Cite as: 525 U. S. 128 (1998)
Syllabus
ture that could distinguish this case from such precedent. Although petitioners' behavior hurt consumers by raising telephone service rates, that consumer injury naturally flowed not so much from a less competitive market for removal services, as from the exercise of market power lawfully in the hands of a monopolist, New York Telephone, combined with a deception worked upon the regulatory agency that prevented the agency from controlling the exercise of monopoly power. Applying the per se rule here would transform cases involving business behavior that is improper for various reasons into treble-damages antitrust cases and would discourage firms from changing suppliers—even where the competitive process itself does not suffer harm. Moreover, special anticompetitive motive cannot be found in Discon's claim that Materiel Enterprises hoped to drive Discon from the market lest Discon reveal its behavior to New York Telephone or to the relevant regulatory agency. That motive does not turn Materiel Enterprises' actions into a "boycott" under this Court's precedents, and Discon's reasons why the motive's presence should lead to the application of the per se rule are unconvincing. Finally, Discon's allegations that New York Telephone (through Materiel Enterprises) was the largest buyer of removal services in the State, and that only AT&T Technologies competed for New York Telephone's business, are not sufficient to warrant application of a per se presumption of consequent harm to the competitive process itself, absent a horizontal agreement. Discon's complaint suggests that other actual or potential competitors might have provided roughly similar checks upon "equipment removal" prices and services with or without Discon, which argues against the likelihood of anticompetitive harm. Pp. 133-139.
(b) Unless petitioners' purchasing practices harmed the competitive process, they did not amount to a conspiracy to monopolize in violation of § 2, and Discon cannot succeed on this claim without prevailing on its § 1 claim. Pp. 139-140.
(c) Petitioners' argument that Discon's complaint should be dismissed because it fails to allege that petitioners' purchasing decisions harmed the competitive process itself lies outside the questions presented for certiorari, which were limited to the application of the per se rule, and cannot be raised in this Court. P. 140.
93 F. 3d 1055, vacated and remanded.
Breyer, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
James R. Young argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were John Thorne, Richard G. Taranto, Guy Miller Struve, James D. Liss, and Vincent T. Chang.
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