Assignment Software Anti-Competitive Practice

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Camron, you know I am not a lawyer, but I do know that there are strip malls that, for instance, restrict the number of stores in the mall that have a pharmacy. I know you're familiar with the Beaverton area. One of the reasons Haggen foods moved to Beaverton from Tigard is that they weren't allowed to have an in-store pharmacy at the former store because Bi-Mart already had one and their lease stated no other pharmacies could be in that mall. Apparently, a pharmacy is a huge profit center for those kinds of stores.

The NASO exhibition is a private, not a public, function and I would think they could make a rule of this nature if they so desired.

Too bad. I use your site to get assignments from one of your customers and I think it's great.

That is all fine, except when it is practiced by a monopoly. Bi-Mart hardly has a monopoly on pharmacies. There are dozens of them and none of them (especially not Bi-mart) has a monopoly. All Haggen foods had to do was move across the street.

NASO and Arbiter are not the same company and for Aribiter, having the dominant market position, to even request such agreements may be inviolation of the Sherman Antitrust Act...but I'm not a lawyer.