conspiracy that imposed an unreasonable restraint of trade. A. Section 1 of the Sherman Act applies “only to concerted action,” American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, 560 U.S. 183, 130 S.Ct. 2201, 2208, 176 L.Ed.2d 947 (2010), and “unilateral conduct is excluded from its purview,” Oksanen v. Page Memorial Hosp., 945 F.2d 696, 702 (4th Cir.1991). In American Needle, the Court recognized that “[a]greements made within a firm can constitute concerted action ... when the parties to the agreement act on interests separate from those of the firm itself’ such that “the intrafirm agreements may simply be a formalistic shell for ongoing concerted action.” American Needle, 130 S.Ct. at 2215. See also Am. Chiropractic Ass’n v. Trigon Healthcare, Inc., 367 F.3d 212, 224 (4th Cir.2004) (<HOLDING>). As the American Needle Court explained,
recognizing the public interest exception recognizing independent personal stake exception to copperweld recognizing exception recognizing such an exception recognizing the rule and the exception but holding facts did not support claim to exception