Technological Tying

Summary

This practice note describes the U.S. antitrust law considerations with respect to one specific form of tying practice: technological tying. A tying arrangement generally exists when a party with market power over one product (the "tying product") conditions the availability of that product on the purchase a second product (the "tied product") in a separate market or submarket. Technological tying generally refers to the use of technology, as opposed to a contract or other arrangement, to accomplish such tying. For example, an antitrust plaintiff may argue that two products that exclusively work together, and not with third party components, amount to a technological tie that forces the customer that wants the tying product to accept an undesired tied product in a separate market. Absent the technological link between the two products, the purchaser would be free to purchase any of the available products in the market for the tied product.