Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Introduction: A Retrospective Examination Of The Reagan Years, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

The Antitrust Bulletin and its readers are fortunate to receive the views of the distinguished contributors to this two-issue symposium, and to receive those views in 1988, potentially a watershed year in antitrust, rather than several years earlier. Some of the authors focus upon particular antitrust issues, whereas others have chosen to take a broader view of the Reagan Administration's efforts and impact on antitrust. The articles reflect some differences of opinion, of course. The symposium as a whole, however, is marked by the recognition that the most suitable antitrust policy must balance government intervention, on the one hand, with …

Per Se Legality Of Vertical Restraints: Contested In America -- Not Debated In Germany: Search For Reasons And Comparison, Rainer F. Hildebrandt

LLM Theses and Essays

The approach towards vertical restraints depends heavily on the outcome of the "battle for the soul of antitrust". Therefore, to make the implications of the dispute more comprehensible, this study necessarily has to prefer to the basics of antitrust policy such as legislative history and political underpinnings. The second chapter addresses the underlying values of American and German antitrust laws and compares the concepts chosen to protect these values. Based on these foundations, chapter three evaluates resale price maintenance. In chapter four, the Supreme Court's judgment in Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp. is analyzed according to the GWB …

Legal Reasoning And The Jurisprudence Of Vertical Restraints: The Limitations Of Neoclassical Economic Analysis In The Resolution Of Antitrust Disputes, John J. Flynn, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

Cognizant of historical shifts in the methodology and standards applied in antitrust analysis, particularly in the analysis of vertical restraints, this Article first considers the underlying jurisprudential nature of legal reasoning as background for determining what the law of vertical restraints ought to be. The Article then explores the implications of substitution "economic analysis"--in the narrow sense of the economic analysis advocated by the Chicago School of "law and economics"--for legal reasoning in disputes arising under the antitrust laws. A more accurate, multivalued background for antitrust policy is explored. This Article finally proposes a method for analysis of vertical restraints …

A Comparative Approach To Extraterritoriality In The Fields Of Antitrust And Export Controls, Andreas Knaul

LLM Theses and Essays

This work will show that all isolated proposals for the solution of the extraterritoriality problem are fundamentally insufficient. Only a combination of negotiation, agreements and arbitration comes near to a solution of the problem. Taking the example of antitrust and export control laws the author will describe and analyze the different approaches currently discussed to cope with the fact that one sovereign state tries to extend its jurisdiction into the field of another sovereign state. It is to be shown that no approach can succeed as long as the substantive laws in the antitrust and export control field are different.

Legal Factors In The Acquisition Of A United State Corporation: Litigation By Hostile Targets, Johan E. Droogmans

LLM Theses and Essays

Acquisitions of United States corporations have become increasingly complex takeover contests, where bidders and target corporations are forced into offensive and defensive litigation strategies to protect their respective interests. Targets often assert that the bidders have violated federal or state securities laws, federal antitrust laws, federal margin regulations, federal and state regulatory systems, and federal anti-racketeering laws. These lawsuits are primarily based on the principal federal regulation of takeovers in section 14(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and the Williams Act. Target litigation is customary, but entails certain disadvantages; a lawsuit rarely stops an offer, is expensive, …

Immunity Doctrine, Efficiency Promotion, And The Applicability Of Federal Antitrust Law To State-Approved Hospital Acquisitions, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

The question whether hospitals should be regarded as private businesses, or alternatively as public utilities, in order to maximize productive and allocative efficiency, remains controversial. In recent years, the ability of American hospitals and doctors to provide excellent health care services has been hindered by rising costs and distribution problems. This combination of rising costs and decreased distribution has prevented medical services from reaching the portion of the American population that has the greatest need for these services.

In response to these problems, Congress in 1974 passed the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act (NHPRDA). The NHPRDA is designed …

The Role Of Efficiency Justifications In U.S.-American And West German Merger Control Law: A Comparison, Christian Westerhausen

LLM Theses and Essays

When merger control laws first emerged in the United States and West Germany in the early 1900s, some businessmen and economists argued that the efficiency of businesses was impeded by antimerger laws. They contended that only very large businesses could realize significant efficiencies, be internationally competitive, and attain technological progress. This paper analyzes the role that these efficiency arguments had on the laws in West Germany and the United States, respectively. German law mainly upheld the idea that preservation of competition was most important for business efficiency, but also included a provision that firms could put forward the social desirability …

The Unreasonableness Of Coerced Cooperation: A Comment Upon The Ncaa Decision's Rejection Of The Chicago School, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's decision in the NCAA case, upholding that the NCAA's mandatory rules controlling the exclusive sale of television rights to intercollegiate football violate section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, is important for several reasons. First, it is among but a few decisions to hold that a restraint of trade although no per se illegal is economically unreasonable under the rule of reason. Second, its implied questions about the goals and relevance of antitrust enforcement coincide with questions about the governmental regulation of business now addressed in law reviews, editorial pages, and by congressional committees. Last, it may …

Clarifying The Attempt To Monopolize Offense As An Alternative Protectionist Legislation: The Conditional Relevance Of "Dangerous Probability Of Success", James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

