United States v. Visa U.S.A., Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
344 F.3d 229 (2003)
Visa and Mastercard (defendants) were bank-owned joint ventures that, unlike American Express and Discover, relied on member banks to issue cards and process transactions. Both adopted rules barring member banks from issuing any other payment card, which effectively locked Amex and Discover out of expanding through bank partnerships in the U.S. even as similar restrictions did not exist abroad, where Amex successfully partnered with banks. The DOJ (plaintiff) sued under the Sherman Act, and the district court found the exclusionary rules anticompetitive; Visa and Mastercard appealed.
Whether a joint venture among competitors that bars its members from contracting with the venture's competitors harms competition in violation of the Sherman Act.