Modern Studies in Commercial Law

CCLFR research seminar with Professor Jeannie Marie Paterson
2024-05-31 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London)
Date of Event
31st May 2024

Event time: 12:00 – 13:00 (online)
Title: ‘Responsibility for Hallucinating: Contractual Devices for Limiting the Scope of Responsibility for Professional Advice and Assistance provided by Generative AI’
Abstract
The emergence of relatively accessible generative AI to create text, images or sounds has sparked a renewed interest in opportunities for using this technology to provide professional information and assistance to prospective clients. Start-ups and established entities are exploring the possibility of refining generative AI to provide personalised information relevant to medical, legal and dispute-resolution services. There are considerable possible benefits for consumers in these developments. However, a defining characteristic of generative AI is that it generates content and produces outputs that are not explicitly programmed, and which occasionally or even commonly is inaccurate or wrong. Clearly the consequences for individual clients may be catastrophic if a generative AI ‘hallucinates’ critical information in providing advice or assistance. While there are discussions globally about the case for specific AI regulation, there is a general assumption that business-to-consumer uses of generative AI will be sufficiently regulated through existing contract, tort and consumer protection laws. This paper explores that assumption, focusing on the efficacy of disclaimers in protecting professional service providers of chatbot advice services from liability in the event of error or inaccuracy.
Bio
Jeannie Marie Paterson is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne. Jeannie’s research focuses on consumer protection law, especially in the context of emerging digital technologies. She has written extensively on issues of fairness, privacy and existential risk in the emergence of AI and social robots, and consults regularly on these issues to government and civil society organisations. Her current research focuses on chatbots in B2C and in home contexts.

CCLFR Research Seminar with Prof Danny Busch (Radboud University)
2024-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Edith Morley, Foxhill House, Whiteknights, Shinfield Road - Reading, UK, Reading, Bershire, RG6 6EP, United Kingdom
CCLFR Research Seminar Poster_Prof Danny Busch
Title of event : “Climate litigation against banks”
Bio
Prof. Dr. Danny Busch holds the Financial Law Chair and is the founding Director of the Financial Law Centre (FLC) at Radboud University, Nijmegen. He is a Senior Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College and a Fellow of the Commercial Law Centre, University of Oxford. Professor Busch is a Deputy Justice in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (Commercial Law Division) and a Member of the Appeals Committee of the Financial Services Complaints Tribunal (KiFiD, the body for alternative dispute resolution in the Dutch financial services sector). He holds or has held invited Professorships at Université de Nice Côte d’Azur, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano and Università degli studi di Genova. Professor Busch is founding editor of the Oxford EU Financial Regulation Series (OUP) and of the EBI Studies in Banking and Capital Markets Law (Springer Nature Group). He is extensively engaged in the provision of training to attorneys-at-law, financial regulators and financial professionals. After having graduated with highest honours in Dutch law from Utrecht University in 1997, he was awarded the degree of Magister Juris in European and Comparative Law by the University of Oxford (St. John’s College) in 1998. From 1998 until 2001 he held the position of lecturer and researcher at the Molengraaff Institute of Private Law in Utrecht. In 2002 he defended his PhD in Utrecht (Indirect Representation in European Contract Law (Kluwer Law International 2005)). From 2002 until 2010 he was an attorney-at-law (advocaat) with the leading Dutch international law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in Amsterdam where he practised banking and securities law (both the private and public law aspects).

CCLFR Research Seminar - Dr Eleni Kaprou (QMUL)
2024-02-20 12:00 - 13:00 | Palmer 106, Foxhill House, Whiteknights, Shinfield Road - Reading, UK, Reading, Bershire, RG6 6EP, United Kingdom
CCLFR Research Seminar Dr Eleni Kaprou

Date of Event: 20th February 2024

Event time: 12:00-13:00 (Palmer 106)
Title of event
“The new concept of digital vulnerability and the new rules on unfair commercial practices”
Bio
Dr Eleni Kaprou is a lecturer in Business Law in Queen Mary University of London since 2022. Prior to that she held posts in Brunel University and Cardiff. She received her PhD in 2018 from the University of Nottingham. She has presented her work in numerous international conferences including the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Brazil, South America and elsewhere. Eleni has also served as a consultant on EU projects and taught on executive programmes for civil servants. She teaches commercial and consumer law as well as law of the digital markets and is the academic lead for the LLM in Commercial and Corporate Law. Eleni’s research interests lay in European private law with a focus on vulnerable subjects. She has written on consumer vulnerability, aggressive practices and retail financial services among others. Currently she is working on aggressive practices in the digital environment.