The wounded condition of several major American industries, including steel and textiles, resulting from foreign ‘predatory’ conduct has generated much commentary. At the same time, private spokesmen for our institutionalized business interests, including the financial community, have bemoaned American balance of trade figures, blaming them on such ‘impediments' to our export trade as foreign trade barriers and domestic antitrust laws. The two trade problems suggest a common theme: foreign governments have been unfairly aiding their business interests by protecting monopolized or cartelized foreign markets from American business penetration while also subsidizing, directly or indirectly, foreign invasion of certain targeted American …

Legal Issues Of Market Dominance: A Comparative Study, Helmut Gottlieb

LLM Theses and Essays

Chapter I of this paper will focus on the current approach to the delimitation of the relevant market, the determination of market concentration and the legal requirements for a challenge of market dominating enterprises. In Chapter II, because of the interdependency between monopoly and antimerger policy, the present legal situation of mergers shall be analyzed. Finally, the theories of the problem of the jurisdictional reach of antitrust laws will be considered in Chapter III.

The Injury Test Under The Us And Eec Antidumping And Courntervailing Law, Francois Gabriel

LLM Theses and Essays

Antidumping and countervailing legislation contain two tests. First, is the import product dumped or subsidized? Second, is it causing injury to the domestic producers? The latter test, which is the most controversial in the history of antidumping and countervailing legislation, is, in a comparative perspective between the EEC and the USA, the focus of this thesis.

The Extraterritorial Application Of The Export Administration Act Of 1979, Peter T. Knopf

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis deals with the major legal issues of the gas pipeline embargo. It is not an abstract treatise on extraterritoriality under international law, but a legal expertise on the legality of the unique measures imposed in 1982. It also tries to point out the legal trends as indicated by the recent publications. The first part of the thesis examines to what extent some European firms were affected by the American embargo. The second part examines whether the President had the authority under the Export Administration Act of 1979 to impose the far-reaching extraterritorial restrictions. It concludes that the President …

Contribution In Civil Antitrust Litigation: The Emerging Consensus In Legal Literature, James F. Ponsoldt, Benjamin H. Terry

Scholarly Works

The United States Supreme Court recently has agreed to consider the issue of whether contribution among multiple defendants and coconspirators should be allowed in private civil antitrust litigation. Three circuit courts of appeal recently have handed down decisions on the issue of contribution and the result has been disagreement over whether such a right exists or should exist in antitrust law. Legal commentators have responded to these developments with a spate of “solutions” to the problem containing proposals for and against contribution. This article will survey the current status of the literature expressing these opinions. Then, assuming the establishment of …

The Expansion Of Horizontal Merger Defenses After General Dynamics: A Suggested Reconsideration Of Sherman Act Principles, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

Logic suggests that if an agreement between two direct competitors to end a price war, allocate customers or refuse to deal with a third party is plainly anticompetitive and forbidden under applicable federal antitrust laws, then a complete integration between those same two direct competitors is equally anticompetitive and similarly should be forbidden. At one point, Congress thought so and the Supreme Court so held, notwithstanding the obvious business advantages enjoyed by the integrated company. In recent years, however, Congress, the Supreme Court and many commentators have changed their view of horizontal integration, and it is now reasonably possible for …

Consent Decrees And Treble Damages: More Effective Antitrust Enforcement, J. E. S.

Georgia Law Review

Congress has adopted three different methods of enforcing the antitrust laws. Under the Sherman Act, enacted primarily as a criminal statute, the Attorney General was granted the authority to institute civil or criminal proceedings for violations of the antitrust laws. The Sherman Act provided a second method of enforcement, by authorizing private parties injured by violations of the antitrust laws to bring suits for treble damages. The third approach is regulation by the Federal Trade Commission through issuance of orders to cease illegal conduct. This Note will discuss only Government civil antitrust enforcement through the use of the consent decree, …

Pure Conglomerate Mergers And Section 7 Of The Clayton Act, R. C. C.

Georgia Law Review

Conglomerate mergers are currently the center of attention in the corporate world. The Wall Street Journal recently published a three-part series on the conglomerate, which was labeled the "corporate phenomenon of the '60s." In a special report, Business Week wrote: "No creation of the U.S. economy reflects the vigor, imagination, and sheer brass of the 1960s more than the conglomerate corporations." Although they are the object of much discussion, little about conglomerates has been agreed upon except that their implications are dearly important.

The conglomerate merger has been under dose scrutiny for the past several years. The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee …

Single-Corporation Competitive Torts And The Sherman Act: A Projection Based Upon A Review Of The Albert Pick, Atlantic Heel And Perryton Cases, John H. Boone

Georgia Law Review

WITH the current vogue for new theories of antitrust liability, due in no small part to the increasing popularity of the private action, it is appropriate to consider the proper application of antitrust concepts to single-corporation competitive torts. Numerous unfair business practices have been conveniently classified under the general label of "competitive tort" because of the lack of uniformity in the application of the term "unfair competition." While as yet not widely accepted, the term "competitive tort" has the advantage of de- noting a more clearly ascertainable array of private wrongs arising in an economic or business context,2 all of …