Waukesha, WI
Quoted from TigerLaw:That may have some antitrust facets if it were true. If Stern did indeed do that I’d be interested to see what the arguement would be from Stern for why it isn’t anti-competitive.
I do not believe Stern put any rule like this in place.
It's very common on this side of the pond (not sure about EU) and actually makes good business sense. It's quite common for manufacturers have non-competing line requirements in their distribution agreements (ie: new car dealers, electronics distributors, heating companies, etc). There are business structures and loopholes to get around it but it happens. But, it's really only realistic to do when the market is large and there are distributors competing to carry you. If this is happening in pinball, then that definitely says something about the industry!
Jaz
