543 WHITE, J., concurring in result 642, 648 (1969) (plaintiff 'must, of course, be able to show a causal connection between the price discrimination in violation of the Act and the injury suffered')." J. Truett Payne Co. v. Chrysler Motors Corp., 451 U. S., at 562. At the same time, however, we reaffirmed our "traditional rule excusing antitrust plaintiffs from an unduly rigorous standard of proving antitrust injury." Id., at 565. See also Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U. S. 100, 123-124 (1969); Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U. S. 251, 264-265 (1946).31 Moreover, as we have noted, Texaco did not object to the instructions to the jury on the damages issue. A possible flaw in the jury's calculation of the amount of damages would not be an appropriate basis for granting Texaco's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The judgment is affirmed. JUSTICE WHITE, concurring in the result. It is so ordered. Texaco's first submission urging a blanket exemption for all functional discounts is rejected by the Court on the ground stated in FTC v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 363 U. S. 536, 550 (1960), that the "statute itself spells out the conditions which make a price difference illegal or legal, and we would derange 31 In J. Truett Payne, 451 U. S., at 565-566, we quoted with approval the following passage: "[D]amage issues in these cases are rarely susceptible of the kind of concrete, detailed proof of injury which is available in other contexts. The Court has repeatedly held that in the absence of more precise proof, the factfinder may 'conclude as a matter of just and reasonable inference from the proof of defendants' wrongful acts and their tendency to injure plaintiffs' business, and from the evidence of the decline in prices, profits and values, not shown to be attributable to other causes, that defendants' wrongful acts had caused damage to the plaintiffs.' Bigelow v. RKO Pictures, Inc., [327 U. S.], at 264. See also Eastman Kodak Co. v. Southern Photo Materials Co., 273 U. S. 359, 377-379 (1927); Story Parchment Co. v. Paterson Parchment Paper Co., 282 U. S. 555, 561-566 (1931)." Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U. S., at 123-124. WHITE, J., concurring in result 496 U. S. this integrated statutory scheme" by providing a defense not contained in the statute. In the next section of its opinion, however, the Court not only declares that a price differential that merely accords due recognition and reimbursement for actual marketing functions does not trigger the presumption of an injury to competition, see FTC v. Morton Salt Co., 334 U. S. 37, 46-47 (1948), but also announces that “[s]uch a discount is not illegal." Ante, at 562. There is nothing in the Act to suggest such a defense to a charge of price discrimination that “may . . . substantially . . . lessen competition . . . in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them." 15 U. S. C. § 13(a). Nor is there any indication in prior cases that the Act should be so construed. The Court relies heavily on the Report of the Attorney General's National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws (1955) and also suggests that the Federal Trade Commission permits "legitimate functional discounts" but will not countenance subterfuges. Ante, at 563. Thus, a Texaco retailer charged a higher price than a distributor who is given what the Court would call a legitimate discount is entirely foreclosed, even though he offers to prove, and could prove, that the distributor sells to his customers at a price lower than the plaintiff retailer pays Texaco and that those customers of the distributor undersell the plaintiff and have caused plaintiff's business to fail. This kind of injury to the Texaco retailer's ability to compete is squarely covered by the language of § 13(a), which reaches not only injury to competition but injury to Texaco retail customers' ability to compete with the distributor's customers. The Court neither explains why this is not the case nor justifies its departure from the provisions of the Act other than by suggesting that when there is a legitimate discount, it is the distributor's decision, not the discount given by Texaco, that causes the injury, even though the latter makes possible the 543 WHITE, J., concurring in result distributor's discount. Perhaps this is the case if the concept of a legitimate price discrimination other than those legitimated by the Act's provisions is to be implied. But that poses the question whether the Act is open to such a construction. The Attorney General's Committee noted the difficulty. Under the construction of the Act that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) was then espousing and applying, see Standard Oil Co. v. FTC, 173 F. 2d 210 (CA7 1949), rev'd on other grounds, 340 U. S. 231 (1951), the Committee said, "[a] supplier according functional discounts to a wholesaler and other middleman while at the same time marketing directly to retailers encounters serious legal risks." Report of Attorney