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Articles 1 - 30 of 48
Full-Text Articles in Commercial Law
Consumer Uncertainty In Trademark Law: An Experimental Investigation, Barton Beebe, Roy Germano, Christopher Jon Sprigman, Joel H. Steckel
Consumer Uncertainty In Trademark Law: An Experimental Investigation, Barton Beebe, Roy Germano, Christopher Jon Sprigman, Joel H. Steckel
Emory Law Journal
Nearly every important issue in trademark litigation turns on the question of what consumers in the marketplace believe to be true. To address this question, litigants frequently present consumer survey evidence, which can play a decisive role in driving the outcomes of trademark disputes. But trademark survey evidence has often proven to be highly controversial, not least because it has sometimes been perceived as open to expert manipulation. In this Article, we identify and present empirical evidence of a fundamental problem with trademark survey evidence: while the leading survey formats in trademark law test for whether consumers hold a particular …
Electronic Distribution Of Goods And Services: The Impact Of The Internet And Competition Law On Distribution Networks Part I, Shareef Mohammad Ghannam
Electronic Distribution Of Goods And Services: The Impact Of The Internet And Competition Law On Distribution Networks Part I, Shareef Mohammad Ghannam
UAEU Law Journal
In the past, producers resorted to the method of selling directly to consumers. At that time, the producer was close to the market and was aware of the consumers' needs and requirements. Thereupon, the producers performed the role of both producers and distributors; however, due to the growth of consumers' needs on the one hand, and the progress in production techniques, and the development of transport means and communications on the other hand, producers looked for new, domestic and external markets for their goods and services. This lead to the producers' need of specialists, called distributors, who were given the …
Ecosystem Competition And The Antitrust Laws, Daniel A. Crane
Ecosystem Competition And The Antitrust Laws, Daniel A. Crane
Articles
Conventional antitrust norms analyze market power—as a stepping stone to anticompetitive effects and, hence, prohibited conduct—from the perspective of product substitutability. Two goods or services are said to compete with one another when they are reasonably interchangeable from the perspective of consumers, or to put it in more formal economic terms, when there is cross-elasticity of demand between them. Conversely, when two goods or services are not reasonably interchangeable, they are not horizontally related and are said not to compete with one another. Since a concern over horizontal agreements and horizontal effects dominate antitrust—courts even analyze vertical agreement or merger …
The Gdpr: It Came, We Saw, But Did It Conquer?, Leila Javanshir
The Gdpr: It Came, We Saw, But Did It Conquer?, Leila Javanshir
Seattle University Law Review
On February 1, 2019, the Seattle University Law Review held its annual symposium at the Seattle University School of Law. Each year, the Law Review hosts its symposium on a topic that is timely and meaningful. This year, privacy and data security professionals from around the globe gathered to discuss the current and future effects of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that was implemented on May 25, 2018. The articles and essays that follow this Foreword are the product of this year’s symposium.
Digital Market Perfection, Rory Van Loo
Digital Market Perfection, Rory Van Loo
Michigan Law Review
Google’s, Apple’s, and other companies’ automated assistants are increasingly serving as personal shoppers. These digital intermediaries will save us time by purchasing grocery items, transferring bank accounts, and subscribing to cable. The literature has only begun to hint at the paradigm shift needed to navigate the legal risks and rewards of this coming era of automated commerce. This Article begins to fill that gap by surveying legal battles related to contract exit, data access, and deception that will determine the extent to which automated assistants are able to help consumers to search and switch, potentially bringing tremendous societal benefits. Whereas …
Consumer Bitcredit And Fintech Lending, Christopher K. Odinet
Consumer Bitcredit And Fintech Lending, Christopher K. Odinet
Faculty Scholarship
The digital economy is changing everything, including how we borrow money. In the wake of the 2008 crisis, banks pulled back in their lending and, as a result, many consumers and small businesses found themselves unable to access credit. A wave of online firms called fintech lenders have filled the space left vacant by traditional financial institutions. These platforms are fast making antiques out of many mainstream lending practices, such as long paper applications and face-to-face meetings. Instead, through underwriting by automation — utilizing big data (including social media data) and machine learning — loan processing that once took days …
The International Implications Of Wayfair, Reuven Avi-Yonah
The International Implications Of Wayfair, Reuven Avi-Yonah
Articles
In this article, Avi-Yonah argues that the Court’s recent decision in Wayfair has implications for the EU’s struggle with taxing the digital economy, as well as for the broader international effort to update international tax rules for the 21st century — that is, it bolsters the argument for dispensing with the 19th-century permanent establishment concept.
