texts: When Is it OK to Break a No-Contact Order?

texts:
Location: Indiana, USA
Background: A friend of mine has a temporary no-contact order placed against him for his girlfriend. His girlfriend didn't want the order, but the state placed the order anyway. She is still allowed to message him. Being a good egg, he didn't message her back and has followed the law waiting for his pre-trial agreement to run out and the order to lift.
Concern: She sent him pictures - empty bottles of vodka and her bleeding wrists - and some messages something to the effect of I hate my ****ing life. I just want to end it. This is a pattern of hers that really messes with him (my friend) so he broke the order to console her, then she proceeded to tell other people (her friends and family) that he broke the order.
Question: Does the law or judge ever make exceptions for events such as this? A deliberate breaking of a court order, but with good intentions? Or would he be facing the same punishments if word makes it back around to the court?
Edit: I understand Necessity in Criminal Law may come into play here, but I'm unsure if this is a strong enough argument.


texts:
If I buy a book (ebook or printed) and narrate an audiobook myself, would it be legal to put it for sale? How about if I put them for free? Would it would violate the copyright of the publisher of the book?

How about if you reverse the question, and write a manuscript based on an Audiobook, say with speech-to-text technologies? Would it violate the publisher's rights?


texts: Is it legal for a company to offer a different insurance rate based on spouse's employer's offerings?

texts:
Is it legal for a company to offer a different insurance rate based on the spouse's employer's offerings?

My employer wants me to indicate to them whether my spouse can have insurance under her employer. If my spouse does have some kind of insurance offering at her company, they want to charge us $50 extra a month for health insurance based on this information.

This is a similar burden that some employers have attached to smokers, where if you admit to being a smoker your insurance gets an automatic fee. In this case, when the employee (me) chooses to include his/her family or spouse under his/her insurance, the employee is charged differently based on whether or not the spouse can have (not has, but can have) insurance under the spouse's employer

What right do they have to this information?

What other legal means do they have to find out this information?

Does this constitute illegal discrimination?

I am aware of similar policies regarding smoking which are similarly controversial. What conclusions can we draw from that precedent?


texts: Copyright status of an author's letters published posthumously?

texts:
I am writing Lovecraftian horror short fiction. I know I can use Lovecraft's material written 1923 and prior. However, I would love to use parts of the genealogy he noted in some of his letters. These letters, and others, were published in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selected_Letters_of_H._P._Lovecraft_IV_(1932%E2%80%931934) in 1976.  The letters themselves were written from 1932-1934.

Are these letters considered in the public domain, as unpublished works (by the author) written 88 years ago?  If not, when would they enter the public domain?


texts:
My moms brother, Uncle Tom, marries a woman (Liz).

Liz has children from a previous marriage (Tracy and Anthony) who become my uncles step-children. Tracy marries Zachary.

What is Zachary's legal relationship to me?

Is Zachary legally identified as a relative?


texts: Does GDPR affect personal projects with family data?

texts:
My extended family is rather large, and I would like to make a family tree. Given the nature of the data I'll have a lot of peoples personal data. Preferably their immediate family relations, name, a picture, DOB, phone number, email address, Facebook link. And potentially more.

Some of this information I know just because they're my family, I wouldn't have been given GDPR consent when I was a child first meeting them. This would be things like their name and who they're related to. After this I know some DOBs for similar reasons. I can get phone numbers from our family chat. I can get a picture and some additional information from Facebook. Etc.

Given that all of this information is almost definitely protected by GDPR could I legally make a family tree?

What if:

The family tree is strictly for myself.
The family tree can only be seen by people in that tree. And they can only see people they're blood/adopted relatives of, and people married into the tree.

To be clear my fathers side could see my mother, but not her side of the family. I can see both sides, as I'm blood related to both.
What if I want to be able to include more than just the two families?

Say one of my cousins are in a similar situation and wants to include both their sides of the family.


texts: Is it safe for a start-up to use ProductName derived from big corporation Product™ name?

texts:
We are thinking on product name for our niche software product targeting users of big corporation technology with "PRODUCT™" name (sorry it is obfuscated for now).
As we don't compete with this company PRODUCT™ (the corporation has similar software to ours but free of charge (there are other solutions as well) and, it seem for the past 4 years, it is not very interested in developing this software; the main corporation service is far-far away from what we are doing as well). Our software makes the work with big corporation PRODUCT™ easier and more enjoying. Actually it is "the Builder tool for the Product" or "Product Builder tool" which is quite standard designation for such software. So one of the best strategy in terms of recognizability and SEO could be to name our software ProductBuilder or something like that.

In addition it seems like the big corporation cannot register PRODUCT™ as trade mark because another great company in almost the same market has acquired several years ago Product Ltd. and use its name ("Product") for its "Professional Duct" technology. Ok, they are both about software and services :)

The third aspect to consider "PRODUCT™" is a common english noun.

So the question is what strategy to choose and how safe they could be:

Use ProductBuilder name?
Register ProductBuilder domain and use it for SEO but choose different name for the product?

Update:
After @jqning comment. There is legion of the products named the same way. For example some huge fraction of Microsoft Word related utilities (and competing products) have "Word" inside their name (Atlantis Word Processor, Easy PDF to Word Converter, Avery Wizard for Microsoft Office Word 2003, Free Word Excel and Password Recovery Wizard, Recovery for Word and many many more just made a search on cnet). The same is true for Excel or Acrobat and Flash and many other products.


texts: Is it legal to walk out of school, unexcused in Colorado

texts: There are several school walkouts coming up in Colorado and nationwide that I plan to participate in, most likely without my parent's permission/knowledge. I am 16. Is this legal?


texts: Is it illegal to impersonate a store employee?

texts:
For Halloween my coworkers and I are dressing in blue shirts and khakis and wearing fake name tags we made that look just like ones worn by employees at a certain popular store.
We are just wearing them in the office. However, it got me thinking. Would there be any legal implications if I were to wear this outfit to the actual store?
I found this question but it specifically refers to impersonating a Federal employee, a whole different matter in my eyes, but perhaps not?
I realize there are different levels of havoc I could cause ranging from just walking in the store and not interacting with any employees or customers, all the way up to trying to disrupt the stores sales or operations using my outfit to get into places I shouldn't go. But I would like a general answer.
Jurisdiction: I live in Utah in the US, but I'm curious to see what the answer is for other places as well.


texts: Is it a copyright/trademark violation for indirect use of famous brand names in product taglines?

texts:
Is there any copyright or trademark violation if a company uses a tag line
'Inspired by [Some Famous Brand]'
(Note: This is for the marketing tag line, not logo)
The objective is to associate one's design, quality etc to a well known famous brand.
Example:
'Technology Inspired by Google Search Engine'
'A film inspired by the Starwars Saga'
'The next Reddit style forum'
'A google style search for your ecommerce platform'
Note, the product is not in direct competition with the famous brand. Its just a marketing strategy.


texts: At the end of a lease, who owns the parts used in repairs?

texts:
I have found it is usually the landlord who is responsible for most repairs and this is specified in the lease (barring tenant negligence or other stated reasons why a tenant would be responsible). However, in the case of a tenant being responsible for repairs and maintenance, does the tenant own the parts they used to repair an appliance or air conditioner or any other item that was attached to / included with the home? If they do, can they take those parts with them if the lease ends?

(Assume there is no clause in the lease that defines any item's expected condition before or after the lease term.)


texts:
It's really tiresome to ask each professor to use his slides for educational purposes as I have done here.
If a rights owner publishes a work online in a way that it is publicly accessible, but does not give a specific license (e.g. does not say 'you can download this for personal use'), is it legal to download (i.e. copy) that work for personal use, although there is no explicit license?*
*-Post updation given by @Brandin


texts: What is a technical standard from a Copyright law standpoint?

texts:
Take for example a technical standard, that covers some communication protocol or any arbitrary mathematical algorithm. It is an idea of some kind. Could this technical standard be patented? Licensed? What is the legal status of such a standard? Could fixing this standard in any tangible form change anything in its patent-ability?

As far as I understand, should somebody implement the aforementioned communication protocol or algorithm in software or hardware, then this implementation becomes a separate entity and could in turn be patented and licensed. Am I correct? Could initial standard somehow prohibit creating such implementations? Could it require a license of some sorts for this?


texts: Are there any parts of human rights which are not already part of US law?

texts: Apart from healthcare (which is subjective and not a specific right), are there any parts of US law which violate the human rights set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any of those rights not included in any US state laws?


texts: Any rule in the TRIPS agreement which prohibits same subject matter to be protected by different IPRs?

texts:
Can we have a product X which gets both a copyright & a patent?

