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.
Thomson is a village along Illinois Route 84 near the Mississippi River in Carroll County, Illinois, United States. The population was 559 at the 2000 census. Just north of the village is the Thomson Correctional Center, a mostly-unused maximum security state prison. Thomson is known for watermelons, and it has the nickname "Melon Capital of the World."