Question

1. Write 1 page on what the case is about.

2. What is the Consumer Review Fairness Act and how does it come into play in this case? (at least one page)

3. What was the final outcome of this case to date? (at least one paragraph)
   Cite your resources in MLA or APA format for full credit. Be prepared to get reported if nothing is cited.

Answer 1

Consumer reviews are very important for our modern economy to run and flourish. Markets become stronger and more efficient when consumers share their experiences with the marketplace and guide other consumers toward the best vendors and away from poor ones.It also provides with enormous data which furthur benefits the consumers .Businesses recognize the importance of consumer reviews, and many businesses take numerous steps to manage how consumer reviews affect their public image. Unfortunately, in a misguided effort to control consumer reviews, some businesses have deployed contract provisions that ban or inhibit their consumers from reviewing them. we call those provisions “antireview clauses.” Anti-review clauses distort the marketplace benefits society gets from consumer reviews by suppressing peer feedback from prospective consumers, which in turn helps poor vendors stay in business and diminishes the returns that good vendors get from investments in quality (thus degrading their willingness to make those investments).

Recognizing the threats posed by anti-review clauses, Congress banned them in the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (the CRFA).As the House Report explains, the law seeks “to preserve the credibility and value of online consumer reviews by prohibiting non-disparagement clauses restricting negative, yet truthful, reviews of products and services by consumers.”By doing so, the CRFA protects the production of information that helps marketplaces function more effectively.

CFRA

Prohibition:

In summary, the Act makes it illegal for a company to use a contract provision that:

1. bars or restricts the ability of a person who is a party to that contract to review a company’s products, services, or conduct
2. imposes a penalty or fee against someone who gives a review or
3. requires people to give up their intellectual property rights in the content of their reviews."

Remedy:

According to the new law, 'form contracts' provisions are "void" if they prohibit customer reviews. Any such gag provisions are also "unlawful"and are subject to enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission . There is no private right of action