The Law of E-Commerce

Introduction to e-commerce law

Who am I?

Deveral Capps CCE1 315 0191 227 3027 d.capps@northumbria.ac.uk

Lecture Programme
Lecture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Electronic Contracts Electronic Contracts Electronic Contracts Electronic Signatures and Security Consideration Consumer Protection Intellectual Property Intellectual Property Jurisdiction and Crime Topic Introduction to e-commerce law

Workshop Programme
Workshop 1 Electronic Contracts Topic

2
3 4 5

Electronic Signatures and Security and Electronic Payments

Consumer Protection for electronic contracts Intellectual Property and E-commerce Jurisdictional issues and electronic crime

Books
There are numerous books available on the topic of e-commerce, many are out of date.
If any new books are published over the duration of this course, I will inform you.

Books
Encyclopedia of Information Technology Law, Sweet and Maxwell, London
M Chissick & A Kelman, Electronic Commerce Law and Practice, Sweet and Maxwell, London

L Edwards & C Waelde, Law & the Internet, a framework for electronic commerce, 2nd Edition, Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2000.
C Gringras, The Laws of the Internet, Butterworths, London

J Philips, Ed., Butterworths Information Technology Handbook, Butterworths, London

C Reed, Internet Law: Text and Materials, Butterworths, London

Books (contd)
C Reed & J Angel, Eds., Computer Law, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford D Rowland & E Macdonald, Information Technology Law, 2nd Edition, Cavendish Publishing, London, 2000 S Singleton, E-Commerce: A Practical Guide to the Law, Gower, Aldershot, 2001 P Todd, Electronic Commerce Law, Cavendish Publishing, 2005

Online Materials
You will need to supplement your study with reference to online materials. Westlaw has a good range of electronic journals. Numerous other updaters for ecommerce law.

Definitions
What is meant by the term e-commerce?
The concept of electronic commerce can be defined as using an electronic network to simplify and speed up all stages of the business process, from design and making to buying, selling and delivering DTI 1999.

Further definitions
at its simplest, e-commerce is the buying or selling of goods and services of any kind on the Internet
Irish Revenue Commissioner 1999

e-commerce at its simplest

E-commerce is the term used to describe the electronic creation of a contract, normally which is for goods or services

How can e-commerce be effected?

E-commerce can be effected in two main ways.
1. Via the Internet. 2. Via an electronic mail system (including EDI type systems)

Who takes part in ecommerce?

E-commerce is undertaken by two main recognisable groups.
Consumers Business

How do these groups interact?

1. Business to Business (B2B) 2. Business to Consumer (B2C) 3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C)

Why do e-commerce?
There is only one reason why businesses like e-commerce.
Profits

Why do e-commerce?
Profits are increased because of the benefits of Internet shopping for consumers. These are:
24/7 opening which means utter flexibility; Worldwide market; and Cost/price of the goods.

Why do e-commerce?
There is a belief that goods bought from the Internet are cheaper.
This is not always so.

However, business overheads are often lower.

Why do e-commerce?
Why are overheads lower? These apply to internet only businesses.
No shop space required saving rent, insurance, lights, heating.
Fewer staff required saving wages, staff training, insurance.

Straw Poll
How many of you have bought something from the Internet?
This includes plane tickets, train tickets, CDs/DVDs from America, books?

Statistics
In November 2002, 1 billion pounds was spent on online purchases in the UK
Between 1st December and 8th December 2002, 2 billion dollars was spent on online purchases in the USA.

Statistics
2004 GBP 71.1 billion

(e-commerce Survey of Business)

Statistics
Online sales grow each year
IMRG estimates that UK online retail sales are growing three times faster than in the US.

Global Internet Usage 2002

Africa
Asia/Pacific Europe Middle East Canada & USA Latin America World Total

6.31 million
187.24 million 190.91 million 5.12 million 182.67 million 33.35 million 605.60 million

Internet Usage Statistics

Country Australia Brazil France Germany Italy August 2005 9,881,438 11,630,195 15,278,597 29,576,985 16,231,011

Japan
Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States

39,001,846
9,846,290 4,700,804 3,501,981 22,792,544 140,589,403

Current Internet Usage

1.08 billion (Computer Industry Almanac)
Projection for 2010 - 1.8 billion

Access to the Internet

A year ago, only 46% of Internet users in the UK were broadband enabled.
But growth has been sharp and swift, and now nearly 75% of surfers are using high-speed connections

Where do people access the Internet from?

88% 48% 29% 13% 10% at home at work at another persons home at a place of education at a public library

How do people access the internet?

85% 28% 22% via a desktop computer by a laptop mobile phone

Email Statistics
According to Europemedia: Italians sent 70 billion email messages in 2002.
The research indicates that around 160 million messages were sent daily by business users, while home users sent 20 million on average.

More statistics
Italian employees spend approximately two working hours a day sending and receiving an average of 70 messages a day.

Email Statistics
550 million emails were sent and received by British households during January 2002 alone. A third of all email sent is spam (ECommerce Times)

Email Statistics
20th March 2002
Email became more popular than postal mail in the UK, with the number of emails being sent and received from households exceeding letters. NetValue

The law of e-commerce

E-commerce covers a wide number of legal areas. Some of these are: Crime Consumer protection Contract Data protection Jurisdiction and Private International Law Intellectual Property Law

Development of e-commerce law

Given the global nature of e-commerce law, there has been a global response to the legal issues.
Europe has issued numerous Directives ensuring that all European States develop similar laws.

European Directives
European Directives have led to:
Electronic Communications Act 2000 Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

Blackboard
Full use will be made of Blackboard.
This includes: Workshop materials Lectures (electronic recordings) Up to date book lists Discussion Board