High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener made from corn and used in food products. There are two grades, HFCS 42 and HFCS 55. The five principal HFCS makers, including Archer Daniels Midland Co....

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener made from corn and used in food products. There are two grades, HFCS 42 and HFCS 55. The five principal HFCS makers, including Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), account for 90 percent of the sales. In 1988, ADM announced that it was raising its price for HFCS 42 to 90 percent of the price of HFCS 55. It cost only 65 percent as much to manufacture HFCS 42, but the other makers followed suit. Over the next seven years, the makers sometimes bought HFCS from each other even when they could have produced the amount at a lower cost, and many sales to other customers were made at prices below the list prices. After Wilson, head of ADM’s corn-processing division, was imprisoned for antitrust violations with regard to other ADM products, HFCS buyers filed a suit in a federal district court against the makers, alleging a per se violation of the Sherman Act and seeking billions of dollars in damages. How should the court rule? Discuss. In re High Fructose Corn Syrup Antitrust Litigation, 295 F.3d 651 (7th Cir. 2002).