Goss Intern. v. Man Roland Druckmaschinen Aktien.

• Decision Date: 23 January 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-2604.,04-2604.
• Citation: 434 F.3d 1081
• Parties: GOSS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, formerly known as Goss Graphic Systems, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. MAN ROLAND DRUCKMASCHINEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, a German corporation; Man Roland, Inc., a Delaware corporation; Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft, a German corporation; KBA North America, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants, Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, Ltd., a Japanese corporation; TKS (U.S.A.), Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants/Appellants, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., a Japanese corporation; MLP U.S.A., Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants, The Government of Japan, Amicus on Behalf of Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

434 F.3d 1081

GOSS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, formerly known as Goss Graphic Systems, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. MAN ROLAND DRUCKMASCHINEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, a German corporation; Man Roland, Inc., a Delaware corporation; Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft, a German corporation; KBA North America, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, Ltd., a Japanese corporation; TKS (U.S.A.), Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants/Appellants Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., a Japanese corporation; MLP U.S.A., Inc., a Delaware corporation, Defendants The Government of Japan, Amicus on Behalf of Appellants.

No. 04-2604.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: March 4, 2005.

Filed: January 23, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Carter G. Phillips, argued, Washington, DC (Hoken S. Seki, Lake Forest, IL; Lawrence R. Walders, Neil R. Ellis and Robert A. Klinck of Washington, DC; and Peter J. Toren of New York, NY, on the brief), for appellant.

William G. Schopf, argued, Chicago, IL (Bradley P. Nelson, Ian H. Fisher and Jose A. Lopez, Chicago, IL; and Patrick M. Roby of Cedar Rapids, IA, on the brief), for appellee.

Before RILEY, SMITH, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.

This case involves a multi-national dispute involving sales of large printing press equipment in the United States. Ultimately, this appeal asks whether a foreign corporation merely competed with a domestic manufacturer in the printing press industry in the United States, or whether the foreign corporation intended to injure or destroy the printing press industry in the United States by dumping underpriced products onto that market.

Goss International (Goss), a United States corporation, sued Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho (TKSC), a Japanese corporation, its United States subsidiary, TKS (U.S.A.) (collectively, TKS), and other foreign corporations and their United States subsidiaries (collectively, the other defendants), alleging violations of the Antidumping Act of 1916 (1916 Act), 15 U.S.C. § 72.¹ Before trial, the other defendants moved to dismiss Goss's complaint because it failed to allege predatory intent as required under domestic antitrust law. Concluding the 1916 Act does not require predatory intent, the district court² denied the motions to dismiss. The other defendants then settled with Goss and are no longer parties to this lawsuit. Goss's claims against TKS were tried to a jury, which found TKS unlawfully dumped printing press equipment onto the United States market in violation of the 1916 Act. The jury awarded $10,539,949 in damages to Goss. Because the 1916 Act provides for treble damages, the district court³ tripled the award and entered judgment against TKS for $31,619,847. The district court also awarded attorney fees to Goss in the amount of $3,484,158. TKS filed a motion for new trial and a motion for judgment as a matter of law. The district court denied both of TKS's post-trial motions.

TKS appeals, contending (1) the district court misinterpreted the 1916 Act as not requiring proof of predatory intent; (2) the district court misinstructed the jury on the essential elements of Goss's claims; (3) sufficient evidence does not support the jury's verdict on Goss's claims involving the price erosion theory; (4) the district court erroneously excluded evidence about Goss's reputation in the newspaper industry; (5) sufficient evidence does not support the jury's verdict that TKS dumped products onto the United States printing press market that were comparable to the products TKS sold in Japan; and (6) the district court misapplied the statute of limitations and erroneously allowed Goss to recover on a time-barred claim. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Because Goss secured a jury verdict, we provide the following background based on the record viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict and by giving all reasonable inferences to Goss. See Racicky v. Farmland Indus., Inc., 328 F.3d 389, 393 (8th Cir.2003).