CCLFR research seminar with Prof Christopher Willett
2024-02-09 11:00 - 12:00 | Palmer 109, Foxhill House, Whiteknights, Shinfield Road - Reading, UK, Reading, Bershire, RG6 6EP, United Kingdom
CCLFR Research Seminar Prof Willett

CCLFR research seminar with Prof Christopher Willett-20240209_111526-Meeting Recording.mp4

Location: Palmer 109

Venue Details: The University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus

Title of seminar
“A Legal Framework for Using Smart Contracts in Consumer Contracts”
Bio
Chris is a Professor at the University of Essex and has been teaching, researching, publishing and advising in the areas of UK, EU and global consumer and contract law; commercial law; sales law; food law; digital content law; services of general interest; financial services law; and unfair terms and practices law for the past 30 years. He has acted as consultant for the EU and various governments, and from 2014-17 served as a Council member of consumer organisation Which? His recent work has been focussing on consumer law, values and digitalisation (including eg 3 D printing and smart contracts); and on consumer law and Brexit.

CCLFR research seminar with Professor Geraint Howells
2024-01-18 12:00 - 13:00
CCLFR Research Seminar with Professor Geraint Howells
Title of event
“Modernising product liability for the technological age”
Bio
Geraint Howells is Executive Dean for Business, Public Policy and Law at the University of Galway. Previously he was Professor of Commercial Law and Associate Dean in Humanities for Internationalisation at Manchester University, where he remains a visiting professor. He has been Dean of Law at the City University of Hong Kong and Head of the Law Schools in Manchester and Lancaster. He has published extensively on consumer law, product liability and European private law and was a member of the Acquis group developing common principles of European contract law and tort law. A former President of the International Association of Consumer Law, he edited the Consumer Law Journal for many years, is on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Policy and European Review of Private Law and is Series Editor for Routledge’s Markets and Law series.
CCLFR Research Seminar with Professor Geraint Howells (University of Galway)-20240118_121214-Meeting Recording.mp4

Workshop: The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill
2023-12-14 10:00 - 16:00 | Foxhill House, Foxhill House, Whiteknights, Shinfield Road - Reading, Uk, Reading, England, RG6 6EP, United Kingdom
Law Workshop The Digital Markets Competition and Consumer Bill brochure
Workshop_ The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill-20231214_153439-Meeting Recording.mp4
Workshop_ The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill-20231214_140835-Meeting Recording.mp4
Workshop_ The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill-20231214_101601-Meeting Recording.mp4
https://livereadingac-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/pr909131_reading_ac_uk/EUlQ_nqn-V9CgDGCEa52aGcBgxFI8qAODJvkPHGsIt5RCg?e=IbqAk6
Workshop: The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill
Thursday 14th December 2023, 10am-4:15pm
Venue: Reading Law School, Foxhill House, Room G02 and G03

9:45-10:15
Room G03
Arrival and Refreshments

10:15-10:30
Room G02
Welcome Remarks
Professor James Devenney (University of Reading/UCD)

10:30-11:30
Room G02
Consumer Protection Measures
Chair: Liz Conaghan (University of Reading)
Professor Paula Giliker (University of Bristol)
“Fake Online Reviews and Endorsements – Will the DMCC Bill bring UK law closer to EU modernisation of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive?”
Professor Christian Twigg-Flesner (University of Warwick)
“Subscription Contracts”
Dr Sarah Brown (University of Reading)
“The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill 2023 and the regulation of consumer savings schemes: an ‘appropriate’ response or a missed opportunity?”
Discussion

11:30-12:30
Room G02
Unfair Commercial Practices and Competition Law
Chair: Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)
Dr Andrea Miglionico (University of Reading)
“Prohibition of unfair commercial practices”
Dr Mary Catherine Lucey (UCD)
“The Bill’s provisions on mergers”
Jemma Cox (Chartered Trading Standards Institute)
“Reflections on the DMCC Bill: A Trading Standards perspective”
Discussion

12:30-14:00
Room G03
Lunch

14:00-15:00
Room G02
Enforcement Mechanisms
Chair: Professor Gerard McMeel (University of Reading)
Professor Christine Riefa (University of Reading) – Anna Medvinskaia (Gough Square Chambers)
“Unfair Trading Rewrite”
Professor Iris Benohr (University of Southampton)
“The ADR framework: A Comparative Perspective”
Dr Kyriaki Noussia (University of Reading)
“Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill: ADR for consumer contract disputes – the way forward”
Discussion

15:00-15:15
Room G03
Cream Tea

15:15-16:00
Room G02
Wider Perspectives
Chair: Marzia Briel (University of Reading)
Professor Chris Willett (University of Essex)
“Customer service: a new consumer surplus”
Dr Wangwei Lin (University of Reading)
“China’s Anti-Monopoly Law Amended to Adapt to the new Digital Platform Economy”
Discussion

16:00-16:15
Room G02
Next Steps…
Professor James Devenney (University of Reading/UCD)

