Navman: The Resale Price Maintenance Controversy

RPM is a practice where a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the latter will sell the manufacturer's products at certain prices, at or above a benchmarked price.

This was illegal in some countries such as Australia. In late December 2007 Federal Judge Peter Jacobson (Jacobson), found Navman Australia guilty and fined the company A$1.25 million. Baird and King were fined A$80,000 and A$40,000 respectively.

In his judgment, Jacobson denounced Navman Australia's actions and said, "The details of the contraventions show that Navman's conduct was not merely deliberate.

He vehemently criticized Navman's corporate culture and the fact that the company had failed to adequately provide basic legal training to its managerial executives. Analysts also said that the behavior of Navman Australia had hampered the price competition in the Portable Navigational Devices (PND) market of Australia during that period.

Analysts said that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had a record of imposing huge reparation fines on companies which tried to stifle prices and market competition as Australian law did not allow retailers to be discouraged from discounting prices...