Sherman's Antitrust Laws

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Trusts are referred to as businesses that are near monopolies or are operating as monopolies. Trusts have strong market holds within their respective industries. The Industrial Revolution not only brought modernization and new technologies to society, it dramatically changed the way business was conducted due to the development of large corporations. The Industrial Revolution gave birth to some well-known trusts like, “Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, the American Tobacco Company, the International Mercantile Marine Company, and the match companies controlled by Ivar Kreuger, the Match King. Other trusts were formed by several companies, such as the Motion Picture Patents Company, or Edison Trust which controlled movie patents.” (Moody, 1904). In response to these large …show more content…
The Sherman Antitrust Act was created in 1890 and amended in 1914 by the creation of two new antitrust laws, one act created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the other created the Clayton Act. These three laws are still in effect today, “The Sherman Act outlaws every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade, and any monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize. The Federal Trade Commission Act bans, unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The Clayton Act addresses specific practices that the Sherman Act does not clearly prohibit, such as mergers and interlocking directorates (that is, the same person making business decisions for competing companies)” (“Guide to Antitrust Laws”, 2014). Antitrust laws and acts span across all industries and services provided by those industries, including Healthcare. Healthcare specific laws went into effect in 1993, which were further expanded and reinforced in September 1994 ( need help with this in text

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