Fair Trade Practices

The National Retail Federation, along with the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and two retailers, has filed a lawsuit charging the Federal Reserve of failing to follow key swipe-fee requirements of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher wrote to Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, to urge him to refocus his office’s recently announced inquiry into agreements between the industry’s major publishers and Amazon.com and Apple, Inc.

Canadian booksellers are not sitting still as they await the government's decision on Amazon's application to open a warehouse in Canada. "Our members are writing their MPs, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Prime Minister of Canada to express their concerns," said Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) Executive Director Susan Dayus.

On November 2, the trade association ComicsPRO wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice to join in the American Booksellers Association's request that the department investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that "may constitute illegal predatory pricing." ComicsPRO represents the interests of direct-market comic book retailers, and its letter was signed by its nine-member Board of Directors.

Last week, the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing.

The Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association today sent the following letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers. VIA OVERNIGHT MAIL AND E-MAIL October 22, 2009

With no fanfare, Barnes & Noble has begun collecting sales tax on online purchases made through its Barnes&Noble.com website in 38 states. The company website currently notes, "In accordance with applicable law, Barnes&Noble.com collects tax in all but the following states: Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont, and the District of Columbia." States that have no sales tax are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.

Volvo did not violate Robinson-Patman Act, court declares

On July 25, ABA joined a number of retail and dealer trade groups in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA) -- a federal law enacted in 1936 that protects individual competitors from price discrimination in favor of large chain stores by their suppliers. ABA submitted its friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Arkansas-based truck dealer Reeder-Simco GMC, which claims Volvo violated RPA by favoring other truck dealers.

As previously reported by Bookselling This Week, in late July, Bruce V. Spiva of the law firm Tycko, Zavareei & Spiva offered comments on behalf of the American Booksellers Association to the Antitrust Modernization Commission Robinson-Patman Act Panel, which was established by Congress to review the nation's antitrust laws.