GISTnet Antitrust Basics

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Antitrust Basics

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As the complexities of the business world multiply, so do potential antitrust problems for a company up and down its organizational chain. An intricate web of federal, state and international statutes and regulations poses significant dangers for both intentional and inadvertent antitrust violations — companies are fined, mergers and acquisitions are thwarted, enormous litigation costs pile up, people go to jail. As importantly, businesses and their employees become afraid to be inventive, aggressive and competitive in completely legitimate ways.

Accordingly, it is crucial that businesses train their employees on the what, why and how of antitrust enforcement:

  1. What are the basic principles of antitrust law, what problems occur in the real world during formal and informal communication with colleagues, customers, competitors, suppliers and business partners, what special issues arise with e-mail, voice-mail, trade associations and websites, what rights of yours are being trampled on by your competitors;
  2. Why compliance with antitrust law is important to your business goals and the free-enterprise system in general, why avoiding violations and civil and criminal penalties is so important; and,
  3. How to recognize potential problems, how to deal with them, and how to compete creatively and legitimately.
Program Summary:
This program briefly describes the main laws behind antitrust enforcement, the penalties for violating them, and the purpose behind the enforcement scheme. It then turns to the core principles and red flags that each employee should know so he or she can recognize trouble areas and know how to deal with them.

The topics covered in the program include —

Antitrust Basics

This program briefly describes the main laws behind antitrust enforcement, the penalties for violating them, and the purpose behind the enforcement scheme. It then turns to the core principles and red flags that each employee should know so he or she can recognize trouble areas and know how to deal with them. The topics covered in the program include: (1) Relationships with competitors (2) Relationships with customers (3) Mergers and acquisitions (4) Monopolistic behavior (5) Price Discrimination (6) Exemptions from the antitrust laws (7) Special industries (8) Antitrust in other contexts.