What types of practices are prohibited by California’s cartwright act?

California’s Cartwright Act prohibits agreements among individuals or companies that restrain trade.

The most common practice addressed under the statute is price-fixing. Price-fixing is any agreement between two or more businesses affecting in any way the price at which a good or service is sold to another. Price-fixing can be horizontal (between competing businesses) or vertical (between a seller and an intermediate purchaser). Price-fixing is illegal per se — that is, it is forbidden regardless of the justification given.

Other practices forbidden by the Cartwright Act include group boycotts (concerted refusals not to deal with another business) and tying (requiring a purchaser to buy one product or service in order to be allowed to buy another product or service). Depending on the circumstances, these practices can be illegal per se, or illegal only if found by a court to be unreasonable restraints of trade.