Re: [ga] Contract Verisign / ICANN and statuschange of dot org fromunrestricted to restricted

[Eric Dierker <Eric@hi-tek.com>]

Dale Farmer wrote:

> Marc Schneiders wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, at 16:26 [=GMT-0800], Kent Crispin wrote:
> >
> > > The charter of .org (whatever it might be or whether there even is one)
> >
> > A faq (http://www.icann.org/melbourne/info-verisign-revisions.htm) is
> > not a contract, sure. But why does ICANN deal with the matter
> > in the context of this contract at such length, if it isn't
> > relevant? The statements in the faq may have no legal force. But must
> > we assume that they are meaningless? And if we do not agree with
> > possible *implications* (explicit or not in a contract), why can't we
> > protest against them now, before it is too late? The ball is already
> > rolling...
> >
> > Protest is the only answer. See my .sig ...
>
>    Actually, at least in US courts, the documents around the contract do
> have some legal force.  When a contract is subject to a lawsuit, and the
> contract language is ambiguous on the particular issue(s), the judge will
> go to the documents that exist from the contract negotiation process.
> These can range from internal memos to media interviews with the parties.
> The judge then evaluates them to try and divine the intent of the parties
> who created the contract.
>     I'm not a lawyer, and thus may be wrong about legalisms.
>
>     --Dale

This should be taken further to add that under APA the public comments are part
of the record which any authority uses to substantiate that their position was
in good faith, and not derived from back room shady deals.

Believe it or not even the truth as it exists at the time is relevant to a
determination of appropriate contract and public policy compliance. (Who's
truth?)

Sincerely,

Simply added as an historian, FWIW.

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