Re: Choice-of-venue and forking
Scripsit "Bernhard R. Link" <brlink@debian.org>
> I wanted to ask the more knowing ones what effects this will have in
> the most jurisdictions when forking code with such a clause in the
> license. If neighter the licensee nor the licensor are any more in
> the jurisdiction choosen by the clause, what will happen?
First, if both parties in a case agree to using a venue other than the
one specified in the licence, it has no effect. (The parties, when
agreeing, are always free to amend their earlier agreement at will).
If they *don't* agree and one of the parties try to file suit in a
non-specified forum, the defendant can argue to have the case thrown
out of court, citing the choice-of-venue clause. In some jurisdictions
the judge will have the possibility to overrule this objection if the
defendant cannot demonstrate a legitimate interest in having the case
moved (i.e., if the suit is filed in the defendant's home court, a
request to move it halfway around the world may just be obstructionism).
It is in general possible that the specified forum refuses to take the
case if neither of the parties have a relevant connection to the
country or state that sponsors the court. If that happens, the
choice-of-venue clause will effectively be void (and then cannot be
used by the defendant to block litigation in the default forum, unless
the latter forum's rules are completely insane).
--
Henning Makholm "sh: line 1: fortune: command not found"
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