Antitrust

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Dictionary Says

Definition of 'Antitrust'

The antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade.
Investopedia Says

Investopedia explains 'Antitrust'

Examples of illegal practices are price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets, and predatory acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power.

Microsoft, ATT, and J.D. Rockefeller Oil are companies who have been convicted of antitrust practices.

Related Definitions

  • Bid Rigging

    A scheme in which businesses collude so that a competing business can secure a contract for goods or services at a pre-determined price. Bid rigging stifles free-market competition, as ...
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  • Price Fixing

    Establishing the price of a product or service, rather than allowing it to be determined naturally through free-market forces. Antitrust legislation makes it illegal for businesses to ...
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  • Predatory Dumping

    A type of anti-competitive event in which foreign companies or governments price their products below market values in an attempt to drive out domestic competition. This may lead to ...
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    • Interlocking Directorates

      A common business practice where a member of a company's board of directors also serves on another company's board or within another company's management. Under antitrust legislation, ...
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    • Monopolistic Market

      A type of market that features one, if not all, of the traits of a monopoly such as high price levels, supply constraints, or excessive barriers to entry. Because this type of market ...
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    • Price Rigging

      An illegal action performed by a group of conspiring businesses that occurs when the firms agree to artificially inflate prices in an attempt to recognize higher profits at the expense ...
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    • Imperfect Competition

      A type of market that does not operate under the rigid rules of perfect competition. Perfect competition implies an industry or market in which no one supplier can influence prices, ...
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    • Clayton Antitrust Act

      An amendment passed by the U.S. Congress in 1914 that provides further clarification and substance to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The Clayton Antitrust Act attempts to prohibit ...
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    • Celler-Kefauver Act

      One of several U.S. laws designed to prevent certain mergers and acquisitions which would lead to the creation of a monopoly or otherwise significantly reduce competition. The ...
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    • Market Power

      A company's ability to manipulate price by influencing an item's supply, demand or both. A company with market power would be able to affect price to its benefit. Firms with market power ...
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