RE: L'Annee Philologique (fwd)

[Fred Friend <ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk>]

I have followed this correspondence with a wry smile on my face, because
of the difficulty we have had in the UK in persuading US publishers to
accept English law as the governing law in our licences. We have had the
same condition placed upon us by UK authorities to use English law as US
libraries have had placed upon them to use US state law, but some US
publishers have refused to move on this issue in the same way as the
French are refusing to move. It gives me no pleasure to see US libraries
in the same predicament as we have been in. Silence on governing law is
not a satisfactory answer in the long-term, and we need to persuade
publishers throughout the world to accept whichever governing law the
purchaser requires rather than the one the publisher stipulates. I know
that some publishers are worried about poor copyright protection in some
legal systems but that concern does not apply in the US or in Europe.

Fred Friend


At 17:38 19/07/02 EDT, you wrote:
>With all due respect to Andrew, although he is absolutely correct in what
>he says, surely the only practical position to take is to remain silent
>about the place of jurisdiction. We all know that legal action is very
>unlikely indeed.
>
>>  from:    "Braid, Andrew" <Andrew.Braid@bl.uk>
>>  date:    Thu, 18 Jul 2002 20:50:48
>>  to:      liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
>>  subject: RE: L'Annee Philologique (fwd)
>>
>> Remaining silent may not solve the issue.  See details of the Hague
>> Conference on Private International Law (of which both France and the US
>> are signatories)  http://www.hcch.net/e/conventions/text31e.html#ch2 On my
>> reading there are circumstances in which French law could prevail.
>>
>> Andrew Braid Licensing & Copyright Compliance Manger
>> The British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ, UK
>> Tel  44 (0)1937 546030
>> Email andrew.braid@bl.uk