Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

K&P Homes V. Christiana Trust, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 51 (July 27, 2017), Yolanda Carapia

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that the SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A. decision, extinguishing first security interests, applies retroactively to all foreclosures occurring prior to the date of the decision and since NRS 116.3116’s inception.

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 ...

In Defense Of The Long Privacy Statement, Mike Hintze

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Averting Robot Eyes, Margot E. Kaminski, Matthew Rueben, William D. Smart, Cindy M. Grimm

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Privacy, Security, And The Connected Hairbrush, Travis Leblanc

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vertical Merger Enforcement Actions: 1994–2016, Steven C. Salop, Daniel P. Culley

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This is a revised listing of vertical merger enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission since 1994. This revised listing includes 52 vertical matters beginning in 1994 through the end of 2016. It includes challenges and certain proposed transactions that are known to have been abandoned in the face of Agency concerns. This listing can be treated as an Appendix to Steven C. Salop and Daniel P. Culley, Revising the Vertical Merger Guidelines: Policy Issues and an Interim Guide for Practitioners, 4 Journal of Antitrust Enforcement 1 (2016).

The Liability Of Retail Dealers For Defective Food Products, Robert C. Brown

Robert C. Brown

No abstract provided.

The Uneasy Case For Patent Federalism, Roger Allan Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Nationwide uniformity is often considered an essential feature of the patent system, necessary to fulfill that system’s disclosure and incentive purposes. In the last few years, however, more than half the states have enacted laws that seek to disrupt this uniformity by making it harder for patent holders to enforce their patents. There is an easy case to be made against giving states greater authority over the patent system: doing so would threaten to disrupt the system’s balance between innovation incentives and a robust public domain and would permit rent seeking by states that disproportionately produce or consume ...

Volume 4 Issue 2 (Complete Spring 2017), David J.. Cook, Zachary Bolitho, Evan Wright, George Steven Swan, Cynthia Brown

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review

A complete version of LMU Law Review Volume Issue 2 for Spring 2017.

Products Liability And The Internet Of (Insecure) Things: Should Manufacturers Be Liable For Damage Caused By Hacked Devices?, Alan Butler

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

While the application of products liability to insecure software is a frequently-discussed concept in academic literature, many commentators have been skeptical of the viability of such claims for several reasons. First, the economic loss doctrine bars recovery for productivity loss, business disruption, and other common damages caused by software defects. Second, the application of design defects principles to software is difficult given the complexity of the devices and recent tort reform trends that have limited liability. Third, the intervening cause of damage from insecure software is typically a criminal or tortious act by a third party, so principles of causation ...

The New Handshake: Where We Are Now, Amy J. Schmitz, Colin Rule

Faculty Publications

The internet has empowered consumers in new and exciting ways. It has opened more efficient avenues for consumers to buy just about anything. Want proof? Just pull out your smartphone, swipe your finger across the screen a few times, and presto – your collector’s edition Notorious RBG bobblehead is on its way from China. Unfortunately, however, the internet has not yet delivered on its promise to improve consumer protection.

Won’T Get Fooled Again: Why Vw’S Emissions Deception Is Illegal In Europe And How To Improve The Eu’S Auto Regulatory System, Kevin Tarsa

Boston College International and Comparative Law Review

Replete with greed, hubris, and deceit, the Volkswagen emissions scandal is not your typical case of corporate wrongdoing. With a price tag of $20 million in the United States, it is already one of the most expensive corporate scandals in history and has caused significant damage to the environment, public health, and the global economy. Dieselgate has had a majorly disproportionate impact on Europe, where nearly nine million of the eleven million affected cars are located. The financial cost of the scandal, however, has been confined almost entirely to the United States, due to a European Union (EU) regulation that ...

“Safe Harbor” On The Rocks: Ttb Label Approval For Beer, Wine, And Spirits, And The Uncertain Status Of The “Safe Harbor” Defense, Michael Mercurio

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This Note examines the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)’s label review process and the judicial split regarding the “safe harbor” doctrine in the context of alcoholic beverage labels. This Note observes that the judicial split is a result of the tension between two conflicting priorities stemming from the TTB’s purpose and identity: on one hand, courts apply Chevron deference to the TTB as a federal agency enforcing federal law, but on the other hand, courts aim to uphold the central purpose of the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act—protecting consumers from misinformation. Ultimately ...

