ORAL ARGUMENT SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 20, 2005

No. 01-7115

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

______________________

EMPAGRAN, S.A., ET AL.,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

F. HOFFMANN-LAROCHE, LTD., ET AL.,

Defendants-Appellees.

______________________

ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

AND ON APPEAL FROM

THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

______________________

BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES AND THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES

IN RESPONSE TO COURT ORDER OF NOVEMBER 22, 2004

 ______________________ 

JOHN D. GRAUBERT R. HEWITT PATE

 Acting General Counsel Assistant Attorney General

 Federal Trade Commission

 Washington, D.C. 20580 MAKAN DELRAHIM

 Deputy Assistant Attorney General

ROBERT B. NICHOLSON

STEVEN J. MINTZ

 Attorneys

 U.S. Department of Justice

 Antitrust Division

 Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

 ( 202) 353-8629
CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES

(A) Parties and Amici

Except for the United States, the Federal Trade Commission, and foreign

government amici, the parties appearing before the district court and in this court

are listed in the Brief for Appellants, dated January 10, 2005. The United States

and Federal Trade Commission previously participated in this court as amici

curiae.

(B) Rulings Under Review

References to the rulings at issue appear in the Brief for Appellants, dated

January 10, 2005.

(C) Related Cases

The case on review was previously before this Court (No. 01-7115) and the

Supreme Court of the United States (No. 03-724). 

____________________

Steven J. Mintz
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS AND RELATED CASES

STATEMENT OF INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

STATEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ARGUMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

I. Plaintiffs’ “Alternative Theory” Cannot Establish

Subject Matter Jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A. Plaintiffs’ Claim Cannot Be Reconciled With

the Supreme Court’s Reasoning in Empagran .................. 6

B. Plaintiffs’ “But For” Theory Has No Basis in Antitrust Law . . . . . 14

C. Plaintiffs’ Fallback Proximate Cause Argument is Unsound . . . . . 17

II. Plaintiffs’ Theory Will Undermine Deterrence

and the Government’s Anti-Cartel Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

III. Plaintiffs Lack Antitrust Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

i
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Cases:

Allegheny General Hosp. v. Philip Morris, Inc., 228 F.3d 429

(3d Cir. 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

*Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. California State

Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519 (1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 27, 28, 29

Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251 (1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

*Blue Shield of Virginia v. McCready, 457 U.S. 465 (1982) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 15

Caribbean Broad. Sys., Ltd. v. Cable & Wireless, PLC,

148 F.3d 1080 (D.C. Cir. 1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Carpet Group Int’l v. Oriental Rug Importers Ass’n, Inc.,

227 F.3d 62 (3d Cir. 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap AS v. HeereMac Vof,

241 F.3d 420 (5th Cir. 2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Dominicus Americana Bohio v. Gulf & Western Indus., Inc.,

473 F. Supp. 680 (S.D.N.Y. 1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

EEOC v. Arabian American Oil Co., 499 U.S. 244 (1991) ..................8

Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd.,

2001 WL 761360 (D.D.C. June 7, 2001) ................................2

Authorities upon which we chiefly rely are marked with asterisks.

ii
Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd.,

315 F.3d 338 (D.C. Cir. 2003) ................................... passim

Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd.,

388 F.3d 337 (D.C. Cir. 2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 17

*F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A.,

542 U.S. ___, 124 S. Ct. 2359 (2004) .............................. passim

Foley Brothers v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281 (1949) ...........................8

Industria Siciliana Asfalti, Bitumini, S.p.A. v. Exxon Research

& Engineering Co., 1977 WL 1353 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 1977) ................9

Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corp., 503 U.S. 258 (1992) . . . . . . . . 15

Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574 (1986) . . . . . . 28

Motive Parts Warehouse v. Facet Enter., 774 F.2d 380 (10th Cir. 1985) . . . . . . 16

Pfizer, Inc. v. Government of India, 434 U.S. 308 (1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

United States v. Nippon Paper Indus. Co., 109 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 1997) . . . . . . . . 24

Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U.S. 100 (1969) . . . . . . . 16

FEDERAL STATUTES AND RULES

15 U.S.C. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

15 U.S.C. 6a(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

15 U.S.C. 6a(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . passim

15 U.S.C. 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

iii
15 U.S.C. 15(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

*Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004,

Pub. L. No. 108-237, 118 Stat. 665 (2004) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

MISCELLANEOUS

1A Phillip E. Areeda & Herbert Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law (2d ed. 2000) . . . . 28

2 Phillip E. Areeda & Herbert Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law (2d ed. 2000) . . . . . . 16

150 Cong. Rec. H3658, June 2, 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

John M. Connor, GLOBAL PRICE FIXING (2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

H.R. Rep. No. 97-686, reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2487 . . . . . . 10, 16, 25, 29

4 Trade Reg. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 13,113 (Aug. 10, 1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

iv
STATEMENT OF INTEREST

The United States and the Federal Trade Commission, which previously

participated amici curiae before this Court and the Supreme Court, have primary

responsibility for enforcing the federal antitrust laws, and therefore have a strong

interest in the correct application of those laws.

STATEMENT

1. In 1997, the Department of Justice opened a grand jury investigation

into price fixing in bulk vitamins. The investigation bore fruit in 1999 when one

of the price fixers entered the Department’s antitrust amnesty program and

exposed a world-wide price-fixing and market division conspiracy among

domestic and foreign makers of bulk vitamins. The Department’s subsequent

prosecution of the cartel led to prison sentences for eleven corporate officials and

criminal fines exceeding $900 million. Large civil penalties by European Union,

Canadian, Australian, and Korean antitrust authorities followed, as did successful

private treble damage actions under Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 4 of

the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 1, 15, by vitamin purchasers injured in the United

States.

