Commercial Law Commons^™

Trends In International Business Law: Towards A New Ethnocentricity?, Detlev F. Vagts

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Many legal practitioners and academicians who are sensitive to changes within the area of international business law have sighted signals of a trend toward greater ethnocentricity in the United States. Whether such a trend exists is not an issue that can be disposed of categorically, for the signals must be interpreted in light of the institution in question and the sector of economic activity involved. Moreover, an accurate resolution of the issue requires a comparison of the current signals with those of previous periods. Indeed, the post-Smoot-Hawley Tariff era of the late 1930's and the older mercantilist epoch were periods …

Rate Base Evaluation And Vertical Integration: Shifting Standards In Telephone Regulation, James Mcconnaughey, Manley R. Irwin

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

United Brands Company V. Commission Of The European Communities: Window To Price Discrimination Law In The European Economic Community, Margaret H. Fitzpatrick

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Enterprises operating within the European Economic Community have long faced the difficult task of ascertaining whether they are subject to the price discrimination restrictions of the Treaty of Rome. The difficulty stems from the ambiguity present in the Treaty provisions and is exacerbated by the lack of authoritative interpretation of their restrictions. However, a recent opinion of the European Communities' Court of Justice, United Brands Co. v. Commission of the European Communities, has brought the contours of the price discrimination prohibition into sharper focus.

Foreign Discovery And U.S. Antitrust Policy--The Conflict Resolving Mechanisms, Donald L. Flexner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A look back at the last thirty years of United States antitrust's foreign "voyages of discovery" among friendly nations reveals a picture too often resembling not so much an era of good feeling as a thirty years war. Following hard upon Judge Hand's famous formulation of the "effects" doctrine in Alcoa in 1946 the Antitrust Division conducted a series of investigations in which compulsory process was used to seek documents located in foreign nations. Prodded by what they viewed as U.S. antitrust authorities' impermissible overreaching, the affected countries began to enact defensive "blocking statutes." The passage by Canada's Ontario Province …

State Buy-American Laws - Is There A Judicial Solution?, George C. Lamb, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

State buy-American statutes are among the most peculiar of legislative responses to problems of unemployment and low levels of economic growth in the United States. Designed to decrease unemployment among American workers by promoting the development of American industry, the statutes typically require that purchasers of goods to be used in state-subsidized projects prefer products manufactured in America over those made in foreign countries, often regardless of price or quality.' State buy-American statutes are presently in effect in a number of states, despite criticism that they constitute devices of economic protectionism for domestic goods and barriers to a unified United …

Bribery And Brokerage: An Analysis Of Bribery In Domestic And Foreign Commerce Under Section 2 ( C ) Of The Robinson-Patman Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note first analyzes the substantive and jurisdictional criteria of section 2(c) to evaluate the possible and the desirable scope of its applicability to commercial bribery. The Note next asks whether this statute reaches bribery of domestic and foreign government officials and concludes that where the requirements of section 2(c) are otherwise met and where the person accepting the bribe is acting administratively rather than politically, the statute could be applied to bribery of agents of domestic governments. However, a wholesale application of section 2( c) to bribery of foreign government agents would leave American competitors in foreign commerce defenseless …

Import Competition And The Trade Act Of 1974: A Case Study Of Section 201 And Its Interpretation By The International Trade Commission, Walter Adams, Joel B. Dirlam

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Antitrust Consequences Of United States Corporate Payments To Foreign Officials, James F. Rill, Richard L. Frank

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article examines the feasibility and desirability of marshalling section 2(c)' of the Clayton Act as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act and sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act against a practice having deep legal, political, and emotional significance in the United States and overseas. Difficult questions of jurisdiction and coverage are presented, as are major issues of public policy on what the role, if any, should be for these provisions.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments Of 1976, Judith B. Henry

University of Richmond Law Review

It would be difficult to exaggerate the role of credit in today's society. But for the availability of credit, it would be impossible for most Americans to obtain an education, purchase a car, own a home, or start a business. Because of the increasing popularity of credit cards, credit is relied on daily in consumer transactions. Yet a number of persons have been unable to obtain credit, not because of an inability to repay, but because of their membership in a particular class.

The Legal Status Of Joint Ventures Under The Antitrust Laws: A Summary Assessment, Joseph F. Brodley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

New York State Unfair Competition Law: A Survey And Analysis, Vincent Cox, Bert Slonim

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Survey Of Price Fixing Conspiracies, George A. Hay, Daniel Kelley

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper reports on a study of recent Antitrust Division horizontal price fixing cases. The objective of the study was to determine if there has been a specific set of characteristics associated with the product or product markets that have been the subjects of price fixing. If such a pattern exists, it might provide empirical insight into some aspects of oligopoly behavior. From a policy point of view, any pattern that is found could be used in a positive enforcement program designed to investigate the "most likely" areas of price fixing. Section I reviews the academic literature which has dealt …

The Evolving Duty Of An Innocent Buyer To Inquire Into His Bargain Under Section 2(F) Of The Robinson-Patman Act, Bradley Louis Williams

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Import Controls On Foreign Oil: Reply, George A. Hay

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The position of Ryan Amacher, Robert Tollison, and Thomas Willett (ATW) can be summarized as follows: Assuming that the domestic industry behaves like a profit-maximizing monopoly, if the quota on imported crude oil is replaced by a tariff that is by assumption set so as to achieve the same domestic price of crude oil, the market power of the dominant domestic firms is "severely constrained."

