Potential Legal Categories in the Sharing Economy's Platform Operator-User-Provider Model: A Taxonomic and Positive Approach — Part 1

The so-called “sharing economy” is a highly disruptive phenomenon. The law plays a crucial role in this disruption. The rights and duties that the law allocates to the different actors of the sharing economy through legal categories and regulatory frameworks are essential in the growth and impact of these new technologies. The ability of Platform Operators like Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit to innovate, disrupt, and create profitable new markets is largely dependent on the legal categories in the law. This two-article project adopts a taxonomic and positive approach to evaluate different legal categories to classify the legal actors and legal relationships of the sharing economy, relying on the theoretical framework provided by the Time-limited, Monetary consideration-based, Profit-driven Platform Operator-User-Provider (TMP-PUP) model.

The project is divided into two parts. This Article, Part 1, evaluates the actors of the sharing economy with the following legal categories: (1) interactive computer service provider, (2) information content provider, (3) transportation network company (TNC), (4) carrier, (5) participating driver or rideshare driver, (6) innkeeper, (7) short-term residential rental provider or shared housing host, (8) entrepreneur, and (9) consumer. A second Article, Part 2, explores the legal relationships of the sharing economy in terms of (1) employment, independent contractor, and hybrid workers, (2) agency, (3) intermediation, (4) franchise, (5) license, (6) partnership, (7) joint venture, (8) supplier-consumer, (9) innkeeper-guest, (10) tenancy/lease, and (11) bailment. This project, therefore, provides a framework of alternative legal categories and associated legal consequences that advance the debate on the regulation of the sharing economy.