Re: [ga] RE: Re[2]: A point of agreement (Re: [ga-roots] response to respo nse to response)

["William S. Lovell" <wsl@cerebalaw.com>]

erica roberts wrote:

> At the risk of stating the obvious ....
> We seem to be in danger here of forgetting that the Internet is global but
> the constitution of the USA is not.   While the US government is pretty
> powerful, it is not a global or world government.  The rest of the world is
> not bound by the constitution of the USA or the laws of the USA.  An
> international treaty would be required to make alternate roots illegal in
> the rest of the world.

Truer words were never spoken.  I am quite familiar with the Patent
Cooperation Treaty -- that's what I do, and I gave it as an example
a while back.  Looking from our side, where on earth did a bunch
of longhairs in Geneva (um, that's WIPO) get the authority to say
that Rancher Jones in Blowfly, Texas, USA, has to give up his domain
name to some dude in Italy? Or on the other side, where would any
such panel or whatever they call themselves get the authority to say
that, for example, Jefsey, in France, has to give up his domain name
to Bill Lovell in Aloha, Oregon, USA?  (Um, no, Jefsey, I'm not after
your domain name!) And of course domain names are but one issue
that gets unlawfully handled, methinks.

There is a very large body of "international law," e.g., the "law of
the sea," etc., that does not have a basis in treaty but rather in
custom over many centuries.  Obviously, internet issues do not
fall into such a class.

An essential problem in enforcing laws internationally is, where's
the court? There is a World Court and so on, but it has its
jurisdiction because countries have granted it the same. That
is, COUNTRIES grant jurisdiction, not individual people. Somehow,
I cannot see the USG going in to the World Court to oppose the
taking of a domain name from a U.S. citizen by some foreign
panel, although by rights it should, and likewise as to the other
way.  If I "swiped" Jefsey's domain name, would France rise to
his defense? Don't think so.

Bill Lovell

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