Regulatory Compliance and Antitrust
Regulatory Compliance and Antitrust tests the Sherman, Clayton, and FTC Acts, plus compliance program fundamentals.
Core rules
- Sherman §1: contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade. Horizontal price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation are per se illegal. Vertical restraints are usually rule of reason.
- Sherman §2: monopolization requires possession of monopoly power in a relevant market and willful acquisition or maintenance, not growth by superior skill.
- Clayton Act: price discrimination (§2), tying and exclusive dealing (§3), mergers (§7). HSR premerger notification applies above size thresholds.
- FTC Act §5: unfair or deceptive acts or practices; also data security and advertising.
- Compliance: risk assessment, policies, training, monitoring, hotlines, discipline; FCPA anti-bribery and books-and-records.
Worked example
Three competitors meet and agree to stabilize prices by not discounting. No written agreement exists, but emails and meeting notes show a common plan. The agreement is per se unlawful; the absence of a formal contract does not matter, and each participant may be liable for the conspiracy.
Traps
Parallel pricing without an agreement is not itself a §1 violation. Market definition drives §2 cases. Rule of reason requires actual anticompetitive effects. A compliance program is not a safe harbor.