>>>Though what you say has merit it doesn't address what my point was in the first place. Quite specifically, a law passed in the US regarding registering of url's (your specific example) will have no effect elsewhere in the world *unless* other countries adopt the same law (or in the case of this example the governing body of url's adopts it).
>><
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>>Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there one so-called governing body (NSI is one at the moment) for the registering of specific domains (.com, .org, .it, .tv, etc)?
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>I suggest you re-read my post. Specifically, the part in brackets.
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You mean the part in parenthesis and not brackets? I don't see brackets in your message. If you *do* mean parenthesis then I did reread it and it still says the same thing. <s> For a background on what I'm talking about you can go to Network Solutions website (www.networksolutions.com) and then go to the "Help" link for legal and domain name dispute policies. It spells out pretty clearly that, as a "governing body of url's", it will abide by US laws as well as national and international trademarks and court rulings to decide on who gets (and who keeps) a URL in the list of global secondary domains that it governs (for the time being). Other domain name governing bodies (country domains, etc.) may have their own rules and policies and I'm pretty sure they are similar to Network Solutions'. You can look at the IANA's website for URL's of the country domain name registrar's.

Network Solutions WILL take your domain name away IF they have sufficient evidence of prior trademarks and/or a legal order to do so. Whether you have laws in Canada for it or not. Do you not see that?

I MUST be missing your point Colin. If you're interested in continuing this thread then I'd suggest either emailing me directly or (if others are interested in this thread as well) starting a new thread as the subject of this one doesn't really match it's content.

>>It doesn't matter WHAT a countries' laws say about "JoeBlow.com". NSI operates in the USA and, thus, is governed by its laws. This can just as easily go another direction. It's NOT specific to the US.
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>In the aspect of it's business practices (i.e. tax laws) yes, in the aspect of the service it provides to the internet no.
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See above.

>>The days of once countries' (or one states', or one regions', etc) laws ONLY affecting that area is quickly coming to an end. As I'm sure you are aware.
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>No, I'm not aware. One countries laws has *always* Affected others, mostly if there is some sort of interaction like trade. But having an Effect, like changes of laws, no this was and is still very rare.
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>There is the global economy, international law, etc. where all countries partcipating follow the same rules and regulations. But independant laws of one country (and state in your case) rarely have an Effect on another.
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We're saying the same thing, I believe. Laws of other countries affect the creation / modification of laws in other countries. BUT it's not like one country automatically changes it's laws to reflect the laws of the other country just on a whim. It's rare and the route from one country to another country is subtle. You'll see that those 'decency' and 'privacy' laws inacted by Germany within the past few years has had an effect on the bills presented to the US Congress lately (and a few of them have, fortunately, not passed).

- A Hilton