Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Statutory Restrictions On Selling Below Cost, Homer Clark

Vanderbilt Law Review

The rules of the American game of competition are numerous, diverse and often inexplicable, but none of them is as dubious in purpose or as devious in operation as those found in the statutes prohibiting sales below cost. Such statutes have been enacted in the overwhelming majority of states,' the earliest ones dating back to the Great Depression. Indeed their philosophy has infected the federal antitrust laws. That the impetus back of these statutes was not just a product of depression fears and frustrations is shown by their passage after the depression was over in some states, and during the …

Senate Bill No. Ii And Antitrust Policy, Kenneth S. Carlston

Vanderbilt Law Review

The history of the judicial interpretation of the Sherman Act' is a history of the legislative process working through the mechanisms of the judicial process. Starting with an act phrased in the most general of terms, nearly seventy years of judicial administration have developed a system of interdependent postulates analogous to legislative norms. None of these postulates can be considered as prevailing over all others. But the binding thread of the Sherman Act is the proposition that the market shall be dynamic, manifesting sufficient energy through price competition by the organizations participating in the market to ensure that the advances …

A New Approach To Resale Price Maintenance, James A. Maclachlan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Resale price maintenance has had a lively legal history. After court decisions under the Sherman Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act had discouraged it in the first third of the current century,' it was encouraged by Fair Trade Acts in so many states as to develop an impractical cleavage between state and federal law. Congress responded by passing the Miller-Tidings Act in 1937. This made the relevant antitrust laws inapplicable to resale price maintenance contracts valid by the law of the state where resale is to be made. The amendment conformed in essential respects to the structure of the …

The Lawyer's Role Before Litigation, Lee Loevinger

Vanderbilt Law Review

A lawyer is consulted regarding antitrust aspects of proposed business activities; or regarding the possibility that his client may have a cause of action under some antitrust law. What is his role at this stage? What are his responsibilities? Would these be substantially different if the client's problems had no antitrust element?

The system of formulating legal principles and studying and teaching law on the basis of the decisions of litigated cases has one serious shortcoming, at least, in its tendency to obscure the dual role of the lawyer: first as counsel, and second as advocate. Both lawyers and laymen …

Federal Control In The Food And Drug Industries, Thomas W. Christopher

Vanderbilt Law Review

If the attention or lack of attention law reviews give to a subject is indicative of the amount of governmental control therein, then one would conclude that there is little federal regulation in the food and drug fields. The fact is, however, that there are more than 1,200 pages of federal statutes and administrative regulations affecting the food and drug industries, and no industry is more tightly controlled. The antitrust, securities, and labor statutes, for example, are, if anything, less stringent.

In the main, the approach of food and drug regulation is from a different point of view than that …

Exclusive Arrangements And Refusal To Deal Problems, Reynolds C. Seitz

Vanderbilt Law Review

Justification for including a discussion on exclusive dealing arrangements and on refusal to deal decisions in a symposium devoted to trade practices rests upon the practical consideration that there exists on the part of business management a considerable interest in the two commercial tools.

Business executives find appeal in the prospect of using a contract calling for exclusive dealing.' Those engaged in commerce have for a variety of purposes frequently employed as a lever the refusal to deal.

Possible antitrust implications in the use of the two devices has not always been understood by business. In recent years, however, the …

Federal Procedure - Mandamus - Power Of Courts Of Appeal, Jerome K. Walsh, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In two related antitrust actions instituted in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, an order was entered under rule 53(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure referring the cases to a master for trial because of the "extremely congested calendar" then facing the court. All parties to the· action moved to vacate the order and these motions were denied by the district judge. After appearing before the master to object to the reference, the defendants petitioned the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit praying that a writ of mandamus issue to compel the district judge …

Kittelle & Lamb: Trade Association Law And Practice, H. Thomas Austern

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Trade Association Law and Practice By George P. Lamb and Sumner S. Kittelle, assisted by Carrington Shields.

Benrus Watch Co. Case - Judicial Recognition Of Implied Repeal Of Virginia Fair Trade Act, Frank V. Emmerson

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Business - Robinson-Patman Act - Injury To Competition Between Buyers Of Auto Parts, A. Duncan Whitaker S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner manufactured and sold automobile parts to distributors who resold them to jobbers in interstate commerce. The products were classified into three lines: leaf spring line, coil action line, and piston ring line. A progressive, cumulative discount was given in each line, based upon the aggregate yearly purchases of either a single buyer or a group-buying organization. The Federal Trade Commission charged petitioner with price discrimination in violation of the Robinson-Patman Act. Every customer who testified at the hearing denied that he had been injured competitively by the petitioner's pricing practices. Nevertheless, in view of the substantial price differentials, the …

Regulation Of Business - Sherman Act - Concerted Refusals To Deal Not Illegal Per Se, Gerald D. Rapp

Michigan Law Review

The government sought an injunction restraining the members of an organization of independent insurance agents responsible for writing nearly 80 percent of the fire insurance in the Cleveland, Ohio, area from carrying out association regulations. Adherence to the rules was challenged as a conspiracy in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize in violation of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. The regulations were designed to prevent the members from representing (1) mutual insurance companies, (2) branch office companies which contribute to the agents a portion of their overhead expense and, (3) insurance companies which operate branch …

Anti-Trust Law: The Impact Of The Cellophane Case On The Concept Of Market

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulatory "Executive Privilege" To Withhold Evidence

