  The possibility of multiferroicity arising from charge ordering in LuFe2O4
and structurally related rare earth ferrites is reviewed. Recent experimental
work on macroscopic indications of ferroelectricity and microscopic
determination of coupled spin and charge order indicates that this scenario
does not hold. Understanding the origin of the experimentally observed charge
and spin order will require further theoretical work. Other aspects of recent
research in these materials, such as geometrical frustration effects, possible
electric-field-induced transitions, or orbital order are also briefly treated.
