Law Commons^™

Increasing Competition In Live Music: The Case For Better Enforcement Of The Live Nation Entertainment Consent Decree, Tj Hunt

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2009, Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment expressed their intent to merge to become Live Nation Entertainment. Before the merger, Ticketmaster Entertainment was the leading live music ticketing and marketing company. Live Nation was the leading producer of live music events. Live Nation also entered the primary ticket sales market and led merchandising at its entertainment venues. Antitrust concerns arose that this newly formed entity would be a near-monopoly in live music. Despite general antitrust concerns and lawsuits from consumers, smaller promoters, seventeen state attorneys general, and the Department of Justice (“DOJ"), Live Nation Entertainment agreed to a consent decree …

Got Bounded Rationality And Political Gridlock? There's A Loan Disclosure Hack For That, Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin, Andrew Pizor

Cleveland State Law Review

For decades, Congress has primarily relied upon the use of mandatory disclosure forms to protect consumers from entering into ill-advised loans by disclosing the terms of an offered loan before the borrower enters into it. This policy is not likely to change any time soon due to congressional gridlock. Frustratingly, despite improvements, consumers still have difficulties using these forms to obtain the key information and data they need to make wise decisions. These disclosures contain a great deal of information, and assume that consumers are capable of reading, understanding, and using all of it. Contrary to this assumption, research on …

Intellectual Property For Breakfast: Market Power And Informative Symbols In The Marketplace, P. Sean Morris

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article continues to examine an important question: are trademarks a source of market power, or, put differently, when are trademarks an antitrust problem? This fundamental question is a cause of division among antitrust and intellectual property law scholars. However, by raising the question and presenting some scenarios that can provide answers, my hope is that contemporary antitrust and intellectual property scholars can explore some of its implications. As part of my own quest to address this question, I explore the proposition that creative deception and the wealth-generating capacity of trademarks are unorthodox elements that actually contribute to allegations of …

Blockchain Symposium Introduction: Overview And Historical Introduction, Brian Ray

Cleveland State Law Review

Imagine a world where human drivers can access on-demand micro-insurance contracts tailored to cover only the actual time spent driving. How about a secure, decentralized identity system that allows individuals to purchase a vehicle and obtain insurance without sharing unnecessary private information exposing it to cyber criminals? Take that a step further and consider a system of driverless cars that transact with autonomous gas stations and take payments directly from passengers. These are some of the fascinating applications that blockchain technology could enable. But these applications give rise to significant technical, social, and legal questions, all of which we explored …

The Human Element: The Under-Theorized And Underutilized Component Vital To Fostering Blockchain Development, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Cleveland State Law Review

Blockchain is about one-third math and two-thirds game theory. The math runs on silicon processors. The game theory runs on grey matter. Earlier in this symposium, the last panel essentially asked, "What's different about blockchain and its relationship to humans?" That will be our focus: What is the right relationship between technology and the community that builds it? And, why would we care?

Conceptualizing The Regulation Of Virtual Currencies And Providers: Friction Points In State And Federal Approaches To Regulating Providers Of Payments Execution And Custody Services And Products In The United States, Sarah J. Hughes

Cleveland State Law Review

This essay evaluates the state of regulation by the United States government and State legislatures of participants in emerging virtual-currency businesses. It points to friction points as both the federal government and the States experiment with their own regulatory authority over virtual-currency businesses and provides a taxonomy of differing approaches to regulating such businesses. The essay takes the position that the States need to act in the near term if they wish to maintain their longstanding role as regulators of non-depository providers of financial products and services—or they risk being preempted by Congress or federal regulatory actions. This essay also …

Collaborative Approaches To Blockchain Regulation: The Brooklyn Project Example, Patrick Berarducci

Cleveland State Law Review

Today, I am going to discuss, at a high level, blockchain technology—what it is, what are its unique features that could revolutionize markets and economies, and how it could impact law and regulation. That is a lot to cover—far too much in the time allotted. So I will keep things at a very high level and hopefully pique some interest in everyone to dig deeper on their own.

When Good Policies Go Bad: Controlling Risks Posed By Flawed Incentive-Based Compensation, Nicole Vincent

Cleveland State Law Review

The recent Wells Fargo scandal revealed the harm that can result from flawed incentive-based compensation arrangements. Large financial institutions have both a legal and an ethical obligation to ensure that any incentive-based compensation arrangements that are in place will not encourage risky or fraudulent employee behavior. The continued existence of inappropriate and poorly structured arrangements demonstrates that existing regulations are inadequate to ensure compliance and protect consumers. Regulations should include increased penalties and should more evenly distribute the burden of oversight and compliance between the public and private sectors. In addition to regulatory reform, the government should prosecute culpable high-level …

Mad Men And Dead Men: Justification For Regulation Of Computer-Generated Images Of Deceased Celebrity Endorsers, Kerry Barrett

Cleveland State Law Review

Pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with consumer protection through the prohibition of unfair and deceptive trade practices. An unfair and deceptive trade practice is gaining in prominence and has not yet been subjected to FTC regulation. Computer-generated imagery (CGIs) of deceased celebrity endorsers are misleading to consumers and constitute a false advertisement. This Note evaluates how digitally resurrected endorsers pervert the consumer decision-making process through analysis of issue-relevant thinking, the match-up hypothesis, event-study analysis, social adaptation theory, and transfer theory. This Note also accounts for the macroeconomic effect of regulation of …

