eBay's lobbyist joined retailers and antitrust experts in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to discuss the Retail Price Maintenance (RPM), calling it "price fixing." The hubbub is over the Leegin Supreme Court ruling that overturned a law that had prohibited manufacturers from punishing retailers for selling at discounted prices.

eBay distributed a video to the media, also featured on a site called ProtectConsumerChoice.org, that claims big box retailers are trying to shut down eBay. The video includes the following text:

Small Retailers who were pushed off Main St. by the big box stores can survive by selling on eBay to consumers around the world. The big guys don't like small retailers and they are working hard and talking big to shut down the world's greatest online marketplace.

A press release issued by the American Antitrust Institute quotes eBay Vice President of Global Government Relations Tod Cohen: "For the small businesses that have a kitchen-table for a boardroom - and smarts and sweat for a line of credit - the Internet is the way to break through to the consumer and give them choice with low prices and quality products. But make no mistake. Entrenched retail interests see those choices as a threat - and they will use the courts and business arrangements to squelch challenges to their very comfortable status quo."

eBay's corporate blogger Richard Brewer-Hay covered the event via Twitter and will post more on the eBay Ink blog.