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Business-Civil Actions Under Section 3 Of The Robinson-Patman Act, Richard E. Day S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In Nashville Milk Co. v. Carnation Co. plaintiff sought to recover treble damages and asked injunctive relief, claiming defendant had sold filled milk at unreasonably low prices for the purpose of destroying competition by plaintiff in its sale of a like product in violation of section 3 of the Robinson-Patman Act. In affirming an order dismissing the complaint, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a private action may not be maintained for a violation of section 3 of the Robinson-Patman Act. That very same week, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reached a contrary …

Patents - Licensing - Legality Of Grant-Back Clauses, Eric E. Bergsten S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

There is no authoritative definition of the term "patent grant-back." It has been defined as a clause in a patent license which provides "for license or assignment to the licensor of any improvement patented by the licensee in the products or processes of the licensed patent." In litigated cases grant-back clauses usually appear either in basic patent licenses or in licenses of the products or processes of an industry which the licensor dominates through control of a multitude of overlapping patents.

Patents - Misues Doctrine - Multiple Licenses With Price-Fixing Provisios As Shermen Act Violation, Herbert A. Bernhard S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for infringement of a moire process patent, relief was denied by the trial court partially on the ground that plaintiff had misused its patent by violating section 1 of the Sherman Act. Plaintiff had licensed two other moire finishers to use the patented process. Each license contained a proviso that plaintiff could specify the prices the licensee was to charge its customers for finishing cloth with the patented process. On appeal, held, affirmed. It is a violation of the antitrust laws for a patentee to issue more than one license containing price-fixing provisions. Newburgh Moire Co. …

Edwards: Big Business And The Policy Of Competition, Carl H. Fulda

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Big Business and the Policy of Competition By Corwin D. Edwards.

Antitrust - Resale Price Maintenance - Legality Of Fair Trade Contracts Made By Integrated Firm, John A. Ziegler S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant-appellee manufactures its own brand-name line of drug products and is also the largest drug wholesaler in the United States. Its manufactured products are sold through appellee's own wholesale division and to independent wholesalers and retailers. In 1951 appellee entered into resale price maintenance contracts with these independent wholesalers, most of whom competed with appellee's wholesale divisions. The Government then brought an action for an injunction under section 4 of the Sherman Act, restraining the further use of resale price contracts by appellee on the ground that these contracts constituted illegal price fixing under section 1 of the act. The …

Monopolies: Interpreting The Qualifying Clause Of Section 7, Clayton Act, C. Gibson Downing

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutionality Of State Fair Trade Acts, Richard K. Bates

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Miscellaneous—Agreement To Arbitrate, Robert Miller

Buffalo Law Review

Arbitration between Writers Guild of A. E. Inc. and Prockter Productions, Inc, 1 N. Y. 2d 305, 135 N. E. 2d 204 (1956).

Miscellaneous—Corporations—Stockholders’ Agreements, Robert Miller

Buffalo Law Review

Arbitration between Burkin and Katz, 1 N. Y. 2d 570, 136 N. E. 2d 862 (1956).

Ball, Bat And Bar, Harold Seymore

Cleveland State Law Review

Most Americans assume that they live under one set of laws which govern everybody. They also think that while monopolies and their abuses were once a problem, regulatory measures have long since eliminated or controlled them. The business of organized baseball proves that both these assumptions are mistaken. Recent operations of some baseball "companies" have underscored the falsity of these assumptions. The baseball business operates under its own complicated body of private law, and has been doing so ever since the business got its real start with the formation of the National League in 1876. Organized baseball is also a …

Regulation Of Business - Sherman Act - Administration And Enforcement - A Re-Analysis Of Consent Decrees, Paul R. Haerle S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment will deal with a review of the history, nature, and use of the consent decree, an analysis of some of the more recent and important decrees, and a discussion of the crucial problem, raised especially by the Report of the Attorney General's National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws, of the constitutional and statutory bases (or lack thereof) for the relief granted by consent decrees.

Miscellaneous—Arbitration, Robert Miller

Buffalo Law Review

Arbitration between Baker and Board of Education, 309 N.Y. 551, 132 N.E. 2d 837 (1956).

Monopoly In America, By Walter Adams And Horace M. Gray, Phil C. Neal

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Modification Of Antitrust Consent Decrees

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Federal Antitrust Policy: Origination Of An American Tradition, By Hans B. Thorelli, Richard Cosway

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Business - Robinson-Patman Act - A Further Look At Functional Discounts, Richard R. Dailey S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Probably no sphere of governmental regulation of business in the United States has caused more concern or created more confusion than the attempted regulation of pricing practices. This problem has arisen, in part, because of the peculiar tendencies of certain segments of the American economy toward expansion and vertical integration and, also in part, because of the adoption of ambiguous and prejudicial legislation designed as a cure-all for allegedly harmful pricing practices. In addition, the attitude of the courts and the Federal Trade Commission in this field has been far from consistent over the years, with the result that neither …

Regulation Of Business - Fair Trade Acts - Availability Of Injunction Against Nonsigner's Inducing Breach Of Fair Trade Agreement, William R. Jentes S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff manufacturer had extensive agreements with its distributors under the Michigan Fair Trade Act. The circuit court enjoined the defendant, who was not a party to any of these contracts, from inducing the plaintiff's distributors to sell products to the defendant below the agreed fair trade price. On appeal, held, reversed, three justices dissenting. Defendant is privileged to induce the breach of a fair trade agreement which restricts his business opportunities and is contrary to the state's policy against the enforcement of the nonsigner provision of its fair trade law. Argus Cameras, Inc. v. Hall of Distributors, Inc., …