Federal Trade Commission v. Staples, Inc.
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
970 F. Supp. 1066 (1997)
Staples, Inc. (defendant), the second-largest office superstore chain, and Office Depot, Inc., the largest, planned to merge, leaving only one other office superstore, OfficeMax, in the country; all three sold consumable office products like paper, pens, and toner. The FTC (plaintiff) sought a preliminary injunction against the merger under Clayton Act section 7, and while the parties agreed on the relevant geographic market, they disputed the relevant product market: Staples argued for the broad market of consumable office products sold by any retailer, while the FTC argued the market should be narrowed to such products sold specifically through office superstores.
Whether the relevant antitrust product market for assessing a merger between office superstores may be narrowed to a submarket of office-superstore sales specifically, rather than the broader market for consumable office products sold by any type of retailer.