Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Beetles For Breakfast: What The Fda Should Be Telling You, Kaycee L. Wolf

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Imagine sitting down to breakfast and eating strawberry yogurt with a glass of grapefruit juice. You think you are eating a healthy meal, but along with vitamins, calcium, and nutrients, you are getting a side of crushed beetles. Cochineal extract and carmine, two color additives derived from the cochineal beetle, color many foods such as strawberry yogurt. When people consume products with color additives, most do not realize that they could be ingesting insects, which can also be potentially dangerous, not to mention possibly unappetizing or upsetting. Imagine that one minute you are sitting down to eat a healthy cup …

In The Dark: A Consumer Perspective On Fcc Broadcast Indecency Denials, Genelle I. Belmas, Gail D. Love, Brian C. Foy

Federal Communications Law Journal

Indecency regulation has been a hot political and social topic since Janet Jackson revealed her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The number of indecency complaints the FCC receives each year continues to rise. Moreover, to further complicate matters, in 2007 the Second Circuit overturned the FCC policy that so-called "fleeting expletives" would be considered indecent. However, there has been no systematic review of the complaints from the perspective of the complainant. How has the FCC managed its increasing indecency complaint load, and what does it tell consumers who have taken the time to write formal complaints about …

United States Food Law Update: Labeling Controversies, Biotechnology Litigation, And The Safety Of Imported Food, A. Bryan Endres

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This update summarizes significant changes and developments in food law throughout the first half of 2007. Out of necessity, not every change is included; rather, this update is limited to significant changes in national law. This series of updates provides a starting point for scholars, practitioners, food scientists, and policymakers determined to understand the shaping of food law in modern society. Tracing the development of food law through these updates also builds an important historical context for the overall development of the discipline.

I Want My Mtv ... And My Abc, Cbs, Nbc, And Fox: Cbs Broadcasting, Inc. V. Echostar Communications Corp., The Satellite Home Viewer Act Of 1988, And An Argument For Consumer Choice In Distant Network Broadcasting, Kevin W. Harris

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intel's Alleged Schemes Affected U.S. Consumers, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

This short piece explains how the first unit discounts or rebates allegedly given by Intel on their X86 chips could harm competition, innovation, and PC purchasers in this crucial $33 billion/year market. For these reasons, their discounts or rebates could violate European Competition law and U.S. Antitrust law.

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.

The Applicability Of The Consumer Protection Law In Medical Malpractice Disputes In Taiwan, Ya-Ling Wu

Washington International Law Journal

The issue of whether or not no-fault liability under the Consumer Protection Law (“CPL”) applies in medical malpractice disputes has been a contentious battle in Taiwan. In Bo-Li Li v. Mackay Memorial Hospital, the Taipei District Court interpreted medical care as “services” under Article 7 of the CPL. Under this interpretation, patient services must meet “reasonably expected safety standards,” while health care providers are subject to no-fault liability. This interpretation was strenuously opposed by the medical profession and invoked much debate over its validity in the legal field. After the Bo-Li case, the lower courts expressed different views on …

The Normative Foundations Of Trademark Law, Mark P. Mckenna

Journal Articles

This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that trademark law traditionally sought to protect consumers and enhance marketplace efficiency. Contrary to widespread contemporary understanding, early trademark cases were decidedly producer-centered. Trademark infringement claims, like all unfair competition claims, were intended to protect producers from illegitimate attempts to divert their trade. Consumer deception was relevant in these cases only to the extent it was the means by which a competitor diverted a producer's trade. Moreover, American courts from the very beginning protected a party against improperly diverted trade in part by recognizing a narrow form ofproperty rights in trademarks. Those rights were …

Economic And Capital Market Growth In Egypt And The Adequacy Of The Minority Shareholders Protection Regime, Sherief Abbas Rashed

