Letter from Consumers Union to NCCUSL Opposing UCC 2B
October 8, 1998
Mr. Carlyle C. Ring, Jr.
Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver
1401 H Street NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Professor Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr.
Director, The American Law Institute
4025 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3099
Dear Mr. Ring and Professor Hazard:
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) has asked all parties to propose changes to the Article 2B draft by October 10, 1998. Unfortunately, we believe that the draft is so fundamentally flawed that it cannot be fixed.
We therefore respectfully suggest that the drafting project be shelved, or in the alternative, that the draft be restricted in scope so that it addresses only individually negotiated, custom software licenses. We propose this change because the draft is based on a model of contracting and negotiation that is unlikely to exist in most consumer software transactions.
Article 2B would expand Consumers Union's rights as a licensor from the rights it has under current law. We nonetheless oppose Article 2B, because it fails to provide an appropriate collection of rules for consumers. We therefore urge the drafting committee, the American Law Institute, and the NCCUSL to shelve the Article 2B drafting project, or to restrict its scope to custom software licenses.
Very truly yours,
Gail Hillebrand
cc:
Gene Lebrun
Fred Miller
John McClaugherty
Ray Nimmer
UCITA Pages On
James S. Huggins' Refrigerator Door
