Antitrust Standing and the Rule against Resale Price Maintenance

This Article examines the textual and prudential foundations of the antitrust standing and antitrust injury doctrines. This examination is conducted through a textual analysis of section 4 of the Clayton Act, which provides a private right of action for persons injured by violations of the antitrust laws, and a developmental review of the principal Supreme Court cases articulating and applying those doctrines. This examination concludes that the Court has crafted antitrust standing and injury doctrines which in part either contradict the textual requirements of section 4 or which are not rooted in any perceptible notion of legitimate statutory objectives. The Article also demonstrates a core of statutory principles and judicial interpretation which can form a principled and threshold analysis of antitrust standing.

The Article proposes an approach of antitrust standing which recognizes the proper accommodation between congressional power to create private rights of action and legitimate judicial power limiting access to the courts for reasons which permit the accomplishment of congressional objectives and protect judicial resources.