Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
June,  19 18. 
Fixing  Resale  Prices. 
451 
FIXING  OF  THE  RESALE  PRICES  OF  ARTICLES  TO  BE 
FORBIDDEN  BY  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION. 
The  Federal  Trade  Commission  has  issued  the  following  formal 
statement  of  its  policy  on  the  question  of  fixing  resale  prices,  a  sub- 
ject that  has  long  been  a  matter  of  contention  and  of  extended  liti- 
gation affecting  the  drug  trade. 
For  a  considerable  time  there  has  been  a  controversy  through- 
out the  country  over  the  question  of  the  right  of  manufacturers, 
wholesalers,  etc.,  fixing  resale  prices  at  which  their  articles  could  be 
sold,  and  the  right  to  maintain  such  resale  prices  has  been  contended 
for  by  them,  and  the  question  whether  such  right  exists  has  been 
brought  before  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  numerous  times. 
Many  hearings  have  been  had,  many  complaints  have  been  made, 
and  much  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  subject  by  that  com- 
mission. Many  business  concerns  have  been  refusing  to  sell  to  cus- 
tomers who  would  not  agree  to  maintain  the  resale  price  fixed  by 
the  seller. 
First  Case  Disposed  of.- — The  Federal  Trade  Commission  has 
just  disposed  of  the  first  of  these  cases  in  which  complaints  have 
been  issued  charging  violations  of  law  through  fixing  the  resale 
price  of  articles,  and  an  order  to  cease  and  desist  from  this  practice 
has  just  been  issued  by  it  in  the  case  of  Chester  Kent  &  Co.  (Inc.), 
of  Boston,  manufacturers  of  proprietary  medicines. 
Attorneys  for  the  company  admitted  that  in  the  past  the  prac- 
tices complained  of  had  been  in  use.  The  order,  the  first  in  cases 
of  this  character,  forbids  the  company  to — 
(a)  Indicate  to  dealers  the  prices  for  which  its  proprietary  or 
patent  medicines  shall  be  resold. 
(b)  Securing  agreements  from  dealers  to  adhere  to  such  prices. 
(c)  Refusing  to  sell  to  dealers  who  fail  to  adhere  to  such  prices. 
(d)  Refusing  to  sell  to  dealers  who  fail  to  adhere  to  such  prices 
upon  the  same  terms  as  dealers  who  do  so  adhere. 
(e)  Furnishing  any  advantage  to  dealers  who  adhere  to  the 
resale  prices,  while  refusing  similar'  treatment  to  dealers  who  do 
not  adhere  to  the  prices. 
This  order  of  the  commission  follows  the  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  American  Graphophone 
Co.  case  lately  decided  by  it. 
