antitrust

Antitrust laws or antitrust polices refer to legislation that monitors business acquisitions and mergers to ensure that the changing market decisions are legal and beneficial for the industry environment (e.g., not creating an unlawful monopoly power). Antitrust laws were created to help monitor and maintain the competition within industries, ensuring companies aren’t taking too much market power and participating in illegal activities. Antitrust laws work to ensure that companies are not completing violations like price fixing, which establishes prices among vendors that are unlawful and inappropriate for the product. Three pieces of legislation comprise the prominent antitrust legislation, including the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Clayton Antitrust Act. Therefore, antitrust laws — as such — work to avoid anti-competitive mergers, which occur when companies merge and lessen the competition within the relevant market.