[clug] Time to contact the ACCC

[Darren Freeman]

On Tue, 2003-08-19 at 12:12, James McNeill wrote:
> I don't see what the ACCC can do.
> 
> SCO is in the US. SCOs court case(s) are in the US too.

and many of the victims are in Australia

> the 'A' in ACCC stands for 'Australian'. SCO Headquarters will freeze 
> over before they *voluntarily* abide by Australian consumer laws. Unless 
> SCO has an australian entity, the ACCC can do very little.
> The only thing they could do would be to protect australian companys & 
> individuals from SCO, if SCO sued them over breach of software licence.

why can't the ACCC put up some kind of note banning SCO from trading in
Australia? That would instantly give everyone a reason to feel safe
again. Then they could sue them on behalf of anyone who proves SCO
contacted them for money.

If they do contact someone for money, doesn't that constitute fraud?
Isn't that a criminal offence? Can't the aussies slap SCO in gaol for
attempting to defraud aussies?

IANAL of course ;)

> For that to happen SCO would need to prove their case in an australian 
> court, which won't happen untill they've done it in an US court, which 
> won't happen.
> 
> As frustrating as it is, i can see very little that we can do directly 
> aginst SCO. I doubt very much that the australian market holds any sort 
> of sway with the SCO administration.

it's not an issue of stopping SCO. it's an issue of stopping them
*here*. others will feel more confident if whole nations begin rejecting
them.

> regards,
> -James

Have fun,
Darren