January 9, 2001
UW to lead way toward protecting consumers on the Internet
The DVD player that you just bought on-line suddenly stopped playing, and the merchant in another state or country denied responsibility. What can you do about it?
University of Washington scholars are in the forefront of answering that question.
“This is a hot topic as more people around the world buy on the Web,” said Anita Ramasastry, associate director of the UW’s Center for Law, Commerce & Technology.
Ramasastry, a UW assistant professor of law, was named last week by the American Bar Association as academic adviser to a task force on settling cyberspace disputes. The UW also will conduct research and host the group’s Web site.
Traditional means of resolving commercial disputes, Ramasastry said, are dictated by geography — the locale of a transaction governs access to the courts or an arbitrator. But when a sale takes place over the Internet, new questions about jurisdiction arise.
Therefore, the American Bar Association-UW project will strive to create new guidelines for settling conflicts without resorting to the courts. To hear what the public has to say on this, the ABA Task Force on E-Commerce and Alternative Dispute Resolution will hold hearings Jan. 27 in New York City and Feb. 17 in San Diego.
The issue also has great urgency abroad. European Union and U.S. negotiators agreed last month that creating an international e-commerce dispute system is crucial to generating the confidence necessary for free and open cross-border commerce.
###
For more information, contact Ramasastry at (206) 616-8441, or arama@u.washington.edu, or click on http://www.law.washington.edu/ABA-eADR.
