Senior Associate Dr. Shastri Sandy coauthored a recent Colorado Technology Law Journal article describing how the use of AI decision models may cause disparate impact in areas such as credit and financing, employment, healthcare, and housing.

The authors provide examples of how AI models may contribute to disparate impact, discuss protected classes and the relevant laws that may be violated due to disparate impact, and include suggestions of where biases in AI decision-making may be headed in the future. also provide an overview of statistical, economic, and qualitative tools that can be used to evaluate and mitigate AI-induced disparate impact.

The full article, “The Disparate Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning,” is available below.

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Brattle is a proud sponsor of the NAD 2023 Annual Conference. This year’s conference will focus on what’s new and what’s next in advertising law. The agenda includes sessions addressing pressing issues in advertising law, reviewing last year’s NAD cases, and providing practical advice on the day-to-day issues that the increasingly competitive marketplace raises.

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Since dark patterns come in various forms, their impact on consumers can vary depending on the type of pattern and methods being deployed. As federal, state, and other enforcement agencies look to identify and challenge the varied conduct that may constitute dark patterns, it will be critical to use the right approach to quantify these harms and determine the appropriate level of deterrence in each potentially unique situation.

The full article, “Quantifying the Impact of Dark Patterns,” is available below.

The post Quantifying the Impact of Dark Patterns on Consumer Purchasing Decisions: Brattle Economists Discuss in New <i>Law360</i> Article appeared first on Brattle.

Distinguishing companies with legitimate direct selling compensation models from those operating as pyramid schemes is ultimately an empirical question that cannot be answered without access to and analyses of distributor-level business intelligence data for the direct seller. In September 2021, the FTC published a paper describing an analytical framework that FTC Consumer Protection economists use to assess direct selling organizations. However, the authors note that the FTC’s implementation creates a framework that provides many false positives, resulting in the improper conclusion that a legitimate direct selling company is running a chain letter and offers a product with no economic value.

The full article, “FTC’s Framework For Assessing Direct Selling Cos. Is Flawed,” authored by Principal Dr. Branko Jovanovic, Senior Associate Dr. Pablo Robles, and Senior Research Analyst Lia Bozzone, is available below.

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The post Brattle Economists Analyze the FTC’s Analytical Framework for Assessing a Direct Selling Company in a Recent <i>Law360</i> Article appeared first on Brattle.

Principals Dr. Lisa Cameron and Dr. Steve Herscovici and Senior Consultant Dr. Paroma Sanyal will join the “Surveys in False Advertising Cases” session. They will review the types of surveys that are most common in false advertising cases and describe how surveys are used in claim substantiation and as evidence in Lanham Act matters, consumer class actions, and trademark disputes, with illustrations from a greenwashing hypothetical.

Brattle is a proud sponsor of the ANA Masters of Advertising Law Conference.

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Senior Associate Dr. Pablo Robles will join a panel reviewing automotive product defect class action litigation and discuss the economics of potential damages.

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The post Product Liability in Automotive Defect Class Actions: Dr. Pablo Robles to Discuss at ABA TIPS Webinar appeared first on Brattle.

In a recent article for Law360, Senior Consultant Paroma Sanyal and Principal Coleman Bazelon discuss whether the lack of a uniform label – one that includes information on price, performance, and more – for broadband service packages makes it difficult for consumers to make informed decisions about broadband products. They explore the pros and cons of using consumer broadband labels and detail their history, including the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) 2022 notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks to have broadband internet service providers display detailed labels.

The full article, “Assessing the Pros and Cons of Broadband Product Labels,” is available below.

The post Brattle Consultants Discuss Pros and Cons of Broadband Product Labels in <i>Law360</i> Article appeared first on Brattle.

Recent consumer class actions have featured allegations that buyers were owed damages due to a company’s misrepresentation of its product’s attributes. These damages, often called “benefit-of-the-bargain” damages, can arise when buyers would have been unwilling to pay the old price for a product revealed to have attributes different from those previously represented or inferred. In many of these cases, experts have attempted to substitute for or supplement observed real-world data with data obtained from conjoint surveys, in which consumers are asked to state their choices among sets of hypothetical product profiles. The authors explore issues with these surveys and market simulation models based on their data, explaining that the surveys and models often fall short of the academic rigor required to obtain valid damages estimates.

The full article, “Price Premium Damages in Product Market Litigation: Issues in Survey-Based Market Simulations,” is available below.

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The post Issues with Survey-Based Market Simulation Models Used to Estimate Price Premium Damages: Brattle Consultants Publish Article in <i>Product Liability 2022</i> appeared first on Brattle.

Brattle supported Professor Howard Beales of George Washington University, who provided expert testimony on behalf of LifeVantage. Under Professor Beales’s direction, the Brattle team analyzed LifeVantage’s business intelligence data and showed that any calculation of purported harm for individual distributors would require individualized inquiry, contrary to the plaintiffs’ expert’s theory of harm. He also demonstrated that there was substantial consumer demand for LifeVantage’s products and that distributor compensation was tied to sales to ultimate consumers, contradicting the plaintiffs’ claims that the company operated as a pyramid scheme.

Professor Beales was supported by Brattle Principal Dr. Branko Jovanovic and a Brattle team that also included Senior Associate Dr. Pablo Robles and Research Analyst Lia Bozzone.

The post Class Action Certification Attempt Defeated in a Case against LifeVantage Corporation Following Testimony Supported by a Brattle Team appeared first on Brattle.