PMT Machinery Sales, Inc. v. Yama Seiki USA, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment in action alleging that defendant violated Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (WFDL) by breaching exclusive dealership agreement to have plaintiff sell defendant’s machine products when plaintiff discovered that others were selling such products in plaintiff’s marketing area. Plaintiff failed to establish existence of exclusive agreement to sell defendant’s products, where record showed that plaintiff functioned more like manufacturer’s representative, where although plaintiff referred sales of defendant’s products to defendant, plaintiff lacked significant control over sales process, since plaintiff could not transfer title of defendant’s to customers, did not maintain inventory of defendant’s products or collect payments on defendant’s products. Also, plaintiff made only de minimis $1,200 investment in defendant’s corporate symbols through posting of said symbols on its website, which was too insignificant to qualify for protection under WFDL.