Intellectual Property In Experience, Madhavi Sunder
Intellectual Property In Experience, Madhavi Sunder
Michigan Law Review
In today’s economy, consumers demand experiences. From Star Wars to Harry Potter, fans do not just want to watch or read about their favorite characters— they want to be them. They don the robes of Gryffindor, flick their wands, and drink the butterbeer. The owners of fantasy properties understand this, expanding their offerings from light sabers to the Galaxy’s Edge®, the new Disney Star Wars immersive theme park opening in 2019.Since Star Wars, Congress and the courts have abetted what is now a $262 billion-a-year industry in merchandising, fashioning “merchandising rights” appurtenant to copyrights and trademarks that give fantasy owners …
Consumer Preferences For Performance Defaults, Franklin G. Snyder, Ann M. Mirabito
Consumer Preferences For Performance Defaults, Franklin G. Snyder, Ann M. Mirabito
Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
Commercial law in the United States is designed to facilitate private transactions, and thus to enforce the presumed intent of the parties, who generally are free to negotiate the terms they choose. But these contracts inevitably have gaps, both because the parties cannot anticipate every situation that might arise from their relationship, and because negotiation is not costless. When courts are faced with these gaps in a litigation context, they supply default terms to fill them. These defaults usually are set to reflect what courts believe similar parties would have agreed to if they had addressed the issue. These “majoritarian” …
Fashion Forward: The Need For A Proactive Approach To The Counterfeit Epidemic, Casey Tripoli
Fashion Forward: The Need For A Proactive Approach To The Counterfeit Epidemic, Casey Tripoli
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
In the last two decades, the overall activity of the counterfeit market has expanded and risen 10,000 percent. This dramatic shift corresponds to growth of the Internet, which has unified the fascination of obtaining cheap, illegitimate goods with the efficiency of a mouse click. With the expected continued inflation of the counterfeit market comes a host of new concerns, namely, how to determine who is responsible for the distribution of these knockoffs, and who should be ordained to limit them in the marketplace. In both the United States and the European Union, however, outdated laws produce a mélange of inadequate …
Trending @ Rwu Law: Dean Yelnosky's Post: Santoro Lecture And Golf Tournament Bookend Alumni Weekend, Roger Williams University School Of Law
Trending @ Rwu Law: Dean Yelnosky's Post: Santoro Lecture And Golf Tournament Bookend Alumni Weekend, Roger Williams University School Of Law
Law School Blogs
No abstract provided.
Begone, Euclid!: Leasing Custom And Zoning Provision Engaging Retail Consumer Tastes And Technologies In Thriving Urban Centers, Michael N. Widener
Begone, Euclid!: Leasing Custom And Zoning Provision Engaging Retail Consumer Tastes And Technologies In Thriving Urban Centers, Michael N. Widener
Pace Law Review
Is urban center retailing in a death spiral? Competition for consumers with Internet vendors is afoot; winners and losers shall be anointed. The threats to physical retailing in an era of the “Internet of Goods” initially are described below. Adaptations by tenants, landlords, and stakeholders in urban centers will be required quickly, and new perspectives and partnerships, including those among local and regional governments, are instrumental if physical retail operations in municipal cores are to survive. The balance of this article describes these needs from the vantage point of each stakeholder; but this article argues that integrating information and communication …
Stubborn Things: An Empirical Approach To Facts, Opinions, And The First Amendment, Daniel E. Herz-Roiphe
Stubborn Things: An Empirical Approach To Facts, Opinions, And The First Amendment, Daniel E. Herz-Roiphe
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
This essay offers an empirical approach to the problem, rooted in an argument that the underlying rationale for the fact/opinion distinction in compelled speech doctrine tells us something about how this distinction should be policed. Commercial speech enjoys protection by virtue of its value to listeners, it is from the listener's vantage point, then, that courts should assess whether a compelled disclosure is fact or opinion. And if we are interested in learning how disclosures will affect listeners, we might try asking them, just as courts adjudicating trademark suits frequently use consumer surveys to determine how customers understand the meaning …
Tesla And The Car Dealers' Lobby, Daniel A. Crane
Tesla And The Car Dealers' Lobby, Daniel A. Crane
Articles
Tesla Motors, the offspring of entrepreneur Elon Musk (who brought us Pay-Pal and SpaceX), is the most exciting automotive development in many decades and a marquee story of American technological dynamism and innovation. The company’s luxury electric cars have caused a sensation in the auto industry, including a review by Consumer Reports calling Tesla’s Model S the best car it ever tested. Despite the acclaim, Tesla faces enormous challenges Despite the acclaim, Tesla faces enormous challenges in penetrating an automotive market that has been dominated for a century by internal combustion engines. Not only must it build cars that customers …
Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland
Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland
Faculty Scholarship
Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …
Retail Investments In Precious And Industrial Metals: Mining For Proper Regulation Aimed Toward Investor Strategy, Tanya Lambrechts
Retail Investments In Precious And Industrial Metals: Mining For Proper Regulation Aimed Toward Investor Strategy, Tanya Lambrechts
Florida State University Law Review
No abstract provided.
