Petteri Pyyny
17 Jul 2002 16:41
I've written news about companies suing various individuals, based on whatever laws they can think of, in various countries. But I've kinda wondered the fact that major corporations seem to be able to sue people who live in totally different countries and they sue them in the U.S.
Well, today I had some spare time and actually tried to find out about this and it seems that there are few international treaties that cover pretty scary things. Basically the thing is that if one, just ONE, country of the countries who have signed these treaties (Hague treaty being the scariest one) has a law (or in these not-so-honest, "invents" a law) that restricts something -- let's say distributing tools that allow listening MP3s -- they can sue the company or individual who breaks this law in country where it is perfectly legal to do so in the country where it is illegal. And if the court in this country finds the case in favour of the company who sued the individual or company in other country, the other country's courts have to ensure that the foreign court's order is taken in action.
To educate yourself, please visit these URLs:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/hague.html
http://web.lemuria.org/DeCSS/hague.html
...and renew your EFF membership now. Please.