Plaintiffs in the present case are foreign nationals who bought vitamins from

foreign firms for delivery outside the United States, but seek treble damages under

U.S. antitrust law. The district court dismissed their suit for lack of subject matter
2

jurisdiction because the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982, 15

U.S.C. 6a (“FTAIA”), makes the Sherman Act inapplicable to non-import foreign

conduct unless it has a “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect” on

U.S. commerce and “such effect gives rise to a claim” under the Sherman Act. 

The court held that the plaintiffs had not alleged that the conduct’s effect on the

United States gave rise to their claims. Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche

Ltd., 2001 WL 761360, at 2-4 (D.D.C. June 7, 2001).

2. This Court reversed in a 2-1 decision, holding that the phrase “gives

rise to a claim” requires only that “the conduct’s harmful effect on United States

commerce must give rise to ‘a claim’ by someone, even if not the foreign plaintiff

who is before the court.” Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., 315 F.3d

338, 341 (D.C. Cir. 2003). It found support for this reading in the FTAIA’s

legislative history, and it concluded that asserting jurisdiction would maximize

deterrence of international cartels. See id. The Court further held that plaintiffs

have antitrust standing to seek treble damages under Section 4 of the Clayton Act. 

See id. at 357-59. Judge Henderson dissented. The Court denied en banc

rehearing by a 4-3 vote.

3. The Supreme Court unanimously (Justice O’Connor not participating)

vacated this Court’s judgment, holding that the FTAIA does not allow antitrust
3

claims arising solely out of a foreign injury that is independent of the domestic

effects of the challenged anticompetitive conduct. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd. v.

Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. ___, 124 S. Ct. 2359 (2004). The Court offered “two

main reasons” for its conclusion, id. at 2366: the importance of “constru[ing]

ambiguous statutes to avoid unreasonable interference with the sovereign

authority of other nations” (prescriptive comity), id.; and fidelity to Congress’

intent “not to expand in any significant way, the Sherman Act’s scope as applied

to foreign commerce,” id. at 2369 (emphasis in original).

The Court declined to accept plaintiffs’ suggestion that comity can be

evaluated case-by-case, because it “is too complex to prove workable.” Id. at

2368. District courts must be able to determine whether the Sherman Act reaches

a plaintiff’s claim “simply and expeditiously,” without a “legally and economically

technical . . . enterprise” that “means lengthier proceedings, appeals, and more

proceedings.” Id. at 2369. The Court also rejected plaintiffs’ assertion that their

construction of the FTAIA would help to deter cartels, noting the “important

experience-backed arguments (based upon amnesty-seeking incentives)” raised by

the defendants, the United States, and foreign governments. Id. at 2372. 

Because this Court had not addressed it, the Supreme Court declined to

consider plaintiffs’ alternative theory that their foreign injury was not independent,
1 This Court subsequently ruled that plaintiffs adequately raised and

preserved their alternative argument, and that it should be decided here and now. 

Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd., 388 F.3d 337 (D.C. Cir. 2004).

4

so that “the anticompetitive conduct’s domestic effects were linked to that foreign

harm.” Id. The Court remanded the case for this Court to determine whether this

argument was properly preserved and, if so, to consider it. See id.

1

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

The government continues to participate in this case because of its core

mission of criminal investigation and prosecution of international cartels. 

Plaintiffs’ alternative argument would diminish the deterrence of cartels by

weakening the Department of Justice’s antitrust amnesty program, which is the

most effective means of detecting cartels, and which Congress sought to bolster in

recent legislation. Plaintiffs’ approach also threatens to disrupt coordinated

international anti-cartel enforcement. 

Plaintiffs’ theory is stunning in its sweep: it invites foreign consumers to

sue their local suppliers in U.S. courts, alleging only an international conspiracy, a

worldwide market, and a theory of arbitrage. Despite plaintiffs’ post-Complaint

attempts to limit the scope of their theory, it encompasses all international cartels. 

Plaintiffs’ proof of even “but for” linkage between domestic and foreign injury,

when challenged factually at the jurisdictional stage, will be complex, and
5

determining which cartels might meet their arbitrage test cannot be done “simply

and expeditiously,” as the Supreme Court directed.

Opening U.S. courts to antitrust class actions from around the world also

would interfere with the sovereign decisions of other nations about the appropriate

remedies to offer their consumers, their ability to regulate their commercial affairs,

and their antitrust amnesty programs. 124 S. Ct. at 2366-68. Moreover, it would

negate the Supreme Court’s reasoning that Congress, in enacting the FTAIA, did

not intend “to expand in any significant way, the Sherman Act’s scope as applied

to foreign commerce.” Id. at 2369 (emphasis in original). The Supreme Court

could not have intended that the FTAIA’s domestic injury exception would

swallow its rule. 

 Plaintiffs’ “but for” causation also fails because the established standard for

causation in antitrust law is the more rigorous “proximate cause,” and Congress

intended to preserve the pre-existing law in the FTAIA. Plaintiffs’ current attempt

to show proximate causation is unavailing: their theory, in substance, is only “but

for” causation, and in any event it is doubtful that they alleged proximate

causation, and the Supreme Court did not remand that question. 

 Finally, even if the Court finds jurisdiction under the FTAIA, the Complaint

nevertheless should be dismissed because plaintiffs lack antitrust standing. The
6

Court should re-examine its prior standing holding in light of the Supreme Court’s

opinion, which undermines its reasoning.

