[Ecommerce] Meeting on Hague Convention March 29

[Miriam Nisbet]

Attached again is a notice about the meeting on March 29 on the draft
Hague Convention on Exclusive Choice of Court Agreements.  There are
numerous competing events next Tuesday (March 29) related to the MGM v.
Grokster argument that some of you are otherwise committed to - but just
in case you are inclined to fit one more in!

If you miss the one next week, there also will be a general public
meeting of the State Department Advisory Committee on the Hague
Judgments Convention on May 9, location to be announced (probably in the
ALA offices or at Georgetown).

There remains only a short amount of time to register concerns about
the draft, as the Diplomatic Conference on this convention is scheduled
for June 14-30 in The Hague.  If you haven't paid attention to this one
previously, please do so now.
Quick summary of the issues involved:

The convention seeks to create jurisdictional rules governing
international lawsuits and provide for recognition and enforcement of
judgments by the courts of Member States.  Member States, of which the
U.S. is one, would be required to recognize and enforce judgments
covered by the Convention. The draft convention would make "choice of
court" terms in contracts (including those governing copyrighted
materials, such as software) enforceable if the parties resort to the
courts to settle a legal dispute.  The convention would also ensure that
judgments rendered by the courts designated in such agreements are
enforced by other courts.

There are definitely issues of interest to folks on this list, such as
whether and how contracts involving IP rights (other than copyright,
which are covered by the convention) should be excluded in whole or in
part from the scope of the convention.  The convention also would apply
to non-negotiated contracts; some public policy exceptions may give a
court a bit of wiggle-room, but it's not clear how much help that would
be.  In addition, there are provisions that govern remedies (including
limits on awards of non-compensatory damages).  Please don't hesitate
to call me if I can answer any questions about this.  Mac

Background on the draft convention:
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb/intlcopyright/hagueconvention.htm



Miriam M. Nisbet
Legislative Counsel
American Library Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave. NW - #403
Washington, D.C. 20004-1701
Voice:  202-628-8410, x. 202,
        or 800-941-8478, x. 202
Fax:     202-628-8419
e-mail:  mnisbet@alawash.org
http://www.ala.org/washoff