Re: Email servers

Andy Jackman <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dave reckons we can find a lawyer to say anything we like. So then, all
> we have to do is agree on one and either we are _all_ right or he says
> something some of us don't like.

Option 3: we are all wrong, because even if we (including this
hypothetical lawyer) all agree with each other, a court may disagree
with us.  Not only that, but different courts in different
jurisdictions may disagree with each other.  The single, comprehensive
answer you're looking for doesn't exist.

> And BTW, outside of the USA there are plenty of lawyers who
> understand IP in at least the USA and Europe, if not everywhere else
> too.

There certainly are lawyers who understand copyright in their own
locales, and in some others.  Given enough lawyers from enough places,
their combined knowledge might cover a goodly portion of the globe,
and if you're lucky, they won't disagree too much among themselves in
the areas where their knowledge overlaps.  But if you try to find one
single lawyer who perfectly understands copyright everywhere in the
world, you'll be disappointed.

[Aside: "intellectual property" is not a legally significant concept.
Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are each individually significant,
but they don't have as much in common as you might think.]


paul