Full opinion text
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS PHYLLIS J. HAMILTON, District Judge. Defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings came on for hearing on December 6, 2006 before this court. Plaintiffs, indirect purchasers (“plaintiffs”), appeared through their counsel, Allan Steyer, Josef D. Cooper, Tracy B. Kirkham, Daniel E. Gustafson, Christopher L. Lebsock, Terry Gross, Michael P. Lehman, Francis 0. Scarpula, Daniel J. Mogin, and Jill M. Manning. Defendants appeared through their counsel, Julian Brew, Kenneth R. O’Rourke, Peter Nemerovski, Joshua Stambaugh, Jonathan Houden, Ronald C. Redcay, Joel S. Sanders, Steven H. Bergman, Andrew P. Deshazo, and Alejandro Steyer. Having read all the papers submitted and carefully considered the relevant legal authority, the court hereby GRANTS the motions for judgment on the pleadings in part and DENIES the motions for judgment on the pleadings in part, for the reasons stated at the hearing and as follows. BACKGROUND The actions before the court are part of a larger antitrust MDL action, in which plaintiffs generally allege a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy carried out by numerous defendants, in violation of various state and federal antitrust laws. Plaintiffs in the instant action before the court allege that they indirectly purchased dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) from defendants. DRAM is a type of semiconductor chip used in computers and other electronic equipment. Defendants are either foreign corporations, or U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations, who manufacture and sell DRAM in the United States. Specifically, plaintiffs — on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated — allege that they either (1) indirectly purchased DRAM from one or more of the defendants for use in manufacturing electronic devices for resale; or (2) indirectly purchased DRAM from one or more of the defendants for end use and not for resale. See Petro Class Action Complaint (“Complaint”), ¶¶ 7-17. Regardless whether plaintiffs purchased DRAM for end use or for resale, plaintiffs allege that they were forced to pay artificially high prices for DRAM, as a result of defendants’ unlawful conspiracy and agreement to raise, fix, maintain, and/or stabilize prices for DRAM in the United States. See, e.g., Complaint, ¶¶ 71, 74. Plaintiffs’ complaint, styled as a class action, alleges five causes of action against defendants: (1) violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act; (2) violation of the California Cartwright Act; (3) violation of California Business and Professions Code §§ 16720 et seq.; (4) violation of various state antitrust and unfair competition laws; and (5) violation of state consumer protection and unfair competition laws. See id. at ¶¶ 70-142. The latter two causes of action, however, are each in turn comprised of numerous individual state law claims: the fourth cause of action alleges violations of 22 states’ antitrust and unfair competition laws, and the fifth cause of action alleges violations of 22 states’ consumer protection and unfair competition laws. Defendants now move for judgment on the pleadings with respect to plaintiffs’ complaint. They have filed two separate motions: the first seeks judgment on the pleadings with respect to plaintiffs’ second and fourth causes of action. The second seeks judgment on the pleadings with respect to plaintiffs’ fifth cause of action. DISCUSSION I. Legal Standard Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) provides that any party may move for judgment on the pleadings “after the pleadings are closed, but within such time as not to delay the trial.” See Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 12(c). A motion for judgment on the pleadings challenges the legal sufficiency of the opposing party’s pleadings, and the allegations contained therein. The standard applied by the court in treating a motion for judgment on the pleadings is the same as that applied by the court in considering motions to dismiss under FRCP 12(b)(6). In short, judgment on the pleadings is appropriate when, even if all material facts in the pleading under attack are true, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See, e.g., Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. Richard Feiner & Co., Inc., 896 F.2d 1542, 1550 (9th Cir.1989). The Supreme Court, in passing on the 12(b)(6) standard in the antitrust context recently, also noted that while a complaint attacked by a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, — U.S.-, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Although Twombly dealt with a motion to dismiss a section 1 conspiracy claim, given the similarity in standards to be applied on motions to dismiss and motions for judgment on the pleadings, the court finds Twombly’s language instructive here. Rule 12(c) does not mention leave to amend; however, courts generally have discretion in granting 12(c) motions with leave to amend, particularly in cases where the motion is based on a pleading technicality. See, e.g., Swanson v. United States Forest Serv., 87 F.3d 339, 343 (9th Cir.1996)(Leave to amend generally within discretion of trial court). There is a strong policy in favor of allowing amendment, unless amendment would be futile, results from bad faith or undue delay, or will unfairly prejudice the opposing party. Kaplan v. Rose, 49 F.3d 1363, 1370 (9th Cir.1994). Courts also have discretion to grant dismissal on a 12(c) motion, in lieu of judgment, on any given claim. See, e.g., Amersbach v. City of Cleveland, 598 F.2d 1033, 1038 (6th Cir.1979), disapproved on other grounds in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528, 105 S.Ct. 1005, 83 L.Ed.2d 1016 (1984); see also McGlinchy v. Shell Chemical Co., 845 F.2d 802, 810 (9th Cir.1988)(affirming dismissal of plaintiffs’ antitrust claim by judgment on pleadings). II. Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings re Second and Fourth Claims for Relief Defendants bring two motions for judgment on the pleadings. The first attacks plaintiffs’ second and fourth causes of action as pled in the complaint. Plaintiffs’ second cause of action alleges a violation of California’s state antitrust statute—the Cartwright Act. See Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code § 16720. Plaintiffs’ fourth cause of action alleges a violation of twenty-two individual state antitrust laws, although defendants challenge plaintiffs’ claims under only fourteen of those laws. Generally speaking, defendants’ challenge to both causes of action is rooted in the same argument: that plaintiffs cannot allege antitrust standing under any of the state laws in question, and their claims under each are accordingly barred. 1. Antitrust Standing Principles The concept of “antitrust standing” has its roots in federal law. It refers to the standing requirements that a plaintiff must satisfy in all private antitrust suits seeking monetary damages under the federal antitrust statutes. See 15 U.S.C. § 15(a). A plaintiff seeking monetary damages for antitrust violations must prove that he or she has been (1) “injured in his business or property;” (2) “by reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws...”