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

European Union Food Law Update, Nicole Coutrelis

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On December 23, 2006, the European Commission published Commission Directive 2006/142/EC "amending Annex IlIa of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council listing the ingredients which must under all circumstances appear on the labelling of foodstuffs" in regard to Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 20, 2000, "on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs."' "Annex IIla of Directive 2000/13/EC lists the ingredients which must under all circumstances appear on the labeling of foodstuffs ... " and the new Directive …

United States Food Law Update, A. Bryan Endres

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Michael T. Roberts and Margie Alsbrook noted in the Journal's inaugural Food Law Update that "[t]he one constancy about food law in the United States is change, especially in a rapidly-developing food industry." This observation holds true today and also augurs a change in authorship of this section of the Journal. I hope to follow my colleagues' lead and provide timely and cogent updates of the federal (and occasionally state) statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions impacting food law and policy. It is both an honor and a duty, as food and its legal implications remain in many respects "the world's …

Safe But Not Wholesome: The Troubling State Of Trans Fat Regulation, Ross Williams

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On March 7, 2007, the New York Times reported that Starbucks, the retail coffee chain which sells millions of baked goods every day from its over 8,700 U.S. stores, had asked its suppliers to eliminate all trans fats from their products by the end of the year. The big story for New York readers, though, was not that Starbucks was requiring the elimination of trans fats from its baked goods. In fact, New York City had just passed an ordinance strictly limiting the use of artificial trans fats, the type present in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (PHVO), by virtually all …

Harvey V. Veneman And The National Organic Program: Can Organic Be Synthetic?, Jennifer C. Fiser

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The market for organic products has increased dramatically in the United States and across the world in recent years.' Since 1997, sales of organic foods have grown from 15% to 21% per year, and while organic foods accounted for only 2.5% of total food sales in the United States in 2005, those sales amounted to $13.8 billion.

Defying Nature: The Ethical Implications Of Genetically Modified Plants, Debra M. Strauss

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Genetic engineering is changing the semantics, the meaning of life itself. We're trying to usurp the plant's choice. To force alien words into the plant's poem, but we [have] a problem. We barely know the root language. Genetic grammar's a mystery.... We've learned a lot about the letters-maybe our ability to read and spell words now sits halfway between accident and design - but our syntax is still haphazard. Scrambled. It's a semiotic nightmare.

Rolling Over Borrowers: Preventing Excessive Refinancing And Other Necessary Changes In The Payday Loan Industry, Richard J. Thomas

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Walmart's Other Woman Problem: Sprawl And Work-Family Balancing, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

Wal-Mart is often said to be bad for its workers, including those workers in its production chain in developing countries, and good for its consumers, most of whom are women. Most people argue that its consumers gain from low prices. This brief essay argues that consumers absorb a share of the costs of Wal-Mart's low prices. Contrary to intuition, Wal-Mart may increase significantly the financial and time pressures on its shoppers, the majority of whom can ill-afford increases in either. Most small retail is sited to take advantage of travel routines people have already established to meet their residential and …

Notification Of Data Security Breaches, Edward J. Janger, Paul M. Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nevada Needs A Privacy Act: How Nevadans Are Particularly At Risk For Identity Theft, Amy S. Scarborough

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Does Video Delivered Over A Telephone Network Require A Cable Franchise?, Robert W. Crandall, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article examines whether, on legal or policy grounds, video services provided over a telephone network should be regulated as a traditional cable service or whether a different approach is warranted. The Authors find that municipal franchise requirements for video services provided over telephone networks would reduce consumer welfare. The Authors estimate that, even without considering any welfare gains owing to higher quality, the consumer welfare gains from entry exceed the potential loss in franchise fee revenue to municipalities by a factor of nearly three to one.

