Pros And Cons Of Antitrust Legislation

The Sherman Act was created in 1890 had two major provisions which was to prohibit conspiracies to restrain trade and also to outlaw monopolization. In 1914 the Clayton Act was passed to expand off of the Sherman Act. The Clayton

The Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950 (which is an Amendment to the Clayton Act of 1914)

Antitrust laws are federal and state government laws that regulate the conduct and organization or businesses. This helps promote fair competition for consumers. There are four main areas involving the

During the Progressive Era, Regulatory Agencies fail to provide and do their work, legislation ere made with the purpose for the common good of the citizen that suffer from the big corporation abuse, most of the corporation state strict rule but never got to accomplish them or the personal was too much expensive. The Supreme Court during the United State v Knight Company state diminished the effectiveness of the Sherman Anti-Trust act by ruling that manufacturing was not an interstate commerce (Document 5). The Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the United State government, established in by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal mission was the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination/prevention of anti-competitive

The antitrust laws are the basis of this national policy. These laws, enforced by both the federal and state governments, require companies to compete in the marketplace. The Sherman Act, the first federal "antitrust law," was enacted in 1890, at a time when there was enormous concern about "trusts" -- combinations of companies that were able to control entire industries. Since then, other laws have been enacted to supplement the Sherman Act, including the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act (1914). With some revisions, these laws still are in effect today. They have the same basic objective: making sure there are strong economic incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up.

Events that led to the creation of the FTC. July 2, 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first law passed by congress to prevent monopolistic business practices. Named after Senator John Sherman of Ohio, he had this law to pass the senate with a unanimous vote of 51-1 and the House with a vote of 242-0. President Harrison signed it into law in 1890. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act authorized government to make it illegal to make a “restraint of trade or commerce among the several states or with foreign nations”. Those that did not abide by this law resulted in a $5,000 fine and a year in prison. “The Sherman Act was designed to reestablish competition but was loosely worded and unsuccessful to define terms as “trust,” “combination,” “conspiracy,” and “monopoly” (www.ourdocuments.gov, 2013)”. Because of this “loosely worded” act, the Supreme Court prevented the federal government from using the act for many years up until President Theodore Roosevelt came along with his “trust-busting” campaigns. In 1904 the Supreme Court finally supported the government in its suit for “termination of the Northern Securities Company and the act was further employed by President Taft in 1911 against the

A preliminary question is what is antirust liability? While there are other statutes, the Sherman Antitrust Act is the signature law prohibiting antitrust activity. The act defines antitrust activity as any “restraint of trade or commerce.” It also prevents persons from monopolizing or attempting to monopolizing trade. The act is only concerned with restrains of trade that are “unreasonably restrictive of competitive conditions.” A secondary requirement is that there be “concerted action,” which requires more than unilateral behavior by individual actors. Examples of antitrust violations include price-fixing, allocations of territory or customers, and exclusive dealing agreements. Antitrust laws can be enforced either through actions brought by

Through the application of the “Rule of Reason”, a methodology used by courts to interpret US antitrust laws and analyze relevant

Due to many events of corruption within the economic system of America, the government was starting to fear that these ultra-powerful corporations was starting to interfere with the system of free competition among businesses, and free trade between the states. To help bring these institutions under control, Congress first passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in the year of 1890. It basically stated that no company or corporation was allowed to compromise between trusts or agreements that would mess up the system of free trade between states and other countries. Along with this, the federal government attempted to prosecute many industries in the Supreme Court, motivating Rockefeller to back down and get rid of his trusts. Unfortunately, this new

The Federal Trade Commission was created to promote competition through its enforcement of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts.

Antitrust law in the United States is a collection of federal and state government laws regulating the conduct and organization of business corporations with the intent to promote fair competition in an open-market economy for the benefit of the public. Congress passed the first antitrust statute, the Sherman Antitrust Act, in 1890 in response to the public outrage toward big business. In 1914, Congress passed two additional antitrust laws: the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act. (The Antitrust Laws. Web.)

I claim that the Sherman Antitrust Act is a critical and necessary statute that gradually caused significant changes in business practices in order to ensure a competitive free market system essential for long term growth of the economy, although it faced criticisms for sacrificing economic efficiency. This fundamental statute continues to notably shape the economic landscape even today, albeit being more than 100 years old.

The role of antitrust laws has been the subject of numerous publications that have attempted to provide a precise set of reasons and inspirations for their creation. However, there are still many schools of thought on the subject and much debate over the effectiveness and legitimate implementation of these laws. This paper analyzes the three main antitrust laws that the federal branch of the United States government uses to try to restrict monopolies. This paper also looks at antitrust laws in the modern business environment, and attempts to relay the information in a manner that a newcomer to the subject will understand the concept as it relates to modern technology and business practices. The findings of this paper indicate that the topic of antitrust laws is more complex than many believe and, depending on the position of the person affected by monopolies, the sentiment ranges widely.

The purpose of antitrust laws is to both promote and protect competition. They aren’t designed to go after big companies simply because they are bigger or more successful than others in their industry. They aren’t anti-market or anti-business. They are intended to be just the opposite, in fact. They are meant to promote successful market economics through the assurance of healthy competition while keeping abuses of the system in check that could overrun the market.

The second major antitrust law is the Clayton Act brought in 1914 which widened the scope of the Sherman Act for include impermissible activities such as price discrimination between different purchasers if such discrimination tend to create a monopoly; exclusive dealing agreements, tying arrangements, and mergers and acquisitions that substantially reduce market competition.