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The three OEMs sold their surplus parts to petitioner in
violation of an understanding that they had with Allen-Bradley to
not sell those parts other than as part of their finished
products or, in some cases, as replacement parts for those
products. Over the years, Beiner had developed a relationship
with the three OEMs such that they sold their surplus parts to
petitioner at the risk of Allen-Bradley’s declaring that it would
no longer sell parts to them or that it would do so only at
inflated prices. Allen-Bradley learned during the subject years
that one of the three OEMs, petitioner’s then-largest supplier,
was selling its surplus parts to petitioner. In 2000,
Allen-Bradley charged this OEM more for the parts, and petitioner
was unable to continue purchasing Allen-Bradley parts from that
OEM at favorable prices. Petitioner’s purchases from this OEM
dropped from $1,199,628.53 in 1999 (approximately 64 percent of
petitioner’s purchases during that year) to $28,505.36 in 2000.
To make up for this reduction, Beiner had petitioner purchase
more Allen-Bradley parts from the other two OEMs and take steps
to establish a relationship with a fourth OEM.
The three OEMs benefited from purchasing surplus parts and
selling them to petitioner in that they paid less per unit when
they purchased a greater quantity of parts which, in turn,
increased their profit margins on their sale of the finished
products. At least one of these OEMs also benefited from an
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