In the United States v. Container Corporation of America et al., 1968, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that an information exchange between competitors violated antitrust laws if it reduced competition. The case involved a group of corrugated container manufacturers who had been sharing price information with each other in order to maintain stability within their industry. While no formal agreement was made to fix prices, this practice led to uniform pricing among these companies and effectively eliminated any competitive pricing strategies they might have used independently. The court held that even though there was no explicit agreement on price fixing, the mere act of exchanging such sensitive business data constituted an unlawful restraint on trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act because it suppressed competition and maintained high prices for consumers.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Container Corporation of America, Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision to condemn information exchanges among competitors was misguided and overly broad. He contended that such exchanges could have pro-competitive effects by reducing uncertainty in the market and facilitating more efficient pricing decisions. Moreover, he pointed out that there was no evidence of explicit collusion or anti-competitive behavior among the defendants in this case; they merely shared price information without any agreement to fix prices or restrict competition. Therefore, according to Justice Harlan, these practices should not be deemed illegal per se under antitrust law but rather evaluated on a case-by-case basis considering their actual impact on competition.