At & T Communications of CaliFornia, Inc. v. Pac-West Telecomm, Inc.

OPINION

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

When a customer of telephone company A places a local call to a customer of telephone company B, the two companies cooperate to complete the call. Traditionally, the telephone company of the individual receiving the call (company B) would bill the originating phone company (company A) for completing, or “terminating,” the call, on a per-minute basis. When the phone call went in the opposite direction— from a company B customer to a company A customer — the billing, too, would be reversed. Underlying this “reciprocal compensation” arrangement was the…