Law Commons^™

Keys To Unlock The Interlocks: Dealing With Interlocking Directorates, Richard P. Murphy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The use of interlocking directorates by American industrial and commercial corporations is widespread. Section 8 of the Clayton Act has been interpreted as prohibiting only interlocks between directly competing firms. There are other kinds of interlocks with substantial anticompetitive effects, however, that have essentially escaped any regulation under the antitrust laws. This article will examine whether the deleterious effects of unregulated interlocks should be a source of concern. It will conclude that these interlocks should not remain unregulated because they are presumptively anticompetitive, produce problems that section 8 was designed to address, and conflict with the basic goals of the …