14 January 2008
I would like to begin using a blogger software soon.
Chris @ 22:57 | Permanent link
18 December 2007
This is only a test...
Chris @ 21:16 | Permanent link
25 September 2007
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Chris @ 11:01 | Permanent link
3 July 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-ex-prices28jun29,1,2736418.story?track=rss
From the Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court OKs retail price fixing by manufacturers
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer
10:43 AM PDT, June 28, 2007
WASHINGTON — Manufacturers may set a fixed price for their products and forbid retailers from offering discounts, the Supreme Court said today, overturning a nearly century-old rule of antitrust law that prohibited retail price fixing.
The 5-4 ruling may be felt by shoppers, including those who buy on the Internet. It permits manufacturers to adopt and enforce what lawyers called "resale price maintenance agreements" that forbid discounting.
Until today, the nation has had an unusually competitive retail market, in part because antitrust laws made it illegal for sellers or manufacturers to agree on fixed prices. The Supreme Court, in a 1911 case involving Dr. Miles and his patented medicines, had said that price-fixing agreements between manufacturers and retail sellers were flatly illegal.
The rule's practical effect was to discourage a manufacturer from setting a price, leading, for instance, to stickers on the windows of new cars that list the "manufacturer's suggested retail price."
However, in today's opinion, the high court described this rule as outdated and out of step with modern economics.
Manufacturers of products ranging from watches and computers to golf clubs and tennis rackets compete with other brands, so competition will not suffer, the court majority said. Moreover, manufacturers should be free to control how their products will be marketed and sold, it said.
"Resale price maintenance can increase inter-brand competition by encouraging retailer services that would not be provided ... absent free riding," said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said for the court.
He noted that retailers that offer displays and service for customers can be undercut by discounters.
But lawyers for the Consumers Union said that abandoning the rule against retail price fixing will result in higher prices for a variety of products.
The decision is a victory for a Los Angeles-area maker of women's handbags and other leather products. Leegin Creative Leather Products, based in the City of Commerce, makes handbags under the Brighton brand. Owner Jerry Kohl has insisted that shopkeepers sell his bags at prices he sets.
He was sued by the owner of a women's clothing shop near Dallas on the grounds that his pricing policy violated antitrust laws. A jury agreed with the shopkeeper, and the decision led to a nearly $4-million judgment.
The Supreme Court reversed the verdict today in Leegin vs. PSKS. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. also were in the majority.
The decision, coming on the last day of the court's term, was the 15th this year that benefits business and corporations by shielding them from lawsuits and legal claims.
The dissenters, led by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, faulted the majority for overturning a long-established rule that had benefited consumers.
"The only safe predictions to make about today's decision are that it will likely raise the price of goods at retail and that will create considerable legal turbulence," Breyer said.
The ruling leaves open the possibility that price-fixing agreements can be attacked under antitrust laws, but only when a manufacturer's brand dominates the market. This is rarely true with common retail products.
david.savage@latimes.com
Chris @ 16:37 | Permanent link
21 June 2007
Part 3:
http://news.com.com/Google+boss+shows+off+iPhone/2100-1041_3-6192452.html?tag=cnetfd.mt
Apple and Google....now microsoft should be worried.
If you'll recall I wrote about this happening a week earlier. Without any prior knowledge of this article.
Chris @ 14:29 | Permanent link
18 June 2007
http://news.com.com/Mozilla+exec+calls+Apples+Safari+plan+duopolistic/2100-1032_3-6191562.html?tag=newsmap
This an update to a comment I made last week about Apple's intention of becoming the next Microsoft. Appears i'm not the only who is aware of what is about to come. Read for youself.
Chris @ 15:36 | Permanent link
13 June 2007
Chris @ 14:25 | Permanent link
30 March 2007
If your reading this commentary I would like to thank you for tuning in...
I read an article earlier today about a panel of web experts and venture capitalists seeking to find the next investment wave. It seems some feel the web 2.0 bubble could burst by years end. Actually to some level I agree. Let me explain, we've all heard about Web companies that enable audiences to develop, interact, and work in groups to create content or become movie moguls all in the same day. To be sure this type of web service is truly amazing! It's exciting to see the direction the web is ( or rather the collaborative efforts of the web community ) taking. But something is truly missing ( can you guess what it is ?) Recently there was a group of old media companies that annouced they were working as a group to provide an answer to Google's You tube. Because of "copyright infringement". So that is the story we're told. I applaude Google and their efforts to be leader in the charge of the new frontier. I guess what I am saying is does anyone really get the web? Here's my point. This panel of web experts need not look very far to see the endless opportunities for profitable investment. It seems like all companies except for a very small minority actually .... Just don't get it! You can do almost anything with the web (and the endless development of software applications!) As far as I can remember it is really unusual for small companies with just a handful of talented people to come along and threaten industry giants and their "monopolies". To sum it all up: Web 1.0 is dead and Google had very little to do with it. For the record " Google get its!" and so do we at Discover Trade. I hope you like the improvements that you will see in the coming months!
Chris @ 16:57 | Permanent link
http://blogs.business2.com/apple/2007/06/apple_iphone_al.html#comment-72636732
I have a different take than what appears to be posted to this blog: I given this I hope a lot of thought. It's not about the keyboard or the lack there of... remember when steve jobs said that apple was not interested in adding video to the ipod? that was just a smoke screen of things to come. For apple to really make money off of a product like this they need to have something up their sleeve. To me it seems this is the standard of the new digital appliance, that can tie you in to anything, anywhere from the mobile web ( or the palm of your hand.) I truly believe the killer software apps are coming shortly. Apple will have missed the boat if they do not already realize that by creating a culture icon the ipod. That on June 29th 2007 Apple will become the Microsoft of the mobile computing platform. My hunch is watch Google unleash proprietary apps very soon.