Timken Roller Bearing Co. v. United States

Facts

The Timken Roller Bearing Company, an Ohio corporation dominant in the field of tapered roller bearings, had a long history of agreements with British Timken dating back to 1909 that provided for territorial division of world markets for antifriction bearings. In 1927, Timken and Dewar, an English businessman, cooperated in purchasing all the stock of British Timken, with Timken eventually holding about 30% of the shares and Dewar about 24%. In 1928, Timken and Dewar organized French Timken and together owned all its stock. Beginning that year, the three companies maintained “business agreements” regulating the manufacture and sale of antifriction bearings and providing for the use of the “Timken” trademark by the British and French corporations. Under these agreements, the parties allocated trade territories, fixed prices on products sold in each other’s territories, cooperated to protect each other’s markets and eliminate outside competition, and participated in cartels to restrict imports to and exports from the United States. The District Court found that the dominant purpose of these restrictive agreements was to avoid all competition either among themselves or with others.