Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

e-Commerce Law & StrategyLJN NewslettersNewsSections

Americanization of e-Commerce Law

By Jonathan Bick
Some observers ' armchair and expert ' compare the Internet to the lawless American West of yore, and they believe that, as was the analogous situation on the plains of the territories in the 1800s and early 1900s, no law, in the modern case, e-commerce law, exists. These people point, for instance, to the fact that about two-thirds of all e-mail is unwanted spam and unsolicited commercial e-mail, and that although Internet gambling is illegal in every state, millions of Americans nonetheless gamble online, generating about $6 billion in revenue for the approximately 2,000 Internet gambling sites (and remember: Internet gambling is illegal in every state).

But others ' again, armchair critics, and technowhizzes and recognized online experts alike ' see the Internet as a set of mutually agreeable protocols, and suppose that e-commerce participants apply trade law akin to their medieval trade-fair predecessors (for more on this theme, see, Bick's article in the October edition of e-Commerce Law & Strategy, 'e-Commerce Communities Employ Medieval Justice: Internet Sellers Use Extrajudicial Remedies Similar to Merchant Law'). The observers in this camp highlight the fact that participation in peer-to-peer networks remains very high despite the efforts of copyright owners to shut these forums down, and the fact that anonymous e-mail is regularly used to make false marketing claims.

Despite the Internet's global reach, it is the propensity of American citizens and U.S. residents to engage in e-commerce ' and of American courts and governmental agencies to accept, resolve and publish the decisions in those cases ' that makes it fair to say that American law dominates e-commerce.

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs Image

A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners Image

Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.

Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits Image

In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.