. See 15 U.S.C. § 15(a). Under the first element, a plaintiff must demonstrate injury—or the fact of damage—to his or her business or property interests, which injury is causally linked to an antitrust violation. Generally speaking, allegations that plaintiff consumers have paid higher prices for goods purchased for personal use due to defendants’ conduct have satisfied this element. See, e.g., Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U.S. 330, 342, 99 S.Ct. 2326, 60 L.Ed.2d 931 (1979)(“where petitioner alleges a wrongful deprivation of her money because the price of the [good] she bought was artificially inflated by reason of respondents’ anticom-petitive conduct, she has alleged an injury in her “property” under § 4”). Under the more critical second element, referred to as “antitrust injury,” a plaintiff must also demonstrate “injury of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent.” In other words, a plaintiff must connect any alleged injury to the purposes of the antitrust laws. See Atl. Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum, 495 U.S. 328, 334, 110 S.Ct. 1884, 109 L.Ed.2d 333 (1990); American Ad Mgmt., Inc. v. Gen. Tel. Co., 190 F.3d 1051, 1055 (9th Cir.1999). Even assuming, however, that a plaintiff is able to make this showing, the antitrust standing inquiry is not at an end. This is because a plaintiffs right to sue for money damages is nonetheless subject to certain limitations, based upon policies found by the courts to be inherent in the structure and purpose of the antitrust laws. See, e.g., Cargill, Inc. v. Monfort of Colorado, Inc., 479 U.S. 104, 110 n. 5, 107 S.Ct. 484, 93 L.Ed.2d 427 (1986)(although showing of antitrust injury is necessary, it still is “not always sufficient to establish standing under section 4 because a party may have suffered antitrust injury but may not be the proper plaintiff under section 4 for other reasons”). Where a plaintiffs injury, for example, is derivative of a more direct injury to some other person, and that person would have a strong motivation to pursue its own antitrust claim against the defendant, standing is likely to be denied. This is the rationale underlying Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, 431 U.S. 720, 97 S.Ct. 2061, 52 L.Ed.2d 707 (1977), in which the Supreme Court held that indirect purchasers are too remote to suffer true “antitrust injury,” and therefore do not have standing under federal antitrust law to pursue antitrust claims. In recognition of this and other concerns that impact the antitrust standing analysis, the Supreme Court has fashioned a general balancing test to be used in determining whether a plaintiff is a proper party to bring an antitrust claim. See Assoc. Gen. Contractors of Cal. v. Cal. State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 535, 103 S.Ct. 897, 74 L.Ed.2d 723 (1983)(“AGC”). The AGC test, as it is called, enumerates a variety of factors that are employed in “evaluat[ing] the plaintiffs harm, the alleged wrongdoing by the defendants, and the relationship between them,” in order to determine standing. Id. These factors include the nature of the injury alleged, the directness of the injury, the speculative nature of the harm, the risk of duplicative recovery, and the complexity in apportioning damages. The Ninth Circuit has embraced this test, announcing its commitment to the AGC factors in American Ad Mgmt., Inc. v. Gen. Tel. Co., 190 F.3d 1051, 1054-55 (9th Cir. 1999). Although this discussion highlights federal antitrust standing principles, these federal principles — and in particular, federal concern over the remoteness of a plaintiffs injury — are central to defendants’ arguments and the court’s discussion here. For although defendants’ motion challenges the viability of plaintiffs’ state antitrust claims and does not directly invoke the federal antitrust scheme, the gist of defendants’ motion is (1) that even under state law, plaintiffs must independently prove antitrust standing; (2) that antitrust standing under state law should be assessed using the federal AGC factors; and (3) that plaintiffs cannot meet the AGC requirements in any event. With these principles and background in mind, the court turns to the two claims that defendants challenge. 2. Cartwright Act Defendants challenge plaintiffs’ ability to bring their second claim for relief alleging a violation of California’s antitrust statute, the Cartwright Act. The Cartwright Act prohibits unlawful restrictions on competition, and grants “[a]ny person who is injured in his or her business or property by reason of anything forbidden or declared unlawful by [the Act]” the right to bring a civil action for treble damages, “regardless of whether such injured person dealt directly or indirectly with the defendant.” See Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code §§ 16720, 16726, 16750. Defendants essentially argue that, although California is an Illinois Brick repealer state that allows indirect purchasers to sue under the Cartwright Act, plaintiffs still cannot allege the requisite antitrust standing, since even as indirect purchasers, they cannot satisfy the AGC factors. Defendants presume, as a matter of course, that the AGC standing test applies to claims arising under the state’s Cartwright Act. Plaintiffs, by contrast contend that California law is much broader than federal law relating to antitrust standing and the fact that the Cartwright Act expressly repeals Illinois Bñck and allows indirect purchasers to sue is dispositive of defendants’ standing arguments, without need of recourse to the AGC factors. While plaintiffs do not go on to specifically address the question whether the AGC antitrust standing factors employed under federal law are satisfied here, they do assert that, contrary to defendants’ contention, there are no concerns that are raised here with respect to duplicative or speculative damages. Preliminarily, the court notes that at the hearing on the instant motions, defendants clarified for the court that they do not actually seek dismissal on standing grounds of all plaintiffs’ claims. Rather, their motion is targeted only at those plaintiffs who allege that they paid artificially inflated prices “for personal computers and other products in which DRAM is a component...”. See Complaint, ¶74. Defendants did not further clarify whether this means that their motion is targeted at all plaintiffs who allege they paid higher prices for products in which DRAM is a component — regardless whether they also made other purchases of DRAM that was not in component form' — or only at plaintiffs’ specific claims based on purchases in which DRAM is a component. Without further clarification, therefore, it is impossible to tell whether defendants seek judgment as to the former, or the latter. Given defendants’ silence on this issue, however, the court interprets defendants’ arguments as reaching the narrower issue only, and specifically targeted, therefore, only at those claims raised by plaintiffs that are based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component. Accordingly, the issues actually before the court, and which the court must decide, are (a) whether the AGC standing factors apply to Cartwright Act claims; and (b) if so, whether those factors are satisfied with respect to plaintiffs’ claims based on indirect purchases of products in which DRAM is a component. a. whether AGC factors apply Plaintiffs urge the court to conclude that because California’s Cartwright Act expressly allows indirect purchasers to sue, no other factors need be satisfied in order for antitrust standing to be found. In other words, plaintiffs argue that they have standing here by virtue of their indirect purchaser