The dominant tobacco companies, especially Philip Morris (now Altria) got a virtual cartel that allowed them to immediately raise cigarette prices without facing competition from smaller companies, since the AGs wrote into the pact clauses that required new companies to pay into the settlement even though they had nothing to do with the alleged behavior behind the lawsuits.

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The ECJ held that clauses banning the use of foreign decoders and smart cards were void and amounted to a restriction on competition.

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