 ARGUMENT

I. Plaintiffs’ “Alternative Theory” Cannot Establish

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Plaintiffs argue that the particular facts of this case – fungible products

easily shipped long distances at a low cost relative to value – establish that

“defendants’ cartel would have been unsustainable if the United States had been

excluded from it,” because plaintiffs either would have purchased in the United

States or from “arbitrageurs selling vitamins imported from the United States.” 

Br. 10, 20. Thus, they assert, their injuries would not have occurred “but for” the

fact that the cartel included the United States, and the U.S. effect of the cartel

“gives rise” to their claim as required by the FTAIA. This sweeping argument is

in fundamental conflict with the Supreme Court’s reasoning and well-established

principles of causation in antitrust cases.

A. Plaintiffs’ Claim Cannot Be Reconciled With

the Supreme Court’s Reasoning in Empagran

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected a construction of the FTAIA

granting foreign plaintiffs a treble damage remedy under U.S. antitrust law for the

foreign effects of conduct that also happens to injure U.S. commerce. The Court
7

found that the statute is ambiguous and that plaintiffs’ reading was “not consistent

with the FTAIA’s basic intent.” Id. The Court’s conclusion was based on two

fundamental principles, both of which also point to rejection of plaintiffs’

alternative claim.

First, the Supreme Court emphasized that an ambiguous statute like the

FTAIA should be construed “to avoid unreasonable interference with the

sovereign authority of other nations.” Id. at 2366. The Court asked: “Why should

American law supplant, for example, Canada’s or Great Britain’s or Japan’s own

determination about how best to protect Canadian or British or Japanese customers

from anticompetitive conduct . . . ?” Id. at 2367. Plaintiffs’ alternative theory

does not change the reality that the subject of this suit is sales in foreign countries

by foreign sellers to foreign purchasers, nor the principle that foreign countries

have the primary role in protecting their consumers. The Supreme Court

emphasized that application of U.S. antitrust law to foreign conduct is consistent

with principles of prescriptive comity insofar as it reflects “a legislative effort to

redress domestic antitrust injury,” id. at 2366 (emphasis in original), but plaintiffs’

injuries are not domestic. 

Plaintiffs’ theory invites foreigners overcharged on purchases from foreign

firms abroad to seek redress under U.S. law, rather than the law of their home
2

 The Court did not limit its application of prescriptive comity to

construction of the word “a” in 15 U.S.C. 6a(2), as plaintiffs suggest, Br. 53. See

124 S. Ct. at 2366 (referring to “ambiguous statutes” and the FTAIA as a whole). 

It addressed the broader issue of how the FTAIA’s domestic exception applies to

foreign conduct causing foreign harm independent of domestic effects. 

8

countries. This would constitute precisely the kind of “legal imperialism,” 124 S.

Ct. at 2369, that the Supreme Court declined to attribute to Congress.2

 The Court

repeatedly has held that statutes, unless unambiguous, are not read to embody a

congressional intent to regulate conditions that are the primary concern of foreign

countries. EEOC v. Arabian American Oil Co., 499 U.S. 244, 255 (1991); Foley

Brothers v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281, 286 (1949). 

Plaintiffs argue, Br. 15, 53-59, that there are no significant comity concerns

in this case because international cartels violate the laws of every industrialized

nation. The Supreme Court emphasized, however, that “even where nations agree

about primary conduct, say price fixing, they disagree dramatically about

appropriate remedies.” 124 S. Ct. at 2368. Converting U.S. courts into magnets

that draw foreign plaintiffs’ cartel suits away from their own judicial systems,

based on speculative connections between the foreign injuries and effects on U.S.

commerce, would undermine the sovereign decisions of foreign governments

about remedies and procedures. See id. at 2367-68.

Plaintiffs’ argument for opening U.S. courts to foreign plaintiffs seeking
9

redress of foreign antitrust injury based on a theoretical “but for” connection to the

conduct’s effects on U.S. commerce also ignores the Supreme Court’s second

“main reason” for its conclusion: that Congress’ intent was “to clarify, perhaps to

limit, but not to expand in any significant way, the Sherman Act’s scope as applied

to foreign commerce.” Id. at 2369 (emphasis in original). Indeed, it noted,

Congress sought to “release domestic (and foreign) anticompetitive conduct from

Sherman Act constraints when that conduct causes foreign harm.” Id. at 2367

(emphasis in original). The Court thus emphasized the absence of any “significant

indication that at the time Congress wrote this statute courts would have thought

the Sherman Act applicable in these circumstances,” id. at 2369, as a reason to

reject plaintiffs’ construction of the statute. Similarly, there was no established

pre-FTAIA (pre-1982) recognition of the proposition that a foreign plaintiff who

was injured in a foreign market could establish jurisdiction on the basis of a “but

for” connection between the allegedly inflated price paid by the plaintiff and

allegedly inflated prices charged by the defendant for the same product in the

United States.

Plaintiffs cite Industria Siciliana Asfalti, Bitumini, S.p.A. v. Exxon Research

& Engineering Co., 1977 WL 1353 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 1977), which did involve

foreign antitrust harm. But that case was based on a tying or reciprocal dealing
3

 Plaintiffs also cite Dominicus Americana Bohio v. Gulf & Western Indus.,

Inc., 473 F. Supp. 680 (S.D.N.Y. 1979) as an example “of cases rejecting the view

defendants advance (the requirement that claims arise ‘in U.S. commerce’).” Br.

50. But the court did not rule on subject matter jurisdiction in that case. To the

extent that it discussed the facts, it noted that “many of the defendants as well as

the plaintiffs are United States corporations, that the services said to be affected by

the antitrust violations are used by Americans, and that some of the

anticompetitive conduct is alleged to have occurred in this country.” 473 F. Supp.

at 688. The court thereby intimated that the claims did arise, at least in part, in

U.S. commerce. 

