Eyrolles Editions – April 1996

The first French book ever published on this subject (out of stock).

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER : WHAT IS THE ELECTRONIC COMMERCE?

Section 1: Types of commercial contracts

I . Contract entered in the context of traditional trade

1. Contracts negotiated at a distance and mail order

III. The teleshopping contract

1. Doorstep selling and phone marketing

Section 2 : Contract entered in the context of electronic commerce

I . The offer is expressed through an international telecommunications network

II . The offer is expressed in an audiovisual manner

III .  Interactivity between professional and customer

CHAPTER 1: A WORLDWIDE TRADE IN ITS ESSENCE

Section 1: A globalized electronic economy

I . The phenomenon of trade globalization emphasized by the network

II . Both an asset and a difficulty

Section 2: How and in which cases the conflict of laws issue arises? 

1. The question of the choice of applicable law is not relevant in all cases

A . Exclusion of criminal and administrative law

B . The specific case of the mandatory private laws and the foreign elements condition

1. The texts to be used for answering the conflict of laws issue
2. The Rome Convention of 19 June 1980 on the law applicable to the contractual obligations

B . The Hague Convention of 15 June 1955 on the Law Applicable to International Sales of Goods

Section 3: Solutions to the conflict of laws

I . The principle of party’s autonomy of choice

II . The consumer exception

III. The specific case of copyright and neighboring rights

Section 4: Conflicts of jurisdiction

CHAPTER 2: ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND EVIDENCE

Section 1: Identification of the parties

I . Why is it necessary to identify oneself and to identify others?

A . Contract law requires identification

1. Law requires identification
2. Excluding certain categories of persons from sensitive services

II . How are assigned the name and electronic address in the Internet context

III. Legal regime of cryptology

1. Cryptology as a means of identification
2. Definition and regime

Section 2: An evidence difficult to produce

1. The state of the law of evidence in France

II .The legal regime of the electronic signature

III. EDI and law of evidence: the right process… for tomorrow

1. The workaround solution to the problem of evidence.

CHAPTER 3 : THE FORMATION OF THE ELECTRONIC CONTRACT

Section 1: The electronic offer

I .Requirement for a clear and specific offer in practice

A . What is an offer

B . Compliance with the sale by mail regulations

II . Characteristics of the electronic offer

1. The offer is expressed in an audiovisual manner
2. Can the consumer require French language?
3. Does the offer on network have a validity period?

III. Is the electronic offer an advertising?

Section 2: The acceptance

1. A manifestation of will poorly regulated
2. Does “clicking” mean accepting?

III. Workaround solutions

1. The exchange or reimbursement right to the rescue of the consumer

CHAPTER 4 : THE SCOPE OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Section 1: What can be or cannot be offered on the network

1. In principle any goods or services
2. General exceptions to the freedom principle

III . Special schemes depending on the product or service offered

A . Medical and paramedical products and services

B . Financial and insurance products

C . Firearms

D . Tobacco and alcohol

E . Distance learning

F . Food products

G . Telephone services

1. Is it efficient to impose particular constraints to the scope of the network trade?

Section 2: The specific case of copyright

I- Digitizing an existing work –  the appropriate approach

A . Identify is the item to be digitized is protected by copyright or not

1 . The creative activity condition

2 . The conscience of a result

3 . The tangibilization of the work

4 . The perceptibility for the senses

B . If it is protected by copyright, is it, or not in the public domain?

1 . There is no single window

2 . Identify the author

3 . Beware of the works which are “free of rights”

C . Obtain the assignment of copyright

II- The price to pay for digitizing

A . The principle of proportional remuneration is not adapted to the network economy

B . Using a flat fee price model

III- Control of the dissemination of the work in the network

A . The problem

B . The choice of a workaround: the experience of the Multimedia Online creation festival of CICV

CHAPTER 5: A SECURED PERFORMANCE AND PAYMENT

Section 1: The performance of the contract

I . The Specific issue of the delivery period

II . The delivery and performance details

A . Characteristics of the product or service delivered

B . Delivery or performance on the network or outside the network

III . What taxation for the e-business?

Section 2: Secure remote payment

I . One-time payment rather than pay-per-time

II . Credit card payment

III . The financial intermediation

A . The Globe ID example

B . The Digicash example

C . The First Virtual example

D .The Cybercash example

CHAPTER 6 : LEGAL REGIME AND RESPONSIBILITY

Section 1: The legal regime of telematics services

1. The French telematics experience

A . – Audiovisual communications and press law regime

B . – The French telematic kiosk

C . – Information ordinary law

II . What legal regime for the new networks?

Section 2: The specific case of the Internet service providers

Section 3: Which regulator?

Section 4: Contractual liability

1 . The Peaceful possession guarantee

2 . The hidden defects guarantee

CONCLUSION