status, and need not separately prove standing under the general AGC factors or otherwise. As a general matter, plaintiffs are correct — and defendants concede — that California’s Cartwright Act is an Illinois Brick repealer statute, under which indirect purchaser standing is permissible in private actions alleging violations of antitrust law. See Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code § 16750; see also Union Carbide v. Superior Court, 36 Cal.3d 15, 20, 201 Cal.Rptr. 580, 679 P.2d 14 (1984). However, while the Cartwright Act directly contradicts federal law insofar as indirect purchaser standing is generally concerned, it does not follow from this either that indirect purchaser status is itself sufficient under California law to establish antitrust standing, or that California law necessarily eschews the general test for antitrust standing as set forth in AGC. For as defendants point out, the question whether indirect purchasers have standing under state law, and the question whether antitrust plaintiffs — which may include indirect purchasers — have antitrust standing for a particular claim, are two “analytically distinct” issues. An affirmative answer to the former simply does not compel an affirmative finding of the latter. While neither party has cited any conclusive state authority on this point, the conclusion that indirect purchaser standing is distinct from antitrust standing under California state law is nonetheless warranted, in view of persuasive federal and state authority. First, and as noted above, consideration of federal authorities reveals that the federal antitrust standing inquiry is based on consideration of more than merely a plaintiffs status as direct or indirect purchaser. Standing may be found lacking, for instance, for reasons separate and apart from the fact that plaintiffs are indirect purchasers. See, e.g., Pool Water Prods. v. Olin Corp., 258 F.3d 1024, 1034 (9th Cir.2001)(if plaintiffs injury stems from, e.g., “aspects of the defendant’s conduct that are beneficial or neutral to competition,” there is no antitrust injury and as a result, no antitrust standing). This reasoning — which underscores the federal courts’ determination that antitrust standing must be affirmatively demonstrated with regard to other factors — logically should apply to consideration of the Cartwright Act, as well. See, e.g., Mailand v. Burckle, 20 Cal.3d 367, 376, 143 CaLRptr. 1, 572 P.2d 1142 (1978)(federal cases interpreting the Sherman Act are applicable “in construing [California] state laws”). And it counsels in favor of concluding that the Cartwright Act’s mere recognition that indirect purchasers may sue is distinct from an automatic grant of antitrust standing generally, and that antitrust standing must be determined with reference to other factors aside from purchaser status. Second, consideration of California state authorities compels the same conclusion. For even though no case law answers the question directly, the case law that does exist — and which even plaintiffs rely on— does not suggest that a finding of indirect purchaser standing is tantamount to a finding of antitrust standing. Plaintiffs rely, for example, on Cellular Plus, Inc. v. Superior Court of San Diego County, 14 Cal.App.4th 1224, 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 308 (1993). While they are correct that the Cellular Plus court noted that the concept of “antitrust injury” — a component of antitrust standing — is broader than under federal case law, and further cited to California’s Illinois Brick repealer statute as proof of this fact, the court also expressly noted that “[t]he exact parameters of ‘antitrust injury’ under [the Cartwright Act] have not yet been established through either court decisions or legislation.” See 14 Cal.App.4th at 1234, 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 308. The Cellular Plus court then held that indirect purchasers of cellular services had alleged sufficient antitrust injury to maintain actions for wholesale and retail price-fixing, by only generally concluding that the plaintiffs alleged “injuries of the type [the Cartwright Act] seeks to prevent and which stem from the ‘anticompetitive aspect’ of [defendants’] alleged conduct.” See 14 Cal.App.4th at 1234, 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 308. Accordingly, while Cellular Plus properly took note of the Cartwright Act’s express provision allowing indirect purchasers to seek private remedies, it did not actually hold that indirect purchaser status is all that must be demonstrated in order to satisfy antitrust injury or standing. Indeed, the Cellular Plus court did not even consider the question whether the AGC factors apply in determining antitrust standing, thereby leaving the question open. In short, and in view of the above, the court is of the opinion that the Cartwright Act’s grant of indirect purchaser standing, while ensuring that plaintiffs’ status as indirect purchasers cannot bar their claim under the Cartwright Act, does not in actuality set forth the sum total of what a giver plaintiff must establish in order to satisfy antitrust standing generally. Naturally, this begs the question what precise showing must affirmatively be made by plaintiffs — both direct and indirect purchasers — to satisfy antitrust standing requirements under the Cartwright Act. For the reasons that follow, defendants have persuaded the court that the AGC test originally set forth by the Supreme Court in interpreting antitrust standing under the federal antitrust statutes, is the appropriate guide to follow. Once again, there is no California case directly on point that conclusively sets forth the parameters of antitrust standing under the Cartwright Act. However, while California state courts have not specifically weighed in on the issue, the Ninth Circuit has. In Knevelbaard Dairies v. Kraft Foods, Inc., the Ninth Circuit undertook an exhaustive analysis of the antitrust standing doctrine in relation to both federal law and the Cartwright Act. See 232 F.3d 979 (9th Cir.2000). The Ninth Circuit acknowledged that distinctions exist between both laws, and the limited role that federal law provides in furnishing precedent under the Cartwright Act. Nonetheless, the court still found that “[a]ntitrust standing is required under the Cartwright Act.” See id. at 987. The court simply reconciled the differences in California law by stating that, within the framework of the antitrust standing inquiry, “California law affords standing more liberally than does federal law.” Id. The Ninth Circuit then proceeded to analyze the case within the framework of the AGC factors, and when the time came to consider the “directness of injury” factor, took into account the broader principles relating to indirect purchasers provided by state law. At least one California court has also applied the AGC antitrust standing factors to antitrust claims under the Cartwright Act, although it did not engage in a detailed discussion of the issue. In Vinci v. Waste Mgmt., Inc., 36 Cal.App.4th 1811, 43 Cal.Rptr.2d 337 (1995), a state appellate court applied the AGC factors in determining whether the particular plaintiff before it had standing. While plaintiff is correct that the case is distinguishable on its facts (since plaintiff was not an indirect purchaser, there were no price-fixing allegations, and the case arose in the employment context), the relevant point is that the state court applied the broader antitrust standing test