Online retail is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States. Consumers enjoy the ease with which they can browse, click, and order goods from the comfort of their own homes. Though it may come as no surprise to most lawyers, retailers are taking advantage of online transactions by...

This paper maps out some of the vertical restraints in the online environment that are particularly relevant from the consumer perspective. This article focuses on some of the most contentious vertical restraints that directly involve prices, are particularly relevant for online commerce and are...

An online provider’s termination of a user’s online account can be a major-and potentially even life-changing-event for the user. Account termination exiles the user from a virtual place the user wanted to be; termination disrupts any social network relationship ties in that venue, and...

The new Consumer Rights Directive introduced some changes to the level of consumers' protection online. However, just like with its predecessor the Distance Selling Directive the main focus of the protection that consumers have been granted online rests in providing them with transparent and...

This paper describes the different forces that shape the market structure of four different "online platform ecosystems" and the competition between them. The paper focuses on the following categories of platforms, which represent a wide scope of online activities: (i) e-commerce marketplaces;...

This report presents evidence on the relationship between online platforms and businesses using these platforms to reach consumers or conduct their operations. First, we review the literature on vertical relationships both from a classic approach and from a multi-sided market perspective....

E-commerce is overshadowing face-to-face (F2F) transactions in business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce. This benefits consumers in providing more buying options, but may leave them with no remedies when purchases go awry. This chapter therefore discusses how online dispute resolution (ODR) systems...

We examine related case rules, which are local rules adopted by federal district courts to determine whether a newly filed civil action will be assigned to a randomly chosen judge or, instead, to a judge presiding over a previously-filed similar case. Different federal districts have adopted...