Which county or state's laws prevail?

Cross-border site issues

[encyclo]

I run a small forum on a specialist subject. The site has a .com domain name bought from a US company, is hosted on a server in Texas, billed by a company in New York. I, the site owner, live in Canada (Quebec), and over 90% of the site visitors come from either France or Belgium.

One of my forum members requested that I remove some of their posts. I refused quoting my TOS, but the TOS does not respect the laws in the poster's country (France) which, according to my interpretation, would force me to comply. However, I can't imagine that I would by bound by French law as I have no presence there.

My question is simple: under whose juristiction falls my site when it comes to issues such as copyright, terms of service, privacy and COPPA laws? Am I right in thinking that my site would be considered a US site despite the fact that I live in Canada, or should/can I specify the country, state or provice under whose laws the site falls?

[larryhatch]

Years back, there was a Russian restaurant here called Zhivago. One of their main entrees was Polish Sausage Chinese Style. I don't know if they served that with potatoes or pasta.

Personally, I would take the guy's postings down just to be done with it.

I don't have a clue about the legalities of something like that, but copyright law is pretty much
international; terms of service (TOS) is up to you, and I don't know COPPA from dry salami. - Larry

[BigDave]

Almost certainly US law would apply, though they could possibly go after you in Canada.

In the US, since they posted it to your site with the full knowledge that you would distribute it, you might want to look up estopple and the "unclean hands doctrine". Basically, they cannot hold you responsible for their own actions.

[edit_g]

You know those notices in contracts which say 'any dispute arising from this agreement will be governed by and resolved in accordance with the laws of etc etc'... Those frequently look quite good on website membership agreements and terms of service pages.

[encyclo]

I refused to remove the member's posts because it would have wrecked many threads, I specified in the TOS that I wouldn't do it, and even though it is a small forum I'd still have to trawl through over 15,000 posts to get rid of everything. I also didn't want to set a precedent. As it is, the particular case has been cleared up, but I wanted to ensure I was in a clear legal position in case it happened again.

edit_g, I would certainly prefer to assign all legal issues to my home province, but would it have any chance of being legal? Otherwise, I suppose I'm stuck with US law?

The basic issue is, do the laws covering a site apply where the server is physically located, where the site owner is physically located, or by another criterion?

[edit_g]

edit_g, I would certainly prefer to assign all legal issues to my home province, but would it have any chance of being legal? Otherwise, I suppose I'm stuck with US law?

I'm not really qualified to answer - but at least you'd have a something to point him to. You never know your luck - it might make him go away. If he doesn't, you haven't lost anything or closed off any avenues as far as I can see. Again, I'm really not qualified to answer, this is off the top of my head and not legal advice.

[VegasRook]

The laws that will most likely affect you will be USA and Canada.

The USA laws will affect you because the server is located in the USA and thus under USA law.

The Canadian laws will affect you because you reside in Canada and are under that jurisdiction.

For example:

It is illegal to run a casino online for USA residents. So you get the bright idea to set up a server in one of the Islands where it is legal. While the server is ok, you are not because you are in the USA and thus under its laws.

The only way the laws of France come into play is if you are doing business there which technically you are not. Additionally, you have no persons nor equipment located in France.

That is how I see it. The law is a complicated beast.

It is best to have a very lengthy and descriptive TOS. For example, the poster could claim that his posts are his copyrighted property and revoke your rights to them unless you have a very clear and thorough TOS which combats this.

Good Luck.