Enjoining the Application of the British Protection of Trading Interests Act in Private American Antitrust Litigation

This Note argues that American courts should mitigate the impact of the PTIA on American antitrust litigation by enjoining British defendants from pursuing their rights under the Act. Part I examines the Act’s principal effects on antitrust enforcement and the settlement process, and concludes that these effects are serious enough to warrant judicial intervention. Part II establishes a court’s power to issue transnational antisuit injunctions, and considers the propriety of doing so. After briefly rejecting two practical objections to such injunctions – that they are impossible to enforce and will provoke international retaliation – Part II analyzes the doctrine of comity – the deference that American courts accord the laws and courts of other nations – and finds that it does not demand that courts refuse to enjoin parties from bringing suit under the PTIA. The Note then concludes that since courts lack the authority to change the antitrust laws to accommodate the views of the British, ultimate responsibility for resolving the dispute rests with Congress.