California Dental Assn. v. FTC, 526 U.S. 756, 9 (1999)

Page:   Index   Previous  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  Next

764

CALIFORNIA DENTAL ASSN. v. FTC

Opinion of the Court

strictions encouraged disclosure and prevented false and misleading advertising, carried little weight because "it is simply infeasible to disclose all of the information that is required," id., at 728, and "the record provides no evidence that the rule has in fact led to increased disclosure and transparency of dental pricing," ibid. As to nonprice advertising restrictions, the court said that

"[t]hese restrictions are in effect a form of output limitation, as they restrict the supply of information about individual dentists' services. See Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law ¶ 1505 at 693-94 (Supp. 1997). . . . The restrictions may also affect output more directly, as quality and comfort advertising may induce some customers to obtain nonemergency care when they might not otherwise do so. . . . Under these circumstances, we think that the restriction is a sufficiently naked restraint on output to justify quick look analysis." Ibid.

The Court of Appeals went on to hold that the Commission's findings with respect to the CDA's agreement and intent to restrain trade, as well as on the effect of the restrictions and the existence of market power, were all supported by substantial evidence. Id., at 728-730. In dissent, Judge Real took the position that the Commission's jurisdiction did not cover the CDA as a nonprofit professional association engaging in no commercial operations. Id., at 730. But even assuming jurisdiction, he argued, full-bore rule-of-reason analysis was called for, since the disclosure requirements were not naked restraints and neither fixed prices nor banned nondeceptive advertising. Id., at 730-731.

We granted certiorari to resolve conflicts among the Circuits on the Commission's jurisdiction over a nonprofit professional association 4 and the occasions for abbreviated

4 Compare In re American Medical Assn., 94 F. T. C. 701, 983-984, aff'd, 638 F. 2d 443 (CA2 1980), aff'd by an equally divided Court, 455 U. S. 676 (1982) (per curiam), and FTC v. National Comm'n on Egg Nutrition, 517

Page:   Index   Previous  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007