In response I would contend that 1) their assumption about the level of the tariff differs from what I had assumed; 2) their conclusion about the market power of the dominant firms is subject to …

Fair Trade-Variable Price Contracts And The Non-Signer Clause

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Problems: An Overview, Mark S. Massel

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Securities regulation -- domestic and foreign -- has a technical fascination for the lawyer, whether he be a practicing attorney, corporate counsel, government regulator, or legal scholar. The intricate detail of the primary regulations and of their subsidiary byways provide opportunities for stimulating mental gymnastics. The piecing together of the various phases provides interesting occasions for experimentation, speculation, and analyzation.

Yet, a preoccupation with securities regulation which overlooks the setting can produce mere academic exercise. The need for an appreciation of the setting is all-important in examining foreign securities regulation. In considering United States securities regulation we do not need …

Franchise Restrictions: "Tied" Sales And Territorial Limitations, Alan S. Ward

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dual Distribution And Vertical Integration Under The Robinson-Patman Act, Thomas M. Lofton

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Icc Conditions Merger Approval Upon Retention Of Jurisdiction To Allow Inclusion Of Additional Railroads In The Future, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In two recent merger proceedings under section 5(2) of the Interstate Commerce Act, Seaboard Air Line R.R. - Merger-Atlantic Coast Line R.R. and Norfolk & W. Ry. and New York, C. & St. L. R.R.-Merger, the Interstate Commerce Commission imposed conditions" whereby it retained jurisdiction over the proceedings for five years to allow specified railroads to petition for inclusion in the new railway systems. Their inclusion would be ordered if found by the Commission, after a full hearing, to be consistent with the public interest.

Recent Antitrust Developments-1964, Milton Handler

Michigan Law Review

Ever since the passage of the Sherman Act, the courts have consistently refused to permit the requirements of antitrust to be circumvented by the easy expedient of dressing a sale in the vestments of a sham agency agreement. In Dr. Miles Medical, where the Supreme Court first held vertical price fixing unlawful, the seller and buyer denominated their agreement as an "agency," but the Court properly concluded that it was, in fact, a sale. Likewise, in Standard-Magrane, the first occasion on which the Court considered section of the Clayton Act, the seller purported to appoint his customers as …

Tying Arrangements Under The Antitrust Laws: The "Integrity Of The Product" Defense, F. Bruce Kulp Jr.

Michigan Law Review

One of the most frequently asserted defenses to an action under either the Sherman Act or the Clayton Act against a tying arrangement-a contractual limitation imposed by a manufacturer whereby the purchaser of the "tying product" agrees to purchase a related "tied product" only from the manufacturer of the tying product-has been that the tying was necessary to protect the good will or the integrity of the tying product. Whether the tied product is service for the tying product, another component in a system in which the tying product is used, repair parts for the tying product, or any other …

The Judicial Treatment Of The Automobile Dealer Franchise Act, J. Patrick Martin

Michigan Law Review

The representatives of the auto industry initially viewed the act with a jaundiced eye and warned that this special class legislation6 would radically change the existing case law by allowing the dealer to win where formerly he would have lost. However, the court decisions under the act have not borne out such dire predictions. This discussion will examine what has, in fact, been the judicial interpretation and treatment of the act.

Trade Regulation-Robinson-Patman Act-Price Discrimination In The Marketing Of Gasoline, Howard R. Lurie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The emergence of chain stores and mail-order houses in the 1920's posed a new threat to competition; this time at the retail level. The quantity purchase discounts which large buyers could exact placed the small independent merchant at a competitive disadvantage so substantial as to cast doubt upon his continued presence in the competitive picture. To prevent these competitive advantages, which were felt to be unfair and undesirable, Congress, in 1936, passed the Robinson-Patman Act which, in part, amended section 2 of the Clayton Act. The effect of the amendment was to tighten the application of the quantity purchase defense …

Federal Antitrust Law-Sherman Act-Resale Restrictions In Agreements Between Manufacturer And Distributors, S. Anthony Benton

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a manufacturer of heavy trucks, entered into agreements with its wholesale distributors and retail dealers whereby the distributors and dealers agreed to resell defendant's trucks at prices fixed by defendant. They also agreed to restrict their sales to customers located within the territories designated by defendant and to allow defendant to deal directly with all government accounts. The Justice Department, charging violation of sections I and 3 of the Sherman Act, brought a civil suit to enjoin defendant from continuing or renewing any of the aforementioned arrangements. On plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, held, motion granted. Vertical agreements …

Trade Secrets, Customer Contracts And The Employer-Employee Relationship

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Benefits Of Industrial Mergers And Section 7 Of The Clayton Act, Richard A. Givens

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Business - Sales - Below-Cost Statutes - The Elements Of Violations And The Defense Of Meeting Competition, Robert B. Jones S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to discuss two controversial aspects of the sales-below-cost statutes: (1) the intent or effect required for a :finding of violation and (2) the defense of meeting competition.

Unfair Competition-Motor Carrier Act - Private Remedy For Operation In Excess Of Certificate Of Necessity And Convenience, Daniel E. Lewis Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In response to plaintiff trucking company's complaint under section 15 of the Clayton Act alleging violation of sections I and 2 of the Sherman Act, defendant railroads entered a counterclaim for damages resulting from interference with the railroad's franchise rights by the plaintiff's operations in excess of its Interstate Commerce Commission certificate of convenience and necessity. On plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings to dismiss the counterclaim for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, held, motion granted. Congress did not contemplate that the common law action of a franchise holder would lie when …

Industrial Marketing Through Leasing Devices: A Survey Of Antitrust Problems

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Price-Fixing Within The Barber Industry

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.