[Opensim-users] ToS and HG

[M.E. Verhagen]

Is it possible to give people who hypergrid a notecard when they arrive ?



2011/9/14 Karen Palen <karenpalensl at gmail.com>

> I can only repeat what I learned in my "setting up a business" seminar a
> few years ago:
>
> "Your goal should NEVER be to make your TOS/Rules/Agreement legally
> bulletproof. If there is that much money involved that it is really
> necessary then you need to spend the money for a lawyer!
>
> "What you should do is try very hard to make the rules/ToS/Agreement
> state exactly what you mean and be extremely clea rin stating that. This
> is the starting point if you hire a lawyer anyway.
>
> "If you do a good enough job then people will either comply, or go away
> (be banned!). Even if it ends up in court the fact that it was clearly
> written and easy to understand will be a major help in your case.
>
> "Lawsuits generally only result from two or more parties come up with
> different interpretations about what was said or agreed. If it is
> completely clear then there is simply no point in going to court!"
>
> Sadly that level of clarity is harder to do than it seems, and you might
> want to hire a lawyer just to get the phrasing exactly right and
> consider all of the possibilities.
>
> In any event plan on several drafts, and get a couple of people who see
> the document for the first time to read it and tell you in their own
> words what they think it says. You WILL be surprised the first few times
> you do this - I KNOW!! :-)
>
> Oh yes if you are planning on something that large/critical, then ALSO
> look into setting up a business entity (Corporation, LLC, or whatever)
> to run it.
>
> See http://www.keytlaw.com/ for a summary of this aspect.
>
> "Information & Articles about Arizona and United States Law"
>
> Keyt is an Arizona/US lawyer, but the issues he raises are universal. I
> highly recommend studying his website!
>
> As Keyt says in one of his articles, the day the process server knocks
> on the door is one day too late!
>
> Karen
>
> On 09/13/2011 10:32 AM, Sarge Misfit wrote:
> > Location, or jurisdiction actually, is definitely a big factor. From
> > what I have seen is that it is the location of the grid's "official"
> > headquarters that is the deciding factor. However, every ToS that I
> > have seen also specifically states the jurisdiction, so it may be that
> > I would have to include that as a requirement. I had planned to
> > anyway, but its a good idea to raise that issue to, for the benefit of
> > others. I don't think its about how strict a law is. Having worked as
> > a researcher in a law office (quite some time ago), I can tell you
> > that this is pretty new ground, so we may be developing precedent
> > here.
> >
> >  I just don't want to be the chum that gets tossed into the pool :-)
> > But I also don't want to end up with some overly long legalistic ToS,
> > either. I want to develop one that is in plain language and easy to
> > understand. In fact, I am using SL's ToS as an example of what NOT to
> > do *chuckles*
> >
> > On 9/13/11, Robert Martin <robertltux at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Sarge Misfit
> >> <fubat.enterprises at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> Doesn't HG already land a person at 128, 128, ground?
> >>>
> >>> The reason I'm asking about this is that I am planning on making my
> >>> stand-alone public and having a good ToS in place is important. I
> >>> don't want to end up setting up a visitor as violating anything. Other
> >>> recent discussions have raised this issue, mostly about avatars, but
> >>> also the very important issue of intellectual property protection.
> >>>
> >>> For example, the DMCA applies to US-based grids, but I'm Canadian, so
> >>> my ToS should include something about Canadian IP protection law
> >>> having jurisdiction. I think.
> >>>
> >> The real hook is that the law gets "messy" since there are possibly 3
> >> different countries involved and the overlap in laws may cause
> >> conflicts.
> >> 1 users physical location
> >> 2 users POP /network "location"
> >> 3 location for the grid server/ grid owner <---- this may actually be
> >> a fourth location
> >>
> >> I would think that somebody needs to throw enough "chum" into a shark
> >> pool to get this sorted out as a first pass effort.
> >>
> >> In this case i think that the stricter law applies (which would be the
> >> US DMCA) for those using a Canadian Grid in the US.
> >> --
> >> Robert L Martin
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