Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Vertical Distributional Restraints Under Schwinn And Sylvania: An Argument For The Continuing Use Of A Partial Per Se Approach, Martin B. Louis

Michigan Law Review

This phenomenon has been manifested in the vertical distribution cases, which seem to cry out for a departure from the rule of reason approach for several reasons. First, as section I of this article will show, vertical cases frequently involve a package of restraints--a characteristic that compounds all of the difficulties of evaluation mentioned above. Second, vertical restraints reduce intrabrand competition in order, supposedly, to promote interbrand competition. Thus, even if we could identify and measure both the procompetitive and anticompetitive effects of a particular restraint, we cannot assume a one-to-one equivalency, and we lack a workable process by which …

The Antitrust Implications Of The Arab Boycott, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note focuses on the legal means that can and should be used to challenge both the economic pressures exerted upon American companies and the subsequent participation by such companies in the boycott of Israel and blacklisted firms. The Note contends that, while "quiet diplomacy and persuasion" are perhaps the only means short of full-scale economic warfare available to the United States to eliminate completely Arab economic pressures and their coercive effects, the United States antitrust laws are sufficient to counteract many of the boycott's actual or potential manifestations. Specifically, the Note demonstrates that the Arab boycott and the discriminatory …

An International Antitrust Primer, And Foreign Commerce And The Antitrust Laws, Terry Calvani

Michigan Law Review

A Review of An International Antitrust Primer by Earl W. Kintner and Mark R. Joelson, and Foreign Commerce and the Antitrust Laws by Wilbur L. Fugate

United States V. Falstaff Brewing Corporation: Potential Competition Re-Examined, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will examine and criticize the perceived potential competition doctrine suggested by the Court. Then, it will discuss the questions raised in the concurrences concerning the use of subjective evidence and the role of incipient competitive effects. Finally, an alternative approach that focuses on the acquisition of or the possibility of acquiring small, "toehold" firms will be proposed.

Patents And Antitrust Law, Merrill N. Johnson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Patents and Antitrust Law by Ward S. Bowman, Jr.

Territorial Restrictions And Per Se Rules--A Re-Evaluation Of The Schwinn And Sealy Doctrines, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Horizontal territorial restrictions have traditionally been said to be per se illegal. That is, they are illegal no matter what effect they may have on competition. The legality of vertical territorial restrictions, however, is still an unsettled issue. The past decade saw a trend toward considering such restrictions per se violations of section I of the Sherman Act. That trend culminated in United States v. Arnold, Schwinn & Co., a case better known for its speculation than its reasoning. The Supreme Court, which ostensibly announced the per se illegality of these restrictions in Schwinn, will have an opportunity …

Contracts, Conditions, And The Clayton Act: Causes Of Action Available To A Dealer Injured By An Exclusive-Dealing Arrangement, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this Comment to re-examine two of the three requirements of section 3 of the Clayton Act-with particular emphasis on the sale-or-contract-for-sale requirement-in an attempt to determine whether the formidable obstacle that judicial interpretation has made of these requirements is consistent with either the letter or spirit of the section. In discussing these requirements, this Comment will only consider the rights of parties who have at one time made purchases from a seller who utilizes exclusive-selling arrangements.

International Law--Extraterritoriality--Antitrust Law--Development Of The Defense Of Sovereign Compulsion, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

One of the most troublesome of these conflicts arises when an American business abroad is subjected to an order of a foreign government and the carrying out of that order requires that business to violate the antitrust laws of the United States. The recent case of Interamerican Refining Corporation v. Texaco Maracaibo, Incorporated confronted an American court with this precise issue for the first time. The United States District Court for the District of Delaware responded by saying that the defendants had been compelled to act as they did by the orders of a foreign sovereign government, and it held …

Antitrust Law--Restraint Of Trade--Antitrust Implications Of The Exchange Of Price Information Among Competitors: The Container Corporation Case, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Traditionally, it has not proved difficult to find policy considerations which justify the existence of programs of price information exchange among competitors. There has been widespread agreement that businessmen require knowledge of all the economic forces which affect their operations. Justice Holmes once said: "I should have thought that the ideal of commerce was an intelligent interchange made with full knowledge of the facts as a basis for the forecast of the future on both sides." Similarly, Justice Brandeis commented that "[t]he Sherman Law ... certainly does not command that competition shall be pursued blindly, that business rivals shall remain …

Trade Regulation--Price Discrimination--Liability For "Fourth Level" Injury Falls Within The Scope Of Section 2(A) Of The Clayton Act, As Amended By The Robinson-Patman Act--Perkins V. Standard Oil Company Of California, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

During the mid-1950's Clyde A. Perkins, a major independent wholesaler and retailer operating in the states of Washington and Oregon, bought substantial quantities of gasoline and oil from Standard Oil Company of California. During the same period, Standard also sold gasoline and oil to Signal Oil and Gas Company, a large wholesaler whose subsidiaries operated at wholesale and retail levels in the same area as Perkins. The price Standard charged to Signal, however, was lower than the price it charged to Perkins. Signal passed on the advantages of this lower price to its subsidiary, Western Hyway, which in tum sold …

