded case circuit breakers except as parts of completely assembled switchboards which, in turn, would be subject to Westinghouse price control. During these negotiations, Scott was told by Ray Frenger and Anderson of Westinghouse, who were Beam's associates in the negotiations, that only companies who would cooperate with Westinghouse on prices in general would be considered for patent licenses. As granted, the license provided that I-T-E might sell molded case circuit breakers separately but only at prices to be determined by Westinghouse and, further, that there should be no deviation from such prices either directly or indirectly by giving to the customer any other consideration, the effect of which would be to sell at more favorable prices, terms and conditions of sale. The latter provision was interpreted to mean that, if molded case circuit breakers were sold with other I-T-E equipment, the price charged for the latter could not be less than prices regularly charged by I-T-E for such items. The four licenses, denominated "A", "B", "C" and "D", were dated August 1, 1933. "A", "B" and "C" were the licenses for molded case circuit breakers. "D" related to patents on large air circuit breakers but this license was never used by I-T-E. The pricing provision referred to is in Article VI. The price fixing provisions of these licenses continued in force until about 1948 when Westinghouse brought about their cancellation. e24fc04721