Social Data Discovery And Proportional Privacy, Agnieszka Mcpeak

Cleveland State Law Review

Social media platforms aggregate large amounts of personal information as "social data" that can be easily downloaded as a complete archive. Litigants in civil cases increasingly seek out broad access to social data during the discovery process, often with few limits on the scope of such discovery. But unfettered access to social data implicates unique privacy concerns—concerns that should help define the proper scope of discovery.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended in 2015, already contain the tools for crafting meaningful limits on intrusive social data discovery. In particular, the proportionality test under Rule 26 weighs the burdens …

It Depends: Recasting Internet Clickwrap, Browsewrap, "I Agree," And Click-Through Privacy Clauses As Waivers Of Adhesion, Charles E. Maclean

Cleveland State Law Review

Digital giants, enabled by America’s courts, Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission, devise click-through, clickwrap, browsewrap, "I Agree" waivers, and other legal fictions that purport to evidence user "consent" to consumer privacy erosions. It is no longer enough to justify privacy invasions as technologically inevitable or as essential to the American economy. As forced consent is no consent at all, privacy policies must advance with the technology. This article discusses adhesion waivers, the potential for FTC corrective action, and a comparison to privacy policies of the European Union.

Does Fraud Pay - An Empirical Analysis Of Attorney's Fees Provisions In Consumer Fraud Statutes , Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin

Cleveland State Law Review

The discretionary language in some consumer fraud statutes may cause consumers and lawyers to be less likely to decide to bring even a strong meritorious consumer fraud case, impeding the articulated legislative policy to promote the bringing of such cases. These statutes should be modified to eliminate such discretion by the courts. Part II of the Article sets out the economic dilemma a typical consumer faces in deciding whether to bring an action under the common law to be compensated for her losses when she has been defrauded (the "economic feasibility" issue). It then discusses the legislative response to the …

Improvident Extension Of Credit As An Extension Of Unconscionability: Discover Bank V. Owens And A Debtor's Rights Against Credit Card Companies , Terri Rebecca Daniel

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note will examine improvident extension of credit as an extension of unconscionability in consumer credit card lending. Part II of this Note will discuss the history and foundation of unconscionability. Part III will discuss the history and foundation of improvident extension of credit, as well as the many failed attempts to create a solution to the problem of improvident extension of credit in the United States. Part IV of this Note will analyze the current role of improvident lending in consumer credit and why no solution was reached in the 1970s. Part V will examine the increased need for …

Rankings, Reductionism, And Responsibility , Frank Pasquale

Cleveland State Law Review

After discussing how search engines operate in Part I below, and setting forth a normative basis for regulation of their results in Part II, this piece proposes (in Part III) some minor, non-intrusive legal remedies for those who claim that they are harmed by search engine results. Such harms include unwanted high-ranking results relating to them, or exclusion from a page they claim it is their “due” to appear on. In the first case (deemed “inclusion harm”), I propose a right not to suppress the results, but merely to add an asterisk to the hyperlink directing web users to them, …

What You Can't Have Won't Hurt You - The Real Safety Objective Of The Firearms Safety And Consumer Protection Act, Dennis B. Wilson

Cleveland State Law Review

This article examines an aspect of the debate described above. It begins by describing the federal firearms safety regulation that does exist and explaining the reason that there is relatively little federal firearms safety regulation. It will then examine one legislative proposal to subject firearms to federal safety regulation, the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act of 2003 (Firearms Safety Act) and compare it with the law that has been applied to seek to ensure the safety of other consumer products for over thirty years, the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). That comparison will demonstrate that the genuine objective of …

Garnishment - State Vs. Federal Procedures, Timothy M. Flanagan, Lawrence G. Smith

Cleveland State Law Review

Garnishment, a field once limited only by state or local regulation, has recently undergone a series of much-needed but somewhat questionable changes. These changes are not limited to one state alone, but encompass the entire nation. On July 1, 1970, when Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act became effective, this field of law came under the coverage of federal restrictions. In attempting to bring the existing Ohio statutes on garnishment into line with the federal restrictions, the Ohio Legislature passed a series of amendments which became effective on September 16, 1970.

Merchandising Through Use Of Lotteries, Robert V. Bullock

Cleveland State Law Review

It has been almost universally held that there must be three elements present for a promotion to constitute a lottery. These elements are consideration, chance, and prize. The absence of any one of these elements is fatal to identifying the transaction as a lottery.Promoters are continually modifying and shading each of these three elements, however, so that the courts and government officials must constantly reappraise their positions to protect both the public and legitimate business.

Group Fraud: Fault Or Duty, William J. Moore

Cleveland State Law Review

Recently, the legal bastion of "fairness" and "fault" in fraud and decit cases has been assaulted by courts, administrative agencies, and legal scholars. The walls are still standing, but here and there cracks have begun to appear and the words status and duty are no longer obscene in the field of seller's liability for false and misleading representations. A thorough study would require an analysis of all the environmental factors in a group-institutionalized society and also the interests the courts are protecting. Thispaper will touch on judicial protection of the consumer's interest in physical integrity, and the protection of consumer …

Viewpoint Of The Consumer, Catherine H. Hotes

Cleveland State Law Review

When Adam Smith described his self-regulating economy in the 1770's, he assumed that its motive power would be provided by the interplay of mutual demands and concessions between economic entities, and that such interplay would result in a balance of power. Since that time, the growth of huge corporations that employ modern technology, complex manufacturing processes, mass production, and mass advertising, into "clusters of private collectivisms" has substantially upset any such supposed balance of power.