The need for treaty-based e-consumer protections in global B2C e-commerce

The thesis puts forward historical, logical and efficiency arguments for the implementation of treaty-based legal protections for e-consumers transacting in global Business to Customer (B2C) e-commerce. It concludes, however, that the international political climate is such that the implementation by the international community of such protections is very unlikely in the near future.

EU Data Protection Law and Targeted Advertising: Consent and the Cookie Monster - Tracking the crumbs of online user behaviour

This article provides a holistic legal analysis of the use of cookies in Online Behavioural Advertising. The current EU legislative framework is outlined in detail, and the legal obligations are examined. Consent and the debates surrounding its implementation form a large portion of the analysis. The article outlines the current difficulties associated with the reliance on this requirement as a condition for the placing and accessing of cookies. Alternatives to this approach are explored, and the implementation of solutions based on the application of the Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default concepts are presented. This discussion involves an analysis of the use of code and, therefore, product architecture to ensure adequate protections.

O estabelecimento virtual na sociedade técnica: a necessária busca de segurança jurídica nas transações comerciais

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

The limits of competition : reasserting a role for consumer protection and fair trading regulation in competitive markets

In this paper we advocate for the continued need for consumer protection and fair trading regulation, even in competitive markets. For the purposes of this paper a ‘competitive market’ is defined as one that has low barriers to entry and exit, with homogenous products and services and numerous suppliers. Whilst competition is an important tool for providing consumer benefits, it will not be sufficient to protect at least some consumers, particularly vulnerable, low income consumers. For this reason, we argue, setting competition as the ‘end goal’ and assuming that consumer protection and consumer benefits will always follow, is a flawed regulatory approach. The ‘end goal’ should surely be consumer protection and fair markets, and a combination of competition law and consumer protection law should be applied in order to achieve those goals.

Australian property investment advice : an unregulated industry and the need for better consumer protection laws

Currently, consumers have no means of protecting themselves when they are looking for property investment advice in Australia. There is no uniform national or State regulation in the property investment advice and marketeering industry. The only protection and remedies currently available are those under the general consumer protection laws scattered in various Acts, and even so, these have numerous problems. This paper highlights what those problems are under the general consumer protection laws and suggests some changes to the current system. The paper also argues that a national co-operative approach is the only way to move forward in this area and suggests that the constitutional difficulty can be overcome by using the legislative conferral of state powers provision, which has often been overlooked. The paper also argues that a new regulator be set up to administer and enforce the new proposed laws on property investment advice.

Para uma teoria do direito internacional do consumidor: a proteção do consumidor no livre comércio internacional

O consumidor é o agente vulnerável na relação de consumo internacional. O processo de globalização se apresenta, para o consumidor, como uma globalização do consumo. A globalização do consumo se caracteriza pelo comércio e fornecimento internacional de produtos e serviços por empresários/fornecedores transnacionais/globais, utilizando marcas de renome mundial, acessíveis a todos os consumidores do planeta, e agrava a vulnerabilidade do consumidor no mercado. A proteção jurídica do consumidor internacional é uma necessidade que os sistemas jurídicos nacionais não se mostram aptos a prover adequadamente, assim como o Direito Internacional também não. A presente tese demonstra a deficiência da Ciência do Direito na proteção do consumidor no contexto da globalização; demonstra como o próprio comércio internacional é prejudicado ao não priorizar de maneira absoluta e efetiva a proteção do consumidor na OMC, bem como ao mostrar-se apático diante dos diferentes níveis de proteção proporcionada aos consumidores em cada diferente sistema jurídico nacional; demonstra, também, como a proteção do consumidor de maneira uniforme e global por um direito comum aos Estados é possível e será capaz de tornar mais eficiente economicamente o processo de globalização do consumo, ao encorajar a participação mais intensa do consumidor no mercado internacional; e propõe a construção de um novo ramo do Direito dedicado ao problema, o Direito Internacional do Consumidor (DIC), por meio da elaboração de uma Teoria do Direito Internacional do Consumidor. O Direito Internacional do Consumidor pretende ser um direito comum e universal de proteção ao consumidor, fundado em métodos, conceitos, institutos, normas e princípios jurídicos universais. O DIC dialogará com outros ramos do Direito Público e Privado, especialmente o Direito Internacional Econômico, o Direito Internacional do Comércio, o Direito Internacional Privado, o Direito Processual Civil Internacional, e o Direito do Consumidor. Pretende-se com isto atender ao ideal de promover o livre comércio internacional com respeito aos Direitos Humanos.