under AGC to the Cartwright Act. In conclusion, then, and in view of the Ninth Circuit and California authorities discussed above, the court finds that plaintiffs here proceeding under the Cartwright Act are required to satisfy general antitrust standing requirements enunciated by the Supreme Court in AGC, and embraced by the Ninth Circuit in Knevelbaard. Plaintiffs cannot satisfy antitrust standing requirements by simply invoking their status as indirect purchasers. b. whether AGC factors are satisfied In view of the court’s conclusion that plaintiffs alleging claims based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component are required to satisfy the relevant AGC factors to establish antitrust standing, the final issue to be addressed is whether these plaintiffs have, in fact, done so. In deciding the issue, the court must “evaluate the plaintiff[s]’ harm, the alleged wrongdoing by the defendants, and the relationship between them.” See Knevel-baard, 232 F.3d at 987. The factors relevant to this evaluation are, once again: (1) the nature of the plaintiffs’ injury; (2) the directness of the injury; (3) the speculative nature of the harm; (4) the risk of duplicative recovery; and (5) the complexity in apportioning damages. See id.; see also American Ad Mgmt, 190 F.3d at 1054-55. Defendants argue that standing under the AGC factors should be held lacking here, for the following reasons: the plaintiffs here were not participants in the relevant market for the DRAM at issue, since many only purchased the DRAM in question in end products like computers, or as end users the distribution chain is long and complicated; calculating and apportioning damages would be complex, and the economic analysis speculative; more direct victims exist and have sought relief (i.e., the related direct purchaser litigation); and it would be difficult to determine a non-duplicative measure of damages. Defendants rely on recent case law in the rubber tires (“rubber tire cases”) and the credit card industries (“credit card cases”), in which similar indirect purchasers’ claims were dismissed for lack of standing at the pleading stage. See, e.g., Crouch v. Crompton Corp., 2004 WL 2414027 (N.C.Super.Ct., 2004); Stark v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 1879003 (Mich.Cir. Ct.2004). Plaintiffs, for their part, challenge defendants’ reliance on the credit card cases and the rubber tire cases, arguing their facts are distinguishable from the present facts. They contend, furthermore, that it is irrelevant whether plaintiffs purchased DRAM standing alone, or as part of an ultimate product (e.g., computers). The seminal point, according to plaintiffs, is that where they are a link in the chain of distribution for an overcharged product, then standing exists. Plaintiffs invoke the “Microsoft cases,” a line of cases in which plaintiffs assert that standing was found to exist. See, e.g., Gordon v. Microsoft Corp., 2001 WL 366432 (D.Minn.2001). The issues raised by the parties are complicated, and devoid of ready or simple answer. Ultimately, however, in view of the AGC factors that are applied and considered below, the court believes that it is defendants who present the more persuasive arguments. See, e.g., Assoc. Gen. Contractors of Cal. v. Cal. State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 103 S.Ct. 897, 74 L.Ed.2d 723; Am. Ad Mgmt., Inc. v. Gen. Tel. Co., 190 F.3d at 1054-55 (setting forth AGC factors). 1. antitrust injury A plaintiff may only pursue an antitrust action if it can show antitrust injury, which is to say “injury of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent and that flows from that which makes defendants’ acts unlawful.” See American Ad. Mgmt., 190 F.3d at 1055. The Ninth Circuit has identified four requirements for antitrust injury, which serve as a helpful guide here: (1) unlawful conduct, (2) causing an injury to the plaintiff, (3) that flows from that which makes the conduct unlawful, and (4) that is of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent. Id. Plaintiffs here have satisfactorily alleged both unlawful conduct — by way of defendants’ conspiracy to horizontally restrain trade — and that such conduct caused plaintiffs to suffer injury in the form of having paid artificially high prices for DRAM. See, e.g., Complaint, ¶¶ 80, 81, 83; see also American Ad. Mgmt., 190 F.3d at 1056 (allegations of injury caused by unlawful conduct sufficient if they allege that plaintiff suffered from defendants’ participation in alleged conspiracy). Similarly, the injury that plaintiffs allege — i.e., payment of artificially high prices for DRAM — flows directly from the alleged conspiracy to fix and raise the price of DRAM. The more troubling issue for the court, however, centers on the fourth element identified by the Ninth Circuit above — i.e., whether plaintiffs’ injury is “of the type the antitrust laws were intended to prevent.” In passing on this question, both the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit have noted that a central concern of the antitrust injury analysis is in “protecting the economic freedom of participants in the relevant market.” See Assoc. Gen. Contractors, 459 U.S. at 538, 103 S.Ct. 897; American Ad. Mgmt, 190 F.3d at 1057. To that end, antitrust standing is granted only where the plaintiff is a participant in the relevant market — e.g., a consumer or competitor in the relevant market alleged. See id. Here, defendants assert that, since plaintiffs purchased DRAM as a component of other products — such as computers — these plaintiffs are not participants in the alleged market for DRAM. Rather, they are participants in separate, albeit related, markets for products that include DRAM. As such, defendants claim that plaintiffs have not alleged antitrust injury, since they do not have grounds from which to argue that they are participants in the allegedly restrained market. This argument is persuasive. As defendants point out, cases that have considered similar price-fixing claims and other section 1 claims in the rubber tire and credit card industries have found that indirect purchasers are not participants in the relevant market where the ultimate goods they purchased — and which were the alleged source of artificially raised prices — were part of a market that was secondary to the allegedly price-tied market. See, e.g., Crouch v. Crompton Corp., 2004 WL 2414027 at *24 (noting that plaintiff, as purchaser of rubber product rather than rubber chemicals, was in “market secondarily affected by the restraint in the original chemical market”); Stark v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 1879003 at *2 (no standing where “plaintiff is not a consumer or competitor in the allegedly restrained market”). Indeed, the Visa debit card cases, typified by the Stark case and others like it, are instructive. In these cases, the indirect purchasers were ultimate consumers of various “goods” that they purchased from merchants who were themselves the alleged victims of defendants’ conspiracy to illegally tie products in violation of section 1. The numerous courts considering antitrust standing in this context generally found that, although an artificially raised price had been passed down from defendants to merchants in the market for credit card services, the indirect purchasers were not participants in the actual market for credit card services, just for goods sold by those merchants. See, e.g., Stark, 2004 WL 1879003 at *2; Strang