10

contract, not simply an alleged relationship between domestic and foreign cartel

prices. As a non-cartel case, it does not support any anticipation by Congress that

class action cartel cases could be brought in U.S. courts. Moreover, Congress was

critical even of that case. See H.R. Rep. No. 97-686, at 5 (1982), reprinted in

1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2487, 2490 (House Report).3

The Supreme Court’s reasoning therefore precludes acceptance of the

sweeping alternative theory of jurisdiction plaintiffs now assert. Classes of

foreign plaintiffs would be able to establish jurisdiction and proceed to discovery

under that theory simply by alleging a theory of arbitrage that some economists

have put forward in this case as a general rule, but which is not necessarily

applicable in particular cases. Plaintiffs’ proposed approach would make the

Supreme Court’s unanimous decision meaningless. It is difficult to imagine a

foreign antitrust plaintiff who could not allege some theoretical connection
4 Contrary to the implication of plaintiffs’ citation to Den Norske Stats

Oljeselskap AS v. HeereMac Vof, 241 F.3d 420 (5th Cir. 2001), Br. 30 n.7, even in

that case, which involved services not subject to arbitrage, the plaintiffs claimed

that the barges were mobile and the cartel allocated them, thereby alleging in

substance “but for” causation. Petition for Certiorari at 4 (“[b]ecause of the

limited number of such [heavy lift] barges and their mobility, there exists a

unified, world-wide market for heavy lift services”). 

5 Mere “but for” causation sweeps far beyond the limited circumstances that

plaintiffs describe. Consider plaintiffs’ own merger hypothetical, in which a

European plaintiff challenges the merger of two European companies, which has

anticompetitive effects in the United States. Br. 59. Contrary to plaintiffs’

assertion, this plaintiff could have a stronger “but for” causation argument than the

plaintiffs do here. If the two merging companies were the only worldwide

producers of a product consumed primarily in the United States, it would be

11

between the U.S. effects of a cartel and the overcharge paid by the plaintiff.

Plaintiffs’ assertions that their theory of jurisdiction need not sweep so

broadly, and that it can be limited to a “small subset of potential international

antitrust claims,” Br. 59, are unpersuasive. Foreign plaintiffs challenging virtually

any international cartel could allege that “the cartel raised prices around the world

in order to keep prices in equilibrium with United States prices.” Empagran, 315

F.3d 338, 341. Plaintiffs’ arbitrage theory is not the only one in which a class of

foreign plaintiffs could allege that the foreign restraints that harmed them would

not have come about “but for” a broader worldwide agreement.4

 Thus, plaintiffs’

theory, even if it plausibly could be applied in this case, opens the door to a

potential flood of “but for” claims.5
impossible for the European plaintiff to be injured by the merger unless there was

injury to U.S. consumers. 

6 There is no significance in the alleged fact that vitamin prices “promptly

collapsed” when the Chinese entered the market. Br. 19. The Chinese presumably

sold vitamins outside the United States, and even if they did not, as nonparticipants in the cartel, they would have made no attempt to prevent resale and

reshipment of vitamins sold in the United States.

12

Further, plaintiffs’ arbitrage theory at best raises a complex question of fact,

perhaps requiring expert testimony, that cannot be decided by district courts

“simply and expeditiously” at the jurisdictional stage. The United States

apparently imported much of its consumption of the vitamins listed in ¶ 6 of the

Complaint, and all of its consumption of other vitamins. See John M. Connor,

GLOBAL PRICE FIXING 296-99 (2001). Hence, plaintiffs’ argument is that a price

fixing conspiracy that did not apply to U.S. sales would have been undermined by

the resale and reshipment of vitamins imported into the United States. If

challenged factually, plaintiffs will have to prove that the defendants could not

identify, and discontinue selling to, any U.S. customers significantly increasing

their purchases, as arbitrage sufficient to undermine the cartel would have

required.6

 See, e.g., Carpet Group Int’l v. Oriental Rug Importers Ass’n, Inc., 227

F.3d 62, 69 (3d Cir. 2000) (plaintiff has burden of proof on subject matter

jurisdiction, once it is put in dispute). Plaintiffs’ proposed rule thus fails to
7

 Plaintiffs, Br. 35 n.11, misunderstand the government’s reference to

Caribbean Broadcasting in its Supreme Court brief. The government cited that

case only to show, like Pfizer, that foreign plaintiffs can sue, regardless of where

they are located, if they are injured in U.S. commerce. This Court made clear in

Caribbean Broadcasting that the plaintiff in that case was a participant in U.S.

markets and that, under the peculiar facts at issue, “it appears that antitrust injury

[to the foreign plaintiff] is ultimately a harm to U.S. purchasers of radio

advertising.” 148 F.3d at 1087.

13

provide a trial court with a readily administrable means of distinguishing, at the

threshold stage of litigation, between claims to which the antitrust laws apply and

claims as to which they do not. 

Rejecting plaintiffs’ theory does not mean that all foreign antitrust plaintiffs

will be barred from U.S. courts. Pfizer, Inc. v. Government of India, 434 U.S. 308

(1978), indicates that foreign plaintiffs may invoke U.S. antitrust remedies when

they “enter our commercial markets as a purchaser of goods or services.” Id. at

318. See also Caribbean Broadcasting System, Ltd., v. Cable & Wireless PLC,

148 F.3d 1080 (D.C. Cir. 1998).7

 It does not follow, however, that foreign

plaintiffs are automatically entitled to invoke such U.S. remedies when an antitrust

violation causes injury outside the scope of U.S. commerce, as the Supreme

Court’s failure even to cite Pfizer in its Empagran decision attests. The Court

made clear in Empagran that would-be plaintiffs who suffer injury when they

purchase goods or services “entirely outside U.S. commerce,” 124 S. Ct. at 2364,
14

are in a different position for purposes of subject matter jurisdiction than plaintiffs

who are overcharged in U.S. commerce, regardless of their nationality. Plaintiffs’

effort to limit the scope of that ruling to cases in which the plaintiff fails to allege

any theoretical connection between the U.S. and foreign effects of conduct should

be rejected. 

