Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
It is generally legal for companies to fix prices so long as the collaboration is basically non-verbal -- see airfares.
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Airfares aren't the *best* of examples for (wink-wink) price-fixing as it is a somewhat competitive business with two distinct cost structures, constantly changing costs and prices, and a history of *dropping* prices when costs do drop.
The way the US airlines work is one raises prices and if the outcry isn't too bad and none of the others sees it as an opening to take market share away, others follow suit. But as often as not, somebody sees it as a way to beef up their seat loading by staying pat and making sure consumers know about it.
HDTVs are a better example of *attempts* to fix prices by ad-hoc carteling.
Samsung started the ball rolling early this year:
http://hdguru.com/will-samsungs-new-...xclusive/7317/
Sony and others quietly followed.
http://hdguru.com/sony-joins-samsung...510/#more-7510
Of course, by now, significant discounts *are* available.
Mostly because other vendors saw advantage in *not* going along.
Wink-wink agreements don't last.
That's the main reason why carteling needs explicit agreement to work.
(And why the "nameless" BPH rep want Apple's assurance they would be one of 4 or 5 before committing to the price fix, according to the DOJ email evidence.)