The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America

Withholding from or inserting in invoices or sales tickets any statements or information by reason of which omission or insertion a false record is made, wholly or in part, of the transactions represented on the face of such invoices or sales tickets, with the effect of thereby misleading or deceiving the purchasing or consuming public, is an unfair trade practice.

§ 20.3 Use of false or deceptive selling methods, etc.

The use of false or deceptive selling methods which have the tendency and capacity or effect of misleading or deceiving the purchasing or consuming public is an unfair trade practice.

§ 20.4 Misuse of terms "close-outs," items," "discontinued

"obsolete lines," etc.

It is an unfair trade practice to advertise, describe or otherwise represent regular lines of merchandise as "closeouts," "obsolete items," "discontinued lines," or by words or representations of similar import, when such are not true in fact; or to so advertise, describe or otherwise represent merchandise where the capacity and tendency or effect thereof is to lead the purchasing or consuming public to believe such merchandise is being offered for sale and sold at greatly reduced prices or at so-called "bargain" prices, when such is not the fact.

§ 20.6 Commercial bribery.

It is an unfair trade practice for a member of the industry directly or indirectly to give, or offer to give, or permit or cause to be given, money or anything of value to agents, employees or representatives of customers or prospective customers, or to agents, employees or representatives of competitors' customers or prospective customers, without the knowledge of their employers or principals, as an inducement to influence their employers or principals to purchase or contract to purchase public seating products manufactured or sold by such industry member or the maker of such gift or offer, or to influence such employers or principals to refrain from dealing in the products of competitors or from dealing or contracting to deal with competitors. § 20.7 Unfair threats of infringement suits.

The circulation of threats of suit for infringement of patents or trademarks among customers or prospective customers of competitors, not made in good faith but for the purpose or with the effect of harassing or intimidating such customers or prospective customers, or of unduly hampering, injuring or prejudicing competitors in their businesses, is an unfair trade practice.

§ 20.8 Procurement of competitors' confidential information by unfair means, and wrongful use thereof.

It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry to obtain information concerning the business of a competitor, by bribery of an employee or agent of such competitor, by false or misleading statements or representations, by the impersonation of one in authority, or by any other unfair means, and to use the information so obtained in such a manner as to injure said competitor in his business or to suppress competition or unreasonably restrain trade.

(a) Prohibited discriminatory prices, or rebates, refunds, discounts, credits, etc., which effect unlawful price discrimination. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to grant or allow, secretly or openly, directly or indirectly, any rebate, refund, discount, credit, or other form of price differential,' where such rebate, refund, discount, credit, or other form of price differential effects a discrimination in price between different purchasers of goods of like grade and quality, where either or any of the purchases involved therein are in commerce, and where the effect thereof 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, how

ever:

(1) That the goods involved in any such transaction are sold for use, consumption, or resale within any place under the jurisdiction of the United States;

(2) 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;

1 Paragraph (a) of § 20.12 shall not be construed as embracing practices prohibited by paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this section.

(3) 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;

(4) That nothing herein contained shall prevent price changes from time to time where made in response to changing conditions affecting either (i) the market for the goods concerned, or (ii) the marketability of the goods, 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) Prohibited brokerage and commissions. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry 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.

(c) Prohibited advertising or promotional allowances, etc. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce to pay or contract for the payment of advertising or promotional allowances or any other thing of value to or for the benefit of a customer of such member 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 member, unless such payment or consideration is available on proportionally equal terms to all other customers competing in the distribution of such products or commodities.

(d) Prohibited discriminatory services or facilities. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce 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 by 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.

(e) Inducing or receiving an illegal discrimination in price. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, knowingly to induce or receive a discrimination in price which is prohibited by the foregoing provisions of this section.

(f) Purchases by schools, colleges, universities, public libraries, churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions not operating for profit. The foregoing provisions of this section relate to practices within the purview of the Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act, which act and the application thereunder of this section are subject to the limitations expressed in the amendment to such Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act, which amendment was approved May 26, 1938, and reads as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That nothing in the Act approved June 19, 1936 (Public, Numbered 692, Seventy-fourth Congress, second session), known as the Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act, shall apply to purchases of their supplies for their own use by schools, colleges, universities, public libraries, churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions not operated for profit.

