Note:
Parker C. Folse, III, Antitrust and Regulated Industries: A Critique and Proposal for Reform of the Implied Immunity Doctrine, 57 Texas L. Rev. 751 (1979).
 

Abstract:
The implied immunity doctrine insulates antitrust defendants that are subject to regulatory oversight from antitrust prosecution, based on the determination that the regulatory agency has exclusive jurisdiction. This note argues that this implied immunity is appropriate in cases where the alleged antitrust violation was the result of regulatory coercion, or where the preservation of regulatory autonomy is at stake. However, the liberal grant of implied immunity to any business subject to regulatory action is unjustified and inappropriate where neither of the above concerns is implicated. The courts’ broad application of the doctrine without any efforts to articulate the policies purporting to justify it hinders the procompetitive aims of the antitrust laws.