Goss manufactures and supplies large newspaper printing presses, newspaper printing press additions, and other printing press systems for sale to large newspapers. TKS manufactures large newspaper printing presses and newspaper printing press additions in Japan, and then distributes its products around the world, including in the United States. A typical large printing press system is over 100 feet long, stands four or five stories tall, and weighs two million pounds. Once a large printing press is installed, it oftentimes is referred to as an installed base. Because the installed base, i.e, the actual printing press system, is so large and expensive, many customers prefer to purchase printing press additions from the manufacturer of the original printing press system. This is often referred to as the installed base advantage. Because of the size and cost of these systems, newspapers often use their existing printing press systems for decades, and only update the capability of the presses by purchasing printing press additions. When a newspaper decides to buy a large printing press system or a printing press addition, price is the primary factor; in head-to-head battles between manufacturers dealing in comparable equipment, price can be the determinative factor. However, non-price factors also can be important in choosing a manufacturer. This case deals exclusively with printing press additions.

The United States market for large printing press equipment is rather small, with only about ten sales taking place each year. Because the market is so compact, lost orders-even one per year-can impact a substantial portion of a manufacturer's business. Beginning in the 1970s, Goss became the dominant manufacturer of newspaper printing press equipment in the United States. By the 1990s, Goss was the only domestic manufacturer of large printing presses in the United States. Goss's dominance of the United States printing press industry continued into the late 1990s. However, in 2000, Goss did not make a single sale of printing press equipment.

TKS enjoys a huge market in Japan for its printing press equipment. TKS broke into the United States printing press market in the 1970s. By the late 1970s or early 1980s, Goss noticed TKS was a major foreign competitor in the United States market. By the 1990s, TKS had a significant installed base in the United States of around sixty-two printing presses. In the 1980s, TKS landed major newspaper customers in the United States. These customers included The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Newark Star-Ledger. TKS also established a critical relationship with The Dallas Morning News, which TKS planned to use to showcase its products to other United States newspapers. From 1985 to 2000, TKS's market share of the United States printing press industry fluctuated from highs of 22.4% in 1986 and 20.4% in 1998 to 0% in 2000.

From January 1991 to July 2000, TKS sold over $125,000,000 worth of printing press additions to five United States newspapers. According to Goss's expert witness at trial, all of these sales were dumped, i.e., they were "common and systematic," and TKS sold these "product[s] in the U.S. at a price that was substantially below the market value of the similar product in Japan." When TKS, a major competitor in the United States printing press market, lowered its prices, customers expected Goss to lower its prices as well.

This appeal focuses on three separate sales of printing press additions to three separate United States newspapers. Goss presented evidence showing it lost the sale of printing press additions to The Dallas Morning News in 1996 because TKS won the contract based on dumped prices. Goss also presented evidence that, although it successfully won the sales of printing press additions to the Orlando Sentinel and the Newark Star-Ledger in 1997, it lowered its prices to compete with TKS's dumped prices. That is, Goss showed the contract costs of the additions with these two newspapers, but also showed the jury "the price that Goss would have made—or would have received but for TKS offering bids at its dumped prices."

In 1994, TKS executed a contract with The Dallas Morning News for the sale of three printing press additions for $8,505,348. The contract also provided an option for The Dallas Morning News to buy two more additions at a later date for $5,670,232. In a letter dated April 25, 1995, The Dallas Morning News exercised its option to purchase the two additions. TKS later determined the option agreement obligated it to supply The Dallas Morning News "the two additional units at a clearly dumped price." In response, TKS asked The Dallas Morning News to agree to an option price of $7,429,774 for the additional units, with the understanding TKS would rebate the increased amount to The Dallas Morning News. In a letter dated June 13, 1996, TKS wrote to The Dallas Morning News informing it of this agreement. In late 1996, TKS and The Dallas Morning News executed a contract for the sale of the two additions, and TKS delivered those additions. TKS then rebated $2,200,000 to The Dallas Morning News, with $1,000,000 being reimbursed by check and $1,200,000 being reimbursed in the form of free equipment. In a letter to TKS (U.S.A.) dated August 12, 1996, and referencing the option contract with The Dallas Morning News for the two additions, TKSC's overseas sales manager wrote, "Today we received with a big surprise a copy of the letter dated June 13, 1996.... there should not be such a document (stating TKS/USA will issue a credit and or cash in the amount of $2,200,000 to The Dallas Morning News before December 31st, 1996) approved by 3 parties (DMN, TKS/USA and TKS, Ltd)."

In discussing how to memorialize the agreement that TKS would reimburse The Dallas Morning News $2,200,000 for the additional contract amount for the option items so the original 1994 price would end up...