In William Shakespeare’s classic play Julius Caesar, Cassius makes a call for action to Brutus by playing on his love for the Republic and what evolves is one of the most brilliant lines in a Shakespeare work. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
When the FTC […]
Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed its first Robinson-Patman Act case in almost a quarter century against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC (“Southern”), alleging that Southern engaged in price discrimination by selling wine and spirits to small independent retailers at a higher price than it sold the same product to large national and […]
There are three sales channels in the liquor world, direct-to-consumer (often times one-tier involved), direct-to-retail (two-tiers involved), and sales through the traditional three-tier system.
A recent federal district Court decision in Iowa dealt with a state permitting in-state wineries to sell direct-to-retailer but not permitting these same privileges for out-of-state wineries.
Iowa unsuccessfully sought to […]
Vice President Kamala Harris shocked the political world when she suggested price controls as a way to deal with inflation. Price controls were last implemented under the Nixon Presidency and their impact was a negative for the economic system.
With playing a central role in her economic plan layout, there is no doubt, if elected President […]
Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC (“Southern”) and Republic National Distributing Company, LLC (“RNDC”) received bad news last week that Provi’s case alleging Southern and RDNC’s violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act can move forward.
Southern and RNDC filed a motion to dismiss the charges in response to Provi’s lawsuit against them. A motion to dismiss […]
It may surprise many of my readers that I recently authored an amicus brief, which advocated for the expansion of a state’s franchise rules. It seems at odds with my free-market principles that abhor economic protectionism.
Liquor franchise rules guarantee that a supplier/manufacturer cannot get out of a distribution agreement with a liquor distributor without […]
PepsiCo has called it a day for Blue Cloud Distribution and will be getting out of the liquor distribution business. This represents a major victory for the wholesale tier. PepsiCo had leased its IP to Boston Beer to make a Hard Mountain Dew, and also leased some of its other brands such as Lipton Hard […]
When I moderated a panel at the Notre Dame Wine, Beer, and Spirits Symposium on DTC shipping and 21st Amendment challenges, a debate sprung up from pro-shipping advocates on the proper standard for judging a discriminatory state liquor law. On one side of the argument was the believe that discriminatory state liquor laws are subject […]
The Ohio Attorney General has decided not to seek cert with the United States Supreme Court. On September 27th, the Sixth Circuit issued an order, which stayed the Sixth Circuit’s decision, which reversed and remanded a lower court decision upholding Ohio’s discriminatory shipping law. The Stay was issued at the request of the Ohio AG, […]
California can’t get out of their way in being business unfriendly and it amazes me that big wine interest groups let them travel down this road so easily. We seem to be slowly turning back the clock from Granholm, where barriers to entry were destroyed, to an environment where barriers to entry are becoming commonplace […]