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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Law
To Disclose Or Not To Disclose: Duty Of Candor Obligations Of The United States And Foreign Patent Offices, Gina M. Bicknell
To Disclose Or Not To Disclose: Duty Of Candor Obligations Of The United States And Foreign Patent Offices, Gina M. Bicknell
Chicago-Kent Law Review
Many patent offices around the world have rigorous prior art disclosure requirements. U.S. patent applicants not only must meet each individual country's criteria for disclosure, but also must contend with allegations of inequitable conduct from patent infringers which may render their patents unenforceable. This article argues that the new prior art disclosure rules promulgated by the USPTO unfairly shift the burden of examining patent applications onto patent applicants, and create a situation ripe for allegations of inequitable conduct. This article also examines how other countries handle disclosure obligations, and recommends several alternative systems that would meet the USPTO's objectives of …
Adhesion Contracts And The Twenty First Century Consumer, Leon E. Trakman
Adhesion Contracts And The Twenty First Century Consumer, Leon E. Trakman
Leon E Trakman Dean
Ecommerce has transformed the law of contract. Consumers are increasingly subject to myriads of conditions in shrink-wrap, box-wrap, click-wrap and browse-wrap contracts. Opening software wrapping or clicking “I agree” in a dialog box on a computer subjects the user to a series of onerous conditions that restrict end use and limit the supplier’s liability. These developments are counterbalance by the growth of new market-savvy classes of consumers who are willing and able to sue brand name producers in class and other actions. Faced with these Twenty First Century developments, courts struggle to find middle ground between regulating mass transactions in …
Brief Of Consumers Union Of United States, Inc., As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, Riegel & Riegel V. Medtronic, Inc., No. 06-179 (U.S. Aug. 27, 2007), Lisa Heinzerling
Brief Of Consumers Union Of United States, Inc., As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, Riegel & Riegel V. Medtronic, Inc., No. 06-179 (U.S. Aug. 27, 2007), Lisa Heinzerling
U.S. Supreme Court Briefs
No abstract provided.
Renting The Good Life, Jim Hawkins
Renting The Good Life, Jim Hawkins
Jim Hawkins
Academic literature and court decisions are replete with calls to ban or severely inhibit the rent-to-own industry. The argument is simple enough: Rent-to-own firms charge exorbitant prices to the most needy and vulnerable segments of society. The case for burdensome regulations, however, is much more difficult to make out than past scholarship has admitted. For the most part, academics have proceeded directly to propose specific regulations for the industry without first carefully analyzing the rent-to-own business or the reasons for imposing drastic regulations. This Article examines the theoretical justifications for regulating the rent-to-own industry against the backdrop of interviews I …
Consumer Protection And Social Methods Of Continental And Anglo-American Contract Law And The Transnational Outlook, Andreas Maurer
Consumer Protection And Social Methods Of Continental And Anglo-American Contract Law And The Transnational Outlook, Andreas Maurer
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
Debates over the content of recent EU directives and U.S. statutory amendments related to consumer protection highlight the importance of such regulation. Criticism calling for a return to freedom of contract in both regions reflects a tension between social ideals related to equality between private parties, and a deep distrust of state intervention and market regulation. With the rise of private sources for transnational commercial standards and practices, there is an opportunity for states to facilitate selfregulation in lieu of producing public substantive regulations. This approach seems to satisfy a well-established need for consumer protection without exacerbating government intervention in …
Testimony On 'Subprime Mortgage Market Turmoil: Examining The Role Of Securitization', Kurt Eggert
Testimony On 'Subprime Mortgage Market Turmoil: Examining The Role Of Securitization', Kurt Eggert
Kurt Eggert
This testimony, before the Senate Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investments, April 17, 2007, examines the role of securitization in the subprime market turmoil, describing how securitization atomized the lending process and turned over the de facto regulation of the subprime market to private entities such as rating agencies and investment banks. The testimony attributes the meltdown of the subprime market, the increased default rate and threat of rising foreclosures, as well as the difficulty of crafting an adequate response to that meltdown, to the effects of securitization. Securitization led to weakened and inconsistent underwriting standards and allowed many borrowers …
The Unfair Play Of Drm Technologies: Rereading The Rules Of The Game From The Consumer’S Perspective, Nicola Lucchi
The Unfair Play Of Drm Technologies: Rereading The Rules Of The Game From The Consumer’S Perspective, Nicola Lucchi
Nicola Lucchi
