Fixed-Price War

For months a battle has raged among retailers, manufacturers, discount houses and the courts over the interpretation and enforcement of Fair-Trade laws. Last week the disagreement spread to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

FTC touched off the dispute with Antitrust when it ruled that Eastman Kodak Co. may sign Fair-Trade contracts with independent retailers, even though these retailers compete with Kodak's own retail stores. Nobody was more surprised at FTC's decision than the trustbusters. Only a month ago Eastman agreed to drop Fair-Trade pricing on Kodachrome and Kodacolor film after the Justice Department brought an antitrust suit against Eastman. One of the three charges was that Eastman sold through its own retail outlets in illegal competition with price-fixed Eastman film sold through independent stores. Thus, while the Justice Department ended price fixing on two Eastman products in a consent decree (TIME, Jan. 3), FTC has sanctioned Fair-Trade pricing on Eastman's 163 other products--cameras, lenses, photographic paper, projectors, etc.

Justice's antitrust experts complained that FTC's decision violated the spirit of Eastman's consent decree, would stifle competition and lead to price fixing by manufacturers. But FTC denied it was overruling the Justice Department, noted that it had specifically exempted from its decision the two Eastman products covered by the consent decree. To many a businessman, the trustbusters' inability to agree among themselves was the best proof that the entire field of Fair-Trade pricing and enforcement needed a thorough reappraisal.

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