Injunction Against Price Cutter Granted

From Horology magazine, October, 1938

Injunction Against Price Cutter Granted

The Supreme Court of New York State, on September 17th, sustained the charges of the Hamilton Watch Company brought against the Wholesale Watch & Jewelry Company of New York City and granted an injunction restraining the defendants from "offering for sale or selling the product of the Hamilton Watch Company, the plaintiff herein, or any part thereof, either directly or by subterfuge at prices below the minimum fixed by the Hamilton Watch Company, in accordance with the Fair Trade contracts and scheduled prices annexed to the complaint in this action."

The injunction states, "The accepting of articles of nominal value and the giving of a trade-in allowance therefor in excess of the reasonable value thereof as a 'trade-in' is hereby declared to be a subterfuge to escape the provisions of the Law and is hereby enjoined and restrained.

"The selection of isolated models of the plaintiff's product and advertising them for sale as 'close-outs' is hereby declared to be a subterfuge to escape the provisions of the Law, and such action is hereby enjoined and restrained." Thus, in a court test New York's Feld-Crawford Fair Trade Law was upheld and the Hamilton Watch Company was successful in its effort to prevent price cutting.