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Showing results for:  “Dr. Miles”

Speaking of Resale Price Maintenance …

It looks like the FTC is interested in doing more than just investigating RPM (see Thom’s excellent post), as the agency just announced a series of public workshops on the question of how best to distinguish pro-competitive uses of RPM from those that raise competitive concerns. From the announcement: The FTC is requesting public comment ... Speaking of Resale Price Maintenance …

FTC’s Latest RPM Investigation: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing?

Once again displaying its tenacious devotion to old Dr. Miles, the FTC is investigating whether makers of musical instruments and audio equipment have engaged in illegal resale price maintenance (RPM). Yesterday’s WSJ reported that the Commission has issued subpoenas to a number of prominent musical instrument manufacturers, including Fender, Yamaha, and Gibson, as well as ... FTC’s Latest RPM Investigation: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing?

Life After Dr. Miles

An article in today’s WSJ, Price-Fixing Makes Comeback After Supreme Court Ruling, reports that minimum resale price maintenance (i.e., the setting of minimum retail prices by product manufacturers) is increasing in light of last summer’s Leegin decision. That’s great news for me, because I’ve spent most of the summer cranking out an article on how ... Life After Dr. Miles

FTC to Dr. Miles: "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You!"

In April 2000, the FTC issued a Complaint against women’s shoe distributor Nine West, claiming that Nine West had engaged in minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) (i.e., the setting of minimum prices that retailers could charge for its shoes). Apparently, Nine West was providing retailers with lists of “off limits” or “non-promote” shoes that weren’t ... FTC to Dr. Miles: "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You!"

A Comeback for Dr. Miles?

The Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing Tuesday morning on whether the Leegin decision is good antitrust policy.  It is (see, e.g. our TOTM Leegin archives), but I suspect this hearing may be the beginning of the end for minimum RPM’s rule of reason era.

Chicago, Post-Chicago, Post-Post-Chicago: On Using Shorthand Labels Responsibly

Over the past few weeks I’ve read at least two dozen papers, mostly by legal scholars (but some by economists) employing or critiquing economic analysis of law, that use the term “Chicago School,” in a critical and misleading way.  Conventionally, use of this nomenclature comes along with a claim that “Chicago School” economics is code for a ... Chicago, Post-Chicago, Post-Post-Chicago: On Using Shorthand Labels Responsibly

My Take on Credit Suisse . . .

is here, over at eCCP, and differs somewhat from Thom’s. The takeway excerpt is: Credit Suisse has important implications for antitrust practice. The decision’s effect is to narrow the scope of antitrust law and to invite efforts by regulated industries to narrow it still further. The court’s “clearly incompatible†standard is new and (though it ... My Take on Credit Suisse . . .

More Thoughts on the Leegin Transcript

A few more thoughts to supplement Josh’s fine posting on the transcript of oral argument in Leegin. I don’t understand Justice Breyer. He recognizes that there are at least some circumstances in which RPM helps consumers. Why isn’t that enough for Dr. Miles to be overruled? Justice Breyer regards this as a “close case” (presumably ... More Thoughts on the Leegin Transcript

Majoras Responds to Conyers Regarding Leegin

There’s just so much paper going back and forth on Leegin that it’s hard to keep up. In addition to various briefs and commentaries and Commissioner Harbour’s de facto brief (also discussed here), there has been some interesting correspondence between Rep. Conyers, Chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Deborah Platt Majoras, Chair ... Majoras Responds to Conyers Regarding Leegin

A Response to Commissioner Harbour’s "Open Letter" on Leegin

Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour has sent the U.S. Supreme Court justices an “open letter” regarding the pending Leegin case. [HT: Danny Sokol.] Leegin, as regular TOTM readers know, will test the continued vitality of Dr. Miles, the 1911 decision making it per se illegal for manufacturers and retailers to agree on minimum retail ... A Response to Commissioner Harbour’s "Open Letter" on Leegin