Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

The Constitutionality Of Consumer Privacy Regulation, Felix T. Wu

Articles

The article argues for enhanced consumer privacy protections through improved notices and restrictions on data sharing, while addressing potential First Amendment concerns by emphasizing the commercial nature of the entities involved. It suggests that regulating commercial data practices differs from restricting individual free speech and should not face the same legal hurdles.

Consumer Financial Services Arbitration: What Does The Future Hold After Concepcion?, Alan S. Kaplinsky, Mark J. Levin

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Products Liability And Economic Activity: An Empirical Analysis Of Tort Reform's Impact On Businesses, Employment, And Production, Joanna Shepherd

Faculty Articles

For decades, advocates of tort reform have argued that expansive products liability stifles economic activity by imposing excessive and unpredictable liability costs on businesses. Although politicians aspiring to create jobs, attract businesses, and improve the economy have relied on this argument to enact hundreds of reforms, it has largely gone empirically untested. No longer. Using the most comprehensive dataset to date on products liability reforms and economic activity, I find that many reforms that restrict the scope of products liability improve economic conditions. Specifically, these reforms increase the number of businesses, employment, and production in the industries that face most …

A Randomized Experiment Assessing The Accuracy Of Microsoft's "Bing It On" Challenge, Ian Ayres, Emad H. Atiq, Sheng Li, Michelle Lu, Tom Maher, Christine Tsang

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In advertisements associated with its "Bing It On" campaign, Microsoft claimed that "people preferred Bing web search results nearly 2:1 over Google in blind comparison tests." We tested Microsoft's claims by way of a randomized experiment involving U.S.-based Amazon's. Mechanical Turk ("MTurk") subjects and conducted on Microsoft's own www.bingiton.com website. We found that (i) a statisticallysignificant majority of participants preferred Google search results to Bing search results (53% to 41%); and (ii) participants were significantly less likely to prefer Bing results when randomly assigned to use popular search terms or self-selected search terms instead of the search terms Microsoft recommends …

A Matter Of National Importance: The Persistent Inefficiency Of Deceptive Advertising Class Actions, Stacey M. Lantagne

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

California Ex Rel. Harris V. Safeway, Inc.: Mismanaging The Intersection Of Antitrust And Labor Law, Peter L. Cooch

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Paving The Road Ahead: Autonomous Vehicles, Products Liability, And The Need For A New Approach, Kevin Funkhouser

Utah Law Review

Cars that drive themselves may seem about as realistic as Marty McFly’s DeLorean in Back to the Future, but this is far from the case. Autonomous technology is available and in use in many new vehicle models. In fact, in 2010 Google announced that the company had successfully built cars capable of driving themselves (“autonomous cars”). Even more amazing, at its 2010 announcement, Google also revealed its driverless cars (customized Toyota Prius models) had logged over 100,000 miles on public roads. As of early 2013, Google’s several autonomous vehicles have traveled over 300,000 miles, and have yet to cause a …

Sacrificial Lambs: Compensating First Subscribers To Fda-Approved Medications For Postmarketing Injuries Resulting From Unlabeled Adverse Events, Rodney K. Miller

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ensuring Remedies To Cure Cramming, Amy J. Schmitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

On July 23, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") called wireless telephone bill cramming "a significant consumer problem," and both the FTC and Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") have been delving into the morass of concerns regarding cramming with respect to landline (or wired) telephone billing. "Cramming" occurs when a third party unaffiliated with a customer's telephone company adds charges to the telephone bills that the company sends to the customer. These charges can be for anything from horoscopes to long-distance telephone services.

