AAI Hosts Consumer Advocates and Regulators to Discuss how Recent Supreme Court Case Decision Eliminates Many Discounts and Competitive Pricing by Legalizing Resale Price Maintenance

12/4/2008

Antitrust experts from the government, legal and academic communities will join retailers, “e-tailers,” consumer advocates and others in Washington, D.C. on December 4, 2008 to discuss the effects of new restrictions on retailers known as resale price maintenance (RPM) or “price fixing.” 

Since 1911, antitrust law stopped manufacturers from punishing retailers for offering and selling products at discounted prices through prohibiting minimum resale price maintenance as per se unlawful.  Last year’s Supreme Court ruling in the Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. case overturned that almost 100 year old rule, altering the retail landscape in the U.S. and potentially around the world.  As we enter the holiday shopping season, manufacturers are embracing their broad new legal powers, enacting price-fixing policies by setting minimum prices on their products and forcing retailers to refrain from offering discounts to consumers in the marketplace. 

When:
Thursday, December 4
9:00 a.m. – Continental Breakfast
9:30 a.m. – Press Conference

Where:           
National Press Club
529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
The  First Amendment Lounge (13th Floor)

Listen to the Conference by RIGHT clicking on the links below, selecting "save as target" and saving to your computer.

Right click here for Audio from the Industry and Consumer Panel
Bert Foer, President, American Antitrust Institute
Jacob Weiss, President, BabyAge.com
Tod Cohen, Vice President of Global Government Relations, eBay Inc.
Phil Smith, Owner, Kay’s Kloset; Plaintiff in Leegin Supreme Court Case
Mark Cooper, Director of Research at the Consumer Federation of America

Right click here for Audio from the Policy Panel
Gregory T. Gundlach, Guest Editor, Antitrust Bulletin’s Special Issue on RPM; Coggin Distinguished Professor of Marketing, Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida; Senior Fellow, American Antitrust Institute
Seth Bloom, General Counsel, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate
Anant Raut, Majority Counsel, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives
The Hon. Pamela Jones Harbour, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Right click here for Audio from the Q&A

Materials available for download:
Press Release
Price Fixing Examples
Phil Smith Comments
Antitrust Bulletin Call for Papers for RPM Issue