Eyes on Ecom Law

Former Price Promotions, Current Legal Risk

Former price promotions, you say? Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. This isn’t just a quote from Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr or a line from Circumstances by Rush. It’s also a fitting description of the risks associated with California’s thorny and potentially unconstitutional Business & Professions Code § 17501. The combination of this statute and avaricious lawyers is...

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Privacy Bounty Hunters, Part I: The Risks Are Real

As I’ve written previously, if you sell anything online, it’s not a question of if—it’s when privacy bounty hunters will comes calling, accusing your company of violating anti-wiretapping or privacy laws. “The better part of valor is discretion,” as Shakespeare said, and now is the time to act. You can take proactive steps to reduce your risk,...

Privacy Redux Part I: Is It Time to Rethink Federal and State Privacy Laws?

Is it time for a privacy redux, to visit privacy anew to determine whether our legal system is doing something more than entangling honest companies in a costly web of superficial and ultimately meaningless requirements? I think so. I also think we need to act quickly before the regulatory cement begins to set and drags...

CPSC Overreach? Federal Agency Commandeers Amazon Marketplace

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) appears to be yet another federal agency seeking to expand dramatically its power over commerce. In what could be described as an extraordinary example of CPSC overreach, the agency has deemed Amazon.com Inc. (“Amazon”) to be a “distributor” for purposes of the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”), making it...

Children’s Privacy: Federal Regulations Are About To Change

Is Your Website “Directed to Children” Under 13? None of this matters unless you operate a website or provide an online service that is “directed to children” under the age of thirteen. Under COPPA, however, this is a holistic, i.e., mushy, question. And general businesses have gotten caught in the crosshairs. The FTC looks at...

Drip Pricing: Shipping & Handling Fees Turn Risky

Most of us have experienced drip pricing — where the price seems like a bargain until you go through check-out and find that you’re responsible for additional fees. Of course, we’re all free to say “no” at that point, but politicians in the Golden State don’t see it that way. The Department of Redundancies Department...

Online Wiretapping Claims: A Surging Menace

A flood of lawsuits and arbitration demands continues to drown companies that have installed the Meta pixel on their websites. If you haven’t been on the receiving end of these online wiretapping claims, count yourself lucky. Either way, be forewarned that the risk of being subject to a wiretapping shakedown extends far beyond the Meta...

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Employee Arbitration: The Ninth Circuit Cries Uncle?

We’ve been writing a lot about arbitration of late, and so have the courts. Just today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on arbitration in the employee rights area reversing its own prior decisions, but it has potential application to many other areas of the law. In Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp.,...

Involving Commerce: How Far Does the Federal Arbitration Act Reach?

Because of the risk of what some might perceive as extortion via class action lawsuits, arbitration agreements have be come a critical line of defense. But what if you are sued by residents of your own state and the claim is made that the suit isn’t one “involving commerce”?

Consumer Arbitration Clauses: Traps for the Unwary

We’ve previously written about issues related to consumer arbitration clauses for online transactions, as well as related online terms and conditions. But, some courts are loathe to enforce consumer arbitration clauses and will look for ways to avoid them, as a recent federal court case from Illinois illustrates.