Pedro De Miguel Asensio from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid is talking about the European Union’s rules on consumer protection and how they differ from the US’s.

When it comes to jurisdiction, the general rule seems to be that if a consumer sues a vendor, the suit occurs in the customer’s country of domicile if the vendor’s site is directed at that country. Otherwise, it happens in the vendor’s country. E.g., if it’s a Danish site, written in Danish with only Danish phone numbers, and someone in Spain buys a product from it and then sues, the suit will be heard in Denmark, not Spain. Consumer groups push for suing in the consumer’s country. Businesses don’t like that — imagine opening up a site to sell your music and you get hauled into court in West Elsewhere by a consumer who thinks you’ve defamed her religion.

Pedro says that currently, although the scope of protection differs, the EU and the US are in substantial agreement.

Terry Fisher says that the first generation of Internet lawyers thought sovereign states would stay out of the Internet. It’s just too messy. The new generation, he says, which includes Tim Wu, thinks sovereign states are definitely in and we should be encouraging divergencies (e.g., the French can’t buy Nazi paraphernalia, but Yankees can). Terry says that Pedro diverges from this, recommending coming together on standards.

Bill McGeveran points out that once you’ve decided the forum (e.g., California), you can also choose which law applies: A California court can apply Danish law. And then there’s the question of enforceability.

John Palfrey asks if the Internet is different enough that there should be special procedures and forms of arbitration for it. Pedro says it’s a point worth considering.

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When googling “Rome Convention” during Pedro’s talk, I came across a page that uses the phrase “aural fixation.” It doesn’t mean anything like I first thought. (By the way, the Rome Convention to which Pedro referred is not that one. It’s this one.)

[Tags: berkman law internet ecommerce eu]