Dirt Lawyers And Dirty Remics: A Debate, David J. Reiss, Bradley T. Borden, Joshua Stein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Voluntary Recalls, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Federal Reserve's Supporting Role Behind Dodd-Frank's Clearinghouse Reforms, Colleen M. Baker

Journal Articles

This Article analyzes the Federal Reserve’s expanded role in payment, clearing, and settlement systems, particularly in connection with certain clearinghouses that have been designated by the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council as “systemically significant.” The Federal Reserve’s expanded role is a little understood, but critical supporting component of domestic and international regulatory reforms to the $639 trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivative markets. These reforms mandate the increased use of clearinghouses in OTC derivative markets. Due to critical reforms in Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Federal Reserve is now positioned to …

Information Overload: Why Omnipresent Technology And The Rise Of Big Data Shouldn’T Spell The End For Privacy As We Know It, Devin W. Ness

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Front-Of-Package Nutrition Claims: Trustworthy Facts Or Deceptive Marketing? Closing The Loopholes In Labeling, Kathryn E. Hayes

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that front-of-package (FOP) labeling on children's food products is insufficient and often misleading, failing to meet basic nutritional standards. It advocates for the adoption of uniform, science-based labeling standards developed by an objective body like the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to help parents make healthier choices. The analysis highlights the limitations of self-regulation by manufacturers and the need for stronger governmental oversight to address deceptive practices and improve public health outcomes.

A Deference To Protocol: Fashioning A Three-Dimensional Public Policy Framework For The Internet Age, Richard S. Whitt

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

This Article discusses how public policy grounded in the Internet's architecture can best ensure that the Net fully enables tangible benefits such as innovation, economic growth, free expression, and user empowerment. In particular, recognizing that the Internet is rapidly becoming society's chief operating system, this Article shows how an overarching public policy framework should be faithful to the multifaceted nature of the online world. As part of such a framework, this Article will explore one key aspect of the Internet: the "logical" Middle Layers functions, its inner workings derived from open software protocols and inclusive, decentralized processes. Adhering to the …

Caught In A Bind: Reassuring Judicial Authority To Bind Non-Party Search Engines Under Rule 65 In Counterfeit Goods Cases, Courtney Brown

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Digital Content Contracts For Consumers, Marco Loos, Chantal Mak, Lucie Guibault, Lodewijk Pessers, Natali Helberger

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The application of consumer law to digital content contracts encounters a number of obstacles. Some of these are rather typical for digital content markets, e.g., the legal consequences of the classification of digital content as “goods” or “services”, and more importantly, the absence of general benchmarks to evaluate the conformity of digital content. Other problems, such as the limited usefulness of consumer information and the position of underage consumers, are not as such reserved to digital consumers, but they are amplified in the digital content markets. Moreover, particular attention is paid to the complex relationship between copyright law and consumer …

Improving The Lives Of Individuals In Financial Distress Using A Randomized Control Trial: A Research And Clinical Approach, Lois R. Lupica, Dalie´ Jimenez, D. James Greiner, Rebecca L. Sandefur

Faculty Publications

This Article describes an ambitious Randomized Control Trial (RCT) in the area of consumer debt collection. Randomized trials are the same kind of evaluation that the law requires (or at least strongly encourages) before new drugs and medical devices may be sold to the public. Although they have not yet gained widespread popularity in the evaluation of legal systems, randomized trials are uniquely effective ways of assessing whether any benefits observed after implementation of legal or educational assistance programs are really due to those programs as compared to other factors, such as unusual levels of competence or motivation of program …

The Protected Profits Benchmark: Responses To Comments, Steven C. Salop

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In my earlier article, I proposed the “Protected Profits Benchmark” (PPB) price standard for determining whether or not a vertically integrated monopolist is engaged in a refusal to deal or price squeeze in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The PPB would be used where market benchmarks do not exist or do not apply. Violating the PPB price involves profit-sacrifice, which suggests anticompetitive animus. When products are homogeneous, a wholesale price that violates this price standard would exclude an equally efficient entrant. As a result, there will be less competition in the downstream (output) market in which the …

The Electronic Silk Road: How The Web Binds The World In Commerce, Anupam Chander

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

On the ancient Silk Road, treasure-laden caravans made their arduous way through deserts and mountain passes, establishing trade between Asia and the civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean. Today’s electronic Silk Roads ferry information across continents, enabling individuals and corporations anywhere to provide or receive services without obtaining a visa. But the legal infrastructure for such trade is yet rudimentary and uncertain. If an event in cyberspace occurs at once everywhere and nowhere, what law applies? How can consumers be protected when engaging with companies across the world?

In this accessible book, cyber-law expert Anupam Chander provides the first thorough …