Cite as: 509 U. S. 209 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
386 U. S. 685 (1967). In Utah Pie, we reviewed the sufficiency of the evidence supporting jury verdicts against three national pie companies that had engaged in a variety of predatory practices in the market for frozen pies in Salt Lake City, with the intent to drive a local pie manufacturer out of business. We reversed the Court of Appeals and held that the evidence presented was adequate to permit a jury to find a likelihood of injury to competition. Id., at 703.
Utah Pie has often been interpreted to permit liability for primary-line price discrimination on a mere showing that the defendant intended to harm competition or produced a declining price structure. The case has been criticized on the ground that such low standards of competitive injury are at odds with the antitrust laws' traditional concern for consumer welfare and price competition. See Bowman, Restraint of Trade by the Supreme Court: The Utah Pie Case, 77 Yale L. J. 70 (1967); R. Posner, Antitrust Law: An Economic Perspective 193-194 (1976); L. Sullivan, Antitrust 687 (1977); 3 P. Areeda & D. Turner, Antitrust Law ¶ 720c (1978) (hereinafter Areeda & Turner); R. Bork, The Antitrust Paradox 386-387 (1978); H. Hovenkamp, Economics and Federal Antitrust Law 188-189 (1985). We do not regard the Utah Pie case itself as having the full significance attributed to it by its detractors. Utah Pie was an early judicial inquiry in this area and did not purport to set forth explicit, general standards for establishing a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act. As the law has been explored since Utah Pie, it has become evident that primary-line competitive injury under the Robinson-Patman Act is of the same general character as the injury inflicted by predatory pricing schemes actionable under § 2 of the Sherman Act. See, e. g., Henry v. Chloride, Inc., 809 F. 2d 1334, 1345 (CA8 1987); D. E. Rogers Associates, Inc. v. Gardner-Denver Co., 718 F. 2d 1431, 1439 (CA6 1983), cert. denied, 467 U. S. 1242 (1984); William Inglis & Sons Baking Co. v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 668 F. 2d 1014, 1041 (CA9 1981), cert. denied, 459 U. S. 825 (1982);
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