B. Plaintiffs’ “But For” Theory Has No Basis in Antitrust Law

Plaintiffs’ alternative theory is not legally sufficient for another reason: 

“but for” is not the traditional legal standard for causation in antitrust law and

therefore is inconsistent with the “gives rise to a claim” language of 15 U.S.C.

6a(2). Rather, the proper test is proximate causation. 

Causation issues arise most frequently in antitrust cases when determining

whether private plaintiffs have standing to sue under Section 4 of the Clayton Act,

which allows lawsuits by any person injured “by reason of anything forbidden in

the antitrust laws.” 15 U.S.C. 15(a). “But for” causation never has been

considered sufficient in this context. In Blue Shield of Virginia v. McCready, 457

U.S. 465, 477 (1982), the Supreme Court held that “Congress did not intend to

allow every person tangentially affected by an antitrust violation to maintain an

action.” Since the early twentieth century, courts have developed various tests for

evaluating “remoteness,” such as “directness” and the “target area test,” see id. at
15

476 n.12, which were designed to bar the claims of plaintiffs whose injuries were

not, as a matter of policy, sufficiently connected to the antitrust violation. All of

these tests were more rigorous than “but for” causation. The Court analogized

them to the common law test of proximate cause, and then applied proximate

causation to the facts before it. See id. at 477-78.

After McCready, the Court continued to reject “but for” causation under

Section 4. In Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. California

State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519 (1983) (“AGC”), the Court reiterated

that “the judicial remedy cannot encompass every conceivable harm that can be

traced to alleged wrongdoing,” id. at 536, i.e., a “but for” connection, and again

compared the test for private plaintiffs’ antitrust standing to proximate causation,

see id. at 535-36. In Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corp., 503 U.S. 258

(1992), the Court expressly rejected a “but for” reading of RICO, which was

modeled on Section 4, saying that “[in AGC] we held that a plaintiff’s right to sue

under § 4 required a showing that the defendant’s violation not only was a ‘but

for’ cause of his injury, but was the proximate cause as well.” Id. at 268. See also

Allegheny General Hosp. v. Philip Morris, Inc., 228 F.3d 429, 435 (3d Cir. 2000)

(“Whether the Hospitals have [antitrust] standing depends on whether the Tobacco

Companies’ alleged conspiracy proximately caused the Hospitals’ injuries.”). 
8 Plaintiffs’ cited cases outside the antitrust context construing “arising out

of” or “arising from” as allowing a “but for” connection, Br. 22-23 & n.2, are

irrelevant. Because the antitrust laws are potentially so open-ended, it is essential

that courts limit the range of potential plaintiffs. In McCready and AGC, the Court

explained that this limitation takes the form of a proximate cause requirement.

16

The courts similarly find “but for” causation inadequate in deciding whether

an antitrust plaintiff has proved that his injury was caused by the defendant. 

Courts have used several verbal formulations, including “material cause of the

injury,” Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U.S. 100, 114 n.9

(1969); injury “not shown to be attributable to other causes,” Bigelow v. RKO

Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251, 264 (1946); and “substantial” cause of the

injury, Motive Parts Warehouse v. Facet Enter., 774 F.2d 380, 389 (10th Cir.

1985). But regardless of the precise formulation, the test always is more rigorous

than simple “but for” causation. See 2 Phillip E. Areeda & Herbert Hovenkamp,

Antitrust Law ¶ 338a, at 317-21 (2d ed. 2000) (antitrust violation must be

“substantial” and “material cause” of the plaintiff”s injury).8

The FTAIA did not amend the Clayton Act, and there is no evidence that

Congress intended to depart from well-established principles of causation in

antitrust cases. Indeed, the legislative history is explicit that Congress did “not

intend to alter existing concepts of antitrust injury or antitrust standing.” House

Report at 11. And as the Supreme Court emphasized, Congress’ purpose was “not
9 Plaintiffs hint that this Court already has found the directness required for

proximate causation in holding that plaintiffs have standing. Br. 26 (quoting 315

F.3d at 358-59). This Court, however, was referring to the causal link between the

defendants’ unlawful conduct and the plaintiffs’ injuries, not to the link between

the effect of those unlawful activities in the United States and the plaintiffs’

injuries. See Part III, infra.

17

to expand, in any significant way, the Sherman Act’s scope as applied to foreign

commerce.” 124 S. Ct. at 2369 (emphasis in original). Accordingly, there is no

justification for interpreting the FTAIA to incorporate an expansive “but for” test

of causation.

C. Plaintiffs’ Fallback Proximate Cause Argument is Unsound

Plaintiffs contend in the alternative that their claims satisfy a proximate

cause standard. But the FTAIA, by focusing on the domestic effect rather than the

challenged conduct as the basis for the plaintiff’s claim, requires a specialized

application of the principles of proximate causation – an application that turns on

the concepts of directness and remoteness. The direct cause of the plaintiffs’

injuries was simply the purchase of vitamins from the defendants at prices

elevated by the defendants’ cartel. Plaintiffs attempt to look behind that

transaction for less proximate, and increasingly remote, causes. But anything that

may have helped the cartel raise prices to the plaintiffs could contribute in some

way to the plaintiffs’ injuries, but plainly is not the direct cause of those injuries.9
18

Accordingly, at most plaintiffs’ arbitrage theory alleges only “but for” causation.

