[consulting] List Mom Policies

[Karoly Negyesi]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 01:27:05 +0100, JasonN <imjasonn at gmail.com> wrote:

>> I even live in the US and have taken classes in US corporate law and
>> I'm amazed that it applies to mailing lists.
>
> It's not illegal to get together and talk about pricing.  It's not
> even illegal to get together and come to a conclusion regarding a
> universal acceptable pricing scheme.  People in all sorts of
> businesses do this all the time.  It's called "talking."  Talking is
> NOT illegal, not even in modern America.

"A famous story locally in Washington DC involved a group (substitute  
'guild') of real-estate brokers who went out to dinner together to  
celebrate a birthday of one of them. At the end of the dinner, one broker  
announced that he was raising his commission from 5% to 6% and wanted them  
to hear it from him before reading about it in the trade press. No further  
discussion ensued. Over the next year, several of the others also raised  
their commissions to 6%. All of them were indicted, even those who did not  
raise their prices, for price fixing. Criminal indictments, I might add."

http://www.aip.org/hypermail/guild/0425.html

I am not a lawyer. Heck I am not even a USA citizen. I just quote.