IB 
Union Calendar No. 567 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5111 
[Report No. 114–731] 
To prohibit the use of certain clauses in form contracts that restrict the 
ability of a consumer to communicate regarding the goods or services 
offered in interstate commerce that were the subject of the contract, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 28, 2016 
Mr. LANCE (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. ISSA, Mr. SWALWELL of Cali-
fornia, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. HARPER, Mr. POMPEO, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr. 
OLSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 
Additional sponsor: Mr. CA´RDENAS 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 28, 2016] 
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A BILL 
To prohibit the use of certain clauses in form contracts 
that restrict the ability of a consumer to communicate 
regarding the goods or services offered in interstate com-
merce that were the subject of the contract, and for 
other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Review Fair-
ness Act of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. CONSUMER REVIEW PROTECTION. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
COMMISSION.—The 
term 
‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Trade Commission. 
(2) COVERED COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘cov-
ered communication’’ means a written, oral, or pic-
torial review, performance assessment of, or other 
similar analysis of, including by electronic means, the 
goods, services, or conduct of a person by an indi-
vidual who is party to a form contract with respect 
to which such person is also a party. 
(3) FORM CONTRACT.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘form contract’’ 
means a contract with standardized terms— 
(i) used by a person in the course of 
selling or leasing the person’s goods or serv-
ices; and 
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(ii) imposed on an individual without 
a meaningful opportunity for such indi-
vidual to negotiate the standardized terms. 
(B) EXCEPTION.—The term ‘‘form contract’’ 
does not include an employer-employee or inde-
pendent contractor contract. 
(4) PICTORIAL.—The term ‘‘pictorial’’ includes 
pictures, photographs, video, illustrations, and sym-
bols. 
(b) INVALIDITY OF CONTRACTS THAT IMPEDE CON-
SUMER REVIEWS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graphs (2) and (3), a provision of a form contract is 
void from the inception of such contract if such provi-
sion— 
(A) prohibits or restricts the ability of an 
individual who is a party to the form contract 
to engage in a covered communication; 
(B) imposes a penalty or fee against an in-
dividual who is a party to the form contract for 
engaging in a covered communication; or 
(C) transfers or requires an individual who 
is a party to the form contract to transfer to any 
person any intellectual property rights in review 
or feedback content, with the exception of a non- 
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exclusive license to use the content, that the indi-
vidual may have in any otherwise lawful covered 
communication about such person or the goods or 
services provided by such person. 
(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in para-
graph (1) shall be construed to affect— 
(A) any duty of confidentiality imposed by 
law (including agency guidance); 
(B) any civil cause of action for defama-
tion, libel, or slander, or any similar cause of ac-
tion; 
(C) any party’s right to remove or refuse to 
display publicly on an Internet website or 
webpage owned, operated, or otherwise controlled 
by such party any content of a covered commu-
nication that— 
(i) contains the personal information 
or likeness of another person, or is libelous, 
harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar, sexually 
explicit, or is inappropriate with respect to 
race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or other 
intrinsic characteristic; 
(ii) is unrelated to the goods or services 
offered by or available at such party’s Inter-
net website or webpage; or 
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(iii) is clearly false or misleading; or 
(D) a party’s right to establish terms and 
conditions with respect to the creation of photo-
graphs or video of such party’s property when 
those photographs or video are created by an em-
ployee or independent contractor of a commercial 
entity and solely intended for commercial pur-
poses by that entity. 
(3) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply to the extent that a provision of a form con-
tract prohibits disclosure or submission of, or reserves 
the right of a person or business that hosts online con-
sumer reviews or comments to remove— 
(A) trade secrets or commercial or financial 
information obtained from a person and consid-
ered privileged or confidential; 
(B) personnel and medical files and similar 
information the disclosure of which would con-
stitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of per-
sonal privacy; 
(C) records or information compiled for law 
enforcement purposes, the disclosure of which 
would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion 
of personal privacy; 
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(D) content that is unlawful or otherwise 
meets the requirements of paragraph (2)(C); or 
(E) content that contains any computer vi-
ruses, worms, or other potentially damaging 
computer code, processes, programs, applications, 
or files. 
(c) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for a person 
to offer a form contract containing a provision described 
as void in subsection (b). 
(d) ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of subsection (c) by a person with 
respect to which the Commission is empowered under 
section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)) shall be treated as a violation of 
a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice 
prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
enforce this section in the same manner, by the 
same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 
powers, and duties as though all applicable 
terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Com-
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