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Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73not60

§26 Injunctive Relief for Private Parties; Exception; Costs

Title 15 › Chapter 1— MONOPOLIES AND COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE › § 26

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

People, companies, corporations, or associations can go to a U.S. court and ask for an order to stop threatened harm from antitrust law violations, including sections 13, 14, 18, and 19. A temporary stop can be granted if the requester posts a bond to cover possible damages and shows the harm is immediate. Private parties, other than the United States, may not get such orders against common carriers regulated by the Surface Transportation Board under subtitle IV of title 49. If the plaintiff mostly wins, the court must make the defendant pay the lawsuit costs, including a reasonable lawyer’s fee.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §26

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any person, firm, corporation, or association shall be entitled to sue for and have injunctive relief, in any court of the United States having jurisdiction over the parties, against threatened loss or damage by a violation of the antitrust laws, including section 13, 14, 18, and 19 of this title, when and under the same conditions and principles as injunctive relief against threatened conduct that will cause loss or damage is granted by courts of equity, under the rules governing such proceedings, and upon the execution of proper bond against damages for an injunction improvidently granted and a showing that the danger of irreparable loss or damage is immediate, a preliminary injunction may issue: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to entitle any person, firm, corporation, or association, except the United States, to bring suit for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board under subtitle IV of title 49. In any action under this section in which the plaintiff substantially prevails, the court shall award the cost of suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, to such plaintiff.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The antitrust laws, referred to in text, are defined in section 12 of this title.

Amendments

1995—Pub. L. 104–88 substituted “for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board under subtitle IV of title 49” for “in equity for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the provisions of the Act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in respect of any matter subject to the regulation, supervision, or other jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission.” 1976—Pub. L. 94–435 inserted provision authorizing court to award costs, including attorneys’ fees, to a successful plaintiff.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1995 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–88 effective Jan. 1, 1996, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 1301 of Title 49, Transportation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 26

Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60