Author: Eoin

Dr Eoin O'Dell is a Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin.

Banning Books

| 1 Comment
| Censorship, Freedom of Expression

Gary Slapper, via the Times Online website.Writing today in his Weird Cases column in TimesOnline (update: the outcome of a similar case is here), Gary Slapper (left) hits the nail on the head:

Historically, there has been a serious problem for those who try to use the law to ban books: their action is commonly counter-productive. Nothing so effectively enlarges a book’s readership as a censor trying to stop people from reading it.

It reminds me that the American Library Association (ALA) promotes Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read at the end of September each year:

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

…

Read More »

Is the Internet turning contract law on its head?

| 1 Comment
| Uncategorized

Contract image.According to Richard Warner, in “Turned on its Head?: Norms, Freedom, and Acceptable Terms in Internet Contracting”, a paper recently made available on SSRN and BePress, many commentators contend that it is, though in his view it is not. The issue is basically very simple: either the current law of contract is capable of regulating internet contracts because they are after all still contracts, or the current law of contract is not capable of regulating internet contracts because the internet is too different from its current reach that it cannot cover internet contracts. It depends on whether you stress the “internet” element, or the “contract” element. I stress “contract”, and take the view that the current law can easily accommodate internet contracts, for the simplistic reason that a contract is still a contract. …

Read More »

Vouching for Consumers

| No Comments
| advertising, Consumer, Contract, Irish Society

NCA logo, via their siteThe Consumer Protection Act, 2007 (also here), though it is the latest in a long line of piecemeal legislative forays into the area, nevertheless bids fair to provide substantial protection for consumers, provided both that the National Consumer Agency established under it is vigilant and active in that goal, and that it is allowed to be (for example, it may not survive in its current form calls (for example, by Fine Gael) for its abolition as part of the government’s cost-cutting desire to merge various statutory agencies). One important step was taken yesterday with the publication of draft guidelines for the retail sector. …

Read More »

Dell’s Mistake

| 9 Comments
| advertising, Contract, Mistaken offers

Dell Logo 2008It is the error everyone online dreams about – a full-price item for practically nothing; and it happened, in Chile. For those who remember the case of the mistaken flights last April, Andres Guadamuz tells us about a massive pricing error made by Dell on its Latin American website last June:

… One of Dell’s main features is the possibility of configuring computers by adding, removing or upgrading components. On 27 June 2008, this feature went wrong, and started subtracting money for an upgrade instead of adding it. … Apparently, some people in Chile found the mistake, and this being the Web 2.0 universe, left messages in Facebook and blogs advertising the gaffe, .. This resulted in an astounding 66 … times increase in sales in that day for Chile, and apparently thousands attempted to get the exploit (unofficially, 15 thousand laptops!). Needless to say, Dell did not fulfil the orders, and offered the affected customers a 15% discount in future sells. …

…

Read More »

Something must be done – III

| 5 Comments
| Digital Rights, IFCO, Privacy, Regulation

House of Commons postern, via the Commons site.The two earlier posts (here and here) to which this is the third related to harmful use of the internet, especially relating to children; while another series of posts (here, here and here) related to the regulation of video games. In the same vein (but coming to it late – apologies) is a report published last month by the UK’s House of Commons Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport, entitled Harmful content on the Internet and in video games. There is a balanced comment by Simon Walden in guardian blogs; see also BBC | OUT-Law | The Register | Times Online). Commenting on the Report, Light Blue Touchpaper says:

You will discern a certain amount of enthusiasm for blocking, and for a “something must be done” approach. However, in coming to their conclusions, they do not, in my view, seem to have listened too hard to the evidence, or sought out expertise elsewhere in the world …

…

Read More »

Temporal Limitations?

| 3 Comments
| General, Restitution

NPR logo, via their website.The aim of the Statute of Limitations, 1957 (also here) is to achieve a degree of certainty and finality in litigation by ensuring that unlitigated cases get barred from coming to court by the passage of too much time. Periods range from 3 and 6 years to 12 and 20 years. But no claim is allowed persist indefinitely. However, via National Public Radio‘s wonderful All Things Considered program, I’ve just heard and read about a case concerning a (restitution!) claim that may be more than 700 years old:

A group of people claiming to be the heirs of the legendary Knights Templar are suing Pope Benedict XVI, seeking more than $150 billion for assets seized by the Catholic Church seven centuries ago.

Isn’t barring cases like that what Statutes of Limitations are for? The claim has been taken in Spain, but it too has limitation (called prescription – prescripción – in good Civilian style) provisions; and I am sure that they will apply to bar the claim. It sheer audacity is breath-taking, but it would take a miracle for it to succeed.…

Read More »

Do Law Firms have Friends?

| No Comments
| Uncategorized

Law firm masthead, via their site.From a piece by Mitch Kowalski in the FP’s Legal Post:

First major law firm to have Facebook page

I don't know why Canadian firms don't hire me to do their marketing and recruitment. Here is yet another good idea that is being ignored by Canadian firms. NYC firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost,Cole & Mosle LLP has its own Facebook page for summer student info and hiring. Just another idea to throw out there….

More coverage:
– Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog “[A partner at the firm said:] We are pleased to be capitalizing on the popularity of the most widely used social networking site. As a firm, we recognized the power of this format of communication and the wide use being made of it by future lawyers”.
– The ABA Journal Law News Now “The page promotes the 178-year-old firm with historical information and the benefits of starting a career in New York”.
– The AmLaw Dailty and Law.com “[The firm] hopes the Facebook page–different from an actual profile, through which Facebook members build a network of “friends”–will increase interactivity between members of the firm and effectively tell the “Curtis Mallet story”.
– The National Law Journal “The firm believes that the launch is the first of its kind for an AmLaw 200 firm”.…

Read More »

Declaration of Falsity

| 5 Comments
| Defamation

Section 26(1) of the Defamation Bill, 2006 (as initiated) provides

A person who claims to be the subject of a statement that he or she alleges is defamatory may apply to the High Court for an order (in this Act referred to as a “declaratory order”) that the statement is false and defamatory of him or her.

It is intended as a remedy for those who simply want court recognition that they were defamed but who do not necessarily want a remedy in damages. An excellent example of how such an order might work is provided by a story by Frances Gibb in yesterday’s Times (with added links):

Sir Salman Rushdie wins apology from former bodyguard over libel

…

Read More »

© cearta.ie 2025. Powered by WordPress