Antitrust

Federal antitrust law prohibits many forms of "anticompetitive" conduct. Under the federal antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the Robinson Patman Act, various combinations, contracts and other conduct (including unilateral acts which restrain trade or constitute price discrimination) are unlawful and may give rise to a claim for damages. Under certain circumstances, such claims may be brought by competitors of the antitrust violator as well as by ordinary consumers who suffer the anti-competitive impact of antitrust violations. Persons who are injured by reason of an illegal restraint of trade may sue and in some cases may recover three times the amount of the actual damages suffered. Some of the principal types of illegal conduct that violate federal antitrust laws are:

• Agreements to fix the prices at which goods or services are sold, referred to as "price fixing agreements."
• Agreements that require a person to purchase a specified product or service that he or she may not desire as a condition to being permitted to purchase a product or service that he or she desires, so-called "tying arrangements."
• Monopolizing or attempting to monopolize the market for a product or service.
• Price discrimination selling a product at different prices to similarly situated buyers.