“A bill to strengthen the prohibition on price discrimination under the Clayton Act, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section revises Section 2 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits price discrimination that substantially lessens competition or tends to create a monopoly, by (1) expanding its scope to cover "products or services" (from "commodities" or "goods, wares, or merchandise"), "service provision," and transactions "in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce" (from solely "in commerce"); (2) authorizing "due allowance for functional discounts or" differences in costs; (3) eliminating the "meeting competition" defense in subsection (b); (4) in new subsection (f), prohibiting inducement or receipt of discriminatory benefits by persons engaged in commerce or activities affecting commerce, except that persons with annual retail sales not exceeding $100 billion are liable only if they knowingly did so; and (5) adding subsection (g) to broadly define "purchase" and "purchaser" as paying or granting value for a product or service, regardless of title passage or control. This section further amends Section 4 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 15) to presume injury and damages equal to the amount of discrimination in private actions alleging Section 2 violations, with plaintiffs able to prove additional damages. The amendments apply to transactions occurring on or after the date of enactment.