Feature Work:
Antitrust Vertical Myopia: The Allure of High Prices, Arizona Law Review 50: 261-287 (2008)
Antitrust Vertical Myopia: The Allure of High Prices, Arizona Law Review 50: 261-287 (2008)
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RPM
Landmarks -
Selected RPM
Bibliography -
Other
Materials -
Quack and Patent Medicine
Collection
| Year | Landmark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1889 | Fowle v. Park, 131 U.S. 88 (1889) | The Supreme Court dismisses the argument that RPM agreements are unreasonable restraints of trade. (Transcript of the Record, 7.90MB) |
| 1890 | The Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 289 (1890) | Congress expressly outlaws restraints of trade. |
| 1902 | E. Bement & Sons v. National Harrow Co., 186 U.S. 70 (1902) | The Supreme Court holds that RPM agreements related to patented products are legal, because the very object of intellectual property laws monopoly. |
| 1908 | Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, 210 U.S. 339 (1908) | The Supreme Court refuses to enforce a retail-price notice printed in the book, when the publisher and the retailer have no agreement. The Court chooses not to address the legality of RPM agreements. |
| 1911 | Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., 220 U.S. 373 (1911) | Seller’s restrictions on resale prices are held per se illegal. (Transcript of the Record, 18.2MB) |
| 1912 | Henry v. A.B. Dick, 224 U.S. 1 (1912) | Patents convey the right to impose restrictions on the right to resale the patented items, so long as these restrictions are related only to the patented items. |
| 1913 | Bauer & Cie v. O'Donnell, 229 U.S. 1 (1913) | Selling below minimum prices stated in a patent license agreement does not constitute patent infringement. |
| 1917 | Straus v. Victor Talking Mach. Co., 243 U.S. 490 (1917) | The Supreme Court restates the per se prohibition against RPM in light of common confusions. |
| 1918 | Boston Store of Chicago v. American Graphophone Co., 246 U.S. 8 (1918) | The Supreme Court clarifies again the per se illegality of RPM. |
| 1919 | U.S. v. Colgate & Co., 250 U.S. 300 (1919) | Manufacturers may unilaterally refuse to deal with retailers that do not follow suggested retail pricing. |
| 1926 | United States v. General Electric Co., 272 U.S. 476 (1926) | Manufacturers may fix retail prices on goods delivered to the retailers on consignment or sold by agents. |
| 1931 | California's Fair Trade Act, 1931 Cal. Stat. 278 | Allowing RPM for branded goods in California |
| 1933 | Amendment to the California Fair Trade Act, 1933 Cal. Stat. 260 | Allowing RPM for all goods. |
| 1933 | The National Industrial Recovery Administration | |
| 1936 | Old Dearborn Distrib. Co. v. Seagram Distillers Corp., 299 U.S. 183 (1936) | The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of pro-RPM state statutes. |
| 1937 | The Miller-Tydings Resale Price Maintenance Act, 50 Stat. 693 (1937) | Congress exempts from the scope of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act minimum RPM agreements, which are legal in... |
| 1942 | U.S. v. Univis Lens Co., 316 U.S. 241 (1942) | |
| 1948 | United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 U.S. 131 (1948) | Copyrights do not convey the right to set resale prices. |
| 1951 | Schwegmann Bros. v. Calvert Distillers Corp, 341 U.S. 384 (1951) | state laws cannot extend the Miller-Tydings exemption to enforce RPM agreements against third parties. |
| 1952 | The McGuire Act, 66 Stat. 631 (1952) | Congress addresses Schwegmann Bros and extend the scope of the Miller-Tydings Act to enforcements of RPM agreements against third parties. |
| 1956 | UNITED STATES v. McKESSON & ROBBINS, 351 U.S. 305 (1956) | |
| 1960 | U.S. v. Parke, Davis & Co., 362 U.S. 29 (1960) | |
| 1964 | Simpson v. Union Oil Co., 377 U.S. 13 (1964) | Consignment (narrowing GE). |
| 1967 | United States v. Arnold, Schwinn & Co., 388 U.S. 365 (1967) | The Supreme Court extends the per se prohibition to non-price vertical restraints, such as exclusive distribution territories. |
| 1968 | Albrecht v. Herald Co., 390 U.S. 145 (1968) | The Supreme Court holds that maximum RPM is per se illegal, like other forms of RPM. |
| 1975 | The Consumer Goods Pricing Act | Congress Repeals the Miller-Tydings and McGuire Acts. |
| 1977 | Continental T.V., Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc., 433 U.S. 36 (1977) | The Supreme Court overrules Arnold, Schwinn & Co. (1967), holding that such non-price vertical restraints would be reviewed under the rule of reason. |
| 1980 | Rudman Amendment | |
| 1980 | California Liquor Dealers v. Midcal Aluminum, 445 U.S. 97 (1980). | The Supreme Court Reaffirms the RPM per se illegality rule. |
| 1982 | Rice v. Norman Williams, 458 U.S. 654 (1982) | The Supreme Court reaffirms the per se illegality rule. |
| 1984 | Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Serv. Corp, 465 U.S. 752 (1984) | The Supreme Court reaffirms the per se illegality rule, despite the urging of the Solicitor General. |
| 1988 | Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp., 485 U.S. 717 (1988) | An agreement between a manufacturer and a retailer to terminate price-cutting retailer is lawful, so long as the parties do not set prices for the remaining retailer. |
| 1997 | State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U.S. 3 (1997) | The Supreme Court overrules Albrecht (1968), holding that maximum RPM should be examined under the rule of reason. |
| 2007 | Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 127 S.Ct. 2705 (2007) | The Supreme Court overrules Dr. Miles, holding that all RPM agreements should be examined under the rule of reason. |
- Adams, Walter, Resale Price Maintenance: Fact and Fancy, Yale Law Journal 64: 967-990 (1955).
