
15
U.S.C. 12-27
15 U.S.C.
§12:
Definitions; short title "Antitrust laws," as used herein,
includes the Act entitled "An Act to protect trade and commerce
against unlawful restraints and monopolies," approved July second,
eighteen hundred and ninety; sections seventy-three to seventy-seven,
inclusive, of an Act entitled "An Act to reduce taxation, to
provide revenue for the Government, and for other purposes," of
August twenty- seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-four; an Act
entitled "An Act to amend sections seventy-three and seventy-six
of the Act of August twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-four,
entitled 'An Act to reduce taxation, to provide revenue for the
Government, and for other purposes,' " approved February twelfth,
nineteen hundred and thirteen; and also this Act.
"Commerce,"
as used herein, means trade or commerce among the several States and
with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia or any
Territory of the United States and any State, Territory, or foreign
nation, or between any insular possessions or other places under the
jurisdiction of the United States, or between any such possession or
place and any State or Territory of the United States or the District
of Columbia or any foreign nation, or within the District of Columbia
or any Territory or any insular possession or other place under the
jurisdiction of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act
contained shall apply to the Philippine Islands.
The word
"person" or "persons" wherever used in this Act
shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under
or authorized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any
of the Territories, the laws of any State, or the laws of any foreign
country.
(b) This Act may be
cited as the "Clayton Act".
15 U.S.C.
§13:
Discrimination in price, services, or facilities
(a) Price; selection
of customers
It shall be unlawful
for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce,
either directly or indirectly, to discriminate in price between
different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality, where
either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination are in
commerce, where such commodities are sold for use, consumption, or
resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the
District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the
jurisdiction of the United States, and where the effect of such
discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to
create a monopoly in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or
prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly
receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of
either of them: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent
differentials which make only due allowance for differences in the cost
of manufacture, sale, or delivery resulting from the differing methods
or quantities in which such commodities are to such purchasers sold or
delivered: Provided, however, That the Federal Trade Commission may,
after due investigation and hearing to all interested parties, fix and
establish quantity limits, and revise the same as it finds necessary,
as to particular commodities or classes of commodities, where it finds
that available purchasers in greater quantities are so few as to render
differentials on account thereof unjustly discriminatory or promotive
of monopoly in any line of commerce; and the foregoing shall then not
be construed to permit differentials based on differences in quantities
greater than those so fixed and established: And provided further, That
nothing herein contained shall prevent persons engaged in selling
goods, wares, or merchandise in commerce from selecting their own
customers in bona fide transactions and not in restraint of trade: And
provided further, That nothing herein contained shall prevent price
changes from time to time where in response to changing conditions
affecting the market for or the marketability of the goods concerned,
such as but not limited to actual or imminent deterioration of
perishable goods, obsolescence of seasonal goods, distress sales under
court process, or sales in good faith in discontinuance of business in
the goods concerned.
(b) Burden of
rebutting prima-facie case of discrimination
Upon proof being made,
at any hearing on a complaint under this section, that there has been
discrimination in price or services or facilities furnished, the burden
of rebutting the prima-facie case thus made by showing justification
shall be upon the person charged with a violation of this section, and
unless justification shall be affirmatively shown, the Commission is
authorized to issue an order terminating the discrimination: Provided,
however, That nothing herein contained shall prevent a seller rebutting
the prima-facie case thus made by showing that his lower price or the
furnishing of services or facilities to any purchaser or purchasers was
made in good faith to meet an equally low price of a competitor, or the
services or facilities furnished by a competitor.
(c) Payment or
acceptance of commission, brokerage, or other compensation
It shall be unlawful
for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to
pay or grant, or to receive or accept, anything of value as a
commission, brokerage, or other compensation, or any allowance or
discount in lieu thereof, except for services rendered in connection
with the sale or purchase of goods, wares, or merchandise, either to
the other party to such transaction or to an agent, representative, or
other intermediary therein where such intermediary is acting in fact
for or in behalf, or is subject to the direct or indirect control, of
any party to such transaction other than the person by whom such
compensation is so granted or paid.
(d) Payment for
services or facilities for processing or sale
It shall be unlawful
for any person engaged in commerce to pay or contract for the payment
of anything of value to or for the benefit of a customer of such person
in the course of such commerce as compensation or in consideration for
any services or facilities furnished by or through such customer in
connection with the processing, handling, sale, or offering for sale of
any products or commodities manufactured, sold, or offered for sale by
such person, unless such payment or consideration is available on
proportionally equal terms to all other customers competing in the
distribution of such products or commodities.
(e) Furnishing
services or facilities for processing, handling, etc.
It shall be unlawful
for any person to discriminate in favor of one purchaser against
another purchaser or purchasers of a commodity bought for resale, with
or without processing, by contracting to furnish or furnishing, or by
contributing to the furnishing of, any services or facilities connected
with the processing, handling, sale, or offering for sale of such
commodity so purchased upon terms not accorded to all purchasers on
proportionally equal terms.
(f) Knowingly inducing
or receiving discriminatory price
It shall be unlawful
for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce,
knowingly to induce or receive a discrimination in price which is
prohibited by this section.
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