The Scope of Antitrust Jurisdiction Abroad: A Classic Conflicts-of-Law Problem

This term, the Supreme Court is set to address an issue of profound importance to the regulation of the global economy that has sharply divided the lower courts over the past few years about the extent to which US antitrust law applies outside the US. While it has been within the US, what is less clear is the scope of that reach. What happens if foreign anticompetitive conduct affects not only the US, but also foreign economies? Are people injured abroad protected by the Sherman Act\u27s criminal and civil provisions? Courts examining this important issue have so far looked to the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act of 1982 for answers. This Article, however, argues that the current focus on the FTAIA is a mistake, and that the correct place to look for answers is in traditional conflicts of law doctorine, with which the FTAIA is consistent and from which the case law preceding the FTAIA was drawn. Under that doctrine, the answer to the question now before the Supreme Court is that US antitrust law should be deemed exclusively to protect persons injured in US commerce, and it should not extend to protect persons injured abroad under any circumstanc