Origins
The doctrine was set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 365 U.S. 127 (1961) and United Mine Workers v. Pennington, 381 U.S. 657 (1965). The Court later expanded on the doctrine in California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508 (1972).
In Noerr, the Court held that "no violation of the Act can be predicated upon mere attempts to influence the passage or enforcement of laws". Similarly, the Court wrote in Pennington that "oint efforts to influence public officials do not violate the antitrust laws even though intended to eliminate competition." Finally, in California Motor Transport, the Court added that "the right to petition extends to all departments of the Government he right of access to the courts is indeed but one aspect of the right of petition."
Pursuant to this doctrine, immunity extends to attempts to petition all departments of the government. And "if . . . conduct constitutes valid petitioning, the petitioner is immune from antitrust liability whether or not the injuries are caused by the act of petitioning or are caused by government action which results from the petitioning." A.d. Bedell Wholesale Company v. Philip Morris Incorporated., 263 F.3d at 251.
Read more about this topic: Noerr-Pennington Doctrine
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