Blecher & Collins Announces Lawsuit Challenging Eaton Electrical's Service Policies.LOS ANGELES -- Blecher & Collins announced today that they have filed a lawsuit on behalf of twelve independent service organizations (ISOs) in the United States District Court United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. for the Central District of California seeking an injunction and damages resulting from Eaton Electrical Inc.'s use of lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout service software and other restrictive policies forcing customers with Eaton UPS equipment to get service only from Eaton. The complaint filed in Nationwide Power Solutions, Inc. et al. v. Eaton Electrical Inc., alleges that Eaton violated the federal antitrust laws antitrust laws n. acts adopted by Congress to outlaw or restrict business practices considered to be monopolistic or which restrain interstate commerce. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 declared illegal "every contract, combination.... by adopting what the complaint calls an "anticompetitive an·ti·com·pet·i·tive adj. That discourages competition among businesses: anticompetitive foreign trade restrictions. scheme" to prevent customers with Eaton UPS equipment from using an ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. or servicing the equipment themselves. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Eaton designed unnecessary service software for the sole purpose of preventing anyone other than Eaton from servicing the machines. Previously they were serviced without such software. Further, the complaint alleges that Eaton forced some customers to purchase unwanted spare parts in expensive spare parts kits in order to obtain a single desired part and refused to sell spare parts altogether to customers using an ISO. The complaint names large customers, like the United States Air Force United States Air Force (USAF) Major component of the U.S. military organization, with primary responsibility for air warfare, air defense, and military space research. It also provides air services in coordination with the other military branches. U.S. and United Air Lines, that were forced to use Eaton for service even though they wanted to explore the option of ISO service or service the equipment themselves. "Fundamentally, this case concerns the legal right to decide who services a customer's UPS equipment," said Maxwell M. Blecher, lead trial counsel for plaintiffs. "Eaton acts as if it 'owns' the customer, but we believe customers should be free to decide for themselves who will service the UPS equipment they bought from Eaton. If Eaton competes fairly with ISOs, it is the customer who will win." |
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