Legal regulation of the software "patentable subject matter" requirement in the US and in Europe: The need for certainty, predictability and uniformity

This thesis critically investigates the divergent international approaches to the legal regulation of the patentability of computer software inventions, with a view to identifying the reforms necessary for a certain, predictable and uniform inter-jurisdictional system of protection. Through a critical analysis of the traditional and contemporary US and European regulatory frameworks of protection for computer software inventions, this thesis demonstrates the confusion and legal uncertainty resulting from ill-defined patent laws and inconsistent patent practices as to the scope of the “patentable subject matter” requirement, further compounded by substantial flaws in the structural configuration of the decision-making procedures within which the patent systems operate. This damaging combination prevents the operation of an accessible and effective Intellectual Property (IP) legal framework of protection for computer software inventions, capable of securing adequate economic returns for inventors whilst preserving the necessary scope for innovation and competition in the field, to the ultimate benefit of society. In exploring the substantive and structural deficiencies in the European and US regulatory frameworks, this thesis develops to ultimately highlight that the best approach to the reform of the legal regulation of software patentability is two-tiered. It demonstrates that any reform to achieve international legal harmony first requires the legislature to individually clarify (Europe) or restate (US) the long-standing inadequate rules governing the scope of software “patentable subject matter”, together with the reorganisation of the unworkable structural configuration of the decision-making procedures. Informed by the critical analysis of the evolution of the “patentable subject matter” requirement for computer software in the US, this thesis particularly considers the potential of the reforms of the European patent system currently underway, to bring about certainty, predictability and uniformity in the legal treatment of computer software inventions.

Contemporary consumer law : the role and effectiveness of regulation in consumer protection

This issue of the Griffith Law Review focuses on consumer law, and the pervasive nature of this area of law. We are all consumers, but do not necessarily identify as such, nor are we a homogeneous group. The boundaries of

Disclosure under the prescribed insurance contracts regime : Section 35 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 and consumer protection revisited

Section 35 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 requires insurers offering insurance policies in six prescribed areas "to clearly inform" prospective insureds of any departure their policies may constitute from the standard covers established by the Act and its accompanying Regulations. This prescribed insurance contracts regime was designed to remedy comprehension problems generated by the length and complexity of insurance documents and to alleviate misunderstanding over the terms and conditions of individual policies. This article examines the rationale underpinning s 35 and the prescribed insurance contracts regime and looks at the operation of the legislation with particular reference to home contents insurance in Australia. It is argued that the means whereby disclosure of derogation from standard cover may be effected largely negates the thrust of the prescribed insurance contract reform. Recommendations to address these operational deficiencies are made.

Victims of War must be loyal to deserve protection: International law and national legislation on enemy aliens 1907-1918

In international law the internment of civilians has only been regulated in writing in the context of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949. Nevertheless this did not mean that civilians were not protected by at least some rules of customary international law before that date and especially in World War I. Furthermore specialists of international law expected states – at least those considered to be part of the community of civilized nations – to continue to treat all men equal before the law even in wartime. As research already conducted (Bird, Panayi, Fischer) has shown, this was not the case during World War I. Based on these findings the presentation proposed here wants to look into the development of international law and into some national preparations for treating so called “enemy aliens” in the period before 1914 (Austria-Hungary, Australia, United Kingdom), in order to see to what extent principles of international law protecting civilians from the consequences of war can be detected in the pre-war preparations. As far as can be judged so far the issue of loyalty was central in this context. Looking at the war itself, the presentation proposed here will try to look at how far the principles of international law alluded to above continued to influence the policies on “enemy aliens” in the countries mentioned and to see, how the International Committee of the Red Cross tried to use them to legitimize and expand its protective policies in regard to civilians interned in belligerent as well as neutral countries throughout the war.