Antitrust and Trade Regulation laws aim to promote free competition in the marketplace. Agreements or cooperative efforts by two or more entities that affects or restrains competitors is illegal under these laws. The Sherman Act makes illegal any contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce and makes monopolies and attempts, combinations, or conspiracies to monopolize illegal. The Clayton Act regulate price discrimination, tying and exclusive dealing contracts, stock acquisition and interlocking directorates.
Maricopa is a rural town in Kern County, California, United States. Maricopa is located 6.5 miles (10 km) south-southeast of Taft, at an elevation of 883 feet (269 m). The population was 1,111 at the 2000 census. Maricopa lies at the junction of Route 166 and Route 33. The Carrizo Plain is northwest of the town, and the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field, the third largest oil field in the United States, is adjacent to the town on the north and east. With only one Shell gasoline station, Subway, Maricopa Inn, and a preschool-through-12th grade school, Maricopa is a fairly small town in the southwest San Joaquin Valley which retains its rural country flavor.