I'm particularly interested in the case of Software since its content overlaps with both Copyright & Patent. But someone told me that the same subject matter cannot be protected under different IPRs (Copyright & Patent).
So, Pure Software is protected by Copyright and Software with a Technical Component is protected by Patent.

I'm trying to figure out if the TRIPS agreement places any such rule (same subject matter cannot be protected under different IPRs).


texts: can a person paroled from a 15 year to life sentence contest the constitutionality of the state law that sentence?

texts:
I was sentenced to 15 years to life in 1984 under NY's Persistent Felony offender statutes (NY Penal Law 70.10 & NY Criminal Procedure Law 400.20) for a gun charge (CPW 3rd degree) which normally carries a maximun 3 1/2 -7 year Penalty.
   Surface, a Syracuse University legal publication (college of Law Faculty Scholarship) summer 7-26-2012 wrote a paper entitled: " Discretionary Persistent Felony Offender Sentencing In New York: Can it survive Apprendi? which essentially asserts NY's PFO adjudication sentencing provisions (NY CPL 400.20) " History and Character " findings requirement for discretionary sentence enhancement, to be unconstitutional as found by a trial Justice and not a Jury.  I was paroled in 2005, still have issues regarding bias by the state trial court (never actually litigated for procedural default reasons) and am asking can I now raise a challenge to NY CPL 400.20 in a USC title 42 section 1983 Civil Action?


texts:
Article 17 of the GDPR states that:

  The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her [...] where one of the following grounds applies: [...]

  b. the data subject withdraws consent on which the processing is based [...]

What I haven't understood is how specific one can be regarding the data to be erased in such cases. May one request the deletion of a single data-point or must it be of entire data categories?

For instance, if I was friends with someone on Facebook, unfriended them, and for some reason wanted Facebook to erase its knowledge of our past friendship, is that permissible according to GDPR? As in, could I say

  I hereby withdraw my consent for you to process any data regarding my past friendship with John Doe (including its very existence) and therefore demand its deletion.

Or, given that I haven't given Facebook consent to analyze each individual friendship but to analyze all my friendships, would the request have to be far broader:

  I hereby withdraw my consent for you to process any data regarding my friendships (including their very existence) and therefore demand its deletion.

(which would be almost flipping a reset switch on my Facebook account)?


texts: Does posting a photo of a couple on a website require permission from both people in the photo?

texts:
Working on a unique concept website, I am questioning how legal it is and what sort of disclaimer would need to be present in the T&C to remain protected.

Basically, a user pays a fee and is allowed to post a message and a picture that will all be public on the website, and available for all. The picture is of the user and his/her partner. Nothing sexual, nothing offensive, nothing shaming (if so, deleted and refunded.)

My question lies in the user is allowing us to put his picture up, but what about the other person on this picture? We count on the user to make sure the other person is fine with it, but how can we protect ourselves?


texts: Can you refuse to show ID and give information to Border Patrol agents when not at a international border?

texts:
There are hundreds of videos on YouTube filmed by drivers who refuse to show ID or give information to Border Control agents at interior (non-international border) checkpoints (permanent or arbitrarily) set up along roads, i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLIJF0BnwBU

According to United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints - Wikipedia,

  No documentation is required at a Border Patrol checkpoint for US
  citizens...

Some of these check stations in YouTube videos are within 100 miles of a border; some are not.

The Border Patrol can be very adamant at demanding ID and information.

Do these drivers have a solid legal basis - stating that they have been illegally stopped for no reason, that there can be no probable cause solely by driving near a border, that the constitution forbids these kinds of stops - for refusing to show ID?

Can they legally refuse to show documents and refuse to answer questions as to where they may be traveling to and from? They don't appear to be getting arrested.

Can only US citizens refuse? What about Green card holders?

How does the Border Patrol know determine they may or may not be citizens if the individuals are successful at refusing to show ID?


texts:
As a consultant I was asked to sign an IP transfer agreement that differs a bit from what I was signing in the past.

There is a particular bit that throws me off:

  Intellectual Property Rights: (i) inventions, innovations and
  discoveries (whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice), all improvements thereto; (ii) know-how, ideas, concepts, creations, layouts, designs, drawings, patterns, models, compositions, architectures, protocols, formulas, algorithms,  processes, programs, methods, computer software (including object code and source code and related documentation), and research and development; (iii) Patents; (iv) Trademarks; (v) Copyrights;

So just how restrictive is this?

Does it mean I can't in any way re-write or re-use any of the concepts I use in this software I'm building? I am used to not blatantly copying source code and if there are specific parts of the code to protect I should discuss and go ahead with that.  But this part sounds like a catch-all that's gonna come and haunt me sooner than later.


texts: Indictment and prosecution in different U.S. districts

texts: Can a person be prosecuted in any district other than the district in which the original  indictment was filed? Does this require some sort of special procedure?


texts: Hotel charged me for damages, claimed I smoked in the room UK

texts:
I was going over my expenses and found a £200 charge from a hotel I stayed at over a month ago. I called to ask why, and they said that there was a "smell of smoke" and they "found something in the room" to indicate I had been smoking.

I'm not sure what they could have "found" but unless I smoke in my sleep I'm sure it's something explainable. As for the "smell of smoke" I imagine it was added to justify the charge but I guarantee they didn't smell any smoke in my room - I don't smoke ordinarily.

What is the proper procedure for disputing such a charge? If the hotel don't backdown over their claim, what legal recourse is there?

Guessing this would be civil so judgement on balance of probability - anyone know of similar case study cases?


texts: Can I get in trouble for unknowingly receiving and selling stolen property?

texts:
UNITED STATES: WASHINGTON STATE: PIERCE COUNTY: TACOMA CITY
My friend gifted me a bunch of useless crap, and I'm trying to sell garbage on offer up now. Can people get in trouble for unknowingly receiving stolen property and attempting to sell it? Or does one have to KNOWINGLY receive the stolen property? And what are the consequences?
I specifically asked my friend if any of this stuff was stolen and he said no.


texts: Do claimless advertisements need to have disclaimers?

texts:
My question concerns the requirement for advertisements to carry a disclaimer stating that they are advertisements, specifically in the United States. According to the FTC (though not in these words), an advertisement delivered through a trusted medium, such as the words of a celebrity or the side of an email client, has financial incentive to exaggerate the effectiveness of the product. Therefore, ads can mislead the public by using the trust in the medium to present the biased claims as truth, if it is not made clear that the information was sponsored and therefore may not be entirely unbiased.

Obviously, if a blogger publishes a blog post stating that he or she used a given product and lost X amount of weight in Y amount of time, and this blogger received compensation from the maker of the product for this blog post, it would be misleading not to disclose that this was a paid advertisement. However, what about ads that make no claims whatsoever?

If a Coca Cola employee were to spray paint the Coke logo onto a telephone booth, this could encourage people nearby to drink more Coke, but there was no disputable claim made. Not only that, but a similar situation could happen organically as well, if say a supermarket marked its beverage aisle with the Coke logo. There's no claim, no possible source of exaggeration, simply an image, and the assumption that it will increase sales. Does this logo on the telephone booth then need a disclaimer? The same logic could be extended to the giant advertisements in Times Square in NYC, which often do not feature claims, just branding.


texts: Particular Copyright Transfer Agreement - dubious or clear?

texts:
Could anyone please help me to understand a few rather confusing moments in one particular Copyright Transfer Agreement? The said Agreement is issued by the Journal of Materials Research and can be accessed here (via the link at the bottom of the page) or here (a direct PDF link).

1. In the Section A1 it is required that

  Additional authors names and affiliations should be provided on a separate sheet and all should be aware of, and accept, the terms of this form and accompanying form

I've read the Agreement forms back and forth a few times and couldn't find neither the manner in which the authors names and affiliations should be provided nor how should all the authors acknowledge that they are aware of this form and accept its terms. Am I right that in Agreement there is no explicit indication of how exactly should all the authors affirm that they understand and agree with these forms?

2. On the page 2:

  Section B - ... (to be completed by all authors)

Under Section B there are Name, Signature and Date fields. At first, I thought that it is required to print out as many Section Bs (second pages) as there are authors and to make them all fill and sign the forms. But in the middle of the page this phrase rests:

  (one author authorized to execute this warranty statement above and conflict of interest statement below on behalf of all the authors of the above article)

So, does it mean that one author can sign the form on behalf of all of them? What gives him the authority to do so? As far as I see, in the forms provided there is no explicit way to acknowledge that one author is (sorry) authorized to act on behalf of the others. Isn't there a legal loophole that, after the forms are signed and filed, allows the co-authors to claim that they did not permit that one (corresponding) author to transfer the copyright?

