Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association led an amicus brief joined by several other tech associations asking the Supreme Court to take up an antitrust case involving Duke Energy, criticizing a lower court’s misguided “monopoly broth” theory of antitrust liability that would lead to legal uncertainty and deter technological investment.
The brief states that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upended established antitrust doctrine by holding that multiple lawful business practices, when combined, can somehow violate the Sherman Act. This amicus brief notes that this so-called “monopoly broth” theory “contradicts this Court’s precedent and creates the specter of treble damages exposure for antitrust liability for entirely lawful actions. Left uncorrected, the decision will chill the very procompetitive conduct the antitrust laws were designed to encourage.”
The following can be attributed to Stephanie Joyce, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, who is the Director of CCIA’s Litigation Center:
“It is crucial that the Supreme Court review the lower court’s erroneous ‘monopoly broth’ theory of antitrust liability. In antitrust, as in math, zero plus zero is still zero – a lawful course of conduct should not be the basis for allegations of anticompetitive behavior. Allowing such claims to proceed creates legal uncertainty, harms both businesses and consumers, and runs afoul of Supreme Court precedent.”
