VNU, the parent of Nielsen Media Research and ACNielsen, Monday said it won an important ruling in an antitrust suit from rival Information Resources Inc. that has been hanging over ACNielsen since
1996. The suit claimed that ACNielsen "unlawfully priced certain customer contracts below cost and 'bundled' contracts by offering discounts to customers in countries where ACNielsen faced no
competition," according to VNU. In an order issued last Friday, the court ruled for ACNielsen, determining that the economic analysis on which IRI had relied to establish alleged unlawful below-cost
pricing and bundling is inadmissible as a matter of law. While the suit will continue, VNU said it believed the ruling "impairs IRI's antitrust claims."