So, from the point of view of thoroughly correct legal English, is the said Agreement as dubious as I perceive it, or did I miss something?


texts: One sided i.e. unilateral termination clause in a contract; Does this render contract void / unenforceable?

texts:
I am a non-lawyer reading a relatively simple contract draft where everything else seems fine and dandy but the termination clause just says the following:

You agree that Company (A) retains the right to terminate this agreement at anytime.

Don't such unilateral termination clauses (sans notice) make a contract void and unenforceable? Just curious.

It's a low stakes contract (somewhat of a formality) so I don't care much either way, but just wanting to get my legal fundamentals right, now that I have a chance.

Edit:
(a) Does a clause like this give party A any advantage over the other? As it stands, both parties are allowed to terminate so long as they communicate, right? And without mentioning notice periods or acceptable causes for termination what value does a clause like this add?

(b) More generally what is the utility of a termination clause when it does not add details about notice periods, or acceptable causes etc? A simple termination seems a recourse that is  implicitly allowed, in any case, right? Whether I put such a termination clause or not? e.g.

  "Both parties have a right to terminate this agreement at any time"

What's the utility of such a clause? Even if I didn't write this explicitly that's what will be the default position?


texts: What is "reasonable wear" (4 years and 4 months) when comes to deposit return for the property?

texts:
I was renting a flat for 4 years and 4 months.

I'm registered with http://www.depositprotection.com/

  In accordance with your tenancy agreement some of these works are deemed to be rechargeable.

In my understanding it is a convoluted way of saying that I need to pay for it.

My first initial reaction is: ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

Then I realised I should ridicule them: £416.52 for "treat for urine in lounge strong smell"

(I'm not a lawyer but it may suggest there was a strong urine smell in my lounge)

I've recorded a short video on the last day of property: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwtHnI1ZQtM (58 second walkthrough)

All clean, all looking good, and I feel unhappy-to-say-at-least that they want £2231.87 repairs on the property that was £600 a month.

Here is a snippet from the tenancy agreement:

4 years and 4 months - I left it clean and within the reasonable wear - the main issue - who decides what is the resonable wear?

Shall I put it on fire instead? (damage by fire excepted)
Can you please advise what is the recommended way of disputing these charges?
What happens if I just ignore them, forfeit the deposit (in region of £600) - will they chase me to the court for the remainder?


texts: Argument related to handicap parking spots in a business

texts:
This is a situation from 15-20 years ago, but I feel like I never got a real answer:
This took place in Redwood City, California. We had a building that could accommodate more or less 500 people and had a large parking associated with it.
When we started to use the building, there was no proper markings on the ground; I mean there used to be, but they had faded a long time ago.
So new lines were painted and quite soon we got the visit of a few city officials, like the fire marshal, etc for inspections.
The city requested we allocate a percentage of the parking spots as handicap spots, nearby the building entrance.
We made the argument that there was no employee with disabilities and we'd certainly accommodate if the need would arise. To this they countered than a visitor may need it, but this was a software development place without any visitors and not even a reception desk.
To make a long back and forth short.. we had to mark the spots as allocated for handicap.
Over time, employees were using them because of the proximity to the entrance and, although no tickets were given, somehow the city got to know about it and told us to not allow this.
This was wasting about 10 spaces (don't remember exactly), and anyone from the Bay Area knows how valuable are parking spots there.
So, my question:
During the 3 years I was involved with the place, these parking spaces had absolutely no utility. There was never any visitor (besides deliveries and there was an area for that) and never a single employee with physical disabilities.
I do recognize the importance of these parking spaces where they can be used, but in that case it was wasted space.
To be the devil's advocate, it could have been conceivable that a city inspector with disability would have visited us, but certainly not 10 of them at the same time.
Are there provisions that would allow to not reserve the spaces for cases that never happen, understanding that these spaces could be created on demand if needed?


texts: Permissibility of ex-parte communication for judges in the US

texts:
Watching some legal movies it struck me as odd where judges are portrayed talking to one of the parties in the absence of the other (ex-parte communication). Say in New Zealand, this amounts to judicial misconduct (Guidelines for Judicial Conduct at [30]):

Communication between the judge and any party in the absence of the
other party to the case is not permissible, except in proceedings
properly heard ex parte.

Some examples:

In A Time to Kill, the judge is once shown walking down the street friendly talking to the state attorney/prosecutor (Jake and Oliver see them while sitting in a cafe just before Ellen Roark arrives). In another scene, the judge invites Jake to his house to tell him that his application for change of venue is denied.

In The Untouchables, Ness talks to the judge in his chambers, shows him a piece of paper where the jurors (as well as the judge himself) are listed to be on Capone's payroll, and persuades him to switch the jury.

Was/is it permissible for judges in the US to talk ex-parte like that? If yes, how come? If no, do the above scenes in the movies essentially portray judicial misconduct?
Related: Ex-parte communication between a Judge and Prosecutor - ethical breach or canon violation?


texts: Asset purchaser's liability for the target's contracts

texts:
I have had an ongoing contract with a non-US company, let's call it A. Now a US company B has purchased the A's asset — a software product I have been working on for A. A is now telling me that B has purchased the contract with me as well, and therefore I should now bill B and not A.

A quote from here says:

  contracts held by a target, and acquired by a purchaser, will often
  require the consent of the counterparty in the context of an asset
  deal

B has not yet approached me in regards to the contract. Am I right assuming that I cannot therefore bill B yet and should continue billing A until they negotiate signing of my contract with B?


texts: Has any legal system ever enforced all of its laws?

texts:
A recent Travel Stack Exchange question about an immigration provision in the federal code lead to a bunch of respondents noting that the law in question is simply not enforced, with one person openly disparaging it as “nonenforced and nonenforceable.”

Obviously there's a problem at some level (legal/moral/philosophical/practical...) at laws that are not enforced. But is that an impossible ideal? My question is therefore, have there ever been legal systems that have enforced all of their laws?

Edit: The question is not whether the police always catch the criminals, or whether any state has been sufficiently totalitarian to be aware of all crimes. What I'm curious about is a government that refrained from making laws that it couldn't plausibly enforce, or systematically removed laws that it turned out not to be able to enforce.


texts: How does a subject access request differ from a freedom of information request?

texts:
Is it similar to the distinction in the USA between a FOIA request and one made under the Privacy Act?
Corollary: what is the origin of the Subject Access Request system, and why does the name seem to be shared by other European countries?
Corollary 2: did the legal phrase Freedom Of Information first come to be used in the US or the UK, or even elsewhere?


texts: Why do lease agreements commonly prohibit animals and also specifically prohibit reptiles?

texts:
I was reading over my lease agreement and noticed the following clause:

  No animals or reptiles of any kind may be kept in or about the leased premises.

I thought it odd that the language seems to single out reptiles as though such creatures were somehow not included under the "animals" umbrella. I did a search of the phrase to see if it is common, and it seems that many lease agreements use this phrase. Why do these documents, which are otherwise quite precise and carefully worded, make such an odd distinction?


texts: What is the legal definition of "surrender" when it comes to leases in the US?

texts:
My lease says "DEPOSIT RETURN, SURRENDER, AND ABANDONMENT OR JUDICIAL EVICTION. We'll mail you your security deposit refund (less lawful deductions) and an itemized accounting of any deductions no later than 60 days after surrender or abandonment, unless statutes provide otherwise." My reading of the legal definition of "surrender" is that it is an "abnormal" giving up of lease. If I left an apartment at the legal end of the lease and have not received my security deposit within a month, is the landlord in violation of §38-12-103 C.R.S. and therfore subject to section 2 of that paragraph?

This is the only mention of a 60 day time period in the whole lease, so I am assuming that the "one month" in the law applies to "normal" end of lease.


texts: Will getting court order and being evicted get a criminal record, therefore making future job endeavors problematic?

texts:
Evaluating various scenarios. United Kingdom.

One of the potential option is:

do not pay rent
landlord gives notice
court
eviction

Will tenants being evicted get a criminal record that will interfere with most of the job requirements?

When searching Google, most information was about criminal record for rogue landlords:

  Eviction without obtaining a court order is a criminal offence

What about criminal record for evictees?

Alternatively, if there are any other negative consequences outside criminal record please state them in the answer.

