Archive for January, 2010
Standard Oil
by on Jan.31, 2010, under Business
The standard oil company of Ohio was organized in 1870, combining the oil refining and distribution operations of the Rockefeller brothers and others. Within 2 years, they had acquired control of most of the oil refineries in and around Cleveland. By 1882, standard controlled some 90 per cent of the production, refining, and distribution of oil in the United States.
In o ne of the earliest monopolization cases to search the Supreme Court, the government alleged and the Supreme Court accepted that standard oil had employed the following techniques on its way to achieving this market position: (continue reading…)
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Public Policy toward Dominant Firms
by on Jan.31, 2010, under Business
The passage of the Sherman act was motivated by public concern over trusts – dominant firms formed by merger in the great consolidation wave of 1895 – 1904. Many of the earliest landmark antitrust cases, in which courts gave content to section II of the Sherman act, involved dominant firms.
Courts were bound by the language of section 2, which as we have seen condemns
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations . . . (continue reading…)

