[p_l]

Quebec's case is rather their laws regarding contests, lotteries etc.

Basically any contest from outside Canada won't give a damn about working all of those rules in (if it's even possible at all), so they are simply banned from essentially all international competitions of this kind :)

[TheCoreh]

Since the competition is being held by a company outside of Quebec, do they need to abide to these laws at all?

[Mordak]

If they want to offer their contest to residents of Quebec, yes, they must abide by local laws and regulations.

Running a contest in a given jurisdiction is a form of doing business in that jurisdiction, and so of course the contest is subject to whatever regulations that jurisdiction applies to that activity (contests, in this case). Imagine if this were not the case, and anybody could avoid complying with local laws just by calling their activity a 'contest' and running it out of some foreign jurisdiction.

So, by saying people in Quebec can't play, Google is not required to abide the unusual laws that they have there around contests and lotteries.

[kintamanimatt]

Probably, because Google has a Canadian subsidiary with offices in Montreal; they're subject to local law. If this wasn't the case they'd gladly not exclude Quebecois.

[1123581321]

That's sort of right. Quebec's laws apply whether Google has an office there. However, because the contes is conducted virtually, Quebec wouldn't be able to do a thing to a contest holder with no nexus in Quebec. If Google was required to send a representative to Quebec to conduct their contest and didn't abide by the law, that representative might be deported, or in some stricter countries arrested. Google Code requires no such person, of course.

[pc86]

Why are we just making stuff up?

This is not true. Contests must abide by any local laws or regulations in any jurisdiction they're run in. If you don't run the contest in Quebec (e.g. if you disallow Quebecois entrants) then and only then are you exempt from their laws.

[kintamanimatt]

We're not making stuff up. If I run a competition and someone from Belgium enters (and wins) but I have no presence in Belgium, I'm in no way subject to Belgian laws. How can I possibly be? Google doesn't have offices in Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, or South Africa. I highly doubt they're complying with local laws regarding competitions in these jurisdictions!

Google are subject to Quebec's laws because they have offices there and a Canadian subsidiary. If these things weren't, they wouldn't have to abide by such laws. Even if Quebec said they had to, they wouldn't have jurisdiction.

[ubernostrum]

I understand that this is something people don't get, but: yes, if you are doing something that can be construed as "doing business" in a country, then you get to be subject to that country's laws regardless of whether you have offices there or have ever set foot on that country's territory.

This is not particularly new. What is new is the general belief I've seen in many people that "but I did it on the internet!" is a magical answer.

[kintamanimatt]

Such laws would be really, really difficult, if not impossible to enforce.

I seem to remember there are certain laws the British government thinks applies to foreign companies that have no ties to the UK but otherwise do business with British residents, but in the same breath says they have no way to enforce them.

[PeterisP]

If you pay money to someone from Belgium for a service (which, in a legal sense, is how Google Summer of Code works) then that transaction is definitely subject to Belgian laws.

Just as if you sell something to someone from Belgium over the internet, both your and their law applies.

[kintamanimatt]

If I sell something to a Belgian and I'm, say, a Canadian company, I don't suddenly become subject to Belgian law. I don't have to account for distance selling regulations, data protection regulations, VAT, local taxes or anything else. I'd be subject to Canadian law, and that's all. Chances are the contract would even state that the jurisdiction were somewhere in Canada. (Yes, I know contracts aren't always perfectly binding or valid, and just because something is declared in a contract doesn't mean it's enforceable or valid.)

Consumer could sue in Belgian courts but the matter of jurisdiction would arise and that's where the claim would fail.

[p_l]

In their interactions with Quebec residents, apparently yes.