Opinion: 393 U.S. 333 (1969)

HOLDING:  In a civil antitrust case, sharing price data constitutes price stabilization in violation of the Sherman Act.

The defendants were a group of manufacturers and sellers of corrugated containers (cardboard boxes) that represented roughly 90% of total shipments of these containers in the southeastern United States.  The government alleged and proved that from 1955 to 1963, purchasers of these boxes usually bought from two or more suppliers at once; that during this time, each of the defendants could ask a competitor in the group for the most recent price charged or quoted, with the expectation that they would provide the same data if asked; and that this price sharing had the effect of stabilizing prices and limiting competition on prices.

The United States contended this price sharing violated the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.  The District Court dismissed the case.  The Supreme Court reversed, holding that price sharing is a violation of the Sherman Act.  In an industry where the defendants had a very high market share and a few sellers dominated the market, an agreement to share prices by the manufacturers established a conspiracy which “had an anticompetitive effect in the industry, chilling the vigor of price competition.”  The Supreme Court noted that in this context, price “is too critical, too sensitive a control to allow it to be used even in an informal manner to restrain competition.”