Sherman Anti Trust Act

 The Sherman Anti Trust Act was passed in 1890. It was the first anti trust law to be passed by the United States Congress. It was passed during the term of President Benjamin Harrison. The Sherman Anti Trust Act was named after Senator John Sherman, who was an Ohio politician. He was an expert in trade and commerce regulation. The intention of his act was to "prevent the concentration of power into the hands of a few large enterprises to the disadvantage of smaller enterprises." It was to prevent attempts to monopolize markets and push out new or smaller companies in an industry.  



It is a federal statute which is meant to prevent actions that restrict interstate commerce. It also prevents companies from restricting competition in the marketplace. The Sherman Act prohibits monopolization of goods or services and make it a felony if a company attempts to do so. Under the Sherman Act, violations of the act will be procecuted under the federal district court. If a company is found guilty of violating the anti trust law, they could be forced to award treble damages to the other party. Treble damages are when the court awards damages to the injured party that is 3 times as much as what the injury was. 

There are three sections of the Sherman Anti Trust Act. The first section is about anti competitive practices that prevent trade. All anti competitive practices that prevent trade between states is illegal. The second section deals with monopolization. It prevents monopolization or companies attempts to monopolize a trade. This includes mergers or aquisitions that would be detremintal to smaller companies. The Federal Trade Commission can deny or approve a companies request for a merger. The third part of the Sherman Act tells how it relates to non US land. It states that what is said in the first two sections also applies to the District of Columbia and United States territories. 



The Sherman Act was amended by the Clayton Act in 1914. The Clayton Act elaborated on the Sherman Act. It allowed parties to sue for triple damages if they had been harmed by conduct that violated either act. It strengthened the Sherman Anti Trust Act by providing a better definition of anticompetitive conduct. The Clayton Act was further amended by three more acts. These are the Robinson-Patman Act, Celler-Kefauver Act, and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust amendment. 



The Sherman Anti Trust Act is still relevent to us today. An example of this is the 2002 court case between the DOJ and Microsoft. The Department of Justice said Microsoft used their power to restrict trade. The "DOJ argued that Microsoft wields a monopoly in computer operating systems and that it used this power to take over the Web browser market. Further, Microsoft imposed exclusionary contracts on computer makers, Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers to further its own goals, the DOJ asserts." This court case represents the most relevent case to us today as everyone knows and uses Microsoft. 

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