Resale Price Maintenance. Antimonopoly Law

Resale Price Maintenance is a kind of agreement reached by dealers who are at different levels of the same industry that some specific price must be observed when reselling goods to a third party, otherwise they will incur economic punishment. Neither like horizontal price maintenance which is characterized by obvious anti-competition nor like vertical non-price maintenance which is obviously favorable to competition, Resale Price Maintenance is quite disputable. The Harvard school and the Chicago school give economic analysis to its advantages and disadvantages from different points. Just because of the complexity in itself and our understanding limitation, the principles applied to Resale Price Maintenance are ever-changing. This article takes America, representative of the case law system, and the EU, representative of the statute law system for example. Principles applied by the US court include Per Se rules and Reasonableness Standards. In the still leading case of Dr Miles(1911) the supreme court held that Minimum Resale Price imposed a general restraint upon alienation , which was invalid. From then on, Minimum Resale Price is believed facilitating horizontal collision and is per se invalid. The US court' attitudes toward Maximum Resale Price maintenance went from per se invalid in Abrecht to strict evidence standard for damages in Atlantic and reasonable analysis in Khan. The vertical price recommendation, which is not binding, has long been considered valid. The EU generally prohibits Resale Price Maintenance in 《Roman Treaty》and immunes the Resale Price Maintenance that are favorable to competition. Although bearing difference in legal mode, both countries consider Minimum Price Maintenance invalid and take soft attitudes toward Maximum Price Maintenance and vertical price recommendation. Some conducts may limit resale price in face but is valid because they do no harm to competition. This article introduces independent act of the manufacturer, agency relationship, subsidiary and price limitation to publication. The introduction of Resale Price Maintenance in other countries aims at enlightening relevant enactment in our county. Currently the legal provisions about Resale Price Maintenance in our country are quite general and there are still no systematic statutes. The author puts forward several proposals relating to application principle and legal liabilities.