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: What Must Be Remembered When Resolving The Right To Be Forgotten, Katherine Stewart

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In May 2014, the European Court of Justice decided Google Spain v. AEPD and González and granted citizens the right to be forgotten, rather, the right to request any search engine offering services to European consumers to remove certain results displayed after a search of a citizen’s name. This decision has also resulted in an ongoing battle between Google and the Commission Nationale de l’Infomatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s data protection authority. The CNIL believes that Google must apply the right to be forgotten to all domains worldwide, including Google.com. Google, however, has been reluctant ...

Who Will Protect The Consumers Of Trademarked Goods?, James Astrachan

University of Baltimore Law Review

Federal and state law recognizes multiple forms of intellectual property, including patents,1 copyrights,2 trademarks,3 and trade secrets.4 Alleged violations of patents and copyrights are required by statute to be litigated in the federal courts.5 Trademark rights can arise under the Federal Lanham Act6 or state law.7 Trademark infringement can be litigated in state or federal courts.8 Trade secrets arising under state statutes are litigated in state courts unless diversity jurisdiction exists and is pled.9

Infringement of intellectual property in the case of patents arises when a patented invention is used, manufactured or ...

A Motion To Compel Changes To Federal Arbitration Law: How To Remedy The Abuses Consumers Face When Arbitrating Disputes, Jeremy Mcmanus

Boston College Journal of Law & Social Justice

Arbitration, as a form of alternative dispute resolution, is a favored method of settling legal disputes because it resolves disputes faster and more cost effectively than in-court litigation. Corporations often exploit the private nature of arbitration by including complex provisions in consumer contracts that require certain disputes to be resolved through arbitration. Consumers subject to these arbitration provisions often do not realize the existence of the provisions, and do not understand that because of undue corporate influence over arbitrators, arbitration tends to favor the corporations against which they arbitrate. Unfortunately, because the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that the ...

Weaponizing Citizen Suits: Second Circuit Revises The Burden Of Proof For Proving Sham Citizen Petitions In Apotex V. Acorda Therapeutics, Franklin Liu

Boston College Law Review

In 2016, in Apotex Inc. v. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a generic drug company could not rely solely on the timing of the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA’s”) disposition of a citizen suit and approval of a generic application to state a claim under the Sherman Act based on sham litigation. By contrast, in 2009, in In re DDAVP Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, the Second Circuit held that precisely such evidence was sufficient to state a Sherman Act claim. This Comment argues that the Second Circuit’s ...

Third Circuit Confirms The Class Arbitration "Clear And Unmistakable" Standard In Chesapeake Appalachia, Llc V. Scout Petroleum, Llc, Dealing A Blow To Consumers And Employees, Caitlin Toto

Boston College Law Review

Whether class action is available in an arbitration proceeding is a highly controversial topic with implications for all parties bound by such clauses. Due to the high stakes of class action arbitrability, it is essential that a neutral decisionmaker determine this question. Whether this decisionmaker is the court or the arbitrator, however, is contested and unresolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Although undetermined by our highest court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has addressed this question. In Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC v. Scout Petroleum, LLC, the Third Circuit affirmed that the availability of class arbitration ...

The Role Of Antitrust Principles In Patent Monopolies: The Third Circuit Applies Antitrust Scrutiny To No-Ag Patent Settlements In Smithkline, Meghan Fay

Boston College Law Review

On June 26, 2015, in King Drug Co. of Florence v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that no-authorized generic agreements (“no-AG agreements”), in which a pioneer pharmaceutical manufacturer agrees not to introduce a generic drug, are subject to antitrust scrutiny under the Sherman Act. This Comment argues that the Third Circuit correctly extended the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis to non-cash settlement agreements. In Actavis, the Court held that a “reverse-payment settlement,” which compensates a generic manufacturer to delay market entry, creates monopolistic consequences and ...

Businesses Are People Too? Anomalies In Widening The Ambits Of "Consumer" Under Consumer Credit Law, Francina Cantatore, Brenda Marshall

Francina Cantatore

The Government’s Green Paper on National Credit reform canvasses the possibility of affording small businesses the same degree of protection as consumers under consumer credit legislation. Such a step will enable manufacturing businesses with fewer than 100 employees, and other businesses with fewer than 20 employees, to be treated as “consumers” with all the concomitant privileges that this classification implies, including the ability to rely on hardship provisions when unable to pay their debts. Small businesses already benefit from hardship provisions under compulsory external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme Rules imposed on consumer credit providers, with some anomalous results. The ...