The Extraterritorial Application of Antitrust and Securities Laws: An Inquiry into the Utility of a "Choice-of-Law" Approach

Courts have difficulty in applying antitrust and securities laws to conduct outside the US. The problem is difficult because the major industrial nations have different laws and policies, and the relevant US statutes contain only cryptic clues as to their territorial scope. There are 3 approaches th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Texas law review 1992-06, Vol.70 (7), p.1799
Main Author: Weintraub, Russell J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antitrust
Choice of law
Extraterritoriality
International
Jurisdiction
Litigation
Manycompanies
Securities regulations
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Summary:Courts have difficulty in applying antitrust and securities laws to conduct outside the US. The problem is difficult because the major industrial nations have different laws and policies, and the relevant US statutes contain only cryptic clues as to their territorial scope. There are 3 approaches that are taken to determine the territorial reach of US antitrust and securities laws: 1. no extraterritorial application, 2. comity, and 3. presumption in favor of application. It is argued that there should be a presumption in favor of application of US antitrust and securities laws whenever conduct abroad causes direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effects in the US that laws seek to prevent. This presumption, which US courts have employed, has already borne fruit in the form of bilateral agreements. There will be close cases, but the presumption will generally produce a swift and predictable answer to the threshold question of subject matter jurisdiction.
ISSN:0040-4411
1942-857X