RANDOM / FUNNY FACT:

(it appears it is a serious matter)


texts: Is there a way to check for patent infringment for free, when selling on Amazon?

texts:
I have a listing of a chinese wireless charger, compatible with the new iPhones.
How can i know, whether the product infringes Apple's patents without hiring a lawyer (which would be more expensive than the whole operation).


texts: Legality of using homemade pyrotechnics in desert, but within city limits

texts:
Q: Is it illegal to ignite homemade pyrotechnics in a (beyond) backyard desert area in NM? This is within city (Las Cruces) limits and not near (100 yards) any buildings. The firework, when ignited, would burn vigorously and produce a moderate amount of smoke, not detonating, popping, or exploding in any way.
For a better sense of what the substance is, take a look at this YouTube video: Pyrotechnic Pie - Mega Dangerous Thanksgiving Dessert!


texts: Can an actor use their stage name to open a checking account (and deposit checks made out to a stage name), or to get a driver's license, or to sign a notarized document, or to get a credit card?  Or do they always have to use their real name in cases like that?  If a stage name is acceptable in those cases, what prevents anyone from using one?


texts: Agreement to policies provided by a website link: today's version or any future version?

texts: If I am asked to sign something saying that I agree to follow the policies that are provided from a website link, does that mean I'm agreeing to whatever the state of that website is on the day I'm signing, or any and all future updates to that website? It doesn't specify either way: neither "as of the date of signing" or "any and all future updates" is written. I'm not sure if that type of "blank slate" agreement is legal.  This is in USA.


texts: What standard of testing are self-driving cars' algorithms legally held to?

texts:
The reasoning behind the question...

One common argument for autonomous vehicles is that they are far, far safer in number of accidents per unit time per average person than having the person pilot the vehicle. Which, at first glance, feels like a good argument; if you can demonstrate that a given algorithm, under a variety of different conditions over a period of months, has fewer accidents than a normal human then it makes sense to use that algorithm instead.

However, the thing that gets completely glossed-over in that argument is the fact that there is a single point of failure in that entire system: effectively, all the cars are using the same driver. So, if the software is fine for a few months, everything's fine, but if the image recognition software performs very, very poorly on an overcast day and one day it's overcast, or if a software update is pushed out which contains a regression, suddenly millions of people all die in one day.

In other words, an AV won't necessarily improve statistics; it will simply change their distribution, because there's effectively one driver for all those cars. So, when that one driver has an off day, all the passengers have an off day.

This is effectively the same model the pharmaceutical industry has been dealing with for its entire history, and as a result some pretty solid testing guidelines exist to minimize risk; first the new drug / algorithm is tested for a while with a small group of volunteers in a double-blind fashion (such that everyone is told they're getting the new thing, when half of the group are not), then larger and larger groups are tested under more varied conditions to see whether uncommon but serious flaws emerge, and to determine whether the placebo is actually more helpful / less dangerous than the new treatment.

Is there similar legislation in place to regulate these AVs' navigational software?


texts:
So, there are dormitory regulations and country laws. In the first rules, nothing told about privacy. But according to country law, there is. For example:
"Dormitory assistant has the right to enter students room without their permission."
AND
"Every person shall have the right to demand that his private and family life is respected. There shall be no violation of the individual's private and family life."
Dormitory located inside the country of course, so the question here is: Which one here is right? Constitution or dormitory regulations?


texts: Is it legal to make a contract intentionally confusing?

texts:
Suppose a company drafts a user agreement that is intentionally hard to understand in order to confuse its customers. Maybe it's needlessly long and wordy, maybe it unnecessarily cross-references various other documents, maybe it has a section in Swahili, who knows. Is there any point where this could make the contract unenforceable?
Many people will just click "Accept" on literally anything, and some customers would inevitably accept the agreement in spite of its problems.
Assume for the sake of argument that, although the contract is confusing, it is unambiguous, and its terms (though unfavorable) would be legal and enforceable if it were written in plain English.
Would a contract like that be valid?


texts: What exactly theoretically defines Moral Turpitude, related to a Canadian crossing the US Border?

texts:
I'm wondering what the real meaning of moral turpitude is in regards to border crossing (canadian traveling to USA)... mainly interested in finding out of house arrest short sentences for assault causing bodily harm are considered moral turpitude.

And also are arrest charges themselves included in that? Someone could get arrested for the worst crime involving moral turpitude, but then get convicted of a minor charge as the arrest was a mistake.

I have heard that even if you are arrested for something, this is still considered at the border, as who is going to allow someone to cross the border who has been arrested for terrorism related crimes 4 times, but never convicted? It seems like the moral turpitude theory and practice collide... you have a theoretical version of moral turpitude, and then you have the practice...

As this is the law site I guess I'm asking what it is in theory, from a legal standpoint...

Here is some info I already found:

http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/the-inspection-experience/prior-criminal-offenses/crimes-that-will-make-you-inadmissible-to-the-u-s/

And:

http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/260661/1925550/1221669593707/CBP+Overview+of+Waiver+Process+09-2008.pdf?token=wwxg0Kh99jBLJk43ak3fLwkjfOs%3D

However all the links that point to "list of crimes of moral turpitude" in those articles are dead links or incorrect links, or 404 errors. So, theoretically that page should describe it legally.. but, it's hard to find that page! As it's always a 404 error.


texts: Case of a libel judgment when an author is basing the premise of the story (fictionally) on the actual negative activities of the company?

texts:
I'm a fiction writer. (You all love these questions.) My publications ALWAYS begin with the general disclaimer "This is a work of fiction ..."

However, I've been doing more realistic dramas, and I'll give an example of something I see myself doing (not specifically, but it's much easier to give an example).

In a 1930s-era gangster drama, two Chicago mobsters are talking about the end of Prohibition and its effect on their lifestyle. One mentions, "Now that they took the cocaine out of Coca-Cola, I bet there's a whole country full of addicts just waiting to get their hands on it."

Is this a form of defamation? Not necessarily because it's true (that Coca-Cola put cocaine in its product), but because I made an intuitive leap in a work of fiction suggesting the boom in cocaine usage in the 30s and 40s in America was at least partially due to the exposure and subsequent withdrawal of the drug by the company the decade before. Again, this is just an example of something I notice I tend to do.

So if this is a form of defamation, can you point me to an example of something similar so that I can learn what not to do? It's true that in-house publishers' attorneys make decisions on these types of things, but if I write a fiction story about the pre-1960s cocaine trade in America, and I can't use my example conversation, I may have just wasted months of work product in developing a story based upon it.


texts: What remedy does the Executive Branch have after Executive Privilege has been violated?

texts:
Claims of executive privilege seem to be a cautionary claim - cautioning someone to not disclose inner workings of the executive branch. It is a preventive claim - preventing someone from releasing those details.

What is the remedy if someone violates executive privilege? Is there any statue criminalizing the violation of executive privilege?

On a related note, if the damage is done - something really crucial to the executive branch is revealed - can there be any remedy to that or is the genie out of the bottle? For example, could the information be used in a suit against the USA or will the presiding judge throw out evidence obtained through the violation of executive privilege?


texts: What does a lawyer do if they know for absolute certain that their client is guilty?

texts:
Say that a person is accused of committing a crime, they either hire a lawyer or have one appointed to them. Some time later, the lawyer learns that their client most certainly committed the crime. Perhaps the client shows the lawyer a video of them committing the crime (and it is proven to be genuine).

What does a lawyer do in this case? Are they required to continue to defend their client (and would that mean they may be forced to commit perjury?) or are they allowed to choose not to continue to represent their client in the interest of finding the truth and upholding justice?

If there are any historical cases where this sort of thing happened, mentioning them would be a plus.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that the lawyer is somehow able to know with 100% certainty that their client committed the crime, so there is no issue of the lawyer passing judgement when there is a chance of doubt.


texts: Can an estate agent legally incentivize someone to sell below market value?

texts:
My neighbor is selling his house and the estate agent has listed it below market value, but in return is offering to pay the stamp duty and bill to refurbish the kitchen in the house he is moving to.

Are they legally allowed to do this under table arrangement?

I assume they are doing it with the intention of provoking some crash in the local housing market, which in return they can profit from.


texts: What is the effect of saying "we reserve our (client's) rights" when writing to another party to a dispute?

texts:
In communication between parties to a dispute, the phrase we reserve our client's rights is often included. I've only ever seen this used by solicitors acting for a client in a matter, but I would imagine that it would have the same effect if used by one of the parties.

What is the purpose and legal effect of including this statement, and what are the consequences of not including it?


texts: Travelling to off site client, how far is acceptable. Uk

texts:
My partner works at an audit company and sometimes has to travel to clients. These are usually near where she works and does not significantly increase her travel time. Occasionally they will find a hotel for her to stay in.

She has just been told to go to a client 2.5hours from where she lives and has not been booked to a hotel.

This is over an hour each way more than her usual commute and will mean she's travelling for at least 5 hours each day for 8 days.

She would (unhappily) stay in a hotel but has been told no. Is there any legal protection for this in the UK?

I've tried looking online but I'm not sure how to word what I'm looking for.

added commute timing

10min Bus
 1min walk
11min train
 6min train
48min train
 1min walk
 9min bus
 6min bus
15min walk


texts: Can the deliberate withholding of sex constitute coercive and controlling behaviour under English & Welsh law?

texts:
First I should clarify that this question is (fortunately) entirely hypothetical and academic, so please don't worry about me (I'm fine).

