Exam 20: Antitrust Law

In Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons, the Supreme Court said that when a producer sells to wholesalers and retailers, and requires them to resell the products at prices set by the producer, under the Sherman Act it was an:

Horizontal market division allows competing firms to:

When a merger increases concentration, a defense that shows that the firms' customers are sophisticated, large buyers that will not be taken advantage of by a bigger merged firm is:

Customer restrictions, a vertical non-price restraint, are reviewed by the courts under a rule of reason analysis.

Most cases brought under the Robinson-Patman Act are by private parties.

The Supreme Court has rarely used the rule of reason analysis in antitrust cases.

A horizontal restraint of trade occurs when the businesses involved are on the same level of operation and work together to limit competition.

A merger occurs when:

In Eastman Kodak v. Image Technical Services, Kodak was charged with tying the sale of service of their copiers and other equipment to the sale of parts. The Supreme Court ruled:

The Clayton Act, the Sherman Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act are all examples of:

Alpha, an expensive brand of watch that sell for $5,000 (suggested retail price), sells to fine jewelry stores for $2,500. Irritated that Amer's Jewelry is selling the watches to the public for $4,000, while competitors are selling for $5,000, stops selling the watches to Amer's. Amer's sues Alpha for antitrust violation. It is likely that Amer's will:

Fact Pattern 20-1 MicroManage is the fastest growing home-software producer in the country. In 2000, it sold 6% of all home software in the U.S., but in 2011, it sold 55% of all home software. A recent issue of Computer Universe said that MicroManage was "the most dominant and aggressive of all home-software developers." Home software is a small part of the entire software industry. In 2011, MicroManage proposed a merger with Game Master, its main rival. Game Master was responsible for 10% of all home-software sales in 2010. MicroManage's president says that the combination of the firms will allow MicroManage to lower costs and pass the savings on to its customers. The Department of Justice filed suit to stop this merger, claiming the combination would give monopoly power to the merged firm. Justice insists that consumers would lose in the end. -Refer to Fact Pattern 20-1. Which antitrust statute specifically allows challenges of mergers?

A firm that violates the antitrust laws could be required to break up into several independent companies.

In U.S. Steel v. Fortner Enterprises, involving the tying of the sale of mobile homes to credit for those homes, the Supreme Court renewed its view that tie-in sales are per se illegal under the antitrust statutes.

Mass retailers oppose resale price maintenance because it hinders their strategy of:

In Standard Oil v. U.S., the federal government wanted to break up a trust of companies that controlled up to 90 percent of the petroleum products market at the turn of the century. The government relied on which law to force this breakup?

The government would most likely try to stop a merger between:

The Supreme Court has held the sharing of price information to be a per se violation of the Sherman Act.

In Todd v. Exxon Corp., where Exxon other oil companies hired a consultant to gather information about the salaries they paid professionals at the companies, and the information was used to help set salaries, the appeals court noted that:

The rule of reason approach to mergers was established in the landmark case Standard Oil Company v. U.S.