Category Archives: Consumer Law
‘Indemnification clauses in book contracts?’
Philosopher Mark Navin writes: ‘I just walked away from a book contract with Routledge over an indemnity clause. What do you think is going on with these clauses? Routledge recently approached me to write a second edition of my vaccine ethics book (Values and Vaccine Refusal). The contract contained an indemnity clause (Clause 14.2, pasted […]
‘From Copyright to Contract: How User Rights Are Being Reshaped’
There has been a dramatic shift in our personal lives, schools, and workplaces from buying and owning cultural materials like books, music, movies, and television, to licensing (ie, subscribing to) these materials. Digital materials should be easier to access and use, however in this new environment activities like copying, sharing, and reusing cultural materials are […]
Dylan Mobley, ‘The Six Harms Doctrine: Legal Framework for Cognizable Injuries from Emotional Artificial Intelligence’
ABSTRACT The Six Harms Doctrine establishes a taxonomy of legally cognizable injuries arising from emotional artificial intelligence interaction. As AI systems increasingly simulate emotional understanding, companionship, and therapeutic support, documented casualties – including multiple deaths now in litigation – demonstrate urgent need for legal frameworks enabling accountability. Existing tort categories inadequately capture harms arising from […]
Gabriel and Sayantani, ‘Third Generation Rent Control: Evidence from San Diego’
ABSTRACT Evidence of adverse economic impacts of rent control derives largely from older, binding local ordinances of the 1970s. In 2020, the State of California enacted a new rent control law with less binding rent caps among jurisdictions lacking stricter regulations. We use permit, transaction and rental supply data from San Diego to evaluate the […]
Juan Vega Esquivel, ‘Evaluating the Relationship Between Video Game Microtransactions and Addictive Behaviours’
ABSTRACT Microtransactions and loot boxes have become core revenue mechanisms in contemporary video games, raising policy concern that gambling-like design and frictionless payments may be associated with addictive consumption patterns and welfare-reducing outcomes. Although a growing literature links loot box spending with problem gambling severity, evidence remains mixed on the broader relationship between disordered gaming, […]
Fabrizio Esposito, ‘On the analytical strategies for Law and Political Economy research: Structural integration and epistemic translation are better than isolationism to study the legal-economic nexus’
ABSTRACT This article distinguishes isolationist and integrationist accounts of the legal-economic nexus. Isolationists deny the possibility of integrating different theoretical perspectives, while integrationists try to unify different accounts. Leading legal theorists have recently presented isolationist efficiency-, liberty-, and democracy-centred accounts of the market. It is argued that the legal–economic nexus is an integrationist concept, requiring […]
Christian Twigg-Flesner, ‘Subscription Contracts – Unfair Terms Control or Direct Action?’
ABSTRACT Subscription contracts are used widely, particularly in the digital economy. Nevertheless, there are significant concerns about the way in which consumers are often tricked into concluding a subscription contract, particularly through free trials or introductory offers; automatic renewals without reminders or an opportunity to terminate the contract; and confusing arrangements for terminating a subscription […]
Shai Stern, ‘Algorithmic Property’
ABSTRACT In August 2024, the Department of Justice sued RealPage, alleging its rent-setting algorithm enabled landlords to coordinate prices without ever communicating. But this case reveals something deeper than an antitrust violation: algorithms have quietly colonized American real property. From screening tenants to underwriting mortgages, computational systems now interpose themselves between owners and the practical […]
Christian Twigg-Flesner, ‘The Obsolescence of Consumer Law: A UK Perspective’
ABSTRACT This paper examines several dimensions of obsolescence applied to consumer law, with a particular focus on consumer law. The extent to which consumer law in general might be obsolete is test by examining its scope of application, its underlying rationale, and its evolution as a derogation from general contract law. A second dimension is […]
Michels, Millard and abou Farhat, ‘Chat Ts&Cs: A Survey of 20 Standard Contracts for Generative AI Services’
ABSTRACT In this paper, we report the results of a detailed survey of 20 standard contracts for chat-based generative AI services from 13 leading providers. We cover both US providers, such as Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and European and Chinese providers, such as Alibaba, DeepSeek, and Mistral. We analyse the terms and conditions that […]