- Bowman, Ward S., The Prequisites and Effects of Resale Price Maintenance, University of Chicago Law Review 22: 825-873 (1955).
- Butz, David A., Does the Per Se Rule Deter Vertical Price Fixing?, Economic Inquiry 34: 770-780 (1996).
- Butz, David A., Vertical Price Controls with Uncertain Demand, Journal of Law and Economics 40: 433-459 (1997).
- Butz, David A. and Andrew N. Kleit, Are Vertical Restraints Pro- or Anticompetitive? Lessons from Interstate Circuit, Journal of Law and Economics 44: 131-159 (2001).
- Comanor, William S., Vertical Price-Fixing, Vertical Market Restrictions, and the New Antitrust Policy, Harvard Law Review 98: 983-1002 (1985).
- Correia, Edward O., Resale Price Maintenance - Searching for a Policy, Journal of Legislation 18: 187-248 (1992).
- Deneckere, Raymond et al., Demand Uncertainty and Price Maintenance: Markdowns as Destructive Competition, American Economic Review 87: 619-641 (1997).
- Ewald T. Grether, Price Control Under Fair Trade Legislation (1939).
- Goldberg, Victor P., The Free Rider Problem, Imperfect Pricing, and the Economics of Retailing Services, Northwestern University Law Review 79: 736-757 (1984).
- Grimes, Warren S., The Seven Myths of Vertical Price Fixing: The Politics and Economics of a Century-Long Debate, Southwestern University Law Review 21: 1285-1316 (1992).
- Haring, Albert, Retail Price Cutting and its Control by Manufacturers (1935).
- Ippolito, Pauline M., Resale Price Maintenance: Empirical Evidence from Litigation, Journal of Law and Economics 34: 263-294 (1991).
- Johnson, Roy W. et. al, The Control of Resale Prices: Merchandising and Legal Phases of Price-Cutting, Price Maintenance and Quantity Discounts (1936).
- Kleit, Andrew N., Efficiencies without Economists: The Early Years of Resale Price Maintenance, Southern Economic Journal 54: 597-619 (1993).
- Klein, Benjamin and Keith Leffler, The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance, Journal of Political Economy 89: 615-641 (1981).
- Klein, Benjamin and Kevin M. Murphy, Vertical Restraints as Contract Enforcement Mechanisms, Journal of Law and Econoics 31: 265-297 (1988).
- Marvel, Howard P., The Resale Price Maintenance Controversy: Beyond the Conventional Wisdom, Antitrust Law Journal 63: 59-92 (1994).
- Marvel, Howard P. and Stephen McCafferty, Resale Price Maintenance and Quality Certification, Rand Journal of Economics 15: 346-359 (1984).
- Marvel, Howard P. and Stephen McCafferty, The Welfare Effects of Resale Price Maintenance, Journal of Law and Economics 28: 363-379 (1985).
- Joseph Cornwall Palamountain, The Politics of Distribution (1955).
- Peritz, Rudolph J.R., The Genealogy of Vertical Restraints Doctrine, Hastings Law Journal 40: 511-576 (1989).
- Peritz, Rudolph J.R., Dr. Miles Medical Company, in Antitrust Stories 61-90 (Eleanor M. Fox and Daniel A. Crane eds., 2007).
- Pitofsky, Robert, In Defense of Discounters: The No-Frills Case for a Per Se Rule Against Vertical Price Fixing, Georgetown Law Journal 71: 1487-1495 (1983).
- Posner, Richard A., The Next Step in the Antitrust Treatment of Restricted Distribution: Per Se Legaility, University of Chicago Law Review 48: 6-26 (1981).
- Seligman, Edwin R.A. and Robert A. Love, Price Cutting and Price Maintenance: A Study in Economics (1932).
- Silcock, T. H., Some Problems of Price Maintenance, The Economic Journal 48: 42-51 (1938).
- Springer, Robert F. and H.E. Frech III, Deterring Fraud: The Role of Resale Price Maintenance, Journal of Business 59: 433-447 (1986).
- Taussig, Frank W., Price Maintenance, American Economic Review 6: 170-184 (1916).
- Telser, Lester G., Why Should Manufacturers Want Fair Trade, Journal of Law and Economics 3: 86-105 (1960).
- Tosdal, H. R., Price Maintenance, American Economic Review 8: 28-47 (1918).
- Tosdal, H. R., Price Maintenance, American Economic Review 8: 283-305 (1918).
- Yamey, Basil Selig, The Economics of Resale Price Maintenance (1954).
A tribute to the National Wholesale Druggists' Association and the quack medicine industry that spiced up the history of resale price maintenance.
Selected Bibliography (coming soon) |
Barak Y. Orbach: Resale Price Maintenance
