Articles Posted in E-commerce

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We have narrowed our focus on blockchain’s legal issues to cryptocurrencies.  Tokenizing is a recent capital innovation and its legal landscape is hazy and nuanced at this time. This week, we will hone our focus further to shed light on this new technology, its economic and social benefits, and its legal implications so that its use may be optimized.  There is no legal constant for virtual currencies.  Instead, legal characterizations vary with the currency’s implementation.

In general, virtual currencies can be acquired and used in numerous ways.  Simple purchases with real money, to gambling, to sweepstakes, allow users to exchange it for other real-world products and services.  Furthermore, there are “dual currency” models which limit the conditions regarding how the currencies may be spent and earned.

As we discussed in the previous post, jurisdiction often becomes a key issue. Sometimes, simply offering a virtual currency to someone within a given jurisdiction is enough to trigger the application of that jurisdiction’s laws.  There are a number of areas of law that can be triggered jurisdictionally.

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Today, we continue our focus on blockchain technology and surrounding rules and regulations. It is a nascent area and the subject of much debate. Last week, we discussed the jurisdictional issues this technology poses, as well as questions of liability, contract, and intellectual property. Today, we narrow our focus to one particular area of the blockchain realm: Asset-backed ventures.

The blockchain is by definition an open-ended and malleable tool. One of its most useful applications is to provide liquidity and capital where previous market inefficiencies precluded them.  This makes the biggest difference for small and mid-market ventures.  Crowd-sourcing income for job-producing smaller corporations will compound wealth for the international community in the decades to come in the developed world, and even more starkly in Africa and South Asia.

An emerging innovation in the blockchain space is to hinge digital coins’ value on an asset – i.e., the area of asset-backed tokens.  Variations of this idea include a coinage system based on the productivity of oil and gas ventures.  Investors purchase coins and fund the venture in its early stages and throughout.  Once the venture starts producing and oil is sold, the investor has a right to exchange his or her coin for the market price of that asset. Hence, the supply of oil rises, the price declines, communities prosper, and investors get a healthy return.  If they do not, there is a mechanism within the coin-value determination that adjusts for the poor judgment of the investor and devalues the coin. So, it behooves owners of the coin to choose fruitful projects.

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This week our focus shifts to a topic buzzing about the modern world. We have written on numerous occasions about cryptocurrency, but we have not discussed more pointedly the technological mechanism that yields it – i.e., the blockchain.  A complex, decentralized technology with the power, accuracy, and security to replace traditional financial systems, blockchain is the process that gives cryptocurrencies their true mechanism and value.  Its international scope can pose jurisdictional questions, its decentralized nature can puzzle tort plaintiffs, and the enforceability of “smart contracts” is an issue of first impression for most courts.  Additionally, lines must be drawn with regard to intellectual property.

To provide a brief background, the blockchain is the structure by which value is produced and conserved in cryptocurrencies.  Through a complex system of checks and balances, rewarded for solving algorithms, “miners” validate transactions by mathematically verifying them against previous transactional history of the asset in question. A “block” is created when transactions consolidate after nodes in a given network unanimously corroborate their veracity. From the block, the “miners” compete to solve a highly complex algorithm; the winner receives a coin and the block is added to a “chain.” An innovation has thus emerged onto which legal institutions must overlay their concepts.

Firstly, blockchain disputes run up against jurisdictional issues. The ubiquitous and decentralized nature of the blockchain requires careful consideration of the relevant contractual doctrines.  Applying the rules of whatever jurisdiction in which each node transacts would pose two problems: (1) the location of the transaction in question would be incredibly difficult to pinpoint; and (2) requiring compliance with every single potential location’s rules would be overwhelmingly unwieldy.  Therefore, choosing a governing law for the entire network is essential to ensure certainty.

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Most, if not all, of our readers are familiar with e-commerce websites and related transactions.  Notably, Amazon.com’s empire, as well as other forms of e-commerce such as iTunes subscription services or purchasing an e-Book are part of these transactions.  In recent news, one of China’s largest e-commerce websites is being sued in the United States for selling counterfeit and knock-off products. Shares of the company, Pinduoduo, plummeted after news of the lawsuit was made public.  Currently, six law firms are in the process of filing class actions on behalf of investors who purchased shares of Pinduoduo.  The company went public in the United States earlier this year, raising over $1.6 billion from investors. Pinduoduo is traded on NASDAQ under PDD, and currently has a $25 billion market cap.

Pinduoduo is known for combining online shopping with entertainment. It was founded in September 2015 by Colin Guang, a former Google employee.  As of now, however, the company has faced an influx of negative media in China, with claims that the platform sells knock-offs of major brand names. This selling of fake goods could give investors standing to sue.  If the investors were misled, and invested because of the false information, they will have a cause of action under the federal securities laws. Executives of companies, and insiders who communicate information to investors about a company, have a duty not to make any misleading or materially false statements about the company.  This includes information about the financial health of the business.

Started only three years ago, Pinduoduo had 295 million active users and 4.3 billion total orders in 2017.  China is the largest online retail market, with other e-commerce names such as Alibaba and JD.com.  Pinduoduo sells groceries, electronics, clothing, and household items, among other things.  While Amazon may be the number one e-commerce website in the United States, Pinduoduo is the second larges e-commerce website in China behind Alibaba.