I am trying to figure out a seeming conflict in the broad remit of coercive and controlling behaviour (as defined in the The Serious Crime Act 2015) and the principle of sexual consent.  Though the newness of the offence means there aren't many cases on the subject, the guidance from the Cheshire Police, though hardly legally binding, indicates that it would be a crime to withhold affection in an attempt to punish one's partner.

Indeed, it's easy to see how, in colloquial rather than legal terms, deliberately withholding sex could be an attempt to coerce one's partner, and abusive.  The linked definition in the Serious Crime Act covers any behaviour designed to have a serious coercive or controlling effect on their partner, which is so extremely broad that deliberately withholding sex as coercive quasi-blackmail clearly seems to qualify.

Yet, accepting that this abusive behaviour constitutes a crime would suggest that people in a relationship are obliged to periodically have sex, even if one of the people wishes not to (albeit for malicious reasons).  That would be repugnant, and undo the precedent of R v R [1991] UKHL 12, which clarified (shockingly late) that marital rape is a crime in England and Wales.

Leaving aside the practical objection that the Crown would be unlikely to find a prosecution for just withholding sex as in the public interest,  in this conflict of laws, which "wins"? Both outcomes seem unappealing: one lets off emotional abusers and the other forces people to have sex against their will.


texts: Is it legal to have unpaid volunteer moderators (or other types of volunteers) on a for-profit community website?

texts: It seems like everyone does it. I've never heard of a paid moderator (though I'm sure they probably exist). From what I've gathered, however, it sounds like having any kind of volunteers is illegal for any for-profit business in the US, based on FLSA regulations. Is this true, or am I reading it wrong? Would this also apply to other types of volunteers (such as someone who wants to help code the website)?


texts:
My mother and I jointly own a house in Nevada. It's her primary residence, but not mine. Is there any way to legally avoid paying capital gains tax if the house is sold either because my mother wants to move to a new house or I inherit the house someday and sell it?
Here's some background information...
In mid-2015, I bought a small house in Nevada for my mother. The house is in a seniors-only community and I'm not a senior so we had to add her name to the title to be able to buy it. I've made all the payments myself and have never collected any rent from her. It's been her primary residence since mid-2015. I live in California and have never lived in the house.
My mother is retired and collects very little from social security so I pay all of her bills. I've claimed her as a dependent on my taxes for about 8 years or so. I'll be filing my 2019 taxes within the next couple weeks and was not planning to continue claiming her as a dependent for other reasons, but I still pay her bills and have the option to do so if it helps somehow with the tax situation.
Luckily, my mother is healthy and I don't plan to inherit her half of the house any time soon, but I'd like to plan ahead for all scenarios. If I inherit her half someday and then sell the house, will I have to pay tax on all capital gains, just my half, or none of it? What if she wants to move so we sell the house and use the money to buy her a new one? Can I sign my half of the house over to her and let her sell it to avoid capital gains tax? Are there any other options that I should consider?


texts: After a document has been completed and signed but not submitted, how can it be invalidated/cancelled?

texts:
I had filled out an application and signed it, but realized I was missing some additional documentation. I have since moved apartments so a lot of the info I gave is wrong. Is there something I can write on a document that means it's no longer valid? I don't own a paper shredder. Would scratching out the signature be sufficient?

To be clear, I ask this question out of curiosity. Also, does the contract exist as soon as the paper has been signed even if the other party hasn't received this, so would this be illegal?


texts: At what point does a dead person's image enter the public domain?

texts:
Apparently the Ronald Reagan Institute claims to own Ronald Reagan's image and claims the ability to prevent the use of his image for commercial gain.
I am pretty sure I am allowed to sell pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy for profit. But I can't sell images of Ronald Reagan for profit?
At what point does a person's image enter the public domain?


texts:
In Canada/Ontario, lawyers are bound by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Is there some specific statute/law/code that one can cite that prevents lawyers from harassing clients of the other party in the case which may include releasing confidential information of those clients in public?

Thanks.


texts: music/rhythm based level map for the game - copyright issue

texts:
I want to create a music rhythm game.

To play in this game, user needs two files: the map and mp3 sound file.
Map files will contain special information about song's rhythm structure and doesn't include any sound.
Users will download maps from a game server and upload mp3 sound file from his own library to the game.
If user has no such music on device, he can't play.

I want to make money in the game (advertising or hero clothes), but don't sell music or maps.

Do I need to pay any money to artists in this case?

Thanks a lot!


texts: Does the Trump campaign have standing to sue over defamation against Trump?

texts:
The NY Times, the Washington Post and, most recently, CNN, are being sued for defaming Trump.  However:

  As with the other two cases, this one is being brought on behalf of the campaign, rather than Donald Trump himself as a party.

How can the Trump campaign have standing to sue for Trump?  I wouldn't think that they'd have the standing to do it.


texts: How to document mortgage payment arrangement with my partner?

texts:
My partner and I recently purchased a house. We split all expenses related to that purchase (down payment, homeowner's insurance, inspection costs, etc) exactly 50/50. Both of our names are on the mortgage, however since I handled the application, paperwork, communication, etc, my partner transferred her portion of these payments to me, and I paid them out of my accounts.

Going forward, we will also be splitting the mortgage payment exactly 50/50.

We have been together for years and plan to marry this summer, however it's always possible that one of us gets hit on the head, becomes a vindictive jerk, and tries to take the house away from the other.

What can we do now to clearly and definitively document the fact that we have split the mortgage 50/50, so that in case we eventually separate, it's clear that we should each receive an equal portion from the sale of the house?


texts:
Under federal campaign finance law, individual campaign contributions are limited to $2,700 per individual, or $5,400 for a couple, for each election cycle – that includes primary elections and the general election.

According to PBS: "Michael Cohen made a campaign-related expenditure on behalf of the campaign. Cohen’s payment to Clifford, prosecutors said, exceeded the $2,700 limit on personal contributions to a single candidate for an election."

So just to clarify, an individual giving a campaign 2,700$ is considered the same thing as a campaign giving an individual 2,700$? Both transactions can't exceed 2,700$? I always thought an individual can contribute to a campaign but that when the campaign spends money it's no longer called a contribution. At that point, it's just called an expenditure.


texts: Can I force a website/service to delete my private data

texts:
I would like to wipe my online data clean and make sure the people deleted my account.

Considering that most services only offer to "close" or "suspend" the account and not delete the data like skype or facebook can I force them to delete my data ?

I'm French and most of the services are US based.


texts: Why is the U.S. government allowed to grow and distribute marijuana?

texts:
In 1978, a program called the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program was established, in which the United States government began supplying certain individuals with marijuana that is grown at the University of Mississippi. Although the program ended in 1992, to this day four people are known to be living and receiving this government grown cannabis.

What provisions, either in the CSA or a separate law, allow the federal government to ignore their own federally enacted laws so that they may grow and provide marijuana to patients?


texts: Is the description given in sales material for a house binding in the UK?

texts:
My partner is currently purchasing a property in England. In the report returned by the solicitor upon completing the searches, it is indicated that the shed and greenhouse are not included in the sale (this is mentioned in an email exchange and the list of included and excluded inventory).

However, in the sales material (both a brochure and a page on the estate agent's website) they are explicitly mentioned: "...gravelled area and large garden shed...", "...pond, greenhouse and raised borders...".

Additionally during visits to the property there was no indication given that they were not included, despite speaking to both the estate agent and the vendor themselves.

As a result, my partner feels misled about their exclusion. Is the sales information considered binding and therefore will they need to include these items? Or is this instead a matter of just adjusting the offer to account for the change?


texts: Stove was replaced but old stove was not removed from premises

texts:
The stove had issues recently and it was replaced by the landlord.
The worker who moved the stoves placed the old stove on the side of the house.
I assumed the landlord would have it removed but that has not happened and my attempt to ask the landlord about it did not get any replies.
Who is responsible for the removal of the old stove? Is there a timeline? What are my options? Anything else that I might find useful?


texts:
If company A contracts company B to be paid by the hour, and company B contracts an individual C, also paid by the hour, is it legal for company B to pass on the hours their own contractor C billed them for to company A is if the individual C were company B's employee?

Real world example: a company is contracting a software development LLC for some development worked paid by the hour. The software development LLC wants to hire a tester via contract to test this software for a few hours. The softwere dev LLC pays their tester, then bills the hours the tester works on the client's project to their client.

I know that companies bill their clients for hours their on-payroll employees worked, but my question is specifically whether or not the hours of one contractor can be passed on by another to their client for working on the client's project.

