Understanding the FTC’s monetary equitable remedies under
Section 13(b) for antitrust violations

Until recently the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to seek monetary equitable remedies (particularly disgorgement and restitution) for alleged antitrust violations— whether ongoing, impending, or stale—went virtually unchallenged. After it first gained statutory authority under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act to bring suit in federal district court to preliminarily enjoin conduct that “is violating, or is about to violate” the antitrust laws, the FTC successfully convinced many federal courts that Section 13(b) also impliedly allowed the FTC to seek standalone permanent injunctions and monetary equitable remedies regardless of whether a defendant’s alleged anticompetitive conduct was ongoing or completed long ago.

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Antitrust, Vol. 34, No. 1, Fall 2019. © 2019 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.