mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Mike Feldman) (05/09/90)
In article <7463@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> kassover@jupiter.crd.ge.com (David Kassover) writes: > >Secondly, if I ship something from USA to country X, that it is >perfectly legal to ship to X, and then the recipient in >X ships it to some other place Y, which may be perfectly legal >to ship to from X, but not from USA to Y, the shipper from USA to >X *may* have some liability. > There seem to be a couple of issues here. Recently I purchased a copy of Turbo Pascal 5.5 from a major mail-order house. On the box there was a prominent label which said "NOT FOR EXPORT! For use in the U.S. and Canada only!" As far as I could tell, this had no legal strength and was just put there so _Borland_ could control export through its designated agents overseas. If the mail-order house sent it outside the U.S. and Canada, conceivably it would be violating a resale agreement it had with Borland, so Borland could sue for breach of contract. But it's not _illegal_ as far as I can tell, right? Now suppose I resell the software to my friend in country Y. I am normally allowed to resell software, since the license usually gives me that right (as long as I delete my own copy, of course...). What laws am I breaking? Suppose I just buy it in Egghead Software and move to France, taking it with me? Suppose I get tired of it and sell it to a friend in France? Suppose I _give_ it to my friend in France? So much for Turbo Pascal. How about Ada? Certain Ada technology is export-controlled in the sense that it isn't supposed to land behind what we used to call the Iron Curtain. Since Meridian has an agent in the UK who is legally selling the compiler there, it obviously isn't illegal to sell it in the European Community. What is stopping me, then, from sending a copy there myself? I buy it, I leave it shrink-wrapped, I ship it out with full disclosure on the forms. I may be undermining Meridian's agent over there, which of course hurts their business purpose, but am I breaking the law? I doubt it. Any software lawyers out there in Ada land? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Michael Feldman Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 +1-202-994-5253 mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
vladimir@prosper (Vladimir G. Ivanovic) (05/09/90)
Well, the United States has these stupid laws which govern trademarks and such. If I import a Nikon camera into the US, I have to file off the Nikon name. Nikon USA owns the trademark Nikon and will not allow importation of Nikon cameras into the US except under their auspices. I find it hard to imagine how to file off the trademarked names in software. Note that it's not illegal to import cameras into the US. The upshot is that it is (unfortunately) possible for it to be illegal to import, even for private use, a product that is sold quite legally. Consumers suffer; industrialists artificially keep the prices high. -- In the name of free trade, Vladimir
kassover@jupiter.crd.ge.com (David Kassover) (05/10/90)
I seem to have touched off a little firestorm here. I have begun correspondence with a lawyer friend of mine, who happens to deal in import/export. Also with another friend of mine, not a lawyer, whose job brings him into contact with issues related to transshipment of sensitive or potentially sensitive materials. In the meantime, I will continue to be suspicious of requests from "friends" to transship goods. Particularly the ones who make jokes about thickwall steel pipe, 14" i.d., 770" long. I wonder how many spooks read this newsgroup. Back to Ada. -- David Kassover "Proper technique helps protect you against kassover@ra.crd.ge.com sharp weapons and dull judges." kassover@crd.ge.com F. Collins