[thelist] re:site price help

Martin martin at members.evolt.org
Tue Jul 18 00:52:59 CDT 2000


Greg Strange wrote on 18/7/00 5:30 am

>The following
>comments should not be construed as legal advice and should not be implied
>to have come from an attorney or a legal expert. 
I think that applies to all of us on an equal footing (although some of
us I know have taken law classes in our various juristictions).

>The
>definition of price-fixing is the agreement to set a minimum price or
>maximum price or both (by setting the only price) to the exclusion of others
>in the same field of commerce. 
Such as a web developer on a mailing list containing a subset of all
web developers asking 'should I charge more/less for this?'

> Your
>discussion of prices is in no way (again I am not a lawyer) an entree into
>price-fixing unless you could show _without doubt_ that you were discussing
>the minimum prices to set and that having agreed between any number of us
>caused another member of the profession to lose commerce therefrom. 
Such as other developers who may also be bidding for the job Ted's
quoting for?

In my original email, I merely suggested that some interpretations
of the law (and like most civil legal issues, it *is* a matter of
interpretation) suggest that discussing pricing on a list of professional
developers is akin to running a cartel. I did not say "Stop discussing
it right now, it's illegal and we're all going to get sued"

>Anyone with cases or prime
>facie interests in anti-trust cases before a court should seek competent
>legal advice -- 
Indeed they should.

>not the ravings of an admitted radical on the Internet.  
Nice to know that I've been promoted to 'radical' - something I've
always aspired to.

>My mother on the other hand was an administrative law
>judge for the Department of Labor for nearly seven years.  
If you wish to consult your mother and get her professional advice
(backed by her professional indemnity insurance, of course) then you
are entirely at liberty to have that assurance for your business. Not
every member of thelist has that freedom or the cash to pay for the
advice, so hints of best practise may be welcome.


Cheers
Martin




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