RE: question about Governing Law

["John Cox" <John.E.Cox@btinternet.com>]

Like most of these standard provisions, the "governing law" or
jurisdiction clause is important where things go wrong.  If an agreement
does not specify the jurisdiction in which a case is to be heard and the
law by which the agreement is to be interpreted, there will be a
preliminary hearing to decide which jurisdiction applies to the dispute.
There is a complex set of rules under Private International Law that is
brought to bear.  So omitting the jurisdiction clause introduces a new -
and very costly - layer of legal hearings before the substantive case gets
to court.

At a more mundane level, jurisdiction is important so that both parties
know which rules to apply - e.g. fair use under copyright law.

Most publishers will accept the jurisdiction of the customer.  But
insisting on omitting a jurisdiction clause is deeply stupid!  The only
publishers that cannot accept any individual national or state
jurisdiction are international organizations established by treaty - e.g.
UN, OECD.  In those cases, ask for an arbitration clause.

John Cox

Managing Director
John Cox Associates Ltd
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1327 860949
Fax: +44 (0) 1327 861184
E-mail: John.E.Cox@btinternet.com
Web: www.johncoxassociates.com

 
-----Original Message-----
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Angi Faiks
Sent: 29 June 2005 21:54
To: LIBLICENSE-L@lists.yale.edu
Subject: question about Governing Law

Hello all,

I have never had any trouble changing governing law on a license.  I do
howevery have a new vendor that offered to strike the entire governing law
clause on a license, but will not change it to my home state.  What
happens if you strike the entire governing law clause? Should I push
harder to have it changed to Minnesota?  Many thanks, Angi

-- 
Angi Faiks
Macalester College
faiks@macalester.edu