Some consumers have been sued for posting negative reviews on Yelp.
That is soon to come to an end.
Congress has passed a law protecting the right of U.S. consumers to post negative online reviews without fear of retaliation from companies. The bipartisan Consumer Review Fairness Act was passed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate yesterday, a Senate Commerce Committee announcement said.
The bill, introduced in 2014, was already approved by the House of Representatives and now awaits President Obama's signature.
The Consumer Review Fairness Act -- full text available here -- voids any provision in a form contract that prohibits or restricts customers from posting reviews about the goods, services, or conduct of the company providing the product or service.
It also voids provisions that impose penalties or fees on customers for posting online reviews as well as those that require customers to give up the intellectual property rights related to such reviews.
The legislation empowers the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the new law and impose penalties when necessary.
The bill also protects reviews that aren't available via the Internet.
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