LAW 642 Lecture Notes - Lecture 53: Complete Control, Profit Margin, Market Power
30 May 2020
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Facts: wine wholesalers required to post price schedule, retailers required to abide under threat of fines for violation, one wine retailer undercuts, gets taken to court. Why is this sort of thing concerning: same concern about competitors sharing price information from the. Indeed, although a retailer is the defendant here, it was probably undercutting pursuant to an attempt of the producer to cheat. Remember, this is under sherman act section 1, so it requires a contract, combination or conspiracy in order to be violative. Colgate (1919): unilateral rpm means no contract, combination or conspiracy . Facts: colgate announced that it would not sell to retailers who deviated from their listed price, many of whom simply caved, doj sued criminally. Shifted tone making it much easier to find a contract/combination: inducing each customer to adhere to desired price is sufficiently concerted action to constitute a contract/combination. After this case, many thought colgate was dead.