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For this week’s blog post, we will be discussing a recently decided copyright law case, in which a foreign broadcaster was held liable for violating the Copyright Act when they allowed United States users to access copyrighted material through a video-on-demand website.  The specific case is Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, which was decided on appeal by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

In this case, Spanski, who is a foreign broadcaster, uploaded copyrighted television episodes to its website, and then projected the episodes onto computer screens in the United States for visitors to view.  The court held that in doing this, Spanski was in violation of the Copyright Act.

Taking a step back, we will briefly discuss what makes a work copyrightable.  In order for a work of authorship to be copyrightable, the work must: (1) be fixed in a tangible medium of expression; (2) be original and not a derivative work; and (3) display some level of creativity (i.e., typically just slightly more than a trivial amount).

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For this month’s blog posts, we will be discussing some of the most recent Supreme Court cases that have been decided this year.  Specifically, we will address cases that are likely to have an impact on internet, e-commerce, technology, business, and cybersecurity laws.  We will start with a discussion of Murphy v. NCAA. 

Murphy v. NCAA was decided on May 14, 2018, and generally was the Supreme Court ruling in favor of states’ ability to legalize sports betting.  The Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”) which previously prohibited all but a few states from legalizing sports gambling.  In Murphy, the Supreme Court held that PASPA violated states’ rights to make their own decisions regarding the legality of sports gambling.  The Court explained that Congress cannot commandeer states to enact or enforce a federal regulatory program, which was essentially what PASPA as a federal statute was doing towards the states.

Many states, such as New Jersey, are thrilled with this decision.  They view it as an opportunity to generate revenue, prevent black market gambling, and help their economy.  The Court’s decision in Murphy empowers states with the ability to legalize and regulate an estimated $150 billion sports betting industry that was previously illegal.  New York, Connecticut, West Virginia, and New Jersey are among the 20 or so states already introducing legalizing legislation.

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Last week we discussed smart toys, and we mentioned “COPPA” in that article.  As such, some of you may be asking what is COPPA?” In short, COPPA is a federal law specifically tailored towards children, and stands for “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.” This law is meant to protect children from over exposure and prohibit businesses from gathering invasive amounts of analytics on children using their products or services. This remains a legitimate concern, attempting to curtail some of the worst aspects of online life.  What exactly does COPPA prohibit? Is there any limitation? Does it provide guidelines for a business to follow and ensure compliance?

COPPA Prohibitions

The spirit of COPPA can be summarized as follows: It is unlawful for an operator or a website or online service directed to children or with knowledge that it is collecting or maintaining a child’s information, to violate this federal statute by failing to give notice on the website of what information it collects, how it’s used, and how it’s disclosed, failing to obtain parental consent, providing reasonable means for parents to review or cancel the use of the service or website, to not condition participation in a game, offering of a prize or other activity by disclosing more personal information than is necessary, and failing to establish and maintain procedures to protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of the children’s information.

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We have finally reached December, and with it, comes the time for shopping. Of course, some people will focus on the youngest members of their families – i.e., children.  However, it needs to be emphasized that even with children, there are special concerns. The law considers juveniles and their decision-making capabilities, and in the age of the “smart toy,” this could have far ranging impacts on businesses and the emerging market. What is a smart toy? How might it differ from an average toy? What would a business need to be aware of?  What about a parent?

Smart Toys

Smart toys, alternatively known as “connected” toys, are those devices that can be used for play, but also connect to the internet or cloud.  This concept may sound like the internet of things–and these smart toys are just another part. A good example of this may be something like the “Hello Barbie” dolls from 2015. These dolls were akin to a smart chat program, or a more personable Siri/Cortana/Alexa. While Barbie’s operating system would not allow her to break significantly off a script, she would remember and adapt to a child’s thoughts, concerns, or desires.

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In a current dispute between Google and a Canadian company over de-indexing a competitor, Google is doing everything in its power to avoid the court order. Not necessarily because it believes in the innocence of Datalink, but because to de-index would be removing an important immunity under current U.S. laws. One may be wondering, what was the immunity that prompted Google’s move? Why could it just pick up and go somewhere else? Should other businesses be concerned for this possible loss of immunity, and why might a business support Google here?

Case History

Equustek Solutions, Inc., a Canadian company, engaged in litigation with Datalink due to illicit activities on Datalink’s part (e.g., misappropriation of trade secrets) and using those trade secrets to confuse consumers in the market. Due to the similarities resulting from the alleged misappropriation, Datalink led consumers to believe that they were purchasing Equustek’s products. Equustek then sued in Canadian courts, resulting in various court orders against Datalink. However, Datalink managed to evade enforcement by fleeing the country and setting up shop somewhere else.

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The European Commission released its first annual review of the current EU-US Privacy Shield in order to determine what may or may not need changes as a matter of policy. As it currently stands, the Privacy Shield creates enforceable protections for European Union residents regarding the use of their personal data. The US-based entities that wish to participate will have to conform to greater transparency standards in how the data is used, as well as submitting to strong oversight to ensure adherence, and increased cooperation with Data Protection Authorities (“DPAs”). So, what changes are suggested in this new report? How might this affect businesses in the United States? What consequences, if any, may be added to the new changes?

What is the review?

It was conducted by the Commission to the European Parliament, which in essence reviewed the function of the Privacy Shield and gathered input from publicly-available sources. These sources combined press releases as well as legal cases that were available to the Commission; although, neither source was cited specifically within the seven-page report. The Commission is composed of both European and American representatives, such as the European Data Protection Supervisor and Federal Trade Commission.

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