Continental Parlor 9 Hilton San Francisco and Towers Ballroom Level
Section on Commercial and Related Consumer Law Walter Effross, American University, Chair
"Dotcom One, Dotcom All: Legal Issues Faced and Created By Amateur Cybermerchants"
Moderator:
Walter Effross, American University
Speakers:
Elizabeth Blumenfeld, Project Director, BBBOnLine, Inc., Arlington, Virginia Brad Handler, Associate General Counsel; Director of Law and Public Policy, eBay, Inc., San Jose, California Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger, Boston College Sarah Jane Hughes, Indiana University-Bloomington
It has never been easier, faster, more tempting, or more dangerous for a legally-unsophisticated person to set up shop online. Internet sites and off-the-shelf software programs allow novices to customize Web site templates and launch their microbusinesses in a matter of hours. However, although "mom-and-pop" store-owners can virtually ignore (or ignore virtually) the esoterica of Web coding techniques, they literally cannot afford to be ill-versed in specific areas of commercial and consumer law.
This program examines and provides a checklist of a number of issues that neophyte, "amateur" and/or "part-time" business people should consider when creating Web sites to buy or sell physical or digital products. Of particular and practical interest are the implications of: the possibility that such businesspeople could be characterized as "merchants" under the Uniform Commercial Code and the New Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act; the increasing ability of small online businesses to accept credit card payments and to use Internet-based payments systems; the facilitation of "amateur-to-amateur" transactions by such online venues as eBay; and recent attempts to draft codes of "best practices" for online businesses.