Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-102
§3501 Exclusive Territorial Licenses to Manufacture, Distribute, and Sell Trademarked Soft Drink Products; Ultimate Resale to Consumers; Substantial and Effective Competition
Title 15 › CHAPTER 61 — SOFT DRINK INTERBRAND COMPETITION › § 3501
Summary
Permits trademark licenses for soft drinks to grant one company exclusive rights to make (including by others), distribute, and sell the product within a defined geographic area. It allows limits on sales to consumers there if the product faces substantial and effective competition from similar products.
Full Legal Text
Title 15, §3501
Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Short Title
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’.” Suspension of Statute of Limitations on Institution of Antitrust Proceedings by United States;
Enforcement
of Trademark Licensing Agreement Provisions Concerning Soft Drink Products 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.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 3501
Title 15, Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102