v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2005 WL 1403769, *4 (Wis.Cir.Ct. Feb. 8, 2005). Similarly, with respect to the rubber chemical case relied on by defendants, the court found that there were two relevant markets — one for rubber chemicals, which was the price-fixed market, and a second one for the tires that were made with the price-fixed chemicals. In holding that antitrust standing was lacking, the court held that the indirect purchasers — who had purchased the allegedly price-fixed tires from retailers — were not participants in the market, and were only secondarily affected. See Crouch, 2004 WL 2414027 at *24. These factual scenarios are analogous to the situation before the court here. Plaintiffs are indirect purchasers and consumers who purchased DRAM as a component in computers and other electronic products, for “end use and not for resale.” See Complaint, ¶¶ 9-17, 74. However, the market that plaintiffs allege as the source for the purportedly illegal price-fixing conspiracy was the general market for DRAM, a market that is distinct from the market for electronic products that include DRAM. See, e.g., Complaint, ¶ 41. As such, plaintiffs who are purchasing products in which DRAM is a component, rather than DRAM itself, are participating in a secondary market that is incidental to the primary price-fixed market (i.e., the market for DRAM modules themselves). Plaintiffs urge the opposite conclusion with reliance on several Microsoft cases, but these cases are inapposite. The Microsoft cases they rely on deal with class certification, and fail to frame their inquiry in terms of antitrust standing. See, e.g., Gordon, 2001 WL 366432 at *11; Bellinder v. Microsoft Corp., (D.Kan. Sept. 7, 2001). For that reason, these class certification decisions, while they may undoubtedly be relevant at the class certification stage, are of limited relevance now. In sum, for all the above reasons, the court believes that this first factor — i.e., the nature of plaintiffs’ antitrust injury— weighs against standing. 2. Directness of the injury This factor looks to whether plaintiffs’ alleged injury was the direct result of defendants’ alleged anticompetitive conduct. To assess the directness of plaintiffs’ injury, the court must look “to the chain of causation between [plaintiffs’] injury and the alleged restraint in the [alleged] market.” See American Ad. Mgmt., 190 F.3d at 1058; Assoc. Gen. Contractors, 459 U.S. at 540, 103 S.Ct. 897. The fact that plaintiffs are indirect purchasers does not, as mentioned previously, have negative bearing on this factor, as plaintiffs have explicitly been granted indirect purchaser standing pursuant to state law. Accordingly, the court must simply consider whether, as indirect purchasers, there is a direct link in the causation chain between defendants’ alleged conspiracy to restrain prices, and the artificially high prices paid by plaintiffs who purchased products in which DRAM is a component. On balance, the court finds that this is not the case. To be sure, in most instances, some portion of a price-fixed cost gets passed directly along to the ultimate consumer, and this could readily apply to a DRAM component that was eventually incorporated into an end product. However, as the Crouch court accurately noted, “the directness can be impacted by the nature of the item subject to price-fixing, be it a component, labor cost, or something used in the manufacturing process.” See 2004 WL 2414027 at *24. This is because the nature of the item “can influence the directness of the impact on the price of the end product at retail.” Id. Here, DRAM’s nature as a ubiquitous component in all manner of personal electronic devices that are purchased for end use, lessens the directness of its impact on price. For example, while plaintiffs have alleged that one example of an electronic device containing DRAM might be a personal computer, they have simultaneously alleged that personal computers are but one of many examples of electronic devices containing DRAM, and they have furthermore failed to allege the precise type of electronic device that any given plaintiff purchased for end use. See, e.g., Complaint at ¶ 5 (DRAM “means the memory chip most commonly used in electronic devices, such as personal computers, around the world”)(emphasis added). As such, it is possible and even likely that plaintiffs have purchased DRAM not only in computers, but in other products. It requires no leap of logic to conclude that each product in which DRAM is a component, contains numerous other components, all of which collectively determine the final price actually paid by plaintiffs for the final product. In other words, the price for the actual product paid by plaintiffs is reflective of much more than just the component price for DRAM. Yet plaintiffs’ complaint sets forth no allegations that demonstrate that, within the final purchase price of a given product purchased by plaintiffs for “end use,” the ultimate cost of the DRAM component is somehow directly traceable and/or distinguishable. Seen from this viewpoint, the directness of plaintiffs’ injury — with respect to those who purchased DRAM as a component product — is too remote to warrant tipping this factor in favor of standing. See also, e.g., Crouch, 2004 WL 2414027 at * 24 (“[t]he smaller the component, the less likely there will be impact on the final price.”). For these reasons, this factor also weighs against standing. 3. Speculative Nature of the Harm, Risk of Duplicative Recovery, Complexity in Apportioning Damages The final three factors can be considered together — the speculative nature of the harm, the risk of duplicative recovery, and the complexity in apportioning damages. See, e.g., Assoc. Gen. Contractors, 459 U.S. at 544, 103 S.Ct. 897; Am. Ad Mgmt., Inc. v. Gen. Tel. Co., 190 F.3d 1051, 1054-55 (9th Cir.1999). First, with respect to the first and third of these factors, the court’s consideration of them overlaps. Defendants justly point out that the injury suffered by the indirect purchaser plaintiffs is unduly speculative, and that damages would be difficult to apportion, in view of the fact that the plaintiffs in question purchased their DRAM in the form of a component product. There are a variety of factors, for example, that could have influenced the price that each plaintiff paid for their computer (or other products) — the cost of various other components, whether those costs were themselves artificially high, etc. In such a situation, as defendants note, courts have found that these two factors weigh against standing. See, e.g. Weaver v. Cabot Corp., 2004 WL 3406119 (N.C. Super.Ct.2004). Indeed, as the Weaver court — which considered allegations of price-fixing in the rubber chemical industry — stated, plaintiffs who are in secondary markets in which they purchase the price-fixed product as a component, would need to allege that the secondary market sellers themselves were in an oligopoly and fixing prices, in order to demonstrate non-speculative damages. See id. at *1. In Weaver, plaintiffs who had purchased rubber tires as part of the secondary market — the market for rubber chemicals used to make the tires was the primary restrained market — were held to lack standing. So here, Plaintiffs, who have purchased DRAM as a component in products such as personal computers and other devices, would need to allege that the market for personal computers and other secondary markets was itself restrained as a result of defendants’ conduct, in