Can Consumers Control Health-Care Costs?, Mark A. Hall, Carl E. Schneider
Can Consumers Control Health-Care Costs?, Mark A. Hall, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
The ultimate aim of health care policy is good care at good prices. Managed care failed to achieve this goal through influencing providers, so health policy has turned to the only market-based option left: treating patients like consumers. Health insurance and tax policy now pressure patients to spend their own money when they select health plans, providers, and treatments. Expecting patients to choose what they need at the price they want, consumerists believe that market competition will constrain costs while optimizing quality. This classic form of consumerism is today’s health policy watchword. This article evaluates consumerism and the regulatory mechanism …
Playing With Fire: Proceeding Cautiously With Reforms To The Michigan Fireworks Safety Act, Nicholas Pietropaulo
Playing With Fire: Proceeding Cautiously With Reforms To The Michigan Fireworks Safety Act, Nicholas Pietropaulo
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
On January 1, 2012, the Michigan Fireworks Safety Act went into effect. It marked a significant change in how the state of Michigan treats the sale and use of “consumer fireworks.” Effectively, the new statute authorizes the sale and use of Roman Candles, bottle rockets, aerials, and other fireworks that had previously been banned. Almost immediately, challenges and complaints were raised. On one side, eight fireworks vendors challenged the constitutionality of one of the law’s provisions that required such vendors to purchase insurance at an arguably unreasonable rate. The court dismissed that case, holding that it could not be said …
Chopping Down The Rainforest: Finding A Solution To The "Amazon Problem", Eric Andrew Felleman
Chopping Down The Rainforest: Finding A Solution To The "Amazon Problem", Eric Andrew Felleman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
Current economic conditions in the United States have led to a dramatic decrease in state tax revenue. Without these funds, states will be unable to support important public services, and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the public and private sectors are at risk of being cut, as states work to close $103 billion in budget gaps. Accomplishing that will involve overcoming many hurdles, such as the unpopularity of raising taxes during times of economic trouble, but one largely untapped source could provide a significant amount of income to states. States currently lose around $23 billion annually in uncollected use …
Everything In Its Right Place: Social Cooperation And Artist Compensation, Leah Belsky, Byron Kahr, Max Berkelhammer, Yochai Benkler
Everything In Its Right Place: Social Cooperation And Artist Compensation, Leah Belsky, Byron Kahr, Max Berkelhammer, Yochai Benkler
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The music industry's crisis response to the Internet has been the primary driver of U.S. copyright policy for over a decade. The core institutional response has been to increase the scope of copyright and the use of litigation, prosecution, and technical control mechanisms for its enforcement. The assumption driving these efforts has been that without heavily-enforced copyright, artists will not be able to make a living from their art. Throughout this period artists have been experimenting with approaches that do not rely on technological or legal enforcement, but on constructing web-based business models that engage fans and rely on voluntary …
Warranties In The Box, James J. White
Warranties In The Box, James J. White
Articles
Thousands of times each day, a buyer opens a box that contains a new computer or other electronic device. There he finds written material including an express "Limited Warranty." Sometimes the box has come by FedEx directly from the manufacturer; other times the buyer has carried it home from a retail merchant. Despite the fact that it is standard practice for the manufacturer to include a limited written express warranty on the sale of such products,' and despite the fact that both the manufacturer and the buyer believe that warranty to be legally enforceable, the law on its enforceability is …
Proposed Legislation: A (Second) Modest Proposal To Protect Virginia Consumers Against Defective Products, Peter N. Swisher
Proposed Legislation: A (Second) Modest Proposal To Protect Virginia Consumers Against Defective Products, Peter N. Swisher
Law Faculty Publications
The purpose of this article is to suggest a viable, necessary, and eminently reasonable legislative alternative that the Virginia General Assembly should enact for legitimate and pressing public policy reasons in order to properly protect Virginia consumers from defective and unreasonably dangerous consumer products. Adopting this alternative would bring the Commonwealth of Virginia into the mainstream of twenty-first century American, and transnational, products liability law.
The Debt Dilemma, Katherine Porter
The Debt Dilemma, Katherine Porter
Michigan Law Review
Part I describes the nature of credit card spending and explores the usefulness of Mann's comparative approach to studying credit cards. Part II evaluates Mann's findings on the overall relationships between individual credit card transactions and aggregate levels of spending, borrowing, and bankruptcy. It also briefly analyzes the relationship between his findings and policy recommendations. Part III explores data on families who refrain from credit card use and struggle with serious financial distress. Part IV revisits Mann's policy recommendations in light of this new data. I conclude that implementing credit card reform would offer families only partial, albeit valuable, protection …
The Cash Nexus, Carl E. Schneider
The Cash Nexus, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
Courts and legislatures have labored for decades to protect patients' choice of medical treatments, even though patients seize that gift less eagerly than lawmakers expect. Yet while courts have rushed to build the whited sepulchre of informed consent, they have fled from a related problem that patients actually yearn to solve and that actually can be ameliorated the plight of patients who perforce agree to a treatment before they know its costs and who receive a bill both unrelated to the treatment's value and several times what an insured patient would pay. Increasingly, patients must be consumers in the medical …
The Hidden Roles Of Boilerplate And Standard-Form Contracts: Strategic Imposition Of Transaction Costs, Segmentation Of Consumers, And Anticompetitive Effects, David Gilo, Ariel Porat
The Hidden Roles Of Boilerplate And Standard-Form Contracts: Strategic Imposition Of Transaction Costs, Segmentation Of Consumers, And Anticompetitive Effects, David Gilo, Ariel Porat
Michigan Law Review
Standard-form contracts offered to consumers contain numerous terms and clauses, most of which are ancillary to the main terms of the transaction. We call these ancillary terms "boilerplate provisions." Since most consumers do not read boilerplate provisions or, if they do, find them hard to understand, courts are suspicious of boilerplate provisions and sometimes find them unenforceable under the doctrine of unconscionability. At times, courts conclude that harsh terms have not been accepted by consumers in the first place and therefore are not included in the contract, and on other occasions courts interpret boilerplate provisions in favor of consumers, applying …
Applying 42 U.S.C. § 1981 To Claims Of Consumer Discrimination, Abby Morrow Richardson
Applying 42 U.S.C. § 1981 To Claims Of Consumer Discrimination, Abby Morrow Richardson
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note explores several interesting legal questions regarding the proper interpretation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which prohibits racial discrimination in contracting, when discrimination arises in the context of a consumer retail contract. The Note further explores how the Fifth Circuit's and other federal courts' narrow interpretation of § 1981's application in a retail setting (which allows plaintiffs to invoke the statute only when they have been prevented from completing their purchases) is contrary to the statute's express language, congressional intent, and to evolving concepts of contract theory, all of which reflect a commitment to the strict enforcement of civil …
Freeing The Tortious Soul Of Express Warranty Law, James J. White
Freeing The Tortious Soul Of Express Warranty Law, James J. White
Articles
I suspect that most American lawyers and law students regard express warranty as neither more nor less than a term in a contract, a term that is subject to conventional contract rules on formation, interpretation, and remedy. Assume, for example, that a buyer sends a purchase order to a seller and the purchase order specifies the delivery of 300 tons of "prime Thomas cold rolled steel." The acknowledgment also describes the goods to be sold as "prime Thomas cold rolled steel." Every American lawyer would agree that there is a contract to deliver such steel and furthermore would conclude that …
Form Contracts Under Revised Article 2 (Symposium: Consumer Protection And The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White
Form Contracts Under Revised Article 2 (Symposium: Consumer Protection And The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White
Articles
The current draft of section 2-206 in Revised Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") entitled "Consumer Contract: Standard Form"1 presents a unique and threatening challenge to the drafters of consumer form contracts. In earlier drafts, one part of the section applied to both to commercial contracts and consumer contracts. It required that "one manifest assent" to any form contract, commercial or consumer, in order for it to be binding.2 Bowing to commercial opposition in the most recent version, the drafters have omitted all reference to commercial contracts. As the section stands, it applies only to consumer contracts.
Ucc Proposals Concerning Consumer Transactions, James J. White
Ucc Proposals Concerning Consumer Transactions, James J. White
Other Publications
Professor Grant Gilmore once suggested that farmers would like a two section law. Section one would state "It shall be against the law to refuse to lend money to a farmer." Section two would state "It shall be against the law to collect a debt from a farmer." In a similar vein one might state the iron rule of consumer law, namely "No right that has ever been granted to a consumer, however ill considered and unjustified, may thereafter be withdrawn." Believing that some of the proposals for consumer protection that have been added in Revised Article 9 are not …
Work And Play In Revising Article 9 (Symposium On The Revision Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White
Work And Play In Revising Article 9 (Symposium On The Revision Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White
Articles
For Professors Harris and Mooney the time has come to distinguish between work and play. Debating whether security is efficient is play. Revising Article 9 is work. Even Professor Schwartz does not argue for the abolition of Article 9; he merely reiterates the "puzzle" of secured credit and argues in his playful fashion that security might not be efficient.' Were it not for the fact that this debate might give us some insights about certain priority rules (such as those having to do with purchase money), it would be pure intellectual masturbation, a game with no purpose other than to …