Plaintiffs argue that their injuries were proximately caused by the U.S.

effect of the cartel because defendants “expressly intended” to injure them by

fixing prices in the United States, and because that kind of foreseeability is the

“most common formulation” of proximate causation, Br. 24-25. Defendants’

intent to injure the plaintiffs, however, has nothing to do with the causation issue

raised by the FTAIA: whether the effect of the cartel in the United States “gives

rise” to a claim under the Sherman Act.

Finally, it is doubtful that plaintiffs even alleged proximate causation. The

Supreme Court did not discern a proximate cause allegation; it framed the issue

for remand as whether a “‘but for’ condition is sufficient to bring the price-fixing

conduct within the scope of the FTAIA’s exception.” 124 S. Ct. at 2372. This

Court saw the remand issue similarly: 

The [Supreme] Court expressly declined to decide whether this ‘but for’

condition is sufficient to bring the contested price-fixing conduct within the

scope of the FTAIA’s exception. The case was remanded to this court for

further proceedings on this issue.

Empagran, 388 F.3d at 339 (emphasis added).
10 Plaintiffs’ contention that defendants’ conduct so far has “paid off”

because estimated cartel profits exceeded criminal fines and civil damages, Br. 14,

neglects the fact that as a result of the government’s investigations, eleven highlevel executives from the vitamin companies to date have gone to prison. The

government doubts that these key actors in the conspiracy would agree that their

conduct “paid off.” 

19

II. Plaintiffs’ Theory Will Undermine Deterrence

and the Government’s Anti-Cartel Enforcement 

Since 1993, under administrations of both political parties, the primary

engine of the government’s anti-cartel enforcement has been the Antitrust

Division’s criminal amnesty program. The majority of the Division’s major

international investigations, including the investigation of the vitamin cartel, have

been advanced through cooperation of an amnesty applicant. The program has

been responsible for cracking more international cartels than all of the Division’s

search warrants, secret audio or videotapes, and FBI interrogations combined. 

Cooperation from amnesty applications has resulted in several dozen sentences of

imprisonment imposed on defendants from roughly ten countries.10

The amnesty program works because it offers incentives to cartel members

who voluntarily disclose their criminal conduct and cooperate with prosecutors. 

In particular, the program offers automatic (not discretionary) amnesty to

corporations that come forward prior to an investigation and meet the program’s

other requirements and, if a corporation qualifies for automatic amnesty, all
20

directors, officers, and employees who come forward and agree to cooperate also

receive automatic amnesty. 4 Trade Reg. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 13,113 (Aug. 10, 1993). 

Since amnesty is available only to the first conspirator to break ranks with the

cartel and come forward, the program sets up a “winner take all” dynamic that

encourages defection from the cartel.

In the government’s experience, potential amnesty applicants weigh their

civil liability exposure when deciding whether to come forward and seek amnesty. 

To date, the amnesty program has been effective because the inducements that it

offers outweigh the disincentives to cooperating with the government, particularly

the private treble damage actions that inevitably follow the admission of

wrongdoing. 

Plaintiffs’ theory threatens to upset the balance of incentives and

disincentives that drives the amnesty program. If consumers from around the

world suddenly could bring class action suits in U.S. courts against international

cartels – suits that the federal courts have not previously entertained and that cartel

members never had reason to anticipate – the massive increase in potential civil

liability would radically tilt the scale of incentives for conspirators against seeking

amnesty. And when cartel members forgo, or hesitate to seek, amnesty, the

government loses its most potent weapon for cracking international cartels.
21

This Court’s prior decision in this case was based in significant part on the

policy judgment that international cartels are under-deterred and the assumption

that deterrence would be maximized by expanding the number of private antitrust

suits against cartels in U.S. courts. See 315 F.3d at 355-57. The government

agrees, notwithstanding its criminal enforcement successes since 1993, that the

level of deterrence is sub-optimal. But the government respectfully submits that

the assumption that deterrence would be improved by increasing the number of

private civil suits in U.S. courts is untenable.

First, the Supreme Court said that whether application of the Sherman Act

to plaintiffs’ claims would increase deterrence is an empirical issue, and “the

answer to the dispute is neither clear enough, nor of such likely empirical

significance, that it could overcome the considerations we have previously

discussed and change our conclusion.” 124 S. Ct. at 2372. In short, plaintiffs’

deterrence argument is neither self-evidently correct nor sufficient to support a

decision in their favor.

Second, the Supreme Court did not consider the Antitrust Criminal Penalty

Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-237, 118 Stat. 665 (2004),

which became law after the Court’s decision. The statute codifies and seeks to

strengthen the Antitrust Division’s amnesty program and confirms the
22

government’s longstanding experience that potential amnesty applicants carefully

weigh the advantages to be gained from amnesty against their potential civil

liability exposure. The statute reflects Congress’ understanding that cartel

members are deterred from seeking amnesty by high civil damages and seeks to

reduce that disincentive by de-trebling civil damages for amnesty applicants who

meet certain requirements. Congress made a policy judgment that the amnesty

program is a critical element of anti-cartel enforcement – because it triggers the

exposure and criminal prosecution of cartels – and that damages in private civil

suits against cartels should be decreased, not increased, in order to motivate

conspirators to seek amnesty. That policy judgment is entitled to deference.

Plaintiffs’ claims here conflict with the purposes of the new statute. The

prospect of facing unprecedented class actions for foreign injuries in U.S. courts,

even with single damages, will weaken the incentive to seek amnesty provided by

de-trebling and discourage cartel members who do not qualify for amnesty but

otherwise may want to cooperate with the government, e.g., by plea agreement. 

