Smart Defenses for Smart Devices: Strategies for Defending Product Liability Claims Arising from Internet of Things Technology
The "Internet of Things" (IoT) generally refers to the network of physical devices (or "things") that are connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data. The IoT has digitalized the physical world and has transformed common, everyday objects into smart devices that connect everything from watches to refrigerators to the Internet. In the process, the IoT revolution has brought with it previously-unimaginable benefits in the form of efficiency, convenience, safety, and savings, just to name a few. Many have called the rise of the IoT the third major technological revolution, behind the Industrial Revolution and the creation of the Internet. Today, there are a wide range of applications and devices that we use in our daily lives that are impacted by the IoT. With that said, at the present time we are just in the early stages of the IoT movement. In fact, some experts estimate that by 2020, the IoT will be comprised of somewhere between 20 and 50 billion connected devices.
The range of different smart devices on the market today and their associated risks raise substantial issues regarding the application of traditional product liability law to these new technologies. Importantly, many of these issues may serve as significant roadblocks to plaintiffs who seek to establish actionable product liability claims as a result of malfunctions or hacking incidents related to IoT technology, all of which can be utilized by defense counsel to defend against and defeat IoT product liability litigation.
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“Smart Defenses for Smart Devices: Strategies for Defending Product Liability Claims Arising from Internet of Things Technology,” by David J. Oberly was published in the Winter 2019 edition of The Update, a newsletter publication of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys. Reprinted with permission.