Product liability is the framework of legal decisions and the statutes which impose costs on manufacturers of products whose use might cause injury to consumers. The objectives of product liability statutes and common law doctrines are worthy. Originally developed by state judges in the early to middle of the previous century, product liability was originally designed to promote consumer safety and to balance the interests of individuals against well funded companies.

Since that time, product liability has become an extremely 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 fairness is served by the current system.

The product liability reform community encompasses a wide variety of groups. From industry organizations to trade associations, there is growing awareness that today's product liability legal system leads to distortions in prices and prompts frivolous litigation. It is hence on account of this that we are now observing these groups increase their collaboration through free conference calling services and additional emerging applications of online services.

This article reviews some of the most helpful areas in which these activists are applying the new collaboration and conferencing solutions.

Create your own blog

Quite a few product liability advocates are looking to the Web to disseminate information and share strategies. Just type the search word blog into any mainstream search engine and you'll see a variety of resources that enable you to quickly launch your own blogging platform. What previously might have taken hours to create, and hours more to maintain, can now be established in only minutes.

Launch an RSS feed for your web site

Product liability focused web sites contain reams of informational content regarding pending lawsuits and ballot initiatives. In some cases, however, interested members lack the time to repeatedly visit those web sites for updates. An RSS feed, also known as real simple syndication, is a simple method of pushing updated content to the desktop; the benefit of RSS is the accumulation of information from multiple destinations on the Web into one place.

Deploy an automated electronic newsletter system

It was not too long in the past that sending out an electronic newsletter was time consuming and tricky. This has now changed. On-line systems are making it feasible to use scalable newsletters. These solutions cut the work load by as much as 80 and in so doing enable product liability reform groups to focus on content development as opposed to content delivery.

Increase your online professional network

The most advanced product liability advocacy groups create networks of supporters who buttress their values and mission. While the word networking often gets an undesirable connotation, the simple reality is that these networks can provide substantial aid to product liability reform advocacy organizations. Today in the San Francisco Bay Area, the expectation is that professional people will have at least a rudimentary profile on such sites.

Implement a free conference calling system

In the last five years, there has been growing collaboration between geographically diverse product reform advocacy groups. One cause of this trend has been lower flight travel costs – a trend that may now be going the opposite direction with jumping oil prices.

A separate cause is the advent of free conference calling companies. A number of these types of free conference call systems operate on the same core idea. They offer you a personal access number and a toll number to call. If all teleconference users dial the same toll number and enter the same code, they are put into the conference.

Leverage Web Collaboration

Some product liability advocacy groups have far flung leadership groups, and it is difficult to have in person meetings. Technology is addressing this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it's sharing a PowerPoint presentation displaying the group's fundraising initiatives or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be extremely useful for many product liability groups.
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Linda Rogers has significant experience in the field of conference calling. Linda advises Rondee's free conference start-up.