In the rapidly expanding information society, intellectual property law plays an increasingly important role in the production, distribution and use of creative material. As a consequence, it faces new possibilities and challenges. One of the most troublesome is connected with the development of the Digital Rights Management Systems and Technological Protection Measures applied to control the distribution and use of electronic works. In this framework, the anti-circumvention provisions enacted at the American, European and international level to safeguard digital content from uncontrolled distribution and unlawful use could have perverse effects and serious implications for the consumer community. When these provisions …
Principles For Policymaking About Collaborative Law And Other Adr Processes, John Lande
Principles For Policymaking About Collaborative Law And Other Adr Processes, John Lande
John Lande
This Article articulates a set of principles for policymaking about “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR) to promote values of process pluralism, choice in dispute resolution processes, and sound decisionmaking. It argues that policymakers should use a dispute system design (DSD) framework in analyzing policy options. DSD involves systematically managing a series of disputes rather than handling individual disputes on an ad hoc basis. It generally includes assessing the needs of disputants and other stakeholders, planning to address those needs, providing necessary training and education for disputants and dispute resolution professionals, implementing the system, evaluating it, and making periodic modifications as needed. …
A Complaint About Payment Law Under The U.C.C.: What You See Is Often Not What You Get, Gregory E. Maggs
A Complaint About Payment Law Under The U.C.C.: What You See Is Often Not What You Get, Gregory E. Maggs
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In this Essay, Professor Maggs observes that many provisions of U.C.C. Articles 3, 4, 4A, and 5 are misleading. Although the provisions express certain rules, these rules often actually do not apply because the parties have waived them, because the parties have no practical way to enforce them, or because they are predicated on unrealistic assumptions. Professor Maggs laments that this discrepancy between what the U.C.C. says and reality may have deceived the state legislatures that voted to enact the U.C.C., that it may impose costs on businesses and consumers, and that it clearly hinders the education of lawyers and …
Little Fish In A Big Sea: Should Consumer Protection Statutes Override Class Arbitration Waivers, A, Thomas Wilmowski
Little Fish In A Big Sea: Should Consumer Protection Statutes Override Class Arbitration Waivers, A, Thomas Wilmowski
Journal of Dispute Resolution
As arbitration agreements have become increasingly commonplace in dealings between large companies and their subscribers, courts have taken a strong interest in protecting consumer rights. As part of this protection, courts have to apply federal statutes, protecting the right to treble damages and recovery of attorney's fees in the context of mass arbitration agreements. The difficulty comes in attempting to allow companies to exercise their freedom of contract while protecting consumers with little bargaining power. Although other courts have largely favored arbitration, and upheld its applicability, a clash remains between consumer protection statutes and the waiver of those statutory rights …
Banking Law Reform And Users-Consumers In Developing Economies: Creating An Accessible And Equitable Consumer Base From The 'Excluded', Joseph J. Norton
Banking Law Reform And Users-Consumers In Developing Economies: Creating An Accessible And Equitable Consumer Base From The 'Excluded', Joseph J. Norton
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Drawing on over two decades of relevant experience, the author sets forth the primary proposition that the equitable and accessible provision of banking services has never been a core component of modern banking sector legal reform in developing countries. Over the course of the article, the author evaluates the past fifteen years of banking law reform for developing countries and considers recent World Bank efforts to address financial access and equity issues. The article also includes a discussion of the rise of microfinancing and private banking industry initiatives in South Africa. The author concludes with reflections on the importance of …
“Las Nociones 'Consumidor Medio' Y 'Miembro Medio De Un Grupo Particular De Consumidores' En El Reglamento N° 1924/2006 (Declaraciones Nutricionales Y De Propiedades Saludables En Los Alimentos)”, Luis González Vaqué
Luis González Vaqué
It is important that claims on foods can be understood by the consumer and it is appropriate to protect all consumers from misleading claims. However, since the enactment of Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10 September 1984 concerning misleading and comparative advertising, the Court of Justice of the European Communities has found it necessary in adjudicating on advertising cases to examine the effect on a notional, typical consumer. In line with the principle of proportionality, and to enable the effective application of the protective measures contained in it, this Regulation takes as a benchmark the average consumer, who is reasonably well-informed …