Also, the question is regarding United States law.


texts: How can you tell whether somebody is "competent" to agree with you or your terms?

texts: How can somebody best ensure that when they enter into an agreement or relationship with somebody, that they won't later be able to complain that they were unable to understand the terms by reason of either some mental impairment or some disability or deficiency in learning?


texts: Is it illegal to supply a false address to a bank?

texts: Can somebody get in trouble for supplying a false address to a bank when opening an account?


texts: Could Sargon of Akkad-related compensation claims damage/ruin Patreon?

texts:
In 2018, Patreon removed content creator Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) from their platform over violations of their terms of service by using racial and homophobic slurs.
Recently, calls seem to have emerged within Benjamin's fanbase for followers to pursue arbitration claims against Patreon over his removal. Claims have further been made that due to the specific way in which the Patreon terms of service are structured, dealing with a sufficiently large barrage of complaints would bankrupt Patreon, even if all the claims ultimately fail. In particular, I came across the following YouTube comment which sets out the specifics:

Patreon's ToS is a contract of adhesion. Non-negotiable.
Within that contract, two things were stipulated—both the drafter of the contract (Patreon) and the user agreed: 1) that binding arbitration would be the method by which disputes were resolved, and 2) both parties waived their rights to legal action based on class grouping. Each complaint would be dealt with on an individual basis.
Under California law, any non-drafting party to a contract of adhesion who requests binding arbitration: 1) if an employee, is subject to a one time fee of $400; 2) if a consumer, is subject to a one time fee of $250.
All other costs of arbitration (est. $10,00 per complaint) are payable in advance by the drafting party. These costs are, under California law, unrecoverable. I believe if the deposit is not used in full by the arbitration process, they are entitled to a refund of the unspent money. But if they spend the entire thing and win, they can't recover their costs. The non-drafting party bears no financial liability beyond that initial one time payment of $250.
Patreon has already arguably violated its own contract by grouping the 72 plaintiffs into a class for the purpose of requesting emergency injunction against these arbitration requests. They should, by the terms of their own contract, have filed 72 separate motions for emergency injunctive relief.
It doesn't matter whether the arbitrations are decided in Patreon's favor. Their own contract requires that they address each complaint individually, and win or lose, foot the bill for the arbitration.
And here's the thing. Even if the abritrators are biased in Patreon's favor, they can't get around the law. All they can do is minimize the costs to Patreon by ruling early and in Patreon’s favor. They can't eliminate the costs to Patreon, or order any plaintiff to reimburse Patreon for them.
It's literally the perfect Chinese finger trap.

All of this seems believable enough, but I know better then to take a legal argument made in a YouTube comment at face value. Hence my questions here:

Do Patreon's terms of service cause Patreon to lose a minimum sum of money to arbitration costs in all cases, even if the claim is immediately rejected?

If yes, is Patreon required to go through full arbitration for each individual claim made? Or is there some mechanism to avoid additional costs for subsequent claims that are essentially identical to one that was already decided?

If yes, roughly what number of plaintiffs would be required for the combined claims to bankrupt (or seriously damage) a company like Patreon?


texts: Roommate Got Their Name off the Lease by Misleading

texts:
This is a major edit of a question which had number of ambiguities. Hopefully, the edits will clear the ambiguities.
So, A, B, and C were co-tenants on a lease in an apartment in California and A, B, and C used to pay the rent together to a landlord. And co-tenant A wanted to move out of the place. So A convinced B and C that if as co-tenants A,B, and C sign the new lease identical to the original without A's name on it (effectively "removing" A from the lease), A would in exchange, provide postdated checks to the landlord for the next three months of "A's portion" of the rent, plus the lease change agreement fee. So B and C signed the new lease without A on it.
Note that here, A's agreement to pay "A's portion" (which technically isn't spelled out in the lease) of the rent was only communicated to B and C, and not the landlord. In fact, for the lease change, the landlord did not inquire nor care about who will pay how much - just that the rent for the place were to be paid by somebody (including possibly those outside the lease).
Soon after A moved out, B and C found out that A in fact, asked the landlord to give A back the postdated checks, and B and C are the only ones obligated to pay the upcoming rent.
So in summary, what's remaining are 1) the new lease which is identical but without A on it, and 2) rental obligations of B and C (which are now increased), and 3) some traces of A saying that A will pay to the landlord "A's portion" of the rent after the lease change.
From some of the answers to the original question, there seem to be contract between A and (B and C) for paying "A's portion" of the rent, and another contract, the new lease between (B and C) and the landlord.
What legal actions do B and C have against A? And which actions are likely to succeed?


texts: Company stole my IP. Are there costless remedies?

texts: If a well-funded company steals an individual's intellectual property, are there any means to sue or otherwise enforce the IP rights without costing the victim anything?  (I.e., if the victim does not have the means to pay a large retainer to an attorney.)


texts:
I had a Limited company UK contract, with an Agency and worked at their end-client.

After working for a few months, my job was suddenly terminated by the hiring manager (i.e. the end client, no reason given in writing). But she told (in writing ) that - they will be paying for the notice.

But in later email, the hiring manager told that (possibly trying to save money as I have left)- they have only 2 week's notice on contract (whereas in my contract it's a full 1 month notice)

I recall that - just before joining, they increased the Notice period duration and made me to sign it, at the last minute.

Furthermore, no amount was paid, after I left, (not even for the 1/2 month) The Agency will be now more concerned about their relation with client than asking for my money..

What are the employee's legal rights in such a case?  Can I send a invoice to Agency for the full 1-month notice period?

Question- If we take into account the whole 1 month's pay then the claim is for more than Small claims court’s 10K limit. But 1/2 month’s amount is within Small claim track’s 10K limit.

So if they dispute for this whole month’s invoice due to half months worth additional amount, will I be able to access Small claims track?

While working there I was getting paid weekly, so could I raise separate weekly invoices for 1 month notice? Thanks a lot


texts: When does third party liability not pay?

texts:
Under which circumstances will a car's third party liability insurance not pay the damage to a third party in the UK? Not asking when the insurance company will ask the driver for their money back, but when they are not going to pay?

I couldn't find anything through Google. AFAIK for example the German rules are that the insurance doesn't pay if the car was not insured, if the damage was caused intentionally, and as far as the damage exceeds the insurance coverage, but has to pay in all other cases.

Because this was asked in a comment: The German insurance doesn't pay to third parties if the car isn't insured anymore, which happens after several payments are missed; they will also inform the police that there is an uninsured car. The policy doesn't matter, whether they have to pay to third parties is governed by law. They have to pay in case of negligence, gross negligence, but not for intentional damage. Since "third party liability insurance" is a legal requirement in many countries, intended to protect innocent third parties, you wouldn't expect the insurance policy to matter.


texts: What is the legal status of "warrant canaries"?

texts:
A warrant canary is a repeated claim by an individual or organization that they have not been served any warrants with an attached gag order. The idea is that you can say whatever you like if you have not been served such a warrant, but if you are ever served a warrant you simply stop publishing your warrant canary. Attentive listeners or readers would infer that you have been served a warrant, contrary to the intent of the gag order.

The EFF gives an overview of these warrant canaries here:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/warrant-canary-faq

What legal theories would support or harm the case of anyone attempting this technique?


texts: Can I use the name of a character used by a video game for novel

texts:
I am writing a novel in which the name of one of my characters is "Captain Quick" I recently found out that this name had been used by a video game as "Captain Quick Mercury" so can I still use this name?
Note: I may publish this book in future.


texts: Force third party to delete ssn from database

texts:
I erroneously gave my ssn to a recruiter working for a tech recruitment company. They asked for it because they needed it to post me for a bank job. At least that's what they claimed.

Long story short, I do not want them to possessing my ssn. Is there a way I can get them to delete my number?? And beyond that prove they did. Is there any legal action in case they lied?

Resources around controlling who has your ssn would be appreciated.

PS. This is all in California.


texts:
.Net Core is licensed under MIT (copy below).

If I understood it correctly, it says I'm allowed to copy and modify the software, including for sale, but that I have to include the license text in "all copies or substantial portions of the Software".

What does this exactly mean if I wanted to use (and modify) a source file from .Net Core in a closed-source project?

Do I just copy the file into the project and compile it into the executable?
Do I have to include the license text with the compiled end-product or just in the source code?
Does it have to be a separate file?

  The MIT License (MIT)

  Copyright (c) .NET Foundation and Contributors

  All rights reserved.

  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
  a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
  "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
  without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
  distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
  permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
  the following conditions:

  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
  included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
  MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
  CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
  TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
  SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

The source file has this written at the top:

  Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
  The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
  See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.


texts: How can we interpret "may 'convene' a meeting"?

texts:
The laws for a number of statutory boards in my state are very brief in their specifications of procedures.  One basic thing most of them seem to be saying are that either a board leader may convene a meeting or a specified majority of board members may convene a meeting.  I don't know that there is any case law on "convening" a meeting, but the quorum rule seems to be a completely separate topic.  (The quorum rule (also specified in statute) says a majority of "members serving" is a quorum.)

