RE: Advice from Peter

["Peter Banks" <pbanks@diabetes.org>]

I am not trying to inhibit discussion by librarians, publishers, or dog
catchers, for that matter.

I am merely pointing out that any discussion of pricing issues on list
serves is generally recognized as potentially anticompetitive and
prohibited by most moderators.

For example, this is from the National Association of Independent Schools:
"Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to
arrive at any agreement that either expressly or implicitly leads to price
fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to, or
that results in, illegally restricting free trade. Messages that encourage
or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate:
prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits,
profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or
markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection,
or termination of customers or suppliers. This list is not exclusive. Any
and all participants leading to antitrust investigations or concerns may
be held liable for the same. "

Identical language (it must be from listserveattorney.com, or something)
appears on many other list serve rules.

Peter Banks
Acting Vice President for Publications/Publisher
American Diabetes Association
Email: pbanks@diabetes.org

>>> "David Goodman" <David.Goodman@liu.edu> 11/10/05 10:53 PM >>>
Peter,

Do you mean discussions of pricing, discussions giving specific prices and
detail of contracts, or discussions of the advisability or legality of
having such discussions.

You give an opinion about the legality of private discussions at a
meeting. But I believe Karl was asking about public discussion at a
meeting. I, and you, have been at many a meeting where publishers
presented openly their pricing structure, generally for the purpose of
trying to convince prospective purchasers that they were getting a fair
deal. At any rate, I suggest that it is exactly the private arrangements
behind a closed door that are likely to be anticompetitive.

And I remember the title of the precursor to this list on the web, the
"Newsletter on Serials Pricing issues."

Extending your theory, is it legal to post a price list on the web, as
most publishers do?  Another publisher could use this information for such
purposes as not charging a higher price for similar material.

I have frequently given advice on pricing on this and other lists, in
various periodicals, and in many open and private conversations, and so
have many others.  I'm not a lawyer, as is obvious, but perhaps Peter is
using the legal structure that prohibits anticompetitive practices to
prohibit the discussion of pro-competitive practices.

Dr. David Goodman
Associate Professor
Palmer School of Library and Information Science
Long Island University
dgoodman@liu.edu