I recently compiled a list of the U.S. Supreme Court cases that
brought American antitrust to a halt--beginning a couple of decades ago.
These are the precedents that are in the briefcase of every lawyer who
represents a monopolist.
They're the ones Bill Gates' lawyers have committed to memory--and briefed
him on, and carefully explained to him, as they assured him over the years
that he has every "right" under the antitrust laws to monopolize "his"
industry. This handful of decisions by the country's highest court is the
root source of his arrogance in dealing with the Justice Department and the
competitors he's smashed--of his assurance that he's untouchable. Each of
them of them blocks antitrust enforcement in a particular area; and
together, they block it in all (save collusive price- fixing).
These decisions are "linked" on my Web page, which of course means
you can read them in full text there and print out a copy of the full set
for your OWN briefcase. If the people who are technically skilled should
also make themselves knowledgeable in antitrust law and policy (and in that
regard I also invite you to read my Antitrust Overview, the introduction to
my antitrust Web site), the size of Bill's information advantage would
undergo a dramatic shrinkage.
You can go directly to my 'Dirty Dozen' cases at:
http://webpages.metrolink.net~cmueller/dirty.html
Charles Mueller, Editor
ANTITRUST LAW & ECONOMICS REVIEW
http://webpages.metrlink.net/~cmueller
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ANTITRUST LAW & ECONOMICS REVIEW
'Dirty Dozen' U.S. Antitrust Cases
In the U.S., over 1,500 private antitrust cases had been
filed in the federal courts each year until the mid-70s, plus
roughly 100 each by the Justice Department's Antitrust
Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Today,
only a handful of cases are filed and virtually all are
dismissed out of hand by the courts. In effect, then, U.S.
antitrust has been effectively closed down since about 1975,
with the acceptance by Justice/FTC--and then the federal
judiciary--of "economic" theory as the case standard.
This body of theory, now incorporated into nearly a
dozen decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, currently kills
virtually all cases except for the rawest kind of explicit
price-fixing. Monopoly by merger--and by the coercive
exclusion of more efficient competitors--is now routinely
approved on the basis of these "dirty dozen" Supreme Court
precedents. The U.S. judiciary, assuming the power to set
the country's "industrial policy", has opted for the
"consolidation" of U.S. industry into 2-firm (and even
1-firm) monopoly, a policy which is spelled out in this set of
decisions that, together, constitutes a gauntlet no serious
anti-monopoly case can survive in 1997.
The full on-line texts of these "dirty dozen" antitrust
decisions of America's highest Court are linked here,
courtesy of Findlaw's case archives:
Continental T.V., Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc., 433 U.S.
36 (1977)
Brunswick Corp. v. Pueblo Bowl-O-Mat, Inc., 429 U.S.
477 (1977)
Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., 465 U.S.
752 (1984)
Jefferson Parish Hospital Dist. No. 2 v. Hyde, 466
U.S. 2 (1984)
Matsushita Elec. Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio, 475
U.S. 574 (1986)
Cargill, Inc. v. Monfort of Colorado, Inc., 479 U.S. 104
(1986)
Business Electronics v. Sharp Electronics, 485 U.S.
717 (1988)
Atlantic Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co., 495 U.S.
328 (1990)
Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco
Corp., 509 U.S. 209 (1993)
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Charles Mueller, Editor
ANTITRUST LAW & ECONOMICS REVIEW
http://webpages.metrolink.net/~cmueller
