Antitrust and Consumer Protection
Competition: Fall 2015, Vol 24, No. 2
Content
- A Tale of Two Statutes: Cipro, Edwards, and the Rule of Reason
- Antitrust Treatment of State Licensing Boards In the Wake of North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners V.F.T.C.
- Breaking a Monopoly: Vigilante Justice or the Sort of Innovative Approach We Celebrate?
- Capitalizing On Judicial Antitrust Experience
- Chair's Column
- Editor's Note
- Health Care Merger Analysis In the Era of Payment Reform
- Masthead
- Mobile Apps: Redefining the Virtual California Economy and the Laws That Govern It
- Off-label Use of the Cartwright Act: Will Cipro Require State Courts To Assess Federal Patent Validity In Pay-for-delay Cases?
- Pleading An Antitrust Conspiracy In a Post-twombly World
- Promoting Antitrust Compliance the Antitrust Division's Subtle Shift Regarding Corporate Compliance: a Step Toward Incentivizing More Robust Antitrust Compliance Efforts
- Putting Cipro Meat On Actavis Bones: a Case Study In Filling In the Legal Gaps
- Table of Contents
- The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section
- The Magna Carta and the Sherman Act
- The Northern District of California Opens Its Doors To the World's Civil Antitrust Disputes
- What You See Isn't What You Get: How the Colgate Doctrine May Apply To the Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust Litigation
WHAT YOU SEE ISN’T WHAT YOU GET: HOW THE COLGATE DOCTRINE MAY APPLY TO THE DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENS ANTITRUST LITIGATION
By James M. Mulcahy & Filemon Carrillo1
I. INTRODUCTION
The four largest disposable contact lens manufacturers2 have, within months of each other, implemented minimum resale pricing policies that govern the sales of specific contact lens models. Given the unique prescription method and downstream distribution characteristics of the disposable contact lens industry, many contact lens retailers and consumers maintain that: (a) these policies are anticompetitive and have no legitimate procompetitive justification; and (b) both intrabrand and interbrand3 competition in the disposable contact lens relevant product market are severely limited as a direct result of these pricing policies.
The disposable contact lens manufacturers now are facing claims that have been brought by retailers and disposable contact lens consumers under Section 1 of the federal Sherman Act and Section 16720 the California Cartwright Act.4 These actions allege that the policies implemented by the contact lens manufacturers are anticompetitive and unlawful. The manufacturers, on the other hand, argue that because the policies were implemented unilaterally, they are immune from antitrust liability.