The Effects of United States Antitrust Laws on the International Operations of American Firms

United States antitrust laws increasingly have affected the international activities of U.S. corporations. The business community maintains that these laws have hurt international operations. In this article, Messrs. Schwechter and Schepard consider five major areas of concern to American businessmen: potential antitrust attacks upon licensing agreements, use of the foreign sovereign compulsion doctrine as an antitrust defense, subject matter jurisdiction and discovery, application of the rule of reason to international joint ventures, and the multifaceted nature of antitrust enforcement. They then discuss the Justice Department\u27s response to the business community and propose several recommendations that should help United States firms reduce the antitrust uncertainty they face in exporting and other international operations