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Consumer’s Remedies For Defective Goods With Digital Elements
No full textThis paper deals with the remedies for lack of conformity under the EU Sale of Goods Directive, focusing in particular on goods with digital elements. The subject of analysis is also the related problem of digital obsolescence and the issue of effectiveness of consumer rights
Goods with Digital Elements And The Seller’s Updating Obligation
No full textThe updating rules of Directive 2019/771 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods are new to most if not all Member States. It is a central issue regarding goods with digital elements as these goods often need to be updated in order to remain conforming to the contract. The article focuses on analysing whether the sellers’ updating obligation is well balanced with their respective rights. The article briefly explains the notion of goods with digital elements and thereafter, discusses the subjective and objective requirements for conformity of updates. Questions of which updates the seller is obliged to ensure are provided and how long the updating obligation lasts are being analysed. The article also focuses on the sellers’ liability period and rules on burden of proof. Finally, the seller’s right of redress is addressed. The article concludes that while the sellers’ obligations towards the consumer are provided for in as much detail as the versatile nature of goods with digital elements allows, this is not true regarding the rules on a seller’s right of redress
Exploring the limits of joint control: the case of COVID-19 digital proximity tracing solutions
No full textReferring to the judgment of the CJEU in Fashion-ID, some scholars have anticipated that, “at this rate everyone will be a [joint] controller of personal data”. This contribution follows this arguably provocative, but not entirely implausible, line of thinking. In the first part of the article, we highlight the ambiguities inherent to the concept of “joint control” and confront them with those pertaining to the notion of “identifiability”. In the second part, we investigate the effects of the broad legal test for joint control on the role of the individual user of BLE-based COVID-19 digital proximity tracing solutions. This offers the possibility to examine, at a theoretical level, whether the impact of the broad notion of joint control differs depending on the architecture of the system (i.e. centralized or decentralized). We found out that the strict application of the joint controllership test could lead to unexpected and, most likely, unintended results. First, an app user could, in theory, qualify as a joint controller with a national health authority regardless of the protocol’s architecture. Second, an actor could, again in theory, be considered as a joint controller of data that is not personal from that actor’s perspective
Towards Unfair Political Practices Law: Learning lessons from the regulation of unfair commercial practices for online political advertising
No full textOnline political advertising operates in a tense forcefield between political and commercial elements and thus presents regulators with a difficult conundrum: because online political advertising is political rather than commercial speech, it is destined to follow a different regulatory tradition than commercial advertising. And yet many of the tools used, players involved and concerns triggered by modern online political advertising strategies very much resemble the tools, players and concerns in online commercial targeting. Commercial advertising is subject to consumer law and unfair advertising regulation, including rules about unfair commercial practices. Unfair commercial practices law and other rules about commercial advertising, however, are explicitly not applicable to forms of non-commercial political or ideological advertising. An important reason why this is so is the different level of protection of political and commercial speech under fundamental rights law standards. And yet with the ongoing commercial turn in advertising, the traditional division between forms of commercial and political advertising is no longer that self-evident. Also, it cannot be denied that commercial advertising law has a long tradition of thinking of where and how to draw the line between lawful advertising and unlawful persuasion through withholding or misleading consumers about the information they need to take informed decisions, or abusing superior knowledge, exerting undue psychological pressure and engaging in other forms of unfair behaviour. The question this article explores is whether there are lessons to be learned from the regulation of commercial advertising for the pending initiatives at the national and the European level to regulate online political advertising, and online political targeting in specific
Eine quantitative Studie in der Arbeitsdomäne der plattformbasierten Arbeit
No full textDie plattformbasierte Arbeit ist ein stetig wachsender Beschäftigungsbereich. Ins¬besondere Sichtweise, Bewertung, Perspektive und Entwicklung der Mitarbei-terInnen werden gegenwärtig und bezogen auf die zukünftigen Herausforderungen zu selten berücksichtigt. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, die Ergebnisse einer Online-Umfrage (N=81) zu präsentieren, die 2018 in Deutschland durchgeführt wurde. Von besonderem Interesse waren die folgenden Fragen: (1) Was sind soziodemo¬grafische Merkmale von plattformbasierten Arbeitspersonen? (2) Welche typischen Arbeitsbedingungen gibt es für plattformbasierte Arbeitspersonen? (3) Wie zu¬frieden sind die Beteiligten mit der plattformbasierten Arbeit? Die Teilneh¬merInnen der Umfrage waren überwiegend männlich und jungen Alters, wiesen jedoch unterschiedliche Bildungshintergründe auf. Sie arbeiten überwiegend von zu Hause aus, selten jedoch in den Abendstunden oder am Wochenende. Insgesamt zeigten sich rund zwei Drittel relativ zufrieden.The platform-based gig economy is an increasingly growing area of employment. In particular, the view, assessment, perspective and development of the employees are still and in relation to future challenges rarely taken into account. The aim of this article is to present the results of an online survey (N=81) conducted in Germany in 2018. The following questions were of particular interest: (1) What are sociodemo¬graphic characteristics of platform-based workers? (2) What are typical working conditions of platform-based work? (3) How satisfied are those involved in plat¬form-based work? The participants of the survey were predominantly male and of younger age, yet with diverse educational backgrounds. They often work from home, apart from the evenings or weekends. Overall, about two thirds stated to be relatively satisfied
