Le mercredi 07 décembre 2005 à 23:13 +0000, Jonathon Blake a écrit : Hi Jonathon,
> A similar warning/disclaimer statement would have to be made for any > templates for the legal market. [This includes a template that enables > one to create legal pleadings.] > Well, the GPL and LGPL contain a general clause on fitness for purpose, merchantability and the like. Additionally, the legal pleadings template (since AFAIK one exists), is essentially intended for law firms, which could arguably be considered to know and understand all the potential risks involved in using such a document. However, I do agree that where the template could be (mis)used by a non-professional, then perhaps it should carry a warning, and in fact in certain states, this may even be obligatory. > Likewise, if a template has any potential health related usage, it > would have to carry a similar disclaimer. [A template for recording > one's weight, whilst on a diet, for example.] > True. > Likewise financially orientated --- especially if tax related --- > would have to carry a similar wending/disclaimer. > Even truer, most of the US law firms I work with now include a disclaimer at the bottom of every communication they send me stating that none of the tax advice or information given therein can be relied upon for the purposes of avoiding tax payment. Here is the one I most commonly see : IRS Circular 230 Notice : Any tax advice included in the text of this message, or in any attachment, (i) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding any tax penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code and (ii) should not be used in promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. > The next question is: How are templates where a warning/disclaimer is > (legally or ethically) required or recommended going to be treated by > OOo? > Well, the disclaimer problem AFAIK essentially only raises its ugly head in US based templates (what a surprise, the lawyer's paradise state). That said, there may be other countries with native language templates where such disclaimers are either obligatory or recommended. One of the things I have always criticised in the OOo project is this lack of legal awareness. Why ? Well simply put, risks can be minimized but virtually never excluded. One only has to look at the OpenOffice.org trademark registration fiasco. Originally filed by Sun in the US only, then withdrawn (there were prior registered similar marks for similar or identical products). To my knowledge this trademark is not currently filed or registered anywhere else in the world by the community, except perhaps in Brazil (although I am not sure about that). The fact of the matter is that the Community has basically shunned its legal responsibilities or been forced to delegate them to Sun Legal. The Copyright and revised JCA were essentially all handled by Sun Legal. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing as such, but it is all rather one-sided, and the lack of independent Community "legal consciousness" is rather surprising. Let's face it, Sun Legal isn't going to do anything that would possibly jeopardize their own corporation's intentions, no matter which area of law is concerned. Were I in their position then I suspect I would have a natural tendency to do the same. Still, it is regrettable that no such unit exists within the Community, since I know for sure that there are lawyers using this software, and some of them even contribute, whether it be directly to the code, via evangelism, or via the documentation and template materials. Perhaps the community council should discuss the issue of creating a legal group. Of course, that would mean devoting pro bono time to legal questions, and unfortunately that is something that most lawyers are less comfortable with (they generally have targets to reach), or simply do not have the time to give. Sorry for the long winded rant, but this is one of my pet hates with this project, which considering its size and importance, shouldn't simply be brushed under the carpet. But then, after all, this is just my humble opinion as an IP lawyer. Alex --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
