United States v. Associated Press

Decision Date06 October 1943
Citation52 F. Supp. 362
PartiesUNITED STATES v. ASSOCIATED PRESS et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles B. Rugg, of Boston, Mass., and John Henry Lewin, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Timothy N. Pfeiffer and Morris Hadley, both of New York City, for Associated Press et al.

Robert T. Neill, of San Angelo, Tex., for special committee of Associated Press members in smaller communities.

Weymouth Kirkland, of Chicago, Ill., for Chicago Tribune and Robert R. McCormick.

Before L. HAND, SWAN, and AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judges.

L. HAND, Circuit Judge.

This action comes before a special court, convened under § 28 of 15 U.S.C.A., upon a motion by the plaintiff for summary judgment. The complaint charged that the defendants had conspired to restrain and monopolize interstate commerce in violation of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1-7, 15 note, and the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 730, and prayed that they be enjoined. The particulars of the charge may be summarized as follows: (1) A by-law, restricting membership in the Associated Press—which we shall call AP—to such applicants as a majority of all the members may elect, and then only upon conditions which we shall describe later; (2) other by-laws, forbidding members of AP and their employees to communicate to anyone else any "spontaneous news", so-called, communicated by them to AP, and forbidding AP to communicate its dispatches to non-members; (3) the purchase by AP of the shares of a news picture company—Wide World Photos, Inc.(this in violation of § 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 18); (4) an agreement of AP with the Canadian Press, a similar organization operating in Canada, by which each furnishes its news exclusively to the other. The defendants have answered, and much evidence has been taken in the form of interrogatories, admissions under Rule 36, examinations before trial, and affidavits. Upon all of these the plaintiff has now moved for summary judgment. Although upon such a motion we are confined to such facts as are not disputed, or as to which the dispute does not raise any substantial issue, for reasons that will appear we hold that a trial will not be necessary. The case is therefore in posture for final disposition both as to those matters as to which we decide in the plaintiff's favor, and as to those as to which we decide in the defendants'.

AP is a New York corporation organized in 1900, the successor of an Illinois corporation of the same name. It is not a profit-making company, but strictly co-operative, paying its expenses by assessments levied upon its members, and never declaring any dividends, although it has accumulated large assets. Its purpose, as its charter declares, is "the collection and interchange, with greater economy and efficiency, of information and intelligence for publication in the newspapers" of its members. The news which it gathers is of two kinds, domestic and foreign; and originally it relied for the first largely upon the interchange of news between members, the association acting somewhat as a clearing house. News gathered in this way on the spot—"spontaneous news"—is still sent by members to be properly edited at the central offices which then sends it out at large. In recent years, however, although news so collected still remains an important part of its dispatches, AP has itself set up so many collecting agencies that the importance of such news has much diminished. Similarly as to foreign news. Originally AP obtained this from collecting agencies abroad whose dispatches it received and transmitted to its members after proper editing. As it has grown in size, however, it has set up its own foreign agencies like its domestic ones, and has come to depend less and less upon independent foreign news gatherers.

Since the plaintiff's chief attack is upon the by-laws, we must state these in some detail; especially those governing the admission of members, which are the turning point of the whole action, as will appear. The earlier Illinois corporation did not admit any applicant over the veto of existing members with whom the applicant was competing (papers in the same "field" in the same city). AP changed this by giving power to the members at large to overrule such vetoes by a four-fifths vote. Very recently, and after the Department of Justice showed signs of moving against it, AP reduced the vote necessary to overrule a veto, and at present applicants can be admitted by a bare majority vote of all the members at large. Admission is, however, subject to certain conditions which we shall describe later—relaxed in one respect after this action was brought. The plaintiff argues from this progressive retreat, and from the paucity of admissions in the past that—whatever AP's present surface complaisance—experience proves that the majority always, or at least usually, will yield to the inevitable pressure of members in the same "field" in the same city, to resist the admission of competing applicants. We agree that, even though the by-laws were valid on their face, evidence, drawn from past practice, might be strong enough to justify the inference that they would be administered substantially as though they had not been changed; but we ought to make no such assumption upon a motion for summary judgment, for we should be deciding a controversial issue on which the defendants would have the right to a trial. Therefore we disregard all the evidence as to admission of members in the past; not because that is not pertinent, but because it is not persuasive enough to put the issue beyond substantial question. Nevertheless, although the defendants are entitled to have us treat the by-laws as they read, they are not entitled to have us assume that those motives will not be operative in their enforcement which ordinarily actuate human beings similarly situated.

Article II of the by-laws divides members into two classes: "regular", and "associate". Only the "sole owner of a newspaper * * * shall be eligible." Every applicant must, in his or its application, describe the "field"—that is whether a morning, afternoon, or Sunday paper—in which his or its newspaper is published, and must specify the newspaper which is to receive the service. A member ipso facto ceases to be such when he ceases to own the newspaper described in his certificate, or when that newspaper ceases regular publication. A "retiring owner may, however, * * * assign his or its certificate of membership to the succeeding owner of such newspaper and such succeeding owner shall thereupon become a member of the same class as the predecessor upon signing the roll of members" etc. "When a change shall be made in the ownership of any newspaper * * * the member may transfer his or its certificate of membership with his or its newspaper, and the new owner shall be constituted a member of the same class as the predecessor by virtue of such assignment."

Article III provides for the admission of members. The owner of any newspaper may be admitted by the affirmative vote of a majority of the "regular" members, voting in person or by proxy at a regular meeting or at a special meeting called for the purpose. "Where there are one or more existing memberships in the field (morning, evening, or Sunday) in the city in which an applicant has been so elected, he or it shall not be admitted to membership" except upon the payment of "a sum equal to ten (10%) per cent of the total amount of the regular assessments received by the Corporation from members in the field (morning, evening or Sunday) in the city in which the applicant has been elected to membership, during the period from October 1, 1900, to the first day of the month preceding the date of the election of the applicant." (Until an amendment was made in this by-law after the complaint was filed, it had provided that the sum must also not "be less than three times the current annual regular assessments"). In addition, "the applicant shall relinquish any exclusive right that he or it may have * * * to any news or news picture services * * * and when requested to do so by any member or members in the field in the city * * * shall require the said news or news picture services * * * to be furnished to such member * * * upon the same terms as they are made available to the applicant." The moneys paid by the applicant are to be distributed among the members "in the field in the city * * * in proportion to the regular assessments paid by them over the period from October 1, 1900." If any such member chooses to release ("waive") his share, the applicant's burden is reduced accordingly. An alternative method of admission is by the Board of Directors; but this is limited to "a field in a city where there is no existing membership," or, if there are one or more such memberships, to cases where the "members in such field and city shall have waived the payment, in whole or in part."

Article VII defines the rights of the members. The regular members alone may vote; associate members may attend meetings, but may not vote; each regular member has one vote by virtue of his membership, and additional votes—not more than forty for each member—reckoned at the rate of one vote to each $25.00 of the corporation's bonds which he holds. The board of directors determines the nature and extent of the news service to be received by a member. "The news service of this Corporation shall be furnished only to the members thereof, or to newspapers owned by them and specified in their certificates of membership. A member shall publish the news * * * only in the newspaper, the language and the place specified in such member's certificate of membership and shall not permit any other use to be made of the news furnished."

Article VIII describes the duties and obligations of the members. "Each member shall take the news service of the Corporation and publish the news regularly in whole or in part in the...

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