Antitrust laws, Financial Accounting

Assignment Help:

Antitrust Laws - Assignment Help

One of the foundations of business within the United States is the freedom to compete in the marketplace; however, certain laws have been created to ensure that the marketplace is free of unfair competition and unlawful monopolies. A monopoly exists when one company owns the entire market or nearly the entire market for a service or a product. There are some situations in which a company can defend against a claim of monopolization. These include cases in which the market is too small to have multiple competitors and cases in which the acquisition of another business was the result of insightful business practices and decisions. The mere fact that a monopoly exists does not make it unlawful-the way the monopoly is created impacts the legality and whether an antitrust action can be brought in court.

The federal government is authorized to enforce the federal antitrust laws that have been created. These laws are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and also the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Antitrust lawsuits can be filed by a private person or the government. Depending on the law violated, damages can be in the form of civil damages (monetary relief), criminal sanctions, or equitable relief such as an injunction.

The Sherman Antitrust Act was enacted in 1980. This was created to address anticompetitive actions and prohibit the restraint of trade and was applicable to actions that involved more than one party. It specifically addressed conspiracies to restrain trade. The agreement between the parties could be written or oral and even inferred from the actions of the parties. When determining whether an action has violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Court analyzes many factors. It determines whether the action is a per se violation, meaning it blatantly violated the act, or whether it violated the rule of reason standard in which case, the court prohibits only unreasonable restraint of trade. Under the rule of reason, the court weighs factors including the industry and the company's place in the industry to determine if a violation has occurred.

Situations occur in which parties agree to conduct business in a way that will directly impact the marketplace. Some actions are illegal based on the Sherman Act. One such violation is a horizontal restraint of trade, which occurs when two or more parties who compete at the same level of distribution enter into an agreement to restrain trade. This can be in the form of price-fixing-a violation in which the parties involved dictate a minimum and maximum price for the marketplace. Also prohibited is a vertical restraint of trade that occurs when the agreement to restrain trade is between parties that are in different areas of the distribution chain. These cases are often be found to be a violation per se or a rule of reason violation of antitrust laws (depending upon the circumstances). Horizontal restraint of trade is generally seen as a per se violation. Sometimes, competing parties will enter into an agreement in which the parties designate certain aspects of the market to each of the parties in the agreement. This is market sharing under the Sherman Act and is seen as a per se violation because it creates a monopoly with that designated area of the market. In the agreement,

I am looking for assignment help on the topic Antitrust Laws. It would be great if anyone help me.


Related Discussions:- Antitrust laws

Financial information, The enhancing qualitative characteristic of understa...

The enhancing qualitative characteristic of understand ability means that information should be understood by a those who are experts int eh interpretation of financial information

Prepare a multiple-step income statement, The Caltor Company gathered the f...

The Caltor Company gathered the following condensed data for the Year Ended December 31, 2010. Cost of goods sold $ 710,000 Net sales 1,279,000 Administrative expenses 239,000 I

Accounting policies-financial statement, Accounting policies Accounting...

Accounting policies Accounting policies are the specific assumptions, bases, principles and practices that are adopted by firms in preparing financial statements. The standard

Generally accepted accounting principles (gaap), Generally Accepted Account...

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are guidelines for companies to follow as tehy prepare and issue financial statements. Let's start by getting an understanding of wh

Flexibility in debt finance, Q. Flexibility in Debt finance? Debt finan...

Q. Flexibility in Debt finance? Debt finance is more elastic than equity in that various amounts can be borrowed at a fixed or floating interest rate and for a range of maturit

Fair value adjustment-group accounts, Fair value adjustment IFRS 3 requir...

Fair value adjustment IFRS 3 requires that goodwill on consolidation should be based on the fair values of the net assets of the subsidiary company on the date of acquisition. T

Example on financial and managerial accounting, Mr N. M. is lucky to have a...

Mr N. M. is lucky to have a lottery prize of Rs 20 million. He does not have any liability and does not have any claimant over this money. He has the following alternatives: (i)

Valuing callable bonds, Valuing Callable Bonds: Bowdeen Manufacturing i...

Valuing Callable Bonds: Bowdeen Manufacturing intends to issue callable, perpetual bonds with annual coupon payments. The bonds are callable at $1,350. One-year interest rates

Efficiency ratios, Efficiency Ratios - These ratios include Receivables T...

Efficiency Ratios - These ratios include Receivables Turnover, Inventory Turnover, Asset Turnover and Net Working Capital Turnover ratios. Efficiency ratios demonstrate the utili

Inventory, HOW TO RECORD INVENTORY AT NET REALISABLE VALUE ON JOURNAL

HOW TO RECORD INVENTORY AT NET REALISABLE VALUE ON JOURNAL

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd