Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Preferences For Processes: The Process/Product Distinction And The Regulation Of Consumer Choice, Douglas A. Kysar

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines a conceptual distinction between product-related information (such as whether a consumer good threatens to harm its user) and process-related information (such as whether a good’s production harmed workers, animals, or the environment) that has appeared in various guises within international trade law; domestic environmental, health, and safety regulation; and constitutional commercial speech jurisprudence. This process/product distinction tends to dismiss information concerning processes as unworthy of attention from consumers or regulators, at least so long as the processes at issue do not manifest themselves in the physical or compositional characteristics of resulting end products. Proponents have offered the …

Nonprofit Solicitation Under The Telemarketing Sales Rule, Rita Marie Cain

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") revised its Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR") to establish a national Do-Not-Call Registry for commercial telemarketing. Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to coordinate its telemarketing regulations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") of 1991 to achieve maximum consistency between the two agencies' telemarketing restrictions. Nonprofit solicitation is exempt from the national Do-Not-Call Registry, but is covered by other provisions of the FTC rule. The TSR created a new in-house no-call list requirement and imposed additional restrictions not previously known for nonprofit solicitors. The separate nonprofit provisions of the TSR raise unique …

Pretext, Transparency And Motive In Mass Restitution Litigation, Anthony J. Sebok

Vanderbilt Law Review

On February 23, 1993 The Washington Post published an article entitled, "Tobacco's Last Gasp? Towards a Smoke-Free Society." The article tested the hypothesis that in the near future no one would smoke in the United States. Its focus was on means: how would America reach a point when virtually no one smoked? The predictions ran the usual gamut of policy devices. Although their order of appearance may be random, the list was as follows: legal prohibitions on smoking in public, taxes, social pressure, increased health insurance costs to smokers, and (finally) litigation.

The Washington Post article noted that just one …

Kentucky Consumer Law Conference, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the Kentucky Consumer Law Conference held by UK/CLE in September 2004

Small Business And The False Dichotomies Of Contract Law, Larry Garvin

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

The article explores the classic consumer- merchant dichotomy from the vantage of small businesses. Using empirical data and the psychology, economics, and management literature, it shows that small businesses, treated like large businesses throughout most of contract and commercial law, in fact behave more like consumers. Small businesses lack the financial strength of large businesses. They generally lack the information gathering ability of large businesses. Finally, they generally are more prey to cognitive errors than are large businesses. As a result, small businesses lose in two ways. When they deal with consumers, they are presumed to have the power, information, …

Unusual Impetus For A Consumer Law, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The judgment about the suitability of consumer protection laws is becoming less and less the domain of New Jersey citizens and their elected representatives; rather, it has shifted into the domain of a financial services firm that is an advocate for investors, not the public.

Beware Buyer Power, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

The conventional antitrust wisdom is that buyer side market power or monopsony is so unusual and so rarely anticompetitive that it should not merit more than a scholarly afterthought. Moreover, these brief mentions typically say it is essentially the mirror image of seller power or that, while seller-side power is suspect since it leads to higher consumer prices, buyer-side power is usually benign, because the public should not care which layer of a distribution channel gets any potential savings that can arise. This short article discusses how buyer power can be anticompetitive. It also discusses how buyer power or monopsony …

Essay, Digital Bowdlerizing: Removing The Naughty Bytes, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

ExpressO

Unlike Dr. Bowdler, who republished the works of Shakespeare with the naughty bits removed, the modern digital Bowdlerizer deletes offensive content from digital works in a variety of ways. This Essay will analyze the technologies used by the modern Bowdlerizer to determine when, if, and which technologies make copies in violation of the copyright owner’s § 106(1) right to control reproduction or make derivative copies of a preexisting work that may infringe the copyright owner’s 17 U.S.C. § 106(2) right to authorize the creation of derivative works. These technologies not only support militant prudery, but they also may add new …

Wandering Along The Road To Competition And Convergence- The Changing Cmrs Roadmap, Leonard J. Kennedy, Heather A. Purcell

Federal Communications Law Journal

In this timely follow-up piece to a 1998 piece entitled A Federal Regulatory Framework that is "Hog Tight, Horse High, and Bull Strong, " the Authors of this Article revisit the progress of American commercial mobile radio services ("CMRS") proliferation and regulation. The piece expresses the concern that balkanization has continued to plague wireless regulation in the United States, as misguided legal analyses and state regulation further hinder wireless development across the nation. While the European Union has witnessed unprecedented growth in this sector, conflicting court and FCC decisions and continued federal, state, and local burdens on CMRS have placed …

Mandatory Recall Authority: A Sensible And Minimalist Approach To Improving Food Safety, Michael T. Roberts

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Securing Truth For Power: Informational Strategy And Regulatory Policy Making, Cary Coglianese

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Patent Wars In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death: The Pharmaceutical Industry, Ethics And Global Trade, Uche Ewelukwa

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Gaps, Inexperience, Inconsistencies, And Overlaps: Crisis In The Regulation Of Genetically Modified Plants And Animals, Gregory N. Mandel

William & Mary Law Review

The regulation of genetically modified products pursuant to statutes enacted decades prior to the advent of biotechnology has created a regulatory system that is passive rather than proactive about risks, has difficulty adapting to biotechnology advances, and is highly fractured and inefficient-transgenic plants and animals are governed by at least twelve different statutes and five different agencies or services. The deficiencies resulting from this piecemeal approach to regulation unnecessarily expose society and the environment to adverse risks of biotechnology and introduce numerous inefficiencies into the regulatory system. These risks and inefficiencies include gaps in regulation, duplicative and inconsistent regulation, unnecessary …

The Federal Trade Commission And The Future Development Of U.S. Consumer Protection Policy, Timothy Muris

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Continuing Showdown Over Who Should Regulate Amusement Attraction Safety: A Critical Analysis Of Why Fixed-Site Amusement Attraction Safety Should Remain State-Governed. , Chad Emerson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Increasing Acceptance Of The Restatement (Third) Risk Utility Analysis In Design Defect Claims, Cami Perkins

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Overoptimism And Overborrowing, Richard M. Hynes

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hold The Line Against Diluting Anti-Predatory Lending Law, Baher Azmy, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Last month, the New Jersey Legislature held off an attempt by certain elements of the lending industry to eviscerate the recently enacted Home Ownership Security Act. Those same elements, however, are regrouping as the new session begins, hoping to take another swipe at the act. Legislators should oppose this assault, because the measure maintains a good balance between reducing mortgage abuses and preserving a healthy residential mortgage market.

Motorsports Merchandise: A Cy Pres Distribution Not Quite"As Near As Possible", Robert E. Draba

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dram Price Fixing Conspiracy: Computer Chipmaker To Pay, Douglas C. Nelson

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Can-Spam Act Of 2003: Was Congress Actually Trying To Solve The Problem Or Add To It?, Sameh I. Mobarek

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

After The Facta: State Power To Prevent Identity Theft, Gail Hillebrand

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family Leave Policies Trump States Rights: Nevada Department Of Human Resources V. Hibbs And Its Impact Of Sovereign Immunity Jurisprudence, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 599 (2004), Jana L. Tibben

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Erisa: Re-Thinking Firestone In Light Of Great-West - Implications For Standard Of Review And The Right To A Jury Trial In Welfare Benefit Claims, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 629 (2004), Donald T. Bogan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of The Misuse Of Administrative Law In Erisa Benefit Claims, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 727 (2004), Mark D. Debofsky

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lost Pension Money: Who Is Responsible? Who Benefits?, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 695 (2004), Ellen A. Bruce J.D., John Turner Ph.D.

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Cash Balance Plan: An Integral Component Of The Defined Benefit Plan Renaissance, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 753 (2004), Barry Kozak

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Practical Planning Ideas For Distibutions From Iras And Qualified Plans, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 807 (2004), Steven R. Lifson

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Counting The Cash: Disclosure And Cash Balance Plans, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 849 (2004), Dana M. Muir

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping Employees' Trust: The Rocky Road Ahead For Pension Plan Trustees, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 903 (2004), Nikolay A. Ouzounov

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.