“Liggett contends that Brown & Williamson’s discriminatory volume rebates to wholesalers threatened substantial competitive injury by furthering a predatory pricing scheme designed to purge competition from the economy segment of the cigarette market. This type of injury, which harms direct competitors of the discriminating seller, is known as a primary-line injury.” Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 509 U.S. 209, 220, 113 S.Ct. 2578, 2586 (1993).
primary line injury
primary-line injury. Antitrust. Under the price-discrimination provisions of the Robinson–Patman Act, the practice of charging below-cost, predatory prices in an attempt to eliminate the seller’s competition in the market. 15 USCA § 13(a). • A primary-line injury, which hinders or seeks to hinder competition among the seller’s competitors, is distinguishable from a secondary-line injury, which refers to discriminatory pricing that hinders or seeks to hinder competition among the seller’s customers, by favoring one customer over another in the prices the seller charges. Cf. SECONDARY-LINE INJURY .
