Product liability refers to the framework of legal decisions and the state laws which impose liability on manufacturers of products whose use might cause harm to consumers. The objectives of product liability statutes and common law decisions are worthy. Originally developed by state judges in the early to middle of the previous century, product liability was originally intended to promote consumer safety and to balance the interests of individuals against well organized corporations.
Since that time, product liability has become an incredibly complex area of the law. Caused by differences between jurisdictions, injured consumers in similar circumstances end up being treated very differently. As a result, neither of the aims of efficiency or equity is served by the status quo.
The product liability reform caucus encompasses a wide variety of groups. From industry groups to trade associations, there is growing awareness that today's product liability legal regime causes distortions in prices and causes frivolous lawsuits. It is therefore for this reason that we are now seeing these groups enhance their teamwork through
free conference calling services and additional emerging applications of web systems.
This article discusses some of the most promising areas in which these activists are applying the new collaboration and conferencing solutions.
Use a free conference call system
In the last five years, there has been escalating coordination between geographically diverse product reform advocacy groups. One cause of this trend has been lower air travel costs a trend that may now be going the opposite direction with jumping oil costs.
Another driver is the accessibility of free conference calling companies. A number of these types of
free conference call systems such as Rondee's service operate on the same core method. They give you a personal access number and a toll number to dial. If all teleconference users dial the same toll number and enter the same code, they are put into the conference.
Launch your own blog
A number of product liability advocates are looking to the Web to disseminate information and share strategies. Just type the search term blog into any mainstream search engine and you'll see a number of resources that allow you to rapidly launch your own blogging platform. What previously might have taken hours to build, and hours more to maintain, can now be achieved in only minutes.
Launch an RSS feed for your web site
Product liability focused web sites contain reams of educational content regarding pending lawsuits and citizen initiatives. In many cases, however, interested members lack the time and energy to frequently visit those web sites to get updates. An RSS feed, also known as real simple syndication, is a straightforward method of pushing updated content to the desktop; the benefit of RSS is the aggregation of information from multiple destinations on the Web into one place.
Use an automated electronic newsletter system
It was not too long ago that sending out an email newsletter was time consuming and tricky. This has now changed. On-line services are making it feasible to use scalable newsletters. These services reduce the work load by as much as 75% and in so doing allow product liability reform organizations to focus on content development as opposed to content delivery.
Increase your online professional networking
The most advanced product liability advocacy organizations create networks of supporters who support their philosophy and goals. While the word networking sometimes gets an undesirable connotation, the general reality is that these networks can provide significant help to product liability reform advocacy communities. Today in the San Francisco Bay Area, the expectation is that professional folks will have at least a minimal profile page on such sites.
Use Web Collaboration
Some product liability advocacy groups have distributed leadership teams, and it is difficult to expect in person meetings. Technology is solving this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it's sharing a PowerPoint document illustrating the group's fundraising initiatives or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be very useful for many product liability groups.
