Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

"Leave Little Guys Alone!": Protecting Small Businesses From Overly Litigious Corporations And Trademark Infringement Suits, Sara Marie Andrzejewski

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Cybersecurity On My Mind: Protecting Georgia Consumers From Data Breaches, Maggie L. Mcmichael

Georgia Law Review

In a world where vast amounts of personal information
are obtained and stored by countless organizations and
businesses in the public and private sector, data breaches,

due to negligence or nefarious hacking, are a far too
common occurrence. The results of a data breach can be
serious and widespread, from public humiliation to
identity theft and national security crises. In an effort to
protect consumers from the potentially devastating effects
of data breaches, the Federal Trade Commission has
begun to take enforcement action against businesses whose
data security practices are alleged to be unfair and
deceptive. Theoretically, states can take …

When Peace Is Not The Goal Of A Class Action Settlement, D. Theodore Rave

Georgia Law Review

On the conventional account, a class action settlement is a vehicle through which the defendant buys peace from the class action lawyer. That single transaction will preclude future litigation by all class members. But peace, at least through preclusion, may not always be the goal. In a recent Fair Credit Reporting Action (FCRA) case, In re Trans Union Privacy Litigation, the parties agreed to a class action settlement that did not preclude individual claims. The 190 million class members surrendered only their rights to participate in a future class or aggregate action; they remained free to march right back into …

Saturns For Rickshaws: Lessons For Consumer Arbitration And Access To Justice, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

Companies are increasingly requiring consumers to agree to arbitrate disputes they may have over the products or services they purchase. Pre-dispute arbitration agreements are controversial especially for consumer disputes, where, it is feared, consumers will not represent themselves and neither will lawyers come forward because of the small stakes involved in individual claims. Dean Rutledge addresses in this chapter whether consumer arbitration processes can be designed to provide greater access to justice for consumers.

Personal Property Servitudes On The Internet Of Things, Christina Mulligan

Georgia Law Review

Small appliances such as thermostats, watches, jewelry, and eyewear are now being made available with networking capability. These networked objects make up the growing Internet of Things-pieces of personal property that run software and connect to the global Internet. These products are typically governed by terms of service or end-user license agreements that create restrictions on how products can be used or transferred- restrictions which would be unenforceable if the inside of the product consisted of gears rather than processing chips. This Article explores the question of when use and transfer restrictions should be enforceable on networked appliances and other …