Restraint Of Trade--Trading Stamps--The Federal Trade Commission And The Green Stamp: The Effect Upon Competition Of Restrictions On Distribution And Redemption Of Trading Stamps, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Sperry and Hutchinson Company (S & H), the largest trading stamp company in the United States, has maintained two policies throughout its seventy-two years of business. The one-for-ten policy requires retailers licensed by S & H to issue stamps to consumers at the rate of one stamp for every ten cents worth of merchandise purchased. The intent of this policy is to prevent retailers from engaging in "multiple stamping"-the practice of giving more than one stamp for every ten-cent purchase. This restricted rate of issuance is maintained through contractual agreements between the stamp company and its licensees. The second policy …

Law And Quantitative Multivariate Analysis: An Encounter, Arnold H. Lozowick, Peter O. Steiner, Roger Miller

Michigan Law Review

This Article chronicles one attempt to blend the sophisticated science of statistics with the mysterious art of the law in an antitrust case. Once again, we hope to provide lawyers with an understanding of a tool which can be used in resolving complex factual questions wherever they arise, not merely in an antitrust context. Although the lawyer will not emerge from this encounter as an accomplished statistician or economist, he may be able to talk to his fellow social scientists and to achieve a more fruitful application of social science techniques to the law.

Cease And Desist: The History, Effect, And Scope Of Clayton Act Orders Of The Federal Trade Commission, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

A cease and desist order is not entered in a vacuum. What an order should say or require depends upon the effect which the order is to have. A substantial portion of the present study is therefore concerned with the array of effects which may result from the order's entry, and with the relationship between those effects and the order itself. Not all of the detailed discussion of enforcement procedures which follows may seem directly relevant to the content of the FTC's orders. There are important unresolved issues within the enforcement procedures themselves which warrant examination for their own sake …

The "Warren Court" And The Antitrust Laws: Of Economics, Populism, And Cynicism, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

No one could quarrel with the simple assertion that the so-called "Warren Court" has had a significant, if indeed not extraordinary, impact on the development of the antitrust laws. It could hardly have been otherwise. The fifteen years since 1953 represent virtually one-fourth of the total history of the Clayton and Federal Trade Commission Acts, and one fifth of the time which has elapsed since passage of the Sherman Act. Every Supreme Court decision under the 1950 amendments to section 7 of the Clayton Act, the so-called antimerger law, has come after the accession of Chief Justice Warren to the …

Antitrust's Newest Quagmire: The Noerr-Pennington Defense, L. Barry Costilo

Michigan Law Review

In recent years two relatively unheralded but sweeping antitrust decisions by the Supreme Court have given rise to ramifications far beyond their facts. Unless limited, they may be interpreted by business planners as providing safe havens in many areas of conduct where corporations and trade associations have previously feared to tread. The cases are Eastern Railroad Presidents Corp. v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. and United Mine Workers of America v. Pennington. The broad issue they raise is the extent to which business can concertedly seek to use the mechanism of government for the purpose of restraining trade without violating …

The Ftc's Power To Seek Preliminary Injunctions In Anti-Merger Cases, James H. Cohen

Michigan Law Review

This Comment will examine the bases and the implications of the Supreme Court's holding. It will point out a number of problems raised by granting the FTC this remedial power, and will suggest that the situations in which preliminary injunctions may be obtained from a court of appeals should be strictly limited.

Antitrust-Limitation Of Actions-Clayton Act Statute Of Limitations Tolled On Treble Damage Suits Against Non-Government Defendant Co-Conspirators-- Michigan V. Morton Salt Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs, several states and smaller governmental units, filed related antitrust treble damage claims against ten rock salt companies that had allegedly conspired to fix prices. These private actions were instituted subsequent to civil and criminal antitrust proceedings brought by the federal government in which four of the ten companies had been named as defendants and five designated as co-conspirators but not prosecuted. Section 5(b) of the Clayton Act provides that when such actions are brought by the government, "the running of the statute of limitations in respect of every private right of action arising under said laws and based in …

Antitrust-Patents-Licenses-Regulation Of Patent License Royalty Rates Under The Antitrust Laws, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Neither the Constitution nor federal legislation defines a patentee's licensing rights; consequently, it has devolved upon the courts to control patent marketing practices. A patentee is entitled to a limited monopoly on his invention, and proper use of this grant is not a violation of any law regulating trade practices. Yet licensing affords an opportunity to enlarge the scope of this monopoly, and courts using various rationales have declared illegal different forms of patent licensing arrangements found to be outside the protective coverage of the patent grant. Until recently, however, the courts have not dealt with the problem of whether …

Hawley: The New Deal And The Monopoly Problem, Arthur D. Austin

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The New Deal and the Monopoly Problem By E. W. Hawley

Antitrust-Venue-Time Of Venue Under Section 12 Of The Clayton Act Refers To Time When Action Accrued-Eastland Construction Co. V. Keasbey & Mattison Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1964, plaintiff brought a treble damage suit under the Clayton Act in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that defendant had violated the antitrust laws while doing business in that district. Defendant, a Pennsylvania corporation which formerly had conducted a portion of its business in California but which had ceased all activities there in 1962, moved for dismissal, arguing that venue was improper because it was not transacting business in the Northern District of California at the time suit was instituted. On appeal from a ruling by the district court granting the motion for …

