The Law
Resale Price Maintenance
About RPM
Section 48 of the TPA prohibits a corporation from engaging in the practice of resale price maintenance. Resale price maintenance is defined in Part VIII. It captures various forms of minimum RPM (see s 96(3)), both in relation to goods and services (including withholding supply as a result of failure to agree to or adhere to a RPM requirement). Maximum RPM is not prohibited (even if it substantially lessens competition!) A person does not engage in RPM merely by providing a statement of recommended prices (s 97). Authorisation is available for RPM on public benefit grounds.
The Law
Part 1
Part IV
Section 48 Resale price maintenance
Part VI
Section 88A Authorisation to engage in resale price maintenance
Section 90(8) Further public benefit authorizations [including RPM]
Part VIII
Section 96 Acts constituting engaging in resale price maintenance
Section 96A Resale price maintenance in relation to services
Section 98 Withholding the supply of goods
Section 100 Evidentiary provisions
Cases relating to RPM
Australia
ACCC v Jurlique International Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 79 (8 February 2007)
ACCC v Navman Australia Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 2061
United States
Dr Miles Med Co v John D Park & Sons 220 US 373 (1911)
Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc v Psks, Inc, ... Kay's Shoes 551 US (2007)
Articles, working papers and conference papers relating to RPM
Australia
Warren Pengilley, 'Resale price maintenance: An overview of the per se ban in light of recent court observations' (2008) 16 Competition and Consumer Law Journal 1-45 (includes an extensive bibliography of RPM articles and books)
Other
Arthur, Thomas C., The Core of Antitrust and the Slow Death of Dr. Miles. SMU Law Review, Vol. 62, 2009; Emory Law and Economics Research Paper No. 9-46; Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 9-68. (SSRN)
Bailey, Elizabeth M. and Leonard, Gregory K., Minimum Resale Price Maintenance: Some Empirical Evidence from Maryland (January 7, 2010). (SSRN)
Bauer, Mark D., Whither Dr. Miles? (August 26, 2007). (SSRN)
Bennett, Fletcher, Giovannetti and Stallibrass, 'Resale Price Maintenance: Explaining the controversy, and small steps towards a more nuanced policy' (30 January 2010) (MPRA)
Brennan, Tim, RPM as Exclusion: Did the U.S. Supreme Court Stumble Upon the Missing Theory of Harm? (July 16, 2008). (SSRN)
Briceño Moraia, Linda, Resale Price Maintenance and Free Riding - New Insights in the U.S.A. Compared to the European Approach (November 5, 2009). GIURISPRUDENZA COMMERCIALE, Milan, Giuffrè, Forthcoming. (SSRN)
Brunell, Richard, Overruling Dr. Miles: The Supreme Trade Commission in Action. Antitrust Bulletin, Vol. 52, Nos. 3-4, 2007. (SSRN)
Dimitropoulos, Dimitrios, Sticks and Carrots: Is Resale Price Maintenance Necessary? (December 17, 2009). (SSRN)
Elzinga, Kenneth G. and Mills, David E., The Economics of Resale Price Maintenance (December 31, 2009). ISSUES IN COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY (3-Volume Set), Kenneth G. Elzinga & David E. Mills, eds., ABA Section of Antitrust Law, 2008. (SSRN)
Foros, Ø., Kind, Hans Jarle and Shaffer, Greg, Resale Price Maintenance and Restrictions on Dominant Firm and Industry-Wide Adoption (June 2007). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 2032. (SSRN)
Gilligan, Thomas W., A Signal Jamming Theory of Resale Price Maintenance (May 2003). USC CLEO Research Paper No. C03-5. (SSRN)
Gippini-Fournier, Eric, Resale Price Maintenance in the EU: In Statu Quo Ante Bellum ? (September 21, 2009). Fordham Corp. L. Inst - 36th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy, 2009 (B. Hawk ed., 2010). (SSRN)
Graglia, Lino A., Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.: The Strange Career of the Law of Resale Price Maintenance. U of Texas Law, Law and Econ Research Paper No. 115. (SSRN)
Harrison, Jeffrey Lynch, Dr. Miles' Orphans: Vertical Conspiracy and Consignment in the Wake of Leegin (February 20, 2010). (SSRN)
Hovenkamp, Herbert J., Post-Sale Restraints and Competitive Harm (February 11, 2010). U Iowa Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-08.
