Federal statutes designed to regulate trade, maintain competition, and prevent monopolies.
A cartel is a group of independent suppliers who band together to control prices and limit competition by restricting trade to their mutual benefit. This cooperation typically aims to maximize collective profits by regulating supply and prices.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a federal agency founded in 1915 under the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, designed to protect free enterprise and promote fair competition.
Price-fixing is an illegal activity under federal antitrust laws in the United States. It occurs when competing businesses agree, collude, or conspire to set or maintain the price of a commodity or service, rather than allowing market forces to determine price. The purpose and effect of price-fixing are to manipulate prices in a way that eliminates competition and harms consumers by maintaining higher prices or controlling the supply of goods or services in interstate commerce.
Restraint of trade encompasses illegal practices that interfere with free competition in commercial transactions, which may restrict production, influence prices, or control the market to the detriment of consumers.