Expanded civil liability also risks undermining foreign amnesty programs (see 124

S. Ct. at 2366-68), which are not affected by the new statute, and thereby

interferes again with the sovereign authority of other nations. 

Third, the assumption that increasing the number of private civil suits will
11See 150 Cong. Rec. H3658 (June 2, 2004) (legislative history of Antitrust

Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act quoting Sen. Kohl, co-sponsor,

saying that removing the disincentive to seeking amnesty “should result in a

substantial increase in the number of antitrust conspiracies being detected”). 

12 In the case of vitamins, the government’s covert investigation began

before the filing of any suits by the victims and was not helped by those suits.

23

improve deterrence is wrong because it considers only the amount of potential

punishment. Deterrence depends critically on detection of cartels; a secret cartel

cannot be punished until it is exposed.11 And as a practical matter, plaintiffs’

claims here, and the vast majority of private suits against cartels, are follow-on

actions triggered by the government’s exposure of a cartel. The government is not

aware of a single international cartel criminal prosecution that was spurred by

allegations in a class action lawsuit.12

Fourth, the interest in better deterrence does not compel the conclusion that

the means to that end is more civil suits in U.S. courts. Since, in the government’s

experience, the primary deterrent to cartel activity is criminal penalties, we submit

that the best way to increase deterrence is the method recently chosen by

Congress: increasing criminal penalties and otherwise strengthening government

criminal enforcement. While imprisonment is the best deterrent, criminal fines

provide a stronger deterrent than civil damages because they are more immediate,

certain, and are within the scope of the amnesty program, which motivates
13 Our reading of the FTAIA will not limit the government’s enforcement

efforts. The United States brings criminal prosecutions only when foreign conduct

is meaningfully connected to harm to U.S. consumers, even when the conduct is

wholly foreign. E.g., United States v. Nippon Paper Indus. Co., 109 F.3d 1 (1st

Cir. 1997). If a cartel does not harm U.S. consumers, there would be no

jurisdiction under 15 U.S.C. 6a(1), regardless of how subsection 6a(2) is read. 

14 Of the class plaintiffs’ home countries, we understand that Australia,

Panama, and Ukraine prohibit price fixing and permit suits by those who suffer

damages from cartel activity. Although it does not yet have a comprehensive

antitrust statute, Ecuador appears to make cartel behavior illegal and make

damages available in the form of consumer protection and contract suits.

24

conspirators to defect from cartels to avoid fines.13

Plaintiffs would treat the United States as the world’s antitrust policeman, as if

all private antitrust litigation must be filed here. But this is “legal imperialism,” 124

S. Ct. at 2369, and the foreign governments that participated in the Supreme Court as

amici properly believe their enforcement capabilities and methods of compensation to

injured consumers to be appropriate. To the extent that other countries offer remedial

schemes that differ from U.S. antitrust laws, the Supreme Court indicated that those

sovereign choices are entitled to respect.14 While some countries’ antitrust regimes

fairly can be described as developing, this is no reason to circumvent and stunt them

by drawing private antitrust litigation away to U.S. courts. Indeed, Congress

indicated in the legislative history of the FTAIA that clarifying the reach of U.S.

antitrust law “could encourage our trading partners to take more effective steps to
25

protect competition in their markets.” House Report at 14. 

Plaintiffs’ reading of the FTAIA also would create problems for coordinated

international law enforcement, which is essential in “today’s highly interdependent

commercial world.” 124 S. Ct. at 2366. Effective prosecution of an international

cartel requires coordination of investigative strategies among enforcement agencies of

many nations because conspiratorial meetings frequently take place in more than one

country and witnesses and documentary evidence may be scattered around the world. 

The United States therefore has made increasing use of Mutual Legal Assistance

Treaties with foreign nations, which can be used for evidence gathering in criminal

antitrust investigations. Since the 1990s, the United States has entered antitrust

cooperation agreements with the European Community and six other countries. The

Antitrust Division organized the International Anti-Cartel Enforcement Workshop,

which has become an annual event involving enforcers from more than twenty

countries. And foreign governments have looked to the United States for leadership

in drafting and implementing their own amnesty programs.

Because of the United States’ leading role in promoting tougher anti-cartel

enforcement around the world, the government is concerned that a decision that 

weakens the U.S. amnesty program will jeopardize the trend toward rigorous

enforcement that the United States has worked hard to foster. In addition, the
26

dialogue and network of cooperation that the United States has developed with

foreign authorities depend on mutual good will and reciprocity. It is well known, as

the Supreme Court noted, id. at 2368, that our trading partners disapprove of treble

damages and other features of U.S. private antitrust litigation, and the foreign

government amicus briefs filed in the Supreme Court described the “blocking” and

“claw back” statutes, refusals to enforce U.S. court judgments, and other measures

taken by foreign governments in the past. The government is concerned that if our

foreign counterparts fear that the fruits of their cooperation will be used to support

follow-on treble damages actions in U.S. courts that they perceive as inappropriate,

cooperation will be strained, to the overall detriment of international cartel

enforcement. 

III. Plaintiffs Lack Antitrust Standing

Because the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, it need not consider

plaintiffs’ antitrust standing. If, however, the Court finds FTAIA jurisdiction, it

should re-examine its prior standing ruling, which derived in significant part from its

reading of the FTAIA. See 315 F.3d at 358 (“the arguments that have already

persuaded us that . . . FTAIA allows foreign plaintiffs . . . [to sue] similarly persuade

us that the antitrust laws intended to prevent the harm that the foreign plaintiffs

suffered here”). But the Supreme Court’s intervening decision rejected that
27

interpretation of the FTAIA and held that the antitrust laws do not intend to prevent

foreign harm that is independent of domestic effects.