Here are two examples of what I am trying to interpret:

  The board shall meet at least once a year to conduct its business and to elect a chair. Additional meetings must be held as necessary to conduct the business of the board and may be convened at the call of the chair or a majority of the board members.
  The board shall meet at least once a year to transact its business, which includes the election of officers and the reorganization of the board. The board shall meet at additional times as it may determine. Additional meetings may be called by the president or by 2/3 of the members of the board.

http://legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/32/title32sec13718.html

In example two, the statute says specifically that the president's term lasts for exactly one year starting with the date of election.

What I am seeing is, for example, with example two, they forgot to elect a president last year and yet the minutes all say that the "president" "called" the meetings last year.  Does that make those meetings invalid?  In one of those meetings, two thirds of the members were not even present.

Another question I have is, "what about the meeting where officers are elected?"  The statute says "additional meetings" may be called by the president or 2/3, but is silent on the first meeting.

How do you interpret these "convening" clauses?  I can't imagine they're meaningless.


texts: What legal actions can I take against someone who discards my property?

texts:
I had an agreement with someone that they would keep my property (two suitcases and some clothing) in their apartment for some time. It's only been three days, and every day this person sends me threats telling me that they will discard my property. The final threat from him is that if he doesn't hear from me by Wednesday he will discard my property.
I have arranged for my property to be collected this friday. I've tried to reason with this person, but he is on a power trip. Is there any legal action or rights (the law or police) I can use as a deterant to allow common sense to prevail so that this person doesn't discard my stuff before they can be collected this Friday? The person lives in a university accomodation, would contacting the university help?


texts: How do I determine whether or not a book cover and its imagery is in the public domain?

texts: I'd like to use scans/photos of old book covers in a product I'm selling. Are the laws regarding the images on the cover different from the ones regarding the content of the book? How to I check to make sure I can use the image?


texts: Is it illegal to use a proxy chain in the UK?

texts:
As you are all aware about the whole Facebook fiasco.... I am now wanting to be as anonymous as I can online, one method I found was to use a proxy chain. I am just wondering if it is legal in the UK before I try to set one up :) Bearing in mind that this will not be used for any illegal purposes such as: hacking, torrenting files illegally, streaming films illegally

It's purely for normal web browsing but hopefully more secure

Furthermore if it’s like this hen it’s very similar to using a tor browser or onion tor?

Another thing I have heard is that by using a tool like this your ISP is likely to cut/slow down your internet, any truth to this?


texts: What options exist for doing one's own legal work?

texts:
To my understanding, you can always represent yourself in court. So when is it a good idea to get a lawyer? I have a relatively simple case but could use a few pointers. I know legal proceedings have lots of administrative technicalities and I could use help with these sorts of things. I feel like the bulk of the work is carefully detailing what happened which feels more like the job of a news paper editor.

What options exist if I don't want to pay a lawyer a bunch of money and am willing to do most of the work myself?


texts:
As mentioned in my other question, a client has photoshoped my contract with him. One of the terms he added was

  Legal waiver: each person signing this contract hereby waives all
  rights to legal advice.

Is this a real thing or just nonsense?


texts: Is there any statute of limitations on fraudulent transfers?

texts:
Consider this scenario
Person A takes out loan then uses it to buy a car unsecured.
Person B steals the car and forges the registration.
10 years pass. Statute of limitations on civil theft in nevada is 3 years I believe. Debt still exists. Delay was lack of funds for lawyer.
Does Person B now legally own the car? Can anything be done to get it back? Does the debt matter? Cant Person  A or the creditor file some lawsuit?


texts: Is it legal to display user airline seat info on a public platform with absolute user consent

texts: Planning a public platform to display user seating info after taking proper user consent , will that still attract legalities if user is ok with it , will it fall under any legal clauses under GDPR regulations.


texts: What laws give a bouncer the right to evict somebody from a night club in Australia?

texts: What set of laws give a bouncer / security guard / crowd controller the right to evict a person from a night club in Australia? if not all Australia then Victoria.


texts: Are there any restrictions to using publicly accessibly information posted by a company? An example would be a list of the 100 top movies on IMDB, or the 30 most-followed pages on Twitter, or the 5 most-listened songs on Spotify.


texts: In Missouri, can I sell 'non-hazardous' food from my kitchen?

texts:
RSMO Ch. 196 makes me think the answer is yes. In particular:

  A cottage food production operation is not a food service
  establishment and shall not be subject to any health or food code laws
  or regulations of the state or department other than this section and
  rules promulgated thereunder for a cottage food production operation.
  (1) A local health department shall not regulate the production of food at a cottage food production operation.

However, health.mo.gov says

  The caller should contact their local health agency to determine
  specific requirements, including licensing, facility requirements,
  etc. In general, an individual may not use their home kitchen to
  prepare food to be sold or distributed.

I can't tell if I am allowed to sell 'non-hazardous' foods from my kitchen so long as they are appropriately labelled, sold in-person, netting me < $50k a year, etc and I'm nervous about calling the health department because the statutes make it sound like I don't need an inspection but I have reason to believe the health department may be telling local cottage food production operations they have to have inspections, licenses, etc unfairly.

Is it reasonable for me to believe, based on the information above (and the rest of Ch 196) that I can sell non hazardous foods from my kitchen as long as I meet the requirements laid out in the statutes?


texts: On what grounds could threats of civil unrest overturn the results of a trial?

texts:
On Saturday, April 17, 2021, United States Congresswoman Maxine Waters called for protesters to “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is found guilty of only manslaughter in the ongoing trial regarding the death of George Floyd. This is in the wake of country-wide civil unrest that resulted in Floyd's death in May of 2020.
Waters' comments later prompted Chauvin's defense attorney Eric Nelson to urge Judge Peter Cahill to declare a mistrial, arguing that “an elected official, US Congressperson” made statements that “I think are reasonably interpreted to be threats against the sanctity of the jury process” and had the effect of “threatening and intimidating the jury.” While Cahill denied the request, he went on to say to Nelson “I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”
On what grounds could the defense try and overturn a verdict under circumstances as described, and further, has anything like this happened in the past?


texts: Is sharing old movies online a case of praeter legem?

texts:
The Czech national television doesn't share some of the older movies in their archive, in their own words because in the year they were buying distribution rights, nobody  gave them the right to share the property via a system like the internet.

Should such rights be a subject of the principle praeter legem?


texts: what legal action can be taken when no contractual agreement was signed but money changed hands?

texts:
Several years ago a friend of mine, had a friend who was also one of his employees, build him a personal blog on the side. This blog is very popular, because my friend is a radio personality.

My friend the radio personality paid the guy for his extra work, he paid for the domain name, the hosting etc. But everything on the domain and hosting site was done through the employees name and employees login credentials so the employee could manage the site.

flash forward a few years, the employee went rogue, started lying about things, going behind peoples backs and was no longer able to be an employee at the company, he was let go.

My friend contacted and paid the man to transfer all of the files from his domain over to a new domain in my friends name, but it was never done, the former employee when contacted as to why the exchange never too place is claiming "issues" with transferring over the files.

This employee has my friends website root files and all of the domain information and is now completely unresponsive to contact. There were no contracts signed regarding the website, there were no legally binding agreements besides checks being cashed. What teeth does my friend have to get the web files from his rogue former employee?

there is no desire to sue for any damages, the only desire is to get the websites files and not have to build from scratch again. Which I can do, but it would not be preferred.


texts: Can I use the name of a fictional company

texts:
How could I possibly know if I can use the name 'LexCorp' for a real company. LexCorp is the company of Lex Luthor in the comic books of DC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LexCorp


texts:
I purchased an 11-piece cabinet at a ridiculously low price and the order was confirmed by the corporate retailer. Few days after reviewing my order they have swapped out the item for a different item. Instead of the 11-piece cabinets it is now a vacuum on my order. I have all the supporting documents and pictures to prove it. Is this something I can go after the company for?
I am located in Canada and the product was purchase from a Canadian store


texts:
What is the threshold for probable cause to run a drug-sniffing dog around a car in Pennsylvania?
My husband was pulled over in Pennsylvania. There was nothing in arms reach out in plain sight to cause a search.   He pulled over off the road,  which the officers falsified,  they ran the dog around the car after they made him leave and dropped him off themselves.   He was only driving a customer's car and they are blaming him with false claims.  Someone please explain the threshold to search.


texts: Simple techniques to take away from police officer's credibility

texts:
Are there any simple and easy methods to try to detract from a police officer's credibility?  I'm interested in the US legal system.

