Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
Yes, let us agree on that.
[...]
Sure, not a problem. Agency pricing is not illegal. Collusion to price fix is illegal.
|
See there, you and I should be the negotiators for Amazon and Hachette. This would all be over by now!
Quote:
|
Then I would like to politely ask what you think is the illegal part in the collusion.
|
The collusion to set prices, as we agree.
Quote:
|
And especially your take on how they legally could have done it through wholesale pricing, for example.
|
My point is that it would still be
illegal if it was wholesale pricing, as we agree.
Quote:
|
And not just how they all could have done it together, but even how one single publisher independent of the others could have enforced a minimum price under wholesale.
|
Well, that's easy and not illegal. The one publisher says "Retailers, my wholesale price for my books is $x.xx. I will not go any lower." Done.
If you mean how could they enforce a minimum RETAIL price with a wholesale/retail pricing model, that's a totally different matter, and I'm not sure it's relevant to this thread. In brief, though, I'm pretty sure, as has been discussed in other threads about Apple and Bose products recently, in the U.S. at least, they are legally free to contractually require a minimum retail price. That's a matter of negotiation.
I think I was told here that in the UK, that is not allowed.
Of course, in the US at least, using the ability to discount in certain unfair ways that harms the competitive market may be predatory pricing and could be prosecuted.