Resumption of advertising by a manufacturer in a trade buying guide formerly but no longer owned by a…

No. 7. Resumption of advertising by a manufacturer in a trade buying guide formerly but no longer owned by a wholesaler customer.

The Federal Trade Commission has rendered an advisory opinion regarding the proposed resumption of advertising by a manufacturer of drugs and cosmetics in a drug trade buying guide which was previously published by a wholesaler customer but whose present ownerpublisher is not connected in any way with any customer of the manufacturer.

The Commission s advice was that no objection could be raised to payments by a manufacturer for advertising in buying guides if the guides are available, in a practical business sense, to all of his wholesaler customers. The advisory opinion noted: "Payments for advertising in a buying guide published hy a firm which is not owned or controlled by, or in any way directly or indirectly affliated with, any customer of the advertiser or group or class of such customers do not violate Section 2(d) of the Clayton Act where no discriminatory benefit is conferred by such payments on a particular customer, or class or group of cus tomeI's , over competitors. The Commission has been informed that the present owner-publisher '" " " has no connection whatsoever with ." " ':' any ':' " " drug or cosmetic company or group thereof; that the buying guide is available at low cost to all drug wholesalers and is apparently not designed to be usable only by particular wholesalers or classes or groups of wholesalers; that every efIort is made to distribute the buying guide as broadly as possible among drug wholesalers; and that distribution is not limited to any particular wholesalers or group or elass of wholesalers. " (File No. 653 7049, released Nov. 23 1965.