Antitrust Act

The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed on July 2, 1890. This federal statute is part of the United States competition law. The Antitrust Act regulates anti competitive business activities. The Antitrust act in effect made it illegal to operate a monopoly or trust. The intent of the law was not to stifle the creativity or ingenuity of entrepreneurs, but to prevent unfair business practices that made it impossible for other businesses to compete. Antitrust Act research papers have been written by our history experts. Paper Masters can produce a custom written project following your guidelines.

Antitrust Act and Monopolies

In the time this law was created, the term trust was equated with monopolies because monopolies used the trust as a tool to secure their business. Before the passing of the Antitrust Act, the lawyer for Standard Oil Company of Ohio C.T. Todd came up with a trust agreement making it illegal for companies to own stock in other companies. The purpose of his agreement was to prevent unfair, and artificial monopolies to flourish. The agreement did not put any restraints on natural monopolies that stemmed from the achievement of its owner, but the artificial monopolies.

The Antitrust Act is divided into three different parts.

1. The first part of the Act communicated the restriction of anti competitive business practice in some states and foreign countries.
2. The second part of the Antitrust Act details the consequences of businesses found guilty of anti competitive practices. Under the Antitrust Act, persons found guilty of participating in anti competitive practices or a monopoly will be charged will a felony.
3. The third and final section extends the ideas outlined in section one to all of the United States Territories and Washington D.C.

Clayton Antitrust Act

In 1914, the Clayton Antitrust Act was passed to fix loopholes in the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Clayton Act regulated price changes discrimination between purchasers leading to monopoly. It also put limits on mergers in means of reducing competition. In 1936, The Robinson-Patman Act was passed as an amendment to the Clayton Antitrust Act.