Paul told you that the law book publisher Aspen Publishers had demanded –through a licensing scheme aimed at getting around copyright law's first-sale doctrine –that purchasers return books they had bought from Aspen at the end of the semester. Why? What better way to dry up the used-book market and increase profits in new books. […]
by Brian Wolfman Under a 2012 Obama administration rule — which survived an airline industry challenge in the courts — airline consumers are told, up front, the total cost of an airline ticket — that is, the base airfare, mandatory fees, and the taxes. The breakdown comes later. The idea is that if all the […]
Today, in anticipation of the district court's unsealing of the court file in the Company Doe case, the baby-carrier maker Ergobaby revealed that it is "Company Doe," the company that fought for two-and-a-half years for the right to litigate in secret its challenge to the publication of a report in the Consumer Product Safety Commission's […]
…and what it means for the economy. The good news? The economic rebound is permitting more Americans to retire. The bad news? That's generally not a good thing for an economy. Our best hope to fix the problem? Immigration. Read more here.
Funny and sad in equal measures. Here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued this snapshot report on older Americans' mortgage debt. The agency's introduction provides a nice overview: Rising mortgage debt is threatening the retirement security of millions of older Americans. In general, older consumers are carrying more debt, including mortgage, credit card, and even student loan debt, into their retirement […]
by Jeff Sovern I've been listening to the audio version of Elizabeth Warren's new book, A Fighting Chance (you can read and listen to a short excerpt here). Over at PrawfsBlawg, Jennifer Bard wrote that law professors should read the book. I would go much further: anyone who cares about our country should read (or […]
by Paul Alan Levy Yelp appears to be worried enough about the insistent campaign of businesses like Hadeed Carpet Cleaning that have received negative Yelp reviews to tell the press that they get punished for refusing to advertise that it is now including on every page of business reviews this line: "Your trust is our […]
by Paul Alan Levy Law professor Josh Blackman reports that Aspen Publishers is promoting the next edition of the property law casebook he assigns pursuant to a license scheme apparently intended to undermine the application of the first-sale doctrine to books: students must agree to return the casebook at the end of the class, […]