General's National Committee, at 206. The Committee clearly differed with the FTC and called for an authoritative construction of the Act that would accommodate "functional discounts to the broader purposes of the Act and of antitrust policy." Id., at 208. At a later stage in the Standard Oil case, the FTC disavowed any purpose to eliminate legitimate functional pricing or to make sellers responsible for the pricing practices of its wholesalers. The reversal of its position, which the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit had affirmed, was explained on the ground of "broader antitrust policies." Reply Brief for Petitioner in FTC v. Standard Oil Co., O. T. 1957, No. 24, p. 32. The FTC also appears as an amicus in this case urging us to recognize and define legitimate functional discounts. Its brief, however, does not spell out the types of functional discounts that the Commission considers defensible. Nor does the FTC cite any case since the filing of its reply brief in 1957 in which it has purported to describe the contours of legitimate functional pricing. Furthermore, the FTC's argument apparently does not persuade the Court, for the Commission recommends reversal and remand, while the Court affirms the judgment. SCALIA, J., concurring in judgment 496 U. S. In the absence of congressional attention to this longstanding issue involving antitrust policy, I doubt that at this late date we should attempt to set the matter right, at least not in a case that does not require us to define what a legitimate functional discount is. If the FTC now recognizes that functional discounts given by a producer who sells both to distributors and retailers are legitimate if they reflect only proper factors and are not subterfuges, I would await a case challenging such a ruling by the FTC. We would then be reviewing a construction of the Act by the FTC and its explanation of legitimate functional discount pricing. This is obviously not such a case. This is a private action for treble damages, and the Court rules against the sellerdiscounter since under no definition of a legitimate functional discount do the discounts extended here qualify as a defense to a charge of price discrimination. We need do no more than the Court did in Perkins v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 395 U. S. 642 (1969). This the Court plainly recognizes, and it should stop there. Hence, I concur in the result. JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom JUSTICE KENNEDY joins, concurring in the judgment. I agree with the Court that none of the arguments pressed by petitioner for removing its conduct from the coverage of the Robinson-Patman Act is persuasive. I cannot, however, adopt the Court's reasoning, which seems to create an exemption for functional discounts that are "reasonable” even though prohibited by the text of the Act. The Act provides: "It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, either directly or indirectly, to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality . . . where the effect of such discrimination may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent 543 SCALIA, J., concurring in judgment competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent differentials which make only due allowance for differences in the cost of manufacture, sale, or delivery resulting from the differing methods or quantities in which such commodities are to such purchasers sold or delivered." 15 U. S. C. § 13(a). As the Court notes, ante, at 556, sales of like goods in interstate commerce violate this provision if three conditions are met: (1) the seller discriminates in price between purchasers, (2) the effect of such discrimination may be to injure competition between the victim and beneficiaries of the discrimination or their customers, and (3) the discrimination is not cost based. Petitioner makes three arguments, one related to each of these conditions. First, petitioner argues that a price differential between purchasers at different levels of distribution is not discrimination in price. As the Court correctly concludes, that cannot be so. As long ago as FTC v. Morton Salt Co., 334 U. S. 37 (1948), we held that the Act prohibits differentials in the prices offered to wholesalers and retailers. True, in Morton Salt the retailers were being favored over the wholesalers, the reverse of the situation here. But if that factor could make any difference, it would bear not upon whether price discrimination occurred, but upon whether it affected competition, the point I address next. Second, petitioner argues that its practice of giving wholesalers Gull and Dompier discounts unavailable to retailer Hasbrouck could not have injured Hasbrouck's competition with retailers who purchased from Gull and Dompier. Any competitive advantage enjoyed by the competing retailers, petitioner asserts, was the product of independent decisions by Gull and Dompier to pass on the discounts to those retailers. This also is unpersuasive. The Act forbids price discrimination whose effect may be "to injure, destroy, or |