CRA Vice President Dr. Timothy Snail advised counsel to Brooks Automation, a semiconductor automation provider, and testified at deposition on economic issues related to market definition, merits, causation and competitive effects in antitrust litigation in federal court.
The litigation involved the sales of equipment, repair parts and servicing of cryogenic pumps and robots used in semiconductor manufacturing. The automation provider filed suit against an independent service organization (ISO) with claims for copyright and trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition and other claims. The ISO, which provided refurbished equipment and repair services, then filed antitrust counterclaims alleging that the automation provider engaged in tying of cryopump service to robot repair service, monopolization of the relevant antitrust markets and refusal to deal.
Dr. Snail testified that the relevant antitrust markets were not properly defined, plaintiffs had not put forth economic evidence of tying and there were alternative business reasons for Brooks’ servicing decisions, the alleged tying did not have any effects on competition, Brooks did not have market power in the relevant markets, Brooks did not monopolize the relevant markets and Brooks’ business practices were procompetitive. The case was voluntarily dismissed shortly before trial with each party bearing its own costs.
Dr. Snail was supported by a CRA team that included Sharon Pang, Omeed Alerasool, Lise Courtney D’Amico, Alaa Abdelfattah, Jen Andre, Chad Faulkner and Ryan Kidman.
