Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Establishment Of The Antitrust Division Of The U.S. Department Of Justice, Gregory J. Werden

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

To fill in the knowledge gaps, this Article proceeds largely in reverse chronological order. First, it reviews Order No. 2507 and related circumstances, finding clear and convincing evidence that the Order did not create the Antitrust Division. Next, the Article examines the prior tenure of AG Cummings, finding clear and convincing evidence that the Antitrust Division existed before Roosevelt became President and Cummings became AG, and that Cummings lowered the standing of the Antitrust Division within the DOJ prior to issuing Order No. 2507. Finally, the Article scours the prior history of the DOJ and determines that the Antitrust …

The Mpaa: A Script For An Antitrust Production, Ian G. Henry

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are You Ready For Some Football?: How Antitrust Laws Can Be Used To Break Up Directv's Exclusive Right To Telecast Nfl's Sunday Ticket Package, Ariel Y. Bublick

Federal Communications Law Journal

There is almost no question that football has become modem America's pastime. Football has never been more popular, and every Sunday people are clamoring to watch as many games as possible. The Sunday Ticket package allows viewers to watch any National Football League ("NFL") game being played at any given time. However, the NFL has only granted DirecTV the right to air the Sunday Ticket package, denying this excellent service to a majority of television viewers. By limiting the reach of the Sunday Ticket package, the NFL may be in violation of antitrust laws. This Note begins by explaining antitrust …

The Ftc's Anticompetitive Pricing Case Against Intel, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The FTC’s wide ranging complaint against Intel Corporation indicates that the FTC intends to rely on the “unfair methods of competition” language in §5 of the FTC Act to reach beyond the proscriptions on unilateral conduct contained in §2 of the Sherman Act. The Supreme Court has expressly authorized such expansion, and statutory text, legislative history and legal policy all support it. While §2 reaches only conduct that threatens to “monopolize” a market, the “unfair methods of competition” language can reach improper abuses of a dominant position that fall short of creating monopoly. Further, the FTC has expertise that courts …

The Federal Trade Commission And The Sherman Act, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The FTC has explicit antitrust authority to enforce the Clayton Act, although not the Sherman Act. More than a half century ago, however, the Supreme Court held that the FTC Act’s prohibition of “unfair methods of competition” reaches everything the Sherman Act reaches and also a “penumbra” of practices that are not technical Sherman Act violations. That view, which had fallen into disuse in recent decades, is now being revived.

This essay defends a limited version of that “penumbra” view and suggests several applications. First, while both Sherman Act provisions are open ended in their coverage, they have limitations. Section …

Reflections On Section 5 Of The Ftc Act And The Ftc's Case Against Intel, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

The Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC’s”) unprecedented enforcement action against Intel raises profound issues concerning the scope of the FTC’s powers to give a construction to Section 5 of the FTC Act that goes beyond the substantive reach of the Sherman Act. While I have urged the FTC to assert such independence from the Sherman Act, this is the wrong case to make a break. Indeed, if anything, Intel poses a risk of seriously setting back the development of an independent Section 5 power by provoking a hostile appellate court to rebuke the FTC’s effort and cabin the FTC’s powers in …

Sherman's March (In)To The Sea, Andrew S. Oldham

ExpressO

This Article argues that the Sherman Act is unconstitutional. At the very least, scholars and jurists must not take for granted Congress's ability to statutorily deputize the federal courts with common-lawmaking powers. The federal antitrust statute—which has been described as the Magna Carta of free enterprise—raises serious constitutional questions that have heretofore gone unexplored and unanswered. Specifically, it is difficult (if not impossible) to reconcile the Sherman Act with the separation of powers, the nondelegation doctrine, and the Supremacy Clause.

A New Method For Regulatory Antitrust Analysis? Verizon Communications Inc. V. Trinko, James E. Scheuermann, William D. Semins

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

It is a commonplace to speak of the application of law to facts. Application is a practical art, and thus involves method. Curiously, there is a paucity of discussion of the various methods by which substantive legal standards are applied to facts. This omission is significant. Method is not outcome-determinative in all cases, but, at a minimum, it guides analysis, opening certain possibilities and foreclosing others.

Goldwasser, The Telecom Act, And Reflections On Antitrust Remedies, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Business - Antitrust Laws - Effect Upon A Subsequent Antitrust Suit Of Fcc Approval Of An Exchange Of Television Stations, John F. Powell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

United States v. Radio Corporation of America-Creation of independent regulatory agencies presented the courts with the problem of allocating jurisdiction whenever the determination of proper judicial action was found to require the resolution of issues which an administrative agency was competent to resolve. To meet this problem the doctrine of "primary jurisdiction" was developed whereby administrative issues are to be decided by the agency prior to the court's determination of issues not within the realm of the agency. Application of the doctrine is based on the need for efficient and uniform agency regulation and the desirability of utilizing agency …

Antitrust Administration And Enforcement, John T. Chadwell

Michigan Law Review

The importance of the nation's antitrust policy requires that administration and enforcement powers and techniques be equal to the huge task of effectively safeguarding competition. The recommendations of the Attorney General's Committee represent a statesmanlike effort to balance the need for effective enforcement with the need for the preservation of fairness and the conservation of time and resources in antitrust litigation. Some of the recommendations will undoubtedly engender heated controversy; others seem relatively uncontroversial.

Many individual topics are dealt with in the Report of the committee and space does not permit comment upon all of them. The following discussion is …

Some Problems In The Enforcement Of The Antitrust Laws, Wendell Berge

Michigan Law Review

There has been much discussion through the years about the evils of monopoly, monopolistic practices, and unreasonable restraints of trade. We have always paid lip service to the ideal of free competition. But we have done little in this country to cope with these evils. We have done little to make our competitive ideal effective.

Federal Anti-Trust Law And The National Industrial Recovery Act, Howard E. Wahrenbrock

Michigan Law Review

The economic struggle for existence - the competitive system - which has been principally depended upon to equate the production and consumption of economic goods, is not self-sustaining. Extreme forms of that struggle - engrossing, forestalling, regrating, contracts in restraint of trade, monopoly, unfair competition, to mention some forms at the higher stages of legal development - have had to be restrained by law. Their restriction has been called for to protect the poor and economically weak from oppression by the rich and economically powerful; under a system of complete laissez faire, competition would bring about the elimination of the …