U.S. judge dismisses price-fixing claim against hotels, websites

Reuters ^ | February 19, 2014 | Joseph Ax

[ConservativeStatement]

A group of major U.S. hotel chains and online travel companies on Tuesday won the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit accusing them of an industry-wide conspiracy to fix the online prices of hotel rooms.

U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle in Dallas found that the lawsuit, brought by consumers who claimed they paid inflated prices for their rooms, failed to adequately show that such a conspiracy existed.

[ConservativeStatement]

Another win for Captain Kirk.

[JAKraig]

I'm afraid I do not understand the ruling. Apparently price fixing is OK according to the law as interpreted by this judge as long as it is a wise and prudent business practice. She ruled that they did indeed fix prices, they did indeed collude to keep prices artificially high but since that was good for business it was OK.

I don't get it.