International Salt Co. v. United States

The Government brought this civil action to enjoin the International Salt Company, appellant here, from carrying out provisions of the leases of its patented machines to the effect that lessees would use therein only International's salt products. The restriction is alleged to violate § 1 of the Sherman Act [ Footnote 1 ] and § 3 of the Clayton Act. [ Footnote 2 ] Upon appellant's answer and admissions of fact, the Government moved for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Rules of Civil Procedure upon the ground that no issue as to a material fact was presented, and that, on the admissions, judgment followed as matter of law. Neither party submitted affidavits. Judgment was granted, [ Footnote 3 ] and appeal was taken directly to this Court. [ Footnote 4 ] It was established by pleadings or admissions that the International Salt Company is engaged in interstate commerce in salt, of which it is the country's largest producer for industrial uses. It also owns patents on two machines for utilization of salt products. One, the "Lixator," dissolves rock salt into a brine used in various industrial processes. The other, the "Saltomat," injects salt, in tablet form, into canned products during the canning process. The principal distribution of each of these machines is under leases which, among other things, require the lessees to purchase from appellant all unpatented salt and salt tablets consumed in the leased machines.