Cite as: 525 U. S. 128 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
The Second Circuit noted that the Courts of Appeals are uncertain as to whether, or when, the per se group boycott rule applies to a decision by a purchaser to favor one supplier over another (which the Second Circuit called a "two-firm group boycott"). Compare Com-Tel, Inc. v. DuKane Corp., 669 F. 2d 404, 411-413, and nn. 13, 16 (CA6 1982); Cascade Cabinet Co. v. Western Cabinet & Millwork Inc., 710 F. 2d 1366, 1370-1371 (CA9 1983), with Construction Aggregate Transport, Inc. v. Florida Rock Industries, Inc., 710 F. 2d 752, 776-778 (CA11 1983). We granted certiorari in order to consider the applicability of the per se group boycott rule where a single buyer favors one seller over another, albeit for an improper reason.
II
As this Court has made clear, the Sherman Act's prohibition of "[e]very" agreement in "restraint of trade," 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1, prohibits only agreements that unreasonably restrain trade. See Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp., 485 U. S. 717, 723 (1988) (citing National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 468 U. S. 85, 98 (1984)); Standard Oil Co. of N. J. v. United States, 221 U. S. 1, 59-62 (1911); 2 P. Areeda & H. Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law ¶ 320b, p. 49 (1995). Yet certain kinds of agreements will so often prove so harmful to competition and so rarely prove justified that the antitrust laws do not require proof that an agreement of that kind is, in fact, anticompetitive in the particular circumstances. See State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U. S. 3, 10 (1997); Northwest Wholesale Stationers, Inc. v. Pacific Stationery & Printing Co., 472 U. S. 284, 289-290 (1985); 2 Areeda & Hovenkamp, supra, ¶ 320b, at 49-52. An agreement of such a kind is unlawful per se. See, e. g., United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U. S. 150, 218 (1940) (finding horizontal price-fixing agreement per se illegal); Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., 220 U. S. 373, 408 (1911) (finding vertical price-fixing agreement per se illegal);
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