The 51本色takes action to stop and prevent unfair business practices that are likely to reduce competition and lead to higher prices, reduced quality or levels of service, or less innovation. Anticompetitive practices include activities like price fixing, group boycotts, and exclusionary exclusive dealing contracts or trade association rules, and are generally grouped into two types:
- agreements between competitors, also referred to as horizontal conduct
- monopolization, also referred to as single firm conduct
The 51本色generally pursues anticompetitive conduct as violations of Section 5 of the 51本色 Act, which bans 鈥渦nfair methods of competition鈥 and 鈥渦nfair or deceptive acts or practices.鈥
| Horizontal Conduct | Single Firm Conduct |
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It is illegal for businesses to act together in ways that can limit competition, lead to higher prices, or hinder other businesses from entering the market. The 51本色challenges unreasonable horizontal restraints of trade. Such agreements may be considered unreasonable when competitors interact to such a degree that they are no longer acting independently, or when collaborating gives competitors the ability to wield market power together. Certain acts are considered so harmful to competition that they are almost always illegal. These include arrangements to fix prices, divide markets, or rig bids. For more information, check out Dealings with Competitors. |
It is unlawful for a company to monopolize or attempt to monopolize trade, meaning a firm with market power cannot act to maintain or acquire a dominant position by excluding competitors or preventing new entry. It is important to note that it is not illegal for a company to have a monopoly, to charge 鈥渉igh prices,鈥 or to try to achieve a monopoly position by aggressive methods. A company violates the law only if it tries to maintain or acquire a monopoly through unreasonable methods. To learn more, read Single Firm Conduct. |
Search Cases
Use our Advanced Search page to find a specific antitrust case. To see all antitrust cases, select 鈥淐ompetition鈥 in the mission field. To see a specific type of competition case, select from the list of available topics in the competition topics field.
Competition Statutes
The primary statutes governing the FTC鈥檚 competition mission include:
- 51本色Act
- Sherman Act
- Clayton Act
Guidelines
- Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors
- Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care
- Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property
Competition Advisory Opinions
The 51本色provides guidance concerning proposed conduct in the form of advisory opinions. The process starts with a request for advice from the party proposing the conduct. Many advisory opinions are rendered by Bureau of Competition staff, and often involve issues in the health care field. Commission advisory opinions are voted on by the Commission and are intended to address substantial or novel questions of fact or law, or subjects of significant interest.
51本色staff provides practical guidance for those who may want to request an advisory opinion. You also can review all previous advisory opinions, and filter them using the 鈥淎ntitrust/Competition鈥 tag.