美国司法部诉Visa和MasterCard案——美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院判决

United States of America v.VISA U.S.A.Inc.,VISA International Corp.,and Master Card International Inc.:Decision Made by United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

在2001年10月9日,美国纽约南区法院对美国司法部诉Visa和MasterCard案作出初审判决,地区法院认为被告违反了《谢尔曼反托拉斯法》第1节,并实施了禁令。被告对此提出了上诉。美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院全面谨慎地审查了地区法院的法律结论,在相关市场及市场影响力方面,同意地区法院的判决,即此案涉及两个相互关联又相互独立的产品市场:(1)法院所称的通用卡市场,包括签账卡和信用卡市场;(2)通用卡网络服务市场,同时也同意地区法院的观点,即四个支付卡网络在"网络服务"市场上相互竞争;并与地区法院在该方面的结论保持了一致,即Visa U.S.A.和MasterCard,联合和单独地在网络服务市场上拥有影响力;在对竞争的损害方面,美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院查明,地区法院的判决没有错误,即根据《谢尔曼反托拉斯法》被告的排他性规则损害了竞争。最终,美国联邦第二巡回上诉法院对美国司法部诉Visa和MasterCard案作出了予以维持的判决。

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York made a judgement on United States of America v.VISA U.S.A.Inc.,VISA International Corp.,and Master Card International Inc.on October 9th,2001.The District Court found that the defendants violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and imposed an injunction.The defendants appealed from this ruling.United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reviewed the District Court’s conclusions comprehensively and carefully.On the issue of relevant markets and market power,the Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed on the decision of the District Court,that this case involved two interrelated,but separate,product markets:(1)what the court called the general purpose card market,consisting of the market for charge cards and credit cards,and(2)the network services market for general purpose cards.Meanwhile,the Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the District Court that the four payment card networks competed with one another in a market for"network services".Furthermore,the Second Circuit Court of Appeals made the same finding that Visa U.S.A.and Master Card,jointly and separately,had power within the market for network services.On the issue of the harms to competition,the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found no error in the District Court’s finding and competition had been harmed by the defendants’exclusionary rules according to Sherman Antitrust Act.Finally,the judgement of District Court was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.