juridisch

Toen ik Adobe Reader moest installeren om een (PDF-)bestand te kunnen lezen kwam die onvermijdelijke en overbekende vraag of ik de ADOBE® READER® SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT wilde accepteren.

Normaal klik ik meteen ja aan (geen gedoe), zoals 99% van alle huis- tuin- en keukencomputergebruikers, maar nu nam ik de tijd om het hele ding te lezen.

Ik neem u mee naar de wonderlijke wereld van (Amerikaans) juristenproza aan de hand van drie willekeurig gekozen paragrafen:

9. Governing Law

This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws in force: [A] in the State of California, if a license to the Software is obtained when you are in the United States, Canada, or Mexico; or [B] in Japan, if a license to the Software is obtained when you are in Japan, China, Korea, or other Southeast Asian country where all official languages are written in either an ideographic script [e.g., hanzi, kanji, or Hanja], and/or other script based upon or similar in structure to an ideographic script, such as hangul or kana; or [C] England, if a license to the Software is purchased when you are in any other jurisdiction not described above. The respective courts of Santa Clara County, California when California law applies, Tokyo District Court in Japan, when Japanese law applies, and the competent courts of England, when the law of England applies, shall each have non-exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes relating to this Agreement. This Agreement will not be governed by the conflict of law rules of any jurisdiction or the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the application of which is expressly excluded.

10. General Provisions

If any part of this Agreement is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of this Agreement, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. This Agreement shall not prejudice the statutory rights of any party dealing as a consumer. This Agreement may only be modified by a writing signed by an authorized officer of Adobe. Updates may be licensed to you by Adobe with additional or different terms. This is the entire agreement between Adobe and you relating to the Software and it supersedes any prior representations, discussions, undertakings, communications or advertising relating to the Software.

11. Notice to U.S. Government End Users

The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users [A] only as Commercial Items and [B] with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA 95110-2704, USA. For U.S. Government End Users, Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if appropriate, the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 [38 USC 4212], and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference in this Agreement.

Na dit alles gelezen hebbende, durf ik het PDF (‘de’ PDF?) niet meer te openen en ik werk niet eens voor de USA overheid…