antitrust laws
definition: are design by the government to ensure that firms don’t control price and supply of important goods & services.
- Government watches closely so that they don’t force its competitors out of business
- Trusts are an organization of companies that get together in order to collude and reduce competition, like a cartel


everyday examples
▪ In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act limit mergers and monopolies from limiting trade between the states
    - This was aimed at Standard Oil & the American Tobacco Co.
    - This split up both companies into smaller ones to force competition

▪ 1982, AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph) made an agreement with the government and broke up the company into         seven regional companies.
    - The government only stepped in when AT&T, which controlled all the cables and networks used for telephones, tried         to take control of long-distance phone call charges

▪ In 1997, Microsoft was accused by the Department of Justice of having a near-monopoly over the operating system        market to take control of the browser market.
    -Microsoft insisted that computer manufacturer selling the Windows operating system on their computers also          provide Internet Explorer for free
    -Microsoft was accused of predatory pricing because other companies like Netscape were selling its browsers In          2001, Microsoft and the Justice Department reached an agreement that Microsoft could not force other companies          to use Microsoft software on new computers. This opened the ability for competition in the browser market.


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