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Why would you assume that US law will apply in a situation where a Chinese company lifts code from a Canadian company while contracting for a multinational comp

by ynniv 17y ago

Why would you assume that US law will apply in a situation where a Chinese company lifts code from a Canadian company while contracting for a multinational company headquartered in the US but operating in China?

grellas 17y ago
I don't assume that U.S. law will apply. I am predicating my comment with this statement to make clear that the sort of analysis I am articulating would only apply if U.S.-style law applies to the situation. If U.S.-style law doesn't apply, then Plurk's legal remedies might be few, if any. This likely would be one of the trickiest issues in this case if a lawsuit ever sees the light of day. The doubt on this point, by the way, would be one more reason for Plurk not to push the legal side too hard here.
- ynniv 17y ago
  So hypothetically, if Microsoft hired a US based corporation to create a microblogging site, and that corporation copied the source code for Twitter, re-branded it as Microsoft specified, and the site went live, Microsoft would be liable? Where is the line then? Are individuals equally liable if they use software that was lifted unbeknownst to them by a software publisher?
  - grellas 17y ago
    Copyright law generally does not excuse "innocent infringers" and is pretty strict in this sense (here is a link to a discussion of copyright that sums this up in the first two paragraphs: http://www.ladas.com/NII/CopyrightInfringement.html http://www.ladas.com/NII/CopyrightInfringement.html). This sort of liability can extend to average people as well, as for example in this news report of a 2-lawyer firm that hired an SEO guy as a contractor for a $1K job and wound up with a $60K+ liability (and certainly must have spent many thousands more in attorneys' fees) as a result of that contractor's having lifted some copyrighted promotional materials wholesale from another law firm's website and used that infringing material as its deliverable for the project (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432820979&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Law.com&pt=LAWCOM%20Newswire&cn=NW_20090806&kw=9th%20Circuit%20Finds%20for%20PI%20Firm%20Over%20Theft%20of%20Firms%20Web%20Site%20Content http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432820979&src=...).

by ynniv 17y ago

grellas 17y ago

I don't assume that U.S. law will apply. I am predicating my comment with this statement to make clear that the sort of analysis I am articulating would only apply if U.S.-style law applies to the situation. If U.S.-style law doesn't apply, then Plurk's legal remedies might be few, if any. This likely would be one of the trickiest issues in this case if a lawsuit ever sees the light of day. The doubt on this point, by the way, would be one more reason for Plurk not to push the legal side too hard here.

ynniv 17y ago
So hypothetically, if Microsoft hired a US based corporation to create a microblogging site, and that corporation copied the source code for Twitter, re-branded it as Microsoft specified, and the site went live, Microsoft would be liable? Where is the line then? Are individuals equally liable if they use software that was lifted unbeknownst to them by a software publisher?
- grellas 17y ago
  Copyright law generally does not excuse "innocent infringers" and is pretty strict in this sense (here is a link to a discussion of copyright that sums this up in the first two paragraphs: http://www.ladas.com/NII/CopyrightInfringement.html http://www.ladas.com/NII/CopyrightInfringement.html). This sort of liability can extend to average people as well, as for example in this news report of a 2-lawyer firm that hired an SEO guy as a contractor for a $1K job and wound up with a $60K+ liability (and certainly must have spent many thousands more in attorneys' fees) as a result of that contractor's having lifted some copyrighted promotional materials wholesale from another law firm's website and used that infringing material as its deliverable for the project (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432820979&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=Law.com&pt=LAWCOM%20Newswire&cn=NW_20090806&kw=9th%20Circuit%20Finds%20for%20PI%20Firm%20Over%20Theft%20of%20Firms%20Web%20Site%20Content http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432820979&src=...).