2016 US Code
Title 15 - Commerce and Trade
Chapter 61 - Soft Drink Interbrand Competition
Sec. 3501 - Exclusive territorial licenses to manufacture, distribute, and sell trademarked soft drink products; ultimate resale to consumers; substantial and effective competition

Nothing contained in any antitrust law shall render unlawful the inclusion and enforcement in any trademark licensing contract or agreement, pursuant to which the licensee engages in the manufacture (including manufacture by a sublicensee, agent, or subcontractor), distribution, and sale of a trademarked soft drink product, of provisions granting the licensee the sole and exclusive right to manufacture, distribute, and sell such product in a defined geographic area or limiting the licensee, directly or indirectly, to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of such product only for ultimate resale to consumers within a defined geographic area: Provided, That such product is in substantial and effective competition with other products of the same general class in the relevant market or markets.

(Pub. L. 96–308, §2, July 9, 1980, 94 Stat. 939.)

Pub. L. 96–308, §1, July 9, 1980, 94 Stat. 939, provided that: "This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the 'Soft Drink Interbrand Competition Act'."

Pub. L. 96–308, §4, July 9, 1980, 94 Stat. 939, provided that: "In the case of any proceeding instituted by the United States described in subsection (i) of section 5 of the Clayton Act (relating to suspension of the statute of limitations on the institution of proceedings by the United States) (15 U.S.C. 16(i)) which is pending on the date of the enactment of this Act [July 9, 1980], that subsection shall not apply with respect to any right of action referred to in that subsection based in whole or in part on any matter complained of in that proceeding consisting of the existence or enforcement of any provision described in section 2 of this Act [this section] in any trademark licensing contract or agreement described in that section."