This page contains Elite Inc. Law.

Every law is comprised of three primary parts. 1) The law itself 2) What it is intended to do and 3) A review date

If a review date passes without the law being reviewed and updated, the law expires. There are a few laws with no review date. They are assumed to be good forever. Others have an "Open" review date which means they are subject to expiration but it is unknown how long they are likely to be good for. In other words, the law will probably be no good after a certain point depending on future developments.

Every law is retroactive. Just because it hasn't yet been written into law that you shouldn't beat your neighbor over the head with a baseball bat for stealing your cat, doesn't mean you won't be held accountable. In Elite Inc. law is only used where it is specifically necessary, and is very tightly controlled to be as concise as possible. If something is made law, it can be said that it should always have been law. Laws dealing with ongoing changes such as technology may be updated, other types of laws must past the test of true applicability throughout history.

Elite Inc. law is small and efficient. We strive particularly to avoide the multiple-charge problem (you do one thing, you get one charge), to make rules instead of laws whenever possible, and to ensure that each law is applied to each individual case. There will be no "blanket" laws or rules. If your case is an exception under which the law is not fulfilling it's intent, it will be changed and you will be compensated for your trouble.

This list is not sorted.
1. Single Purchase of Media
   • Whoever purchases a book, movie, album, software, or other similar media, will own that item forever. The right to the item may not be passed to decendants and it may not be sold unless every instance of that item in posession of the owner is transferred as well.
   • This law is intended to prevent someone from having to purchase additional copies of an item at full price because their original was lost or stolen. They may still be required to pay a replacement cost based on the actual cost of the media and recording but that will remain outside the cost of the material which is recorded.
   • 2010.0101
2. Law for Everyone
   • Whoever raises an objection to a law's usefulness or applicability will have the initial stages of that objection handled at no expense to themselves other than time. Those stages will include only material which may fit that person's view of the law except for a simple and concise breakdown of why the other side considers it valid. Any sucessful attack of a law which is mounted by them or their lawyers from that point on will be fully reimbursed by the government at such time as their case is successful.
   • The intent of this law is to prevent there ever being a possibility that someone finds an unlawful situation which they cannot correct because of resource issues. Any time someone feels there is a legal matter which needs to be dealt with, they may not be required to use their own resources to bring the matter to be dealt with.
   • Temporary: needs wording reworked. Valid under its intent, not it's specific wording.
3. Intellectual Property Freedom
   • Any company whose primary means of support is owning patents, web domains, etc. is illegal. Restricting use of intellectual property without due cause is illegal.
   • These types of property are only allowed to be owned or patented as a means of providing appropriate worth to the creator. These items are of no value to anyone unless they are actually being used. Any attempt to lock up use of an intellectual property is contrary to the point of that properties very existance.
   • 2005.0101
4. Original ownership of patents I
   • Patents and Web Domains may not be sold or bartered.
   • The intent of such property rights is to provide the original creator with control over his intellectual work. In Patent cases that person is the only one eligible to recieve due compensation for his work. In Web Domain cases, there are usually many valid uses for the same domain at the same time. When an original user no longer requires that name it must be released into the wild for others who are just as worthy to use it to have a chance.
   • 2005.0101
5. Original ownership of patents II
   • Patents may bo owned only by individuals, not corporations.
   • Ownership of patents by corporations stifles their use. When individuals own the patents, companies will be forced to engage in competitive compensation measures with them and they will be more likely to allow the wide-spread use of their intellectual property.
   • Review Date: 2010.0808
6. Fair use of intellectual property
   • If no free alternative is available for a system which becomes a standard, its use falls under fair use doctrine
   • This law is to prevent patent monopolies or near-monopolies in cases where there is no reasonable alternative.
   • 2005.0101
7. Sturdy Furniture
   • Furniture must be sturdy
   • Furniture sold which is not sturdy ends up costing more in the long run, particularly for those who cannot afford good furniture in the first place, those who can least afford it. Exceptions can be made for unique or artistic pieces.
   • Review Date: 2100.0101
8. Purpose of Copyright
   • Copyrights are to be used to reimburse the owner for use of the copyrighted material. This exists as an exception to fair use which is a more important law.
   • Current copyright law lets the first take place at the expense of the second. The purpose of this law is to ensure that all material is actually used. Of all things which could best HELP the copyright owner get paid for the use of his material, this is by far the strongest. There are laws dealing with artistic integrity which let the copyright owner restrict use of their material in certain ways, however this is an exception, not the rule. Material which is out of date or of uncertain origin, etc. is often impossible to legally use. This law allows for any material to be used at any time in any way, so long as the owner is given appropriate compensation. Someone may use a proxy account for unknown materials. They will not be given a price which makes it's use unfeasible (smaller uses get smaller prices).
   • Review Date: 2010.0101
9. Copyright Limits
   • No copyright may in any case extend beyond 100 years. This number reflects the average lifetime (75 years) plus an additional 25 to allow descendents to profit. The specific limit on copyright is 25 years after the death of the original copyright holder. Like patents, the copyright may not be held by a company, only by the individual(s) responsible for creating the work. Any maker of a documentary which is deemed to be neutral or mostly neutral, shall not have to pay for any copyrighted material used in that work. "Fair Use" of copyrighted material includes educational and news purposes so long as profit related to the copyrighted material is negligible. (A news show which is primarily about copyrighted works which sells advertising during that show, will need to pay)
   • Current copyright law protects big business, not creators. Copyright extensions prevent large amounts of material which is of no use to the copyright holders, from seeing use. These type of limitations are opposite to the function of government in society. In protecting copyright, limitatins are needed which provide practical protection without undue restriction of use. This law is in effect to provide the appropriate balance between copyright and fair use.
   • Review Date: 2010.0101
10. Natural Evolution in Products or Ideas
    • When a new product comes into existance and there is a copyright or trademark dispute, a governing factor in whether the copyright or trademark must be dismissed will be whether there is natural evolution in the name or type of product that created the dispute.
    • When a commonly used word like "pod" in the case of the "i-pod" becomes used in other ways, the person or company who first used it in that manner may claim the right to it. However, if another product or idea would have naturally reached the same point anyway (if Toyota renamed their "pod" concept car the "t-pod") there is no infringment. The original copyright or trademark overreached. The purpose of this law is to prevent someone from having to second-guess their product or its name in cases where there is a clear natural progression that just happens to coincide with someone elses. This law may be extended to deal with other derivitive forms (particularly convergence) besides copyright and trademark such as the convergence of two technology products.
    • Review Date: 2010.0101
11. Preeminence of Justice
    • If you cannot obtain justice in some matter, you must get revenge. You must be able to reasonably prove that justice was not available and that the revenge was appropriately balanced.
    • Justice is one of the most important moral benchmarks. The closest thing to justice is revenge. It is a person's moral duty to make things as fair as possible. It is a government's duty to make, and where it cannot make, allow this to happen.
    • Review Date: 2010.0101
12. Sanctity of Holidays
    • Holidays which are widely known and celebrated may not be interefered with in the manner of their celebration.
    • Most particularly with Halloween, but in many ways with many holidays, the original intent is often made to bend not to natural evolution or related interests, but to completely unrelated interests. For example, people are told they may not trick-or-treat after dark, or that they will do so on the 30th instead of the 31st. This type of interference has never, and will never, upheld the public interest nearly as much as it interferes with it and cannot be allowed.
    • Review Date: none