BRG of Georgia and BARMAX, located in Illinois are the nation’s two largest providers of bar review materials and lectures that are designed to help students study and pass the bar exam for their state.
BARMAX began offering Georgia bar review course on a limited basis in 2006 and was in direct, and often intense, competition with BRG from 2007 to 2009 when the companies were the two main providers of bar review courses in Georgia. In early 2010, they entered into an agreement that gave BRG an exclusive license to market BARMAX materials in and to use its trade name Bar/Bri. The parties agreed that BARMAX would not compete with BRG in Georgia and that BRG would not compete with BARMAX outside of Georgia. Under the agreement, BARMAX received $100 per student enrolled by BRG and 40 percent of all revenues over $350. Immediately after the 2010 agreement, the price of BRG’s course was increased from $150 to more than $400.
· Is their conduct illegal under federal antitrust laws? Why or why not?