Portfolio 52-3rd: State Antitrust Law
I. Introduction to State Enforcement of Antitrust Laws . Introductory Material A. Sources of State Enforcement Authority 1. Criminal enforcement 2. Civil enforcement a. Federal law b. State law B. State Enforcement Activities 1. Vertical restraints 2. Mergers 3. Joint ventures 4. Horizontal restraints 5. Monopolization 6. Boycotts 7. Single state actions C. Coordination of Enforcement 1. Among states 2. State and federal coordination II. Interface of the Federal and State Antitrust Laws . Introductory Material A. State Antitrust Laws as an Undue Burden on Interstate Commerce B. Preemption Defenses 1. Preemption of state antitrust laws 2. Concurrent or parallel federal and state antitrust litigation, as exemplified by indirect purchaser actions 3. Dual federal and state antitrust enforcement C. The Federal Anti-Injunction Act D. The Effect of Federal Precedents on State Law Claims III. Monopolization A. Definitions of Monopoly 1. The English common law versus the American view of monopoly 2. Monopoly as defined by market shares or impact a. Monopolistic market shares b. Insufficient market shares 3. State courts’ application of the federal case law on monopoly power B. Monopolistic Conduct 1. Monopolization by acquisition, common management, and joint operating agreements 2. Abuse of patents 3. Exclusive dealing and contracts 4. Covenants not to compete 5. Predatory pricing C. Attempt to Monopolize and Conspiracy to Monopolize 1. Attempt to monopolize 2. Conspiracy to monopolize D. Defenses in Monopolization Cases 1. Economic defenses 2. Statutory defenses E. Challenges to Government-Created Monopolies 1. Monopoly by public regulation a. Federal constitutional limitations b. Government award of an exclusive privilege c. Public regulation with monopolistic effects (1). Price and production regulation (2). Market entry restrictions (3). Geographic restrictions (4). Exclusive bid specifications d. Permissible public interest regulation IV. Horizontal Restraints . Introductory Material A. Price Fixing 1. Express agreements on price 2. Agreements to limit supply 3. Elimination of discounts 4. Uniform prices and terms of trade 5. Bid rigging 6. Exchange of market information 7. Joint ventures 8. Requirements contracts 9. Advertising restrictions 10. Common delivery systems 11. State pricing statutes B. Allocation of Territories and Customers C. Boycotts 1. Economic boycotts 2. Trade association boycotts 3. Political boycotts D. Other Trade Association Activities E. Ancillary Agreements Not to Compete 1. Sale or lease of a business 2. Employment covenants V. Vertical Restraints A. Introduction B. Vertical Price Fixing or Resale Price Maintenance 1. Leegin and the application of a rule of reason test to resale price maintenance 2. State decisions regarding resale price maintenance before Leegin 3. Defenses in resale price maintenance cases a. The single-trade doctrine b. The agency or consignment defense 4. Ancillary retail price agreements C. Exclusive Dealings 1. Exclusive contracts 2. Exclusive distributorships a. Territorial restrictions b. Product and customer restrictions c. Time limitations 3. Various approaches to evaluating legality of exclusive dealings a. The public welfare test b. The monopoly power test c. The substantial-lessening-of-competition test d. The market-price-impact test e. The horizontal-effects test f. The good-faith test g. Vertical Restraints Guidelines of the National Association of Attorneys General 4. Defenses in vertical restraint cases a. Economic defenses b. Legitimate business reasons D. Tying Arrangements 1. The elements of the tying-arrangement offense a. Two products b. Sufficient economic power c. Not insubstantial amount of commerce 2. Types of actionable tying arrangements 3. Rejected tying claims 4. Special defenses in tying arrangement cases VI. Mergers and Acquisitions . Introductory Material A. Mergers and Acquisitions as Restraints of Trade 1. State common law 2. State merger statutes B. State Court Merger Remedies C. Defenses in State Merger Cases D. Merger Enforcement by State Attorneys General 1. Horizontal merger guidelines 2. Voluntary pre-merger disclosure compact 3. Protocol for coordination in merger investigations between the federal enforcement agencies and state attorneys general VII. Predatory Pricing and Price Discrimination . Introductory Material A. Constitutionality of State Statutes B. Sales Below Cost 1. Definitions of cost 2. Judicial definitions of cost 3. Types of actionable sales-below-cost claims 4. Permissible sales below cost 5. Defenses C. Price Discrimination 1. Geographic or area price discrimination 2. Customer price discrimination a. Primary and secondary lines b. Quantity and functional discrimination c. Types of price discrimination claims d. Defenses e. Rebates VIII. Antitrust Immunities A. Judicially Created Antitrust Immunities and Exemptions 1. First Amendment activities 2. The federal ‘state action doctrine' 3. The states' ‘state action doctrine' 4. The ‘act of foreign government' doctrine 5. The Noerr-Pennington doctrine 6. The ‘learned profession' exemption/defense 7. The baseball exemption 8. The ‘primary jurisdiction' doctrine B. Statutory Exemptions 1. Labor 2. Insurance
Wks. 1 Substantive Offenses Under State Antitrust Statutes Wks. 2 Procedural Provisions Under State Antitrust Statutes Wks. 3 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATTORNEYS GENERAL VERTICAL RESTRAINTS GUIDELINES Wks. 4 National Association of Attorneys General, Horizontal Merger Guidelines (1993) Wks. 5 National Association of Attorneys General, Horizontal Merger Guidelines Executive Summary (1993) Wks. 6 National Association of Attorneys General, Voluntary Pre-Merger Disclosure Compact (1994) Wks. 7 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and National Association of Attorneys General, Protocol for Coordination in Merger Investigations Between the Federal Enforcement Agencies and State Attorneys General (1998) Wks. 8 U.S. Department of Justice, Protocol for Increased State Prosecution of Criminal Antitrust Offenses (1996) Wks. 9 New York et al. v. Salton, Inc., Amended Complaint Wks. 10 New York et al. v. Salton, Inc. Settlement Agreement Wks. 11 New York et al. v. Salton, Inc. Release Wks. 12 Twenty-Five States, by their Attorneys General, v. American Optometric Association, et al. Discovery Request