Meeting Competition Defense Price Verification Form
(Short Form)

Summary

This Meeting Competition Defense Price Verification Form (Short Form) is an internal memorandum that your client can use to document the reasons a company offered a lower price to a customer and to establish a meeting competition defense in the event a Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination claim is made against the company. This defense requires the defendant to show there was a good faith belief that a competitive offer was made. 15 U.S.C. § 13(b). This template does not include all the steps by which a company can verify a competitive offer. You should discuss with your client whether the short length of this template encourages sales representatives to document competitive offers. A longer form can include a step-by-step process for the sales representative to use in establishing it has a good faith belief that a competitive offer was made to the customer. However, a sales representative may be less likely to complete a long form than a short form. If your client elects to use the short form, you should discuss with your client whether to provide its sales force with a memorandum outlining all the ways a competitive offer can be verified. For more information on the meeting competition defense, see the practice note Robinson-Patman Act Section 2(a) Price Discrimination Claims: Defenses. For a discussion of the meeting competition defense, see von Kalinowski, Sullivan & McGuirl, Antitrust Laws and Trade Regulation § 40.02 (Matthew Bender 2d ed.).