The Extraterritorial Application of Antitrust Laws: The United States and European Community Approaches
![handle is hein.journals/vajint33 and id is 11 raw text is: The Extraterritorial Application of
Antitrust Laws: The United States and
European Community Approaches
ROGER P. ALFORD*
I. INTRODUCTION
Few subjects in international law raise such incorrigible conflicts of
interest as the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction in the antitrust
context. As one commentator asked with respect to a U.S. court's
assertion of jurisdiction over British defendants, [h]ow could Ameri-
can law, how could an American judgment applying American law
possibly vary the rights and obligations created by an English con-
tract to be performed outside the United States?' Indeed, interna-
tional law is based on the notion that a state occupies a definite
territory, within which it normally exercises exclusive jurisdiction.2
Yet this traditional doctrine of territorial jurisdiction has slowly
given way to more and more assertions of extraterritorial jurisdic-
tion and international law has reluctantly recognized such encroach-
ments. Most significantly, the past forty to fifty years have evidenced
a remarkable willingness by courts, especially courts in the United
States, to assert jurisdiction over foreign defendants when their for-
eign conduct produces adverse effects upon domestic commerce. Pro-
ponents argue that such extraterritorial jurisdiction is necessary for a
state effectively to regulate the anticompetitive activities of foreign
undertakings. Opponents counter that a liberal understanding of ter-
* J.D. New York University; L.L.M. Edinburgh University. This article was originally
presented as a Master's Thesis at Edinburgh University. The author is currently working as
Legal Assistant to the Honorable Richard C. Allison, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, The
Hague, Netherlands.
1. 0. Kahn-Freund, English Contracts and American Anti-Trust Law: The Nylon Patent
Case, 18 Mod. L. Rev. 65, 67 (1955).
2. James L. Brierly, The Law of Nations 162 (6th ed. 1963).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/vajint33&div=8&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Extraterritorial Application of Antitrust Laws: The United States and European Community Approaches
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