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.
Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about 15 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 29,393 at the 2008 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area.