(SSRN)
Lambert, Thomas A., A Decision-Theoretic Rule of Reason for Minimum Resale Price Maintenance (January 27, 2010). University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2009-32. (SSRN)
Lambert, Thomas A., Dr. Miles is Dead. Now What?: Structuring a Rule of Reason for Evaluating Minimum Resale Price Maintenance (September 4, 2008). University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2008-25. (SSRN)
Lao, Marina L., Free Riding: An Overstated, and Unconvincing, Explanation for Resale Price Maintenance in How the Chicago School Overshot the Mark: The Effect of Conservative Economic Analysis on US Antitrust 196, Robert Pitofsky, ed., Oxford University Press 2008; Seton Hall Law School, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series. (SSRN)
Lao, Marina L., Leegin and Resale Price Maintenance - A Model for Emulation or for Caution for the World? (November 30, 2007). International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Vol. 39, pp. 253-258, 2008. (SSRN)
Lao, Marina L., Resale Price Maintenance: A Reassessment of its Competitive Harms and Benefits (June 1, 2009). MORE COMMON GROUND FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION LAW?, Josef Drexl et al., eds, Edward Elgar, Forthcoming. (SSRN)
Lao, Marina, 'Resale Price Maintenance: A Reassessment of its Competitive Harms and Benefits 2009 (paper prepared for the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) Conference on 'More Common Ground for International Competition Law?' held in Washington, D.C., June 17, 2009) (SSRN)
Lao, Marina L., Resale Price Maintenance: The Internet Phenomenon and 'Free Rider' Issues (March 1, 2010). Antitrust Bulletin, Forthcoming; Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper. (SSRN)
Orbach, Barak Y, 'The Image Theory: RPM and the Allure of High Prices', (December 20, 2009). Antitrust Bulletin, 2010; Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No 09-39. (at SSRN)
Orbach, Barak Y., Antitrust Vertical Myopia: The Allure of High Prices. Arizona Law Review, Vol. 50, pp. 261-287, 2008; Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 07-25. (SSRN)
Paldor, Ittai, Rethinking RPM: Did the Courts Have it Right All Along? (2007) (Thesis) (SSRN)
Paldor, Ittai, The Vertical Restraints' Paradox: Justifying the Different Legal Treatment of Price and Non-Price Vertical Restraints (January 24, 2007). (SSRN)
Pavel, Ashley Doty, Leegin v. PSKS: New Standard, New Challenges. Berkley Technology Law Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2008. (SSRN)
Peritz, Rudolph J.R., 'Nervine' and Knavery: The Life and Times of Dr. Miles Medical Company. NYLS Legal Studies Research Paper No. 06/07-21; ANTITRUST STORIES, Eleanor Fox & Dan Crane, eds., Foundation Press, Forthcoming; American Antitrust Institute Working Paper No. 07-07. (SSRN)
Roger Blair, 'The demise of Dr Miles: Some troubling consequences' (2008) 53 The Antitrust Bulletin 133
Roger Blair and Jessica Haynes, 'Leegin, The Political Backlash' (January 2010) 2 The CPI Antitrust Law Journal (online for members)
Schulz, Norbert, Resale Price Maintenance and the Service Argument: Efficiency Effects (July 2005). Wuerzburg Economic Working Paper No. 53. (SSRN)
Thomas C Arthur, 'The Core of Antitrust and the Slow Death of Dr Miles' (2009) 62 SMU Law Review (at SSRN)
Van Doorn, Frederik , Resale Price Maintenance in EC Competition Law: The Need for a Standardised Approach (November 6, 2009). (SSRN)
Reports relating to RPM
OECD, Policy Rountable: Resale Price Maintenance (September 2009) (PDF) (also available at SSRN)
OECD, Policy Roundtables: Resale Price Maintenance, 1997 (also available at SSRN)
Guidelines
ACCC, Resale Price Maintenance, New for business (16 October 2007)