antitrustlaws.docVIP

American antitrust laws are state and federal laws created to prevent monopolies. Antitrust laws apply to both businesses and individuals. The  HYPERLINK /what-is-philosophy.htm philosophy behind the laws is that trusts and monopolies can stagnate markets and prevent others from engaging in healthy market competition. All American antitrust laws date back to the Sherman  HYPERLINK /what-is-the-sherman-antitrust-act.htm Antitrust Act of 1890 that was passed by Congress to remove limits on competitive trade. The Sherman Antitrust Act affects all interstate business transactions. Section 1 of the Sherman Act states that the courts are to interpret which contracts unfairly restrict trade. Section 2 deems it illegal for a company or an individual to monopolize, or attempt to monopolize. Courts usually decide on antitrust cases on the grounds that a monopoly itself may be justified only if justifiable business practices warrant it. We can think about the example of a manufacturing company that has to produce and use its own parts in a product to ensure consumer safety standards are met. Competition is being limited by the company, but if public safety is at risk, the courts would probably rule that antitrust laws have not been violated as the motive is consumer safety and not one of purposefully limiting competition.  HYPERLINK /what-are-antitrust-laws.htm /what-are-antitrust-laws.htm 托拉斯（Trust）直譯為「商業信託」，是指在同一商品領域中，通過生產企業間的收購、合併以及託管等等形式，由 HYPERLINK /zh-tw/%E6%8E%A7%E8%82%A1%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8 \o 控股公司 控股公司在此基礎上設立一巨大企業來包容所有相關企業來達到企業一體化目的的壟斷形式。通過這種形式，托拉斯企業的內部企業可以對市場進行獨佔，並且通過制定企業內部統一價格等等手段來使企業在市場中居於主導地位，實現利潤的最大化。 現在各大已開發國家都先後制訂了 HYPERLINK /zh-tw/%E5%8F%8D%E6%89%98%E6%8B%89%E6%96%AF%E6%B3%95 \o 反托拉斯法 反托拉斯法，並且在各國該法案中對這一壟斷形式進行了限制，禁止了過於龐大的托拉斯壟斷。作為經濟行為的托拉斯目前並未完全禁止，一些被認定為並未過度龐大的托拉斯的存在還屬於法律允許範圍之內。關於判斷其是否過度龐大，各國各個時期的判別標準也不盡相同。 由於一些托拉斯形態在已開發國家目前已被宣布為違法，因此一般上對於托拉斯的介紹，基本上都使用了「企業壟斷市場的形態之一」的說法。另外，由於已開發國家在法規上對於各種托拉斯都進行了各種各樣的限制，對於一些以成立托拉斯為目的的企業合併行為，在成立時並不會公開發表其成立托拉斯的目的。目前對於一