"Alec A. Burkhardt" wrote:
And every single person who has responded to you has been carrying on aI fully appreciated the time and the effort to answer to my questions (f anydoìdy didn0t think so, well, they are a little wrong). I think they based their responses on US laws, not on foreign ones and I'm sure to tolerably proficient in Italian law principles. I'm not at all proficient in international contract law, of course, and I defer to qualified opinions in this field.
theoretical discussion. They've just been basing their theory on actually
knowledge rather than pure speculation. Sorry if that sounds harsh, can't
think of another way to say it at the moment. And having a theoretical
discussion of this issue is in fact a law seminar - the issue at hand is
international contract law.
When I talked about 'theoretical' I didn't mean 'facts are unimportant' but 1) I have never checked OGL for loopholes according to Italian and European law because I have NO interest in finding them 2) Avoiding to spawn ugly rumors on the Internet.
Where did I contradicted this? And once again, no one can be "prosecuted"With 'prosecuted' I mean 'subject to investigation and, possibly, to judgment for breach of the law' - I don't know the exact US legal term and of course I can't use the Italian one. I hope this clears the matter and apologies for any confusion that could have been arisen from by bad choice of words.
concerning any of this - you apparently have no recognition that there is
a difference between civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution. This is
just as true in Italy as in the U.S. And in civil cases courts (for the
most part) apply the law of the contract. So even if the case were in
Italy, the law would be the same because the contract is the same.
Then you completely fail to understand *why* manufactureres do thisI'll attempt to explain me better:
concerning warranty disclaimers - even tho I thought I explained it. It
has absolutely nothing to do with any companies having different
philosophies regarding examining comparative law issues. It has to do
with various jurisditions imposing specific laws on this issues which all
companies operating in their jurisdition must follow. Manufacturers do
this because they are required to, not as a matter of philosophy. There
is nothing in the OGL which will run into this issue, so there is no
reason for WotC to address it.
1) There are companies that consider their best interest in looking in the laws of varuous countries to protect themselves and their property. It seems to me clear that the advantages are superior to expenses for them. This was the purpose of the computer's manufacturer's example
2) There are some companies instead that consider this procedure not worthing the time, the hassle and the money involved. This is WotC case.
That was my intention in writing the example of the computer manufacturer, nothing more. Perhaps my command of English language is not good enough to let me explain myself in such complicated matters - if so, in your eyes, my apologies.
I'm sorry but using completely ridiculous and inapplicable examples wouldI have this 'informed opinion', to paraphrase Clark Peterson's words:
be *blowing things out of proportion* in my opinion. Claiming something
is theoretical does not remove reality from a discussion. Your two
examples did nothing to support your contention that the OGL would be
unenforceable in Italy so I pointed that out and explained why.
X can't be guilty of anything in Italy if he hasn't violated any national laws, any international convention or treaty that has Italy as signatory, any European directive ratified by Italian Parliament or any bilateral agreement.
About "blowing things out of proportion", that was my nth remark to avoid spreading more rumors in Internet. I have never said that OGL would be unenforceable in Italy (or elsewhere), my initial remark/question was only to know if anybody in WotC has looked into this because there might be possible problems. All I wished to know is this, as somebody kindly explained to me: "WotC considered this and concluded it wasn't worthing the time, the hassle and the money involved". Case closed.
Except you have failed to even offer a vague idea of what clause in theKindly refer to my response above, thanks.
OGL is going to be unenforceable in Italy (or elsewhere). And the only
way it would not be enfored is if there is a specific prohibition against
such a clause; not if the clause simply wasn't done under Italian law.
Why? Because this is a voluntary contract a person enters into and as a
member of the WTO, Italy has an obligation to enforce contracts that
individuals/companies enter into. And of course it has also been pointed
out that WotC could simply sue you in the state of Washington and then
Italy would have an obligation to enforce that judgement as a member of
the WTO unless there is some specifically prohibited clause in the OGL
(and there isn't going to be one).
No one has either blown this out of proportion or said that you intendedWhew! Seriously, Iìm not a big fan of Internet but I know that rumors can be spawned at an amazing rate. Tha last thing I want is that rumors arise regarding 'crazy Italians that want to find loopholes/wreck OGL", "destroy d20" or worse "hey, guys, in Italy OGL is unenforceable!" or "Italians, they are all thieves, you know".
to find any loopholes around the OGL.
To strenghten this, please let me state in public that I asked for info on this matter only out of personal curiosity and nothing, nothing more.
People who actually know the lawI think I'm not ignoring the 'real world information' and I have the highest regard and consideration about your knowledge of US law and law principles in general. My only, little, bone of contention is the principle of sovereignty and application of US laws in toto in foreign jurisdictions based on the 'informed opinion' I got and write earlier in the message.
have tried to explain why your concern isn't a problem and used real world
information and knowledge to do so; often using you as an example of the
person doing X in Italy because you did so in your first post. You don't
seem to care about the real world and just reject the information out of
hand; even tho you fully admit you don't know much about the law, whether
it be Italian or U.S. Both Clark & I have law degrees, and while they may
be from U.S. schools, such studies do involve the study of the laws of
other countries as well as cross-country application of law; especially
concerning business. And in my case, comparative law has always been a
focus because I always intended an academic path rather than the pratice
of law. Others have spoken from their actually involvement in
international business transactions. The law in the area of international
contracts is really not that muddled, especially when disussing members of
the WTO.
If you aver felt offended or hurt my by remarks, this was not my purpose. If so, please accept my apologies (as anybody else involved).
Regards
Ciro Alessandro Sacco