Speakers/Participants:
Basak Bak (University of Reading)
Professor Iris Benohr (University of Southampton)
Marzia Briel (University of Reading)
Dr Sarah Brown (University of Reading)
Liz Conaghan (University of Reading)
Jemma Cox (Chartered Trading Standards Institute)
Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)
Sareeya Galasintu (University of Reading)
Professor Paula Giliker (University of Bristol)
Dr Wangwei Lin (University of Reading)
Dr Mary Catherine Lucey (UCD)
Professor Gerard McMeel (University of Reading)
Anna Medvinskaia (Gough Square Chambers)
Dr Andrea Miglionico (University of Reading)
Dr Kyriaki Noussia (University of Reading)
Professor Christine Riefa (University of Reading)
Professor Christian Twigg-Flesner (University of Warwick)
Professor Chris Willett (University of Essex)

The Biennial Modern Studies in Commercial Law Conference
2023-09-27 14:00 - 2023-09-28 15:30
THE BIENNIAL MODERN STUDIES IN COMMERCIAL LAW CONFERENCE
‘Embedding Innovative Technologies into Commercial Law: Challenges and Opportunities’
Reading, 27th September – 28th September 2023
Venue: Meadow Suite, Park House, University of Reading
Paper Presentations Reading Conference Modern Studies in Commercial Law.zip
Biennial Modern Studies in Commercial Law Conference

Wednesday 27 September 2023

13.45-14.15
Arrival and Registration

14.15-14.30
Welcome Remarks
Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)

14.30-16.15
Technology in the Context of Contract and Consumer Law
Chair: Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)
Professor Christine Riefa (University of Reading)
“A game changer? Use of technology in the enforcement of consumer law”
Professor Peter Rott (Oldenburg University)
“Personalised Pricing: Gaps and Legal Uncertainty in the Regulatory Framework”
Professor Iris Benohr (University of Southampton)
“Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection in the Credit Market: Applying an EU Perspective”
Professor Baris Soyer (Swansea University)
“Distributed Ledger Technology- Beginning of A New Era in Commercial Insurance Context?”
Dr Sarah Brown (Senior Visiting Fellow, University of Reading)
“Challenges of providing consumer protection in a modern innovating consumer credit market: the FCA response”
Q&A

16.15-16.30
Tea & Coffee break

16.30-18.15
Technology in the Context of Contract and Tort Law
Chair: Professor Baris Soyer (Swansea University)
Dr Tim Dodsworth (Newcastle University)
“Contract law and the embodied legal subject”
Professor Mateja Durovic (King’s College London)
“Smart contracts and traditional private law”
Professor Richard Hyde (University of Nottingham)
“I’ve been hurt by a robot, what do I do?”
Dr Monica Vessio (Exeter Law School)
“When Smart Contracts meet Circular Economy: The Complexities of Drafting an on-chain Servitisation Agreement”
Dr Kyriaki Noussia (University of Reading)
“Emerging issues for autonomous transportation systems – the case of autonomous vessels”
Q&A

19.00-21.00
Dinner

Thursday 28 September 2023

9.00 –- 9.30
Registration and Tea/Coffee

9.30 – 11.00
Technology in Financial and Highly Specialised Commercial Context
Chair: Dr Andrea Miglionico (University of Reading)
Ms Deirdre Norris (University College Dublin)
“Cryptocurrencies: taking commercial law in a new direction”
Professor Andrew Tettenborn (Swansea University)
“Technology with a non-human face: agency, representation and AI”
Professor Orkun Akseli (University of Manchester)
“The Role of Factoring in Financial Inclusion”
Professor Andrea Lista (University of Southampton)
“Electronic Documents and Bills of Lading as Intangible Documents of Title”
Q&A

11.00-11.30
Tea & Coffee break

11.30-13.00
Technology in Practice and IP
Chair: Dr Mary Catherine Lucey (University College Dublin)
Professor Jolyon Ford – Professor Sally Wheeler (ANU College of Law) – Dr Victoria Barnes (QUB)
“Modern Slavery Reporting”
Professor Georgios Leloudas (Swansea University)
“The Future Regulation of (autonomous) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)”
Dr Ekaterina Pannebakker (Leiden University)
“Embedding of (electronic) ESG supply management systems in commercial contracts”
Dr Başak Bak (University of Reading)
“What If It Is Neither Laborious nor Creative? Conferring Copyright to Generative AI
Q&A

13.00-14.00
Lunch

14.00-15.15
New Developments in Technology
Chair: Dr Andrea Miglionico (University of Reading)
Dr Abdulrahman Aldossary (University of Reading)
“The Challenging Path of Artificial Intelligence’s Ownership Right”
Sareeya Galasintu (University of Reading)
“The Challenges and Opportunities of Online Consumer ADR Schemes in Thailand”
Matthew Armitage (University of Reading)
“Smart and Relational: The Development of Bimodal Contracts”
Furkan Dogan (University of Reading)
“A Discussion on Classification of Maritime Cyber Risks: Perils of the Seas, Piracy or A New Kind?”
Q&A

15:15 – 15.30
Concluding Remarks: Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)

Organised by:
Professor James Devenney (University of Reading)
Professor Baris Soyer (Swansea University)
Dr Andrea Miglionico (University of Reading)
