Exclusive Dealing Hits a Speed Bump in Dentsply

Exclusive dealing arrangements with wholesalers have enjoyed increasingly favorable treatment in the courts over the past twenty five years — until the Third Circuit Court of Appeals announced its decision in United States v. Dentsply.¹ The court reversed the judgment of a district court, following a bench trial, and ordered an injunction against an exclusive dealing policy adopted by Dentsply International, the nation’s leading manufacturer of false teeth.

Dentsply — which, according to the court’s opinion, commanded a market share of between 67 and 80 percent, depending on the measurement used — refused to continue selling its false teeth to dental product wholesalers that began carrying a competing line. The court held that this unduly foreclosed competing manufacturers from reaching dental laboratories, which were the end users and which used the false teeth to construct dentures. Interestingly, there were no formal bilateral exclusive dealing contracts in effect, and the