Law Commons^™

Taking It With You: Platform Barriers To Entry And The Limits Of Data Portability, Gabriel Nicholas

Michigan Technology Law Review

Policymakers are faced with a vexing problem: how to increase competition in a tech sector dominated by a few giants. One answer proposed and adopted by regulators in the United States and abroad is to require large platforms to allow consumers to move their data from one platform to another, an approach known as data portability. Facebook, Google, Apple, and other major tech companies have enthusiastically supported data portability through their own technical and political initiatives. Today, data portability has taken hold as one of the go-to solutions to address the tech industry’s competition concerns.

This Article argues that despite …

The Rental Crisis Will Not Be Televised: The Case For Protecting Tenants Under Consumer Protection Regimes, Eric Sirota

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The Foreclosure Crisis of the 2000s has likely hurt renters more than homeowners. Incongruously, however, consumer enforcement agencies have been far more zealous in protecting mortgagors than tenants. This Article explores the under-protection of tenants as a class of consumers, particularly in a “commoditized” rental market, and examines how consumer enforcement agencies can more zealously incorporate tenant-protection into their mandates.

Much of the prior literature on the legal protections afforded tenants was published in the wake of the consumer rights revolution of the 1970s. This Article is the first to carefully reexamine, in the context of the modern rental market, …

Effect Of The Consumer's Choice To Revoke The Contract On Determining The Moment At Which The Contract Is Concluded, Yousef Mohammed Shandi

UAEU Law Journal

The choice to revoke the conclusion of a contract is one of the most important guarantees of a complete consent in contracts. It allows consumers a chance to contemplate and consider carefully the contract before they announce their final acceptance thereof. Despite the paramount significance of this choice in relation to the consumer, it raises a complex legal problem regarding the determination of the moment of concluding the consumer contract, which is associated with the choice to revocation. A legal school deems that such a choice takes effect immediately following the exchange of consent even before the period of revocation …

The Efficacy Of The Law Protecting The Jordanian Consumer An Analytical Study Of The Law And Its Means Of Enforcement, Firas Kasassbeh, Moayyad Mohamed Al Qudat

UAEU Law Journal

The Jordanian government has shown some hesitation in issuing an Act for the protecting of consumers against the unfair practices that might be committed by suppliers. Yet, it has, under the pressure of many private organizations and academics, drafted a proposed Bill to this end, which needs many legislative steps before becoming binding Act.

This study provides an analytical and critical account of the effectiveness of this Bill through exploring two of its main areas. The first area involves the scope of the protection provided by the Bill (the proposed Act), while the second, and covers the techniques adopted for …

The Guarantees Of Consumer Free Consent In Contracts Concluded Remotely: A Comparative Study, Dr.Adnan Sarhan

UAEU Law Journal

resulted from his ignorance weakness arising because of the complication of goods and services that makes their use and risks are not to be realized easily by consumers, but also extends in the recent times to include misleading advertising techniques, the brilliant development in marketing in addition to the coercive nature of recent tools that are used in bargain and contracting. One of these tools is the use of distance selling contacts in addition to the common use of electronic contracts, since a consumer is surprised by a person negotiate and contract by telephone or internet and he does not …

Smart Cars, Telematics And Repair, Leah Chan Grinvald, Ofer Tur-Sinai

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Recent years have seen a surge in the use of automotive telematics. Telematics is the integration of telecommunications and informatics technologies. Using telematics in cars enables transmission of data communications between the car and other systems or devices. This opens up a wide range of possibilities, including the prospect of conducting remote diagnostics based on real-time access to the vehicle. Yet, as with any new technology, alongside its potential benefits, the use of automotive telematics could also have potential downsides. This Article explores the significant negative impact that the growing reliance on telematics systems could have on competition in the …

Six Scandals: Why We Need Consumer Protection Laws Instead Of Just Markets, Jeff Sovern

Faculty Publications

Markets are powerful mechanisms for serving consumers. Some critics of regulation have suggested that markets also provide consumer protection. For example, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman said “Consumers don’t have to be hemmed in by rules and regulations. They’re protected by the market itself.” This Article’s first goal is to test the claim that the market provides consumer protection by examining several recent incidents in which companies mistreated consumers and then explores whether consumers stopped patronizing the companies, which would deter misconduct. The issue also has normative implications because if markets consistently protected consumers, society would need fewer regulations and …