Business Law
Choose a current event from the past six months involving a business from a legal perspective. You may choose a small business, a large corporation, or a non-profit, but there must be some legal case that you can analyze.
Collect articles and information about the company, the law or regulation, and the actual dispute. Analyze the current event through your new legal lens. Discuss what is in conflict, why, what the ramifications are, and how the company could have avoided this issue. Use several terms from your textbook to discuss the case. Discuss from more than one perspective. What is the purpose of the law or regulation? Whom does it protect or what does it provide? Why might a business have difficulty abiding by the law? Is it ambiguous?
If you do not know how to approach the event, ask your professor for guidance.
Deliverable
Write a 3-4 page paper with a discussion of the issue. In your conclusion, address the decision of the court. If the court has already made a decision, state whether or not you agree with the decision and say why or why not. If the court has not yet made a decision, state what you think the decision should be and say why.
In addition to the 3-4 page paper, include a title page and a reference page. Use and cite at least four sources in your paper,
Business Law
Businesses and organizations experience challenges, conflicts, and issues in the course of their relationship with different parties that amount to legal cases with adverse effects that need to be effectively and efficiently handled. Businesses are at times found to be in violation of laws, rules, regulations, and policies that amount to court cases. Court cases have adverse effects, especially when businesses are found to be guilty, and thus, the businesses need to device bests practices and approaches to handling or avoiding court cases. The disadvantages of engaging in court cases include being fined, loss of businesses, loss of reputation, loss of money and revenue, a raise of hostility between businesses, or even the closure of businesses. In this regard, businesses need to avoid court cases or avoid them to ensure they are run effectively and efficiently. For instance, in the case of United States v. Facebook, Inc., Facebook was found to be in violation of the FTA Act, thus affecting its operations and resulting in losses in legal fees and fines. Businesses conflicts and challenges result in legal conflicts and court cases that must be effectively managed in the interest of achieving the sustainability of the business.
Facts of the law
In the case, the United States versus Facebook, Inc., Facebook was found to in contravention of the FTA Act. The Fair Trading Act exists to regulate businesses to enhance fair competition, ensure that consumers get accurate information before they purchase goods and services, and uphold the safety of the product for the consumers (Howels, Micklitz, and Wilhelmsson, 2016). The FTA regulates that businesses and organizations need to provide accurate and relevant information on theory goods and services to consumers. Businesses are prohibited from withholding any information that is considered vital to the products. Consequently, the FTA Act ensures that special rights are extended to consumers once they buy products. For instance, under the FTA, consumers are subject to the enjoyment of warranties. Furthermore, the FTA prescribes different business practices as illegal, such as unfair contract terms, unfair sales practices, and misleading conduct, and false representation. Additionally, the FTA prescribes different consumer rights that include rights to safety, the satisfaction of basic needs, information, choice, redress, consumer education, consumer presentation, and a healthy environment. Therefore, the FTA Acts ensures that the consumers are effectively protected from unfair and unjust treatment from the producers and manufacturers.
Facts of the case
Facebook was allegedly accused of misleading its users to the extent the third-party application developers access to their confidential information. United States filed an FTA violation case in the District Court in the District of Columbia. Facebook was involved in leaving the users’ confidential information to third parties as opposed to the agreement (Department of Justice, 2019). The consumers wish that confidential information shared or revealed to their producers, manufacturers, or service providers need to be protected and only used in the interest of the consumers or for the purpose it was shared. In the case that confidential information concerning the consumer is to be shared with the third parties, then the producer or the service needs to get the consent from the consumer. The misuse of the users’ confidential information is done at the expense of the users and in the interests of the service provider and the third party acquiring the information, and this approach is illegal. Additionally, the producer can release confidential information through a court order for the common good. Therefore, Facebook was found in contraventions of the FTA Act by offering misleading information and misuse of the users’ confidential data. Facebook agreed to settle the matter in regard to the allegations of contravening the FTC Act through the payment of a civil penalty to the tune of $5 billion. Moreover, Facebook committed to implementing all the necessary regulations and new compliance measures in regard to handling and protecting the users’ confidential information. The measures and approaches to protect the Facebook handling of private information entailed reviewing of the modified and new Facebook products and the formulation of a new Independent Privacy Committee on Facebook directors and the presentation of an annual compliance certification on the privacy issues. Therefore, upon Facebook being found to be in violation of the FTA, the organization agreed to the payment of legal penalty fees and upholding the necessary recommendation and best practices to protect users’ private information and handle it effectively in the future.
Prevention of violation of the law
Organizations and businesses need to prevent being on the wrong side of the law, thus preventing court cases that will definitely hurt their operations. In the case of United States versus Facebook case on the violation of the FTA Act, Facebook needed to have prevented the case from happening to avoid the heavy penalty and the related adverse effects (Maggi et al., 2012). In this regard, Facebook needs to educate the executives and general employees on different aspects of handling the users’ confidential data. The executives and general employees of Facebook need to be educated and trained in handling confidential data through seminars, workshops, exchange programs, and the advancement of education. This approach improves decision making on the handling of confidential information is improved to prevent the contravention of laws and regulations.
There is a need to get the consent of the users in the event that their confidential details held by the company are to be used in any way. The consent is gained by contacting the users and explaining the details and the need to use their confidential information. This approach brings understanding between the users, Facebook, and other parties that would wish to use the confidential information. The presence of consent and an agreement ensures that legal conflicts and court cases are avoided.
Purpose of the Law
The FTA Act was established to protect the consumers from the producers that can take advantage of them. The Act ensures that the relationship between the consumers and the producers is just, fair and has an element of equity (Loo and Ong, 2017). The producers have the tendency to take advantage of the consumers through misuse of information, presenting unfair contract terms, misleading conduct, false representations, unfair sales practices, and unsubstantiated claims in their interests. This Act ensures that consumers are protected from unfair practices and dealing in their quest for goods and services from the products. It is important to note that companies and businesses have difficulties in abiding by the laws due to the need to have a competitive advantage in the market. Businesses are always in competitions, and some businesses thus employ illegal and illegitimate business practices that are an expense to the consumers with the view of gaining a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Businesses face conflicts and barriers that can amount to legal cases or conflict with the laws, and thus appropriate measures and practices need to be adopted to protect the businesses from cases or even eliminate the cases. Court cases have adverse impacts, and they should be handled effectively to protect the businesses and that achieve high levels of sustainability. The legal cases can be avoided by abiding by the set rules, laws, regulations, and policies to guide the business operations and relationships with other parties.
References
Department of Justice. (2019). Facebook Agrees to Pay $5 Billion and Implement New Protections of User Information in Settlement of Data-Privacy ClaimsUnited States v. Facebook, Inc. Press Release Docket Number: 1:19-CV-02184 (D.D.C.).
Howells, G., Micklitz, H. W., & Wilhelmsson, T. (2016). European fair trading law: The unfair commercial practices directive. Routledge.
Loo, W. L., & Ong, E. I. (2017). The 2016 Amendments to Singapore’s Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act-A Missed Opportunity. U. Tas. L. Rev., 36, 15.
Maggi, F. M., Di Francescomarino, C., Dumas, M., & Ghidini, C. (2014, June). Predictive monitoring of business processes. In International conference on advanced information systems engineering (pp. 457-472). Springer, Cham.