(Sec. 2, 38 Stat. 730, as amended, secs. 2, 3, 4, 49 Stat. 1527, 1528, ch. 283, 52 Stat. 446; 15 U.S.C. 13, 13a, 13b, 13c, 21a)

§ 20.13 Aiding or abetting use of unfair trade practices.

It is an unfair trade practice for any person, firm or corporation to aid, abet, coerce or induce another, directly or indirectly, to use or promote the use of any unfair trade practice specified in this part.

21.13

Inducing breach of contract.

Prohibited forms of trade restraints (unlawful price, price fixing, etc.). Exclusive deals.

Guarantees, etc.

Discriminatory returns.

21.14 Consignment distribution. 21.15 Seconds, irregulars, or rejects. 21.16 Fictitious prices, price lists, etc. 21.17 Misuse of terms "close-outs," "discontinued lines," "special bargains," etc. 21.18 Aiding or abetting use of unfair trade practices.

AUTHORITY: The provisions of this Part 21 issued under secs. 6, 5, 38 Stat. 721, 719; 15 U.S.C. 46, 45.

SOURCE: The provision of this Part 21 appear at 20 F.R. 8811, Dec. 1, 1955, unless otherwise noted.

§ 21.0 Definitions.

As used in the rules in this part, the terms "industry member" and "industry products" shall have the following meanings, respectively:

(a) Industry member. Any person, firm, corporation, or organization engaged in the manufacture, importation, or marketing at any level of distribution, of industry products. Industry

members who purchase industry products for resale are sometimes referred to in these rules as customers or competing customers.

(b) Industry products. Corsets, brassieres, girdles, combinations, garter belts, bust pads, and related foundation garments.

§ 21.1

GROUP I

Prohibited discrimination.1

(a) Prohibited discriminatory prices, rebates, refunds, discounts, credits, etc., which effect unlawful price discrimination. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to grant or allow, secretly or openly, directly or indirectly, any rebate, refund, discount, credit, or other form of price differential (whether in the guise of samples, or so-called free deals, or otherwise), where such rebate, refund, discount, credit, or other form of price differential, effects a discrimination in price between different purchasers of goods of like grade and quality, where either or any of the purchases involved therein are in commerce, and where the effect thereof 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, however:

(1) That the goods involved in any such transaction are sold for use, consumption, or resale within any place under the jurisdiction of the United States;

(2) That nothing contained in this paragraph shall prevent differentials which make only due allowance for differences in the cost of manufacture,

1 As used in this section, the word "commerce" 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."

sale, or delivery resulting from the differing methods or quantities in which such commodities are to such purchasers sold or delivered;

(3) That nothing contained in this section 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;

(4) That nothing contained in this paragraph shall prevent price changes from time to time where made 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;

NOTE 1: Industry members giving advertising allowances to competing customers must exercise precaution and diligence in seeing that all of such allowances are used in accordance with the terms of their offers. NOTE 2: When an industry member gives allowances to competing customers for advertising in a newspaper or periodical, the fact that a lower advertising rate for equivalent space is available to one or more, but not all, such customers, is not to be regarded by the industry member as warranting the retention by such customer or customers of any portion of the allowance for his or their personal use or benefit.

(d) Prohibited discriminatory services or facilities. It is an unfair trade practice for any member of the industry engaged in commerce 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 competing purchasers on proportionally equal terms.

(f) Exemptions. The inhibitions of this section shall not apply to purchases of their supplies for their own use by schools, colleges, universities, public libraries, churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions not operated for profit.

NOTE: In complaint proceedings charging discrimination in price or services or facilities furnished, and upon proof having been made of such discrimination and resulting competitive injury, the burden of rebutting the prima facie case thus made by showing justification shall be upon the person charged; and unless justification shall be affirmatively shown, the Commission is authorized to issue an order terminating the discrimination: Provided, however, That nothing contained in this section shall prevent a seller rebutting the prima facie case thus made by showing that his lower price or the furnishing of services of 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. See section (b), Clayton Act.

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