order to establish that the damages ultimately suffered by them are sufficiently concrete, and capable of determination. These two factors, therefore, weigh against standing. As for the risk of duplicative recovery, however, plaintiffs have the better argument. States such as California, which have repealed Illinois Brick and allowed indirect purchasers to sue for antitrust violations, have necessarily made the policy decision that duplicative recovery may permissibly occur. Duplicative recovery is, in many if not all cases alleging a nationwide conspiracy with both direct and indirect purchaser classes, a necessary consequence that flows from indirect purchaser recovery. Accordingly, it is no bar against standing, and this factor does not weigh against standing. In sum, however, after consideration of all the AGC factors, and for all the above reasons, the court ultimately concludes that there are more reasons to deny standing in the instant case. Accordingly, the court finds that the indirect purchaser plaintiffs whose claims are based on the purchase of products in which DRAM is a component, lack standing to assert a claim under California’s Cartwright Act. As such, defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, with respect to these particular claims, is GRANTED. 3. State Antitrust Claims Defendants also challenge plaintiffs’ fourth claim for relief, which alleges violations of twenty-two different states’ antitrust laws. As with plaintiffs’ second claim for relief under the Cartwright Act, defendants argue that, with respect to thirteen of these state antitrust laws, no antitrust standing exists for those plaintiffs whose claims are based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component. The thirteen' states are: Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Defendants additionally argue that, with all plaintiffs’ claims under five state laws — Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania— judgment on the pleadings is also warranted for other reasons. a., antitrust standing Defendants contend that plaintiffs’ claims under the thirteen state antitrust statutes at issue fail for lack of antitrust standing. Their arguments mimic those made in connection with plaintiffs’ Cartwright Act claim. In essence, defendants argue that, although each state is an Illinois Brick repealer state, antitrust standing must still be determined under each state statute with reference to the AGC factors. Defendants claim further that plaintiffs with claims based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component cannot satisfy those factors. In response, plaintiffs rely on numerous cases as part of a broad argument that standing exists with respect to all the above mentioned states. Preliminarily, the court must first resolve, as it did with respect to California’s antitrust statute, whether antitrust standing under the laws of all thirteen states at issue must be determined with reference to the AGC factors. The issue is whether the thirteen states themselves would support application of the AGC test in assessing antitrust standing. With respect to eight of the thirteen states, the court finds that they would. As defendants point out, state courts in each of these eight states have concluded not only that antitrust standing is distinct from the issue of indirect purchaser standing, but that application of the AGC factors is a proper means of determining antitrust standing. See Wrobel v. A Very Dennison Corp., et al, No. 05-CV-1296 (Ks. Dist. Ct., Feb. 1 2006)(Kansas)(“the Court finds that this AGC standing test may be applied to this action even though the [Kansas Restraint of Trade Act] specifically contemplates indirect purchaser suits”); Orr v. Beamon, 77 F.Supp.2d 1208, 1212 (D.Kan.1999)(Kansas)(federal district court in Kansas concluded “that standing under the Kansas antitrust statutes requires an antitrust injury similar to that required under the Sherman and Clayton Acts”); Knowles v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 2475284, *5 (Me.Super.Ct.2004)(Maine)(“It is probable that the Maine Law Court, if presented with this issue, would look to the [.AGC] factors in determining standing under Maine’s antitrust laws and would apply those factors except to the extent that those factors cannot be reconciled with the legislature’s adoption of the Illinois Brick repealer”); Stark v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 1879003, *2-3 (Mich.Cir.Ct.2004)(Michigan)(applying AGC factors to determine antitrust standing under Michigan antitrust statute); Gutzwiller v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 2114991, *6 (Minn.Dist.Ct.2004)(Minnesota)(“Utilizing factors (1), (4) and (5) of the [AGC] case in assessing the issue of standing [under Minnesota antitrust statute], is consistent with the concerns addressed by the state legislators who debated the 1984 amendment prior to its passage, and consistent with federal law”); Crouch v. Crompton, 2004 WL 2414027, * 18 (N.C. Superior Ct.2004)(North Carolina)(“North Carolina courts would apply a multi-factor test to determine standing in indirect purchaser cases. The requirements would recognize indirect purchaser standing, but engraft upon the statute the requirements of standing enunciated in AGC, modified to recognize the right to recover for injury created by statute for indirect purchasers”); Beckler v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 2004 WL 2115144, *2-3 (N.D.Dist.2004)(North Dakota)(finding indirect purchaser claims too remote and implying reliance on AGC factors in determining lack of standing); Comelison v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., No. CIV 03-1350 (S.D.Cir.Ct.2004), Ex. A to Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings re Second and Fourth Claims for Relief (South Dakota)(hearing transcript noting state trial court’s bench ruling employing AGC factors and granting dismissal based on lack of antitrust standing); Strang v. Visa, 2005 WL 1403769, *3 (Wis.Cir.Ct.2005)(Wisconsin)(“our appellate courts would look to [AGC] factors for guidance in assessing an indirect or remote purchaser’s standing”). The court finds these authorities persuasive, and has relied on them as helpful guidance in concluding that application of the AGC factors to the instant case is appropriate. While the cases do not emanate from the states’ highest courts, they do emanate from courts with jurisdictional authority over the individual states in question, which courts are called upon to interpret the individual state laws at issue with more frequency and regularity than this court. Moreover, plaintiffs have failed to come forward with any contrary authority from the states in question. As such, the court concludes that plaintiffs’ antitrust standing under the antitrust statutes of Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, is to be determined with reference to the AGC factors. As for the remaining five states — -Arizona, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada and New Mexico — the court’s analysis is different, as the court is unaware of any case law from these states that specifically considers and determines whether the AGC antitrust standing factors generally apply. However, as defendants point out, almost all of these states have harmonization provisions contained within their antitrust statutes calling for the statutes to be construed in accordance with federal law. See, e.g., Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 