The Supreme Court’s decision also casts doubt on this Court’s other bases for

granting standing. First, this Court relied on the point that “[t]he foreign purchasers

of vitamins here were injured by conduct that violated the Sherman Act – a global

price-fixing conspiracy.” 315 F.3d at 358. But the Supreme Court emphasized the

lack of pre-FTAIA cases supporting plaintiffs’ “independent harm” claim; similarly,

because no court before the FTAIA ever considered plaintiffs’ “but for” theory, as

explained above, there is no basis for concluding that the antitrust laws meant to

prevent plaintiffs’ injuries in the context of their “but for” claim. See also AGC, 459

U.S. at 537 (“the mere fact that the claim is literally encompassed by the Clayton Act

does not end the inquiry”). 

 Second, this Court considered foreign purchasers to be proper antitrust

plaintiffs here because their claimed injuries suffered none of the defects mentioned

in AGC. See 315 F.3d at 358. While the factors cited by this Court persuaded the

Supreme Court that the plaintiffs in that particular case lacked standing, the Court

also stated that “[a] number of other factors may be controlling” in determining

antitrust standing. 459 U.S. at 538.

AGC looked first to the central policies of the Sherman Act as an important
28

factor in determining antitrust standing. See 459 U.S. at 538. The paramount purpose

of the antitrust laws is to protect consumers, competition, and commerce in the United

States. See 1A Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law ¶ 272h2, at 358 (2d ed. 2000)

(“the concern of the antitrust laws is protection of American consumers and American

exporters, not foreign consumers or producers”) (emphasis in original); Matsushita

Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 584 n.7 (1986) (conspiratorial

conduct in Japan “cannot have caused” injury cognizable by U.S. antitrust law). 

Here, the Supreme Court emphasized that Congress did not intend “to expand” the

Sherman Act’s scope as applied to foreign commerce, 124 S. Ct. at 2369 (emphasis in

original); instead, the FTAIA sought to facilitate joint U.S. export activities.

AGC also considered whether “massive and complex damages litigation” will

“burden[] the courts.” 459 U.S. at 545. Opening up U.S. courts to plaintiffs all over

the world who claim to have purchased a price-fixed product in their home countries

from a foreign seller can only invite a substantial increase in filings in our federal

courts of antitrust cases that are “massive” in terms of their numbers of potential

plaintiff-class members and the potential scope of their foreign evidence. The

Supreme Court implied this in Empagran when it agreed with the Areeda and

Hovenkamp treatise that opening U.S. courts to claims of foreign injury raises the

spectre of our courts “provid[ing] worldwide subject matter jurisdiction to any
29

foreign suitor wishing to sue its own local supplier, but unhappy with its own

sovereign’s provisions for private antitrust enforcement.” 124 S. Ct. at 2367.

In the context of international antitrust it is also appropriate to consider

whether granting a category of plaintiffs standing to sue will create conflicts between

the laws or interests of the United States and the laws or interests of other countries. 

Thus, the Supreme Court devoted several pages of its opinion to explaining how

plaintiffs’ claim of “independent harm” would interfere with the interests of our

trading partners. See 124 S. Ct. at 2367-68. The drafters of the FTAIA also sought to

avoid interfering with foreign antitrust authorities. See House Report at 13-14 (bill

“in no way limits the ability of a foreign sovereign to act under its own laws against

an American-based export cartel having unlawful effects in its territory”). As

explained above, plaintiffs’ position here threatens to generate conflicts with other

countries, and this factor accordingly weighs in favor of denying standing.

Finally, this Court suggested that the foreign plaintiffs “have been injured just

as directly as the domestic plaintiffs” and “play an important role in the deterrence of

the global conspiracy.” 315 F.3d at 359. But the foreign plaintiffs are not efficient

enforcers of the antitrust laws because of the complexity of establishing jurisdiction

over their claims and the need for foreign evidence, and the Supreme Court reasoned

that plaintiffs’ effect on deterrence is inconclusive and not sufficient to overcome
30

more important considerations.

 CONCLUSION

Plaintiffs’ “alternative theory” is legally insufficient to establish subject matter

jurisdiction. Alternatively, plaintiffs lack antitrust standing. The Complaint should

be dismissed. 

Respectfully submitted.

JOHN D. GRAUBERT R. HEWITT PATE

 Acting General Counsel Assistant Attorney General

 Federal Trade Commission

 Washington, D.C. 20580 MAKAN DELRAHIM

 Deputy Assistant Attorney General

ROBERT B. NICHOLSON

STEVEN J. MINTZ

 Attorneys

 U.S. Department of Justice

 Antitrust Division

 Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

February 16, 2005 (202) 353-8629
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This brief complies with the type-volume limitations of Fed. R. App. P.

32(a)(7), Fed. R. App. P. 29(d), and Local Rule 32(a)(1) because it has been prepared

in a proportionally spaced typeface using WordPerfect 10 in 14-point Times New

Roman and contains 6,859 words.

___________________

Steven J. Mintz

Dated: February 16, 2005 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on February 16, 2005, two true and correct copies of the

foregoing Brief for the United States and the Federal Trade Commission as Amici

Curiae In Support of Defendants-Appellees in Response to Court Order of November

22, 2004, were served, by Federal Express, next day service, on:

Arthur F. Golden, Esq.

Davis Polk & Wardwell

450 Lexington Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Counsel for Defendants-Appellees

Thomas C. Goldstein, Esq.

Goldstein & Howe, P.C.

4607 Asbury Place, NW

Washington, D.C. 20016

Counsel for Plaintiffs-Appellants

_________________________

Steven J. Mintz