Example

When challenging a traffic ticket, you can take notes or an official report of the weather to court. Then you can examine the citing officer in front of the judge to see whether he remembers the weather. If you can get him to answer inaccurately, then you have cast doubt on his ability to remember the other facts relevant to the traffic charge.

Keep it simple

In traffic court (infraction of the law) you only have to be found 2 percent more accurate than the officer (who the judge thinks is 51 percent credible).  Are there other simple ideas for achieving this?


texts: Can tenants in Arizona be required to professionally clean after agreement to break lease?

texts:
For reasons described below, my landlord told me a few months ago that I could break my lease if I found a house I wanted to buy. 6 weeks later, I closed on a house, and gave him 30 days notice. However, he began mentioning in correspondence (this is all via text message) that he expected the house to be in the state it was in when I first moved in, and as the end of the 30-day window approached, began dropping requests to repair small holes, rent a professional carpet cleaner, etc.  He has not deposited my April rent check, and it now seems his intention is to give the proportion of my security deposit back that corresponds to what day of the month the house is "deep-cleaned and move-in ready."

For context, my landlord (a) advertised the rental had a fireplace, but refused to pay for an inspection and encouraged me not to use it, (b) responded to a request to replace 10 unusable, loose electrical receptacles by saying his job was overwhelming, he didn't want to be a landlord anymore, and did I want to buy the house?, and (c) during the inspection process, was not willing to concede the cost of $7000 of plumbing work, instead saying that the realtors should pay for it, as it would only be 3% of their commission, which is false.

My interpretation is that this landlord wants the financial benefits of being a landlord without exerting any effort.

I once had a landlord attempt to withhold my deposit because the room I rented was "dirty," although it was obviously that way before I moved in, as the previous tenant had two large dogs. I learned from that experience that in Arizona, deposits cannot be used for cleaning unless a walkthrough inspection, with checklist, is performed before move-in. Moreover, withholding a deposit for invalid reasons for over 30 days means the tenant has recourse to request twice the amount wrongly withheld.

What I don't know is whether this applies to my situation. The statement that I could break the lease was made without any formalities, over a text message. I'm concerned that if I attempt to assert that asking for e.g. steamcleaning is unreasonable, the landlord will just say that the contract is still in effect, and just deposit the checks I wrote, post-dated the first of each month, for the remainder of the 12-month lease. I have cleaned the house to a reasonable extent. Can I safely void those checks, provide a PO Box for my deposit, drop off the keys, and leave a brief notice of my rights under the law, or would I risk legal action and/or legitimate withholding of deposit money by doing so?


texts: Is the statement "I/we am/are pressing charges" incorrect?

texts:
In the media and in everyday life it is common to hear things like:

"Are you going to press charges?"

"Did Bob Press charges?"

"I am going to press charges against that jerk"

Or something along those lines.

These statements make it seem like individual citizens have some ability and all mechanisms at their disposal to bring a charge upon someone or something.

I am wondering if what is really being said in these statements is
more like:

"I am going to press the District Attorney to charge my assailant"

Or

"I heard Jan and Bob feel very wronged by Mike and they will be speaking with the DA today in hopes that charges will be filed"

So the question is this:

Is pressing charges the act of convincing or informing the true authority that can do such a thing to indeed take the action?

Or is there some mechanism/action that takes place when a person says they are going to "press charges" that I am unaware of?


texts: Can a company make a late payment charge that is greater than the maximum permitted by law?

texts:
A reasonably large online services provider includes the following in their Terms of Use (my emphasis).

  If Your credit card is declined, You agree to pay Us the fees within
  thirty (30) days of notification from Us, and pay (at Our discretion)
  a late payment charge of 1.5% per month, or the maximum permitted by
  law, whichever is greater.

By accepting these terms, am I accepting that they can make a late payment charge (of 1.5% per month) that is greater than the maximum permitted by law?


texts: Does the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus apply to employees of subcontractors?

texts:
From the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus:

  that a business associate includes a “subcontractor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information on behalf of the business associate.” ... we clarify the definition of “subcontractor” in § 160.103 to provide that subcontractor means: “a person to whom a business associate delegates a function, activity, or service, other than in the capacity of a member of the workforce of such business associate. [emphasis added]”

Let's say that a hospital contracts with Acme Computers to handle their computers, and Acme then hires John Doe as an employee to work with the hospital's computers, computers which deal with personally identifying information.  Some people I've talked with say that since HIPAA only mentions "contractors" and "subcontracts" but not "employees" that HIPAA won't apply to John Doe.  From what I've read about the omnibus (like here) I think that the intent was to make HIPAA apply as far down the "chain of command" as possible, meaning that it not applying to employees of (sub)contractors would be a huge loophole.  But then the line "other than in the capacity of a member of the workforce of such business associate" might exactly mean that it doesn't apply to employees of contractors.

So, which is it?


texts:
According to (1), anyone in France may ask for a copy of a judicial decision. If one decides to make it available publicly, e.g. on a website, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) demand to be de-identified (2). What information must be removed from judicial decisions in France when made public?

I am looking for an exhaustive list, such as the list defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules in the United States that list all types of information that must be removed from a patient note before it can be shared publicly:

(i) Names of patients and family members
(ii) Addresses and their components
(iii) Dates (month and day parts, unless the inclusion of the year part identities an individual to be older than 90 years old)
(iv) Explicit mention of ages over 89 years old
(v) Telephone and fax numbers
(vi) Social Security numbers
(vii) Medical record numbers
(viii) Health plan beneficiary numbers
(ix) Account numbers
(x) Certificate or license numbers
(xi) Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers
(xii) Device identifers and serial numbers
(xiii) Electronic mail addresses
(xiv) Web universal resource locators (URLs)
(xv) Internet protocol (IP) addresses
(xvi) Biometric identifiers
(xvii) Full face photographic images
(xviii) Employers
(xix) Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code

(1) http://www.precisement.org/blog/Se-procurer-la-copie-d-une-decision-de-justice-les-bases-legales-et-un-guide.html:

  Les tiers – personnes qui ne sont pas parties à la décision [7] – peuvent donc se faire délivrer copie des décisions qui ont été prononcées publiquement, ou plus exactement que l’on considère comme telles.
  Gtranslate: The third-parties, i.e. persons who are not parties to the decision, can therefore be given copies of the decisions that have been spoken publicly , or more precisely that we consider as such.

(2) http://www.droit-technologie.org/actuality-498/la-publication-des-decisions-de-justice-sur-l-internet.html


texts: When not to participate in a civil case appeal

texts:
Suppose a party files a notice of appeal and gets an appeal brief due date and properly responds however the intended appellees ignore the notice of appeal aka do not respond to the notice of appeal - they do not give notice to the court that they will be participating in the appeal.

What would such an action as ignoring an appeal accomplish?
What are some possible responses for the appellant?
Could the appellant notice the court that the appellant has won by default?
Do the appeal courts ignore the whole issue?
Do the appeal courts rule on the paper (single brief) before them anyway?
What kind of trick is this anyway?


texts:
There are some EULA which prohibit disassembly or reverse-engineering of its executables

Now Joe in Somalia gets a hold if this software, disassembles it, and publishes the algorithm online.

Bob in the United States gets a hold of this algorithm, re-implements it in his own software.

Assuming there are no patents, did Bob do something illegal? Is this similar to a "fruit of the poisoned tree?"


texts: Does double jeopardy apply for different charges of the same case?

texts:
Lets say there is a serial killer who sexually assaults their victims before killing them.
For the sake of argument, lets say prosecutors fail to successfully charge them with murder the first time around.
After a while, investigators realize that the victims were raped before being killed. Can they bring in a fresh new criminal case (this time for rape) against the original perpetrator? Or would they be protected from further prosecution under double jeopardy?


texts: Is this a Prima Facie case for State Tax Fraud?

texts:
Manafort has been convicted of Federal Tax Fraud. Does that conviction form the basis for a prima facie case of state level tax fraud?

While the President has authority to pardon the federal crime, he is apparently not able to pardon for state crimes. Even in light of a possible federal pardon, is Manafort still in significant legal jeopardy with state tax fraud charges.


texts: Do objects in the public view need licencing?

texts:
I would like to create a game that would use Google Street maps to build a map for gaming. Can pictures or video be obtained from Google maps to produce a game?

Google maps already blur signs and such. Can billboards and such in the game be reproduced without acquiring permission? What permissions might I need?

https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/168615/google-street-view-racing-game

Google Maps Licensing


texts: Can arrival/departure stamps on an expired passport be used in court to prove someone wasn't in the country?

texts:
Can arrival/departure stamps on an expired passport be used in court to prove someone wasn't in the country and is therefore innocent?

Hypothetical question: For example, if someone commits an