44-1412 (“in construing this article, the courts may use as a guide interpretations given by the federal courts to comparable federal antitrust statutes”); Neb.Rev. Stat. § 59-829 (“the courts of this state in construing [Nebraska’s antitrust statute] shall follow the construction given to the federal law by the federal courts”); Nev.Rev.Stat. § 598A.050 (“The provisions of this chapter shall be construed in harmony with prevailing judicial interpretations of the federal antitrust statutes”); N.M. Stat. Ann. § 57-1-15 (“the Antitrust Act shall be construed in harmony with judicial interpretations of the federal antitrust laws”). While Mississippi is the sole state without a harmonization provision, its Supreme Court has previously looked to federal law in interpreting the state’s antitrust statute. See, e.g., Harrah’s Vicksburg Corp. v. Pennebaker, 812 So.2d 163 (Miss.2002)(relying on federal interpretation of Noerr-Pennington doctrine to determine applicability of same under state antitrust statute). Collectively, this suggests, and the court concludes, that the antitrust statutes of these five states are to be applied with federal antitrust principles in mind. As such, and looking to those federal principles insofar as antitrust standing is concerned, the court furthermore concludes that application of the AGC multi-factor test is appropriate in determining plaintiffs’ antitrust standing under the antitrust statutes of Arizona, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada and New Mexico. Once again, this conclusion is further buttressed by the fact that plaintiffs offer no relevant state legal authority holding directly to the contrary. In sum, then, taking all the above into account, and consistent with the discussion set forth above in connection with the Cartwright Act claim, the court finds that, even though the thirteen states at issue allow for indirect purchaser standing, plaintiffs here must still satisfy the general antitrust standing requirements with reference to the multi-factor test set forth in AGC. Application of this multi-factor test, naturally, shall be applied in a fashion that takes into account the broader standing principles that each state adheres to with respect to indirect purchasers. Having concluded that antitrust standing requirements as set forth in AGC should apply, the question before the court is now whether a consideration of those factors demonstrates that the indirect purchaser plaintiffs at issue have adequately alleged antitrust standing. With respect to this question, the parties’ arguments are identical to those made in connection with the court’s discussion of antitrust standing under the Cartwright Act, supra. Accordingly, the court’s analysis of these factors is the same. For the same reasons, therefore, that the court found antitrust standing to be lacking pursuant to the Cartwright Act claim, the court also finds that antitrust standing is lacking with respect to the thirteen remaining state law claims, for those plaintiffs with claims based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component. As such, the court similarly GRANTS defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to these particular claims brought under the thirteen state laws at issue. b. remaining five states In addition to challenging the above claims under the thirteen state laws, defendants argue that with respect to five of the twenty-two states whose antitrust statutes are invoked in plaintiffs’ fourth claim for relief — Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania — plaintiffs lack antitrust standing as a matter of law, for reasons in addition to failure to adequately satisfy the AGC factors. Defendants’ arguments here, unlike those made heretofore, do not appear to be limited only to those plaintiffs with claims based on purchases of products in which DRAM is a component. Rather, defendants appear to argue that all plaintiffs lack antitrust standing to bring their claims under the five state laws discussed below, as a matter of law. 1. Ohio and West Virginia Defendants contend that both Ohio and West Virginia have laws that prohibit indirect purchaser standing for private actions. With respect to Ohio’s Valentine Act, defendants argue that the Ohio Supreme Court expressly held as much in Johnson v. Microsoft Corp., 106 Ohio St.3d 278, 834 N.E.2d 791 (2005), and that decision should control here. With respect to West Virginia, defendants assert that its antitrust statute contains a harmonization provision, which West Virginia state courts have construed as requiring them to “apply the federal decisional law interpreting the Sherman Act to [West Virginia’s] own parallel anti-trust statute.” Gray v. Marshall County Bd. of Educ., 179 W.Va. 282, 367 S.E.2d 751, 755 (1988). According to defendants, this mandates that the court apply Illinois Brick’s prohibitions to West Virginia law, and prohibit the indirect purchasers from bringing suit here. With respect to Ohio’s antitrust statute, defendants are correct. The Ohio Supreme Court has expressly stated that it “adopt[s] and follow[s] Illinois Brick’s direct-purchaser requirement and hold[s] that an indirect purchaser of goods may not assert a Valentine Act claim for alleged violations of Ohio antitrust law”. Johnson, 834 N.E.2d at 798. Plaintiffs, for their part, “concur” that Ohio’s Valentine Act has been construed “not to afford a cause of action to indirect purchasers... ”. See PI. Opp. Br. Re Second and Fourth Claims for Relief, at 20:8-10. While they profess that they may nonetheless sue under Ohio common law, as alleged in a separate related action currently before the court brought by various state attorneys general, the court does not address that complaint by way of the instant order, and plaintiffs arguments in this regard are therefore irrelevant. Accordingly, in view of the Ohio Supreme Court’s express holding in Johnson, and plaintiffs’ recognition and concession regarding that holding, the court finds that the indirect purchaser plaintiffs’ claim pursuant to the Ohio Valentine Act is barred as a matter of law. The court hereby GRANTS judgment on the pleadings with respect to this claim. This leaves West Virginia for consideration. Generally speaking, defendants are correct that federal decisional law interpreting the Sherman Act is to be applied in interpreting West Virginia’s parallel antitrust statute. See W. Va.Code § 47-18-16; Gray, 179 W.Va. 282, 367 S.E.2d 751. However, while this would seem to suggest that the Illinois Brick doctrine also extends to indirect purchaser actions brought under West Virginia’s state antitrust statute, this conclusion is called into question by the fact that the West Virginia attorney general has promulgated a legislative rule expressly permitting antitrust suits brought by indirect purchasers. The attorney general’s ability to promulgate such a rule is contemplated by the state’s antitrust statute itself, which explicitly grants the state attorney general the right to adopt rules and regulations interpreting and enforcing West Virginia’s antitrust statute. See W. Va.Code § 47-18-20 (“[t]he attorney general may make and adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the enforcement and administration of [the statute]”). Moreover, as plaintiffs point out, at least two federal courts have found that the West Virginia legislative rule allowing indirect purchaser standing is valid, and should be given effect. See In re New Motor Vehicles, 350 F.Supp.2d 160, 173-75 (D.Me.2004); In re Terazosin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation, 160 F.Supp.2d 1365, 1376, n. 8 (S.D.Fla.2001). While neither case emanates from a court with jurisdictional authority over West Virginia, they are nonetheless instructive. In re New Motor Vehicles is particularly helpful. The federal court there dealt with the precise issue now before the court — i.e., whether indirect purchaser standing is granted under West Virginia law, in the face of apparent conflict between the state attorney general’s rule, and the harmonization provision of the state antitrust statute. After engaging in a fairly comprehensive overview of West Virginia rules of statutory interpretation and the relevant legislative history, the In re New Motor Vehicles court concluded that, since the harmonization provision at issue did not speak to indirect purchaser standing specifically, but was more broadly worded to provide for a “liberal” general interpretive approach, the state attorney general’s subsequent rule interpreting the statute to allow for indirect purchaser standing was a “permissible” reading of the statute, and entitled to deference. See id. The court applies that reasoning here. Moreover, unless and until this issue is raised and resolved by West Virginia state courts, the West Virginia attorney general — who is expressly granted the authority to interpret the very antitrust statute at issue here — is entitled to some deference. Accordingly, the court finds that the indirect purchaser plaintiffs’ claim pursuant to West Virginia’s state antitrust statute is not barred by incorporation of the Illinois Brick doctrine, and defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to plaintiffs’ claim under West Virginia law is hereby DENIED. 2. Alabama Defendants contend that plaintiffs’ state antitrust claim under Alabama’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (“UTPA”) is barred by the statute of limitations, since (1) the statute of limitations required plaintiffs to file their UTPA claim within two years of the 2002 time frame in which plaintiffs allege they discovered defendants’ violations, and (2) plaintiffs filed their complaint in 2005, well more than two years after plaintiffs concede that they knew of their potential claims. Defendants argue, in the alternative, that plaintiffs’ claim is barred because the UTPA applies solely to intrastate activities, which are not properly alleged here. In response, plaintiffs do not dispute the timing discrepancy highlighted by defendants but argue that, under the doctrine of class tolling, the statute of limitations was tolled by the filing of prior class actions in California state court in 2002 and 2003, both of which were filed on behalf of a nationwide class that included Alabama residents. With respect to defendants’ alternative argument, plaintiffs contend that the complaint may reasonably be inferred to state anticompetitive effects on both interstate and intrastate commerce. The parties’ arguments regarding the timeliness of plaintiffs’ UTPA claim overlap with those raised by the parties in conjunction with defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings as to plaintiffs’ fifth cause of action, and are discussed in detail below. While the court will not repeat that analysis here, it holds that for the same reasons as those highlighted below, and cons stent with the court’s decision therein, the doctrine of class tolling does not apply to plaintiffs’ antitrust claim under the UTPA. As such, the court finds that plaintiffs’ antitrust claim pursuant to the UTPA is barred by the two-year statute of limitations, and defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to this claim is therefore GRANTED. In view of this holding it is unnecessary for the court to consider whether the UTPA applies to intrastate activity. 3. South Dakota Defendants assert that plaintiffs cannot bring their claim under South Dakota’s antitrust statute because the statute requires an allegation that the alleged conduct affected “trade or commerce wholly within the state,” an allegation that plaintiffs do not and cannot make. Plaintiffs, in response, argue that defendants are relying on an older version of the statute, and that the current statute applies to any conspiracy “in restraint of trade or commerce any part of which is within this state,” which means that the statute applies to any interstate conduct, so long as it has an intrastate component as well. And since plaintiffs allege a national conspiracy here, they argue that allegations as to this national conspiracy presume the requisite effects within the state of South Dakota. Turning first to the language of the statute itself, the court agrees with plaintiffs that South Dakota’s antitrust statute should be read to cover unlawful anticompetitive conduct, as long as any part of it “is within [South Dakota]” — i.e., as long as any part of it takes place or has an effect within the state. See S.D. Codified Laws § 37-1-3.1 (“A contract, combination, or conspiracy between two or more persons in restraint of trade or commerce any part of which is within this state is unlawful”). This reading is supported by the literal language of the statute, and defendants have submitted no South Dakota case law that holds differently. Indeed, neither party has submitted any relevant South Dakota case law interpreting this provision of the statute. To be sure, defendants’ differing view that the statute reaches conduct that is “wholly within the state” — and therefore, exclusively within the state — is premised upon South Dakota case law. However, that case law predates the current version of the antitrust statute. See State v. Fullerton Lumber, 35 S.D. 410, 152 N.W. 708, 712 (1915). And while defendants are correct that no case relied on by plaintiffs — nor any case unearthed by the court — expressly overrules Fullerton Lumber, that case was nonetheless issued more than sixty years prior to 1977, the year in which South Dakota’s antitrust statute was amended to state, as it does currently, that the statute covers unlawful conspiracies to restrain trade or commerce as long as any part of it is “within the state.” See, e.g., S.D. Codified Laws §§ 37-1-1 to 37-1-3 (repealed in 1977). As such, and since no South Dakota case has been cited or discovered that interprets the current language of the statute, or more particularly, its effect on the type of interstate/intrastate conduct that a plaintiff is required to allege, the current operative language of the statute controls. Plaintiffs are therefore able to state a claim under the statute as long as they allege an unlawful conspiracy to restrain trade or commerce, any part of which is within the state of South Dakota. The court notes, however, that plaintiffs complaint does not specifically allege any conduct or conspiracy that takes place, or has any effect within South Dakota. At most, plaintiffs have alleged only that defendants’ activities had “a substantial effect on the foreign and interstate commerce of the United States.” See Complaint, ¶4. This is insufficient, in the court’s view, to allege the requisite activity or effects within the state of South Dakota that the statute requires. Accordingly, for this reason, the court GRANTS defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to plaintiffs’ claim pursuant to South Dakota’s antitrust statute. In view of the fact that judgment is being granted with respect to a technical pleading deficiency that mig