Illuminating Secrecy: A New Economic Analysis Of Confidential Settlements, Scott A. Moss

Michigan Law Review

Even the most hotly contested lawsuits typically end in a confidential settlement forbidding the parties from disclosing their allegations, evidence, or settlement amount. Confidentiality draws fierce criticism for harming third parties by concealing serious misdeeds like discrimination, pollution, defective manufacturing, and sexual abuse. Others defend confidentiality as a mutually beneficial pay-for-silence bargain that facilitates settlement, serves judicial economy, and prevents frivolous copycat lawsuits. This debate is based in economic logic, yet most analyses have been surprisingly shallow as to how confidentiality affects incentives to settle. Depicting a more nuanced, complex reality of litigation and settlement, this Article reaches several conclusions …

Private Copyright: Digital Rights Management Systems And The Consumer, Victor Nicholas Knipe

ExpressO

Digital Rights Managements (DRM) systems impact the digital content and software marketplace on several levels. The issues include copyright law, contract law, privacy, antitrust, and consumer protection. This paper examines how DRM systems affect the consumer and what changes can be made to bring about a more sensible and transparent market in the United States.

Cold Comfort Pharmacy: Pharmacist Tort Liability For Conscientious Refusals To Dispense Emergency Contraception, Kristen Marttila Gast

ExpressO

The past several years have seen an increasing number of pharmacists refuse to dispense emergency contraception, an effective, post-coital form of contraception, on the grounds that the drug violates their personal beliefs. This Article addresses the impact of those pharmacist refusals under existing principles of tort law. The Article draws on existing pharmacy case law, state-specific refusal clauses, and ethics statements promulgated by professional pharmacy associations to investigate whether pharmacists have a legal duty to dispense emergency contraception, notwithstanding religious or ethical objections. Concluding that in most states, such a legal duty does exist, the Article develops a “wrongful conception” …

Cyber-Extortion: Duties And Liabilities Related To The Elephant In The Server Room, Adam J. Sulkowski

ExpressO

This is a comprehensive analysis of the legal frameworks related to cyber-extortion – the practice of demanding money in exchange for not carrying out threats to commit harm that would involve a victim's information systems. The author hopes it will catalyze an urgently needed discussion of relevant public policy concerns.

Cyber-extortion has, by all accounts, become a common, professionalized and profit-driven criminal pursuit targeting businesses. 17% of businesses in a recent survey indicated having received a cyber-extortion demand. An additional 13% of respondents were not sure if their business had received such a demand.

Awareness of the risks of cybercrime …

Some Peer-To-Peer, Democratically And Voluntarily Produced Thoughts About 'The Wealth Of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets And Freedom,' By Yochai Benkler, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

In this review essay, Bartow concludes that The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom by Yochai Benkler is a book well worth reading, but that Benkler still has a bit more work to do before his Grand Unifying Theory of Life, The Internet, and Everything is satisfactorily complete. It isn't enough to concede that the Internet won't benefit everyone. He needs to more thoroughly consider the ways in which the lives of poor people actually worsen when previously accessible information, goods and services are rendered less convenient or completely unattainable by their migration online. Additionally, the …

Who Knew? Admissibility Of Subsequent Remedial Measures When Defendants Are Without Knowledge Of The Injuries, Mark G. Boyko, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Federal Rule of Evidence 407 prohibits the introduction of subsequent remedial measures for the purposes of demonstrating negligence, culpable conduct, or product defect. But the rule breaks down, in application and purpose, when a defendant undertakes the new safety measure after the plaintiff's injury, but before the defendant had knowledge of the loss. Such a situation is not uncommon. Would-be defendants frequently improve their products and product safety for a variety of reasons. Toxic exposure cases, where exposure often predates diagnosis of the injury by a decade or more, represent a prime example of cases where defendants are likely to …

The Price Of Emission: Will Liability Insurance Cover Damages Resulting From Global Warming?, Noel C. Paul

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Illinois Appellate Court Puts Scare Into Corporations By Striking Down Arbitration Agreement, Thomas A. Mccann

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cpcs Rendered Virtually Powerless, Jeremy Lamarche

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Smoke Free Casinos? Don't Bet On It , Jeremy Lamarche

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Failure Of Federal Authorities To Protect American Energy Consumers From Market Power And Other Abusive Practices, Mark N. Cooper

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.