Bundled Discounts After "Doe v. Abbot Labs"

Originally published 10 December 2009

Keywords: Section 2, Sherman Act, bundling, Doe, Abbot, bundled discounts

For the past several years, US courts have been struggling to articulate the limitations imposed by Section 2 of the Sherman Act on dominant firms seeking to engage in "bundling."  Bundling typically involves providing customers a discount when they purchase products spanning several different product lines.  The bundled discounts most frequently challenged under Section 2 are those where the bundle includes both "monopoly products," over which the dominant firm arguably wields monopoly power, and "competitive products," relative to which the dominant firm faces competition.