Legal Question in Business Law in Wisconsin

Re: Retail restraint of trade

Wow. You appear to have just defined a classic antitrust case. The Department of Justice (the Feds) pursue this sort of thing. It appears to violate federal laws against non-competitive behaviours (The Sherman Act). If you have documentation of the "minimum" price arrangement, send it along with a written description of the problem to the Department of Justice in Washington DC, and they will handle it from there, and it costs you nothing. See an Antitrust attorney if you are damaged, and you want to recover for your damages. That attorney can sit down with you and give you proper legal advice (I cannot advise you, because I only have a few of the needed facts).

Thomas Workman

Law Offices of Thomas Workman

41 Harrison Street

Re: Retail restraint of trade

A "minimum advertised price" policy is an antitrust violation if the manufacturer does anything other than suggest a retail price. Any attempt to enforce it would be illegal price fixing in violation of the Clayton Act. If a competitor of yours is selling below the suggested retail price, that's business. If the manufacturer goes after him, the manufacturer is liable. If you agree with the manufacturer to honor the minimum price, YOU could be liable. Now, if the manufaturer is selling below the manufacturer's COST in order to force out competition (not just below the suggested price), then the manufacturer could be liable under the Sherman Act.

Daniel Press

Chung & Press, P.C.

6723 Whittier Ave., Suite 302

Re: Retail restraint of trade

Wow. You AND the manufacturer, and every other seller

who adheres to the plan to sell retail at a coordinated

minimum price, appear to me to all be guilty of an

anti-trust conspiracy. I'm somewhat flabbergasted.

If the manufacturer were to retaliate against you for

selling below (ie cut your supply), you could sue them.

If they are selling to the online supplier at a lower

price than to you, and it is not justified clearly by

cost considerations (lower shipping cost or other

economies of scale), you could sue the manufacturer,

too, I suppose.

Dumping is what happens when someone sells below their

own cost (or at a below reasonable profit, perhaps) for

the purpose of putting competitors out of business.

Frankly, though, I'm not expert in this area and some of

what I said could be wrong, so you ought to consult a lawyer

more expert in this area of the law.

I believe that manufactures can "suggest" retail prices, the

so-called MSRP, but there ought generally not be any enforcement

of that. They might be unhappy if YOU advertise a lower price,

and I don't know if they can retaliate against you for that, but

certainly they have no legal gripe for selling below the MSRP.

Stuart Williams

Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams

21 Walter St.