A Tax Formula To Restore The Historical Effects Of The Antitrust Treble Damage Provisions (An Open Letter To The Senate Antitrust And Monopoly Committee), L. Hart Wright

Michigan Law Review

Following the well-publicized criminal conviction of a major segment of our electrical equipment industry for conspiring to fix and maintain prices, terms, and conditions of sales made to both private industry and the government, almost 2,000 private antitrust treble damage suits were brought against those convicted. In July, 1964, when at least 1,500 of these suits were still pending, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue publicly announced that amounts paid or "incurred" by the defendants in those actions to private plaintiffs, either pursuant to judgment or by way of settlement, together with legal expenses pertaining thereto, were deductible as ordinary and …

Divestiture Of Illegally Held Assets: Observations On Its Scope, Objective, And Limitations, William T. Kerr

Michigan Law Review

"Divestiture has been called the most important of antitrust remedies. It is simple, relatively easy to administer, and sure." This observation was made with reference to an order requiring divestiture of illegally held stock. In the context of the divestiture of illegally held assets, however, the statement is an oversimplification of myriad complex problems. This Comment will examine the difficulties encountered in eliminating the anticompetitive effects of a fully consummated merger found to have violated section 7 of the Clayton Act. No attempt will be made to assess the substantive doctrine upon which the violation in any instance was based, …

Federal Trade Commission Proceedings And Section 5 Of The Clayton Act: Application And Implications, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Although the primary responsibility for the enforcement of the antitrust laws falls upon governmental agencies, Congress has recognized the effectiveness of the private suit for damages as a deterrent and has sought to encourage such actions by providing for the recovery of treble damages by an injured party. To assist the private litigant, whose problem of proof is formidable, Congress enacted section 5(a) of the Clayton Act, which allows the introduction, as prima facie evidence of an antitrust violation, of a prior judgment or decree obtained by the Government. As a further aid to private litigants, section 5(b) provides for …

Antitrust And The Consumer Interest, Kenneth S. Carlston, James M. Treece

Michigan Law Review

Public control of business in the United States has proceeded, in most sectors of the economy, on the assumption that free, open competition in the market should be the primary regulator. It is felt that consumer welfare will be maximized by such an organization of the economy. Courts, governmental agencies, and, to a certain extent, private agencies have performed the role of ensuring that free markets are not displaced by other, less desirable alternatives.

Boycotts And Restrictive Marketing Arrangements, Richard M. Buxbaum

Michigan Law Review

It is currently a common if still relatively unheralded practice for a "fired" dealer to bring an antitrust action against his former manufacturer-supplier (and perhaps other dealers), alleging that his termination was the result of a boycott. Boycotts-collective efforts to obtain the exclusion of a party from a market-are illegal per se under section 1 of the Sherman Act. Thus, questions concerning the justification for the boycott or the significance of the offender's market position do not arise.

Ftc V. Jantzen: Blessing, Disaster, Or Tempest In A Teapot?, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The court concluded that the Finality Act, by repealing the existing provisions for judicial enforcement proceedings in the courts of appeals, deprived it of jurisdiction to act upon the FTC's petition. It also approved earlier decisions holding that the Finality Act procedures were not applicable to orders issued prior to the act's effective date. These two rulings, in combination, indicate that there is no enforcement machinery now applicable to orders issued under the Clayton Act prior to July 23, 1959.

The question remains, however, whether enforcement of the Clayton Act has really been hampered, and, if so, whether the pre- …

Antitrust Significance Of Covenants Not To Compete, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Covenants not to compete, despite their increasing prevalence and their obvious tendency to restrain competition, have seldom been attacked under either federal or state antitrust laws. In January 1965, however, William H. Orrick, Jr., then Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, noted that the Division was becoming concerned about one aspect of the problem-the taking of overbroad covenants not to compete in connection with the purchase of a competitor. He suggested that such an agreement might have anticompetitive effects under either the Sherman Act or section 7 of the Clayton Act. This note will explore the present …

American Bar Association Section Of Antitrust Law: Jury Instructions In Criminal Antitrust Cases, Ralph M. Carson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Jury Instructions in Criminal Antitrust Cases by The American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law

Service Of Process-Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure-Service Of Process In Italy On Alien Corporate Defendant Permitted In A Federal Antitrust Action-Hoffman Motors Corp. V. Alfa Romeo S.P.A.., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an American automobile distributor, brought suit in a federal court in the Southern District of New York against Alfa Romeo S.p.A., an Italian corporation, for violation of the Robinson- Patman and Auto Dealers' Acts. Service of process was made personally on defendant's general manager in Italy by an Italian attorney appointed for that purpose by the district court, and by registered mail as prescribed by the New York statute for extraterritorial service. Defendant moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction as to the Robinson-Patman claim on the ground that section 12 of the Clayton Act limits the territorial …

Oppenheim: Unfair Trade Practices, Cases And Comments, Glen E. Weston

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Unfair Trade Practices, Cases and Comments by S. Chesterfield Oppenheim