A criterion-based approach to GDPR’s explanation requirements for automated individual decision-making
No full textAutomation of decision-making processes represents an essential element of the digital transformation. However, automated data processing based on machine learning methods poses increased threats to the fundamental rights of data subjects. One main reason for this is the fact that tracing and explaining the solution path responsible for a certain machine output requires high technical effort. The new European data protection law provides a framework for explanation requirements that apply to users of the new – automated – technologies. This article outlines the current state of discussion on explanation requirements for automated decisions and advocates a restrictive interpretation of the corresponding provisions in the GDPR
Eine digitale Unterstützung der ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Hochschullehre
No full textWir stellen den adaptiven Online-Mathematikkurs Grundlagen der Differenzial- und Integralrechnung aus dem eCampus Mathematik des Hanser Fachbuchverlags vor. Der Kurs ist seit September 2021 online und ist der erste Teil einer Reihe von adaptiven, interaktiven Kursen für die Mathematikausbildung in ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Studiengängen. Die Kurse entstehen in Zusammenarbeit mit Area9, dem Anbieter der KI-gestützten, adaptiven Lehr-/Lernplattform Rhapsode™. Im ersten Abschnitt erläutern wir den Aufbau, die didaktische Konstruktion und die Adaptivität des Kurses. Im zweiten Abschnitt bieten wir die Möglichkeit, mithilfe einer interaktiven Demoversion einen Einblick in den Kurs zu gewinnen. Im dritten Abschnitt stellen wir weitere Informationen zur Lehr-/Lernplattform Rhapsode™ bereit und ordnen die Mathematikkurse in den Kontext des Hanser eCampus und in das Konzept des Hanser Fachbuchverlags zur Unterstützung der digitalen Lehre in den MINT-Fächern der ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Hochschullehre ein.We introduce the adaptive online mathematics course Grundlagen der Differenzial- und Integralrechnung by Hanser Fachbuchverlag. This basic differential and integral calculus course was published in September 2021 on the Hanser eCampus as the first of a series of adaptive, interactive mathematics courses for engineering programs. The courses are created in cooperation with Area9, the developer of the AI-enabled adaptive teaching and learning platform Rhapsode™. In the first section, we detail the course structure, its didactic construction and its adaptivity. In the second section, you can experience the course through an interactive demo version. The third section provides further information on Rhapsode™ and describes how the mathematics courses fit into the Hanser eCampus program and the Hanser Fachbuchverlag strategy to digitally support STEM teaching in engineering programs
Net Neutrality And Free Choice Of Routers And Modems In Europe
No full textThis paper provides context to the right to choose and use internet access equipment as a fundamental element of net neutrality in Europe. It sheds light on the developments over harmonisation of rules from 2016 to 2020 and analyses the future challenges involving the definition of the Network Termination Point, which will determine whether routers and modems should be treated as aspects of the private or public infrastructure. This study also presents insights regarding the free choice of terminal equipment as reflected in the annual reports prepared by National Regulatory Agencies on net neutrality
Abuse Of Patent Enforcement In Europe How Can Start-ups And Growth Companies Fight Back?
No full textThe aim of this article is to examine whether smaller companies have any adequate measures to defend themselves against abusive claims. Patent holders can assert their patents inappropriately, thus going against the functions of patents, and going outside the claims and boundaries of what is protected. This is more damaging for smaller companies as they have fewer financial resources. As a corollary, start-ups and growth companies must be able to defend themselves against abusive claims. This article evaluates the abuse of patent enforcement and analyses the abuse of rights principle, the abuse of dominant position, the Enforcement Directive (IPRED) and unjustified threats. The article analyses whether these elements provide tools for start-ups and growth companies when acting as defendants in patent infringement cases that could be considered abusive. The abuse of patent enforcement is increasing for several reasons, such as, the increase in the number of patents, the fact that they are becoming more valuable, the emergence of a growing market for the sale of patents, and the introduction of new entities specialised in patent licensing and litigation. The article argues that the elements presented in this study mitigate, to a certain extent, the potential ill effects of abusive legal proceedings. However, there are limitations and uncertainties; for example, the case law often only applies to specific circumstances, and national practices vary. As a corollary, these legal tools are rather complicated for start-ups and growth companies to apply