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Larry Bud

wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:00:47 -0800, gibraltorox wrote:

J. Clarke wrote:

Price fixing is an anticompetitive practice--it takes two to do that tango.
Festool doesn't compete with Festool--they're free to charge whatever they
want to for their products and to require their dealers to agree to abide by
those prices.

If, for example, Festool, Bosch, Porter Cable, and Dewalt got together and
agreed that they'd all sell, say jigsaws, for the same price then _that_
would be price-fixing because you wouldn't be able to get a competing
product for a lower price.

No, the first price fixing scheme you pointed out is called vertical
price fixing. The second one is called horizontal price fixing. They
are both anticompetitive.

And vertical price fixing is lawful in the US. If you don't like it then
take it up with the Supremes. Whining at us about it will do you no good,
we have no power to change the law.

I don't think so. Gibraltorox is right. Manufacturers can "suggest" a
retail price to resellers, they can even incent resellers to use that
price (with advertising co-op funds, discount rates, kickbacks, or
other programs), but they cannot dictate the retail price to the
dealers (i.e. make it a term of sale).

They absolutely can and do. Many golf manufacturers work exactly the
same way. If you don't like the practice, don't buy the product.