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                                                                            Understanding Fair Business

Successfully managing a business requires specific management skills in addition to knowledge of key business practices. It is important to be familiar with antitrust laws to protect your business from becoming a victim and also to avoid non-compliance.   
 
Some businesses will do almost anything to gain an edge on the competition. Without a clear understanding of antitrust laws they can quickly violate antitrust laws. Antitrust laws make it illegal to conspire to restrain trade or commerce in any marketplace, regardless of size. While small businesses may fall victim to the unfair business practices of larger companies, they can also be prosecuted for unfairly dominating markets localized in cities, neighborhoods, or niche industries.
 
·       ÂConspiring to Fix Market Prices: 
Discussing prices with competitors, even if it affects a small marketplace, may be construed as a violation of antitrust laws.
 
·       ÂPrice Discrimination: 
Using dominant industry power to secure favorable product prices from buyers, when such prices are unavailable to weaker companies in the same industry, is generally a violation of antitrust laws.
 
·       ÂConspiring to Boycott: 
Conversations with other businesses regarding the potential boycott of a competitor or supplier may violate antitrust laws.
 
·       ÂConspiring to Allocate Markets or Customers: 
Agreements between competitors to divide up customers, territories, or markets are illegal. This provision applies even when the competitors do not dominate the particular market or industry.
 
·       ÂMonopolization: 
Preserving a monopoly position through the acquisition of competitors, the exclusion of competitors to the given market, or the control of market prices are all in violation of antitrust laws.

For legal advice please check with your attorney.  For official information, read the FTC's Plain English Guide to antitrust laws. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) was passed in 1996 to make federal agencies more responsive and offer small businesses a tool to hold their government more accountable. For specific information, contact 1-888-REG-FAIR. 

Understanding Fair Business

 

 
    
Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of California, Merced. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. The Central California Small Business Development Center is funded in part through a subcontract between the California State University, the Office of Economic Development and the University of California, Merced under the current cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.