Doing Business In The USA: Antitrust And Unfair Competition

The antitrust laws of the United States are intended to protect competition—that is, their purpose is to insure a competitive economy and to prevent the exercise of excessive control of a market by any particular business entity. The principal antitrust laws include the Sherman Antitrust Act, Clayton Act, Robinson-Patman Act, Federal Trade Commission Act and Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, all of which share this purpose as their guide. Interpretation by the courts of these federal statutes and other state unfair competition laws also plays an important role in the development of antitrust and unfair competition law in the U.S. Antitrust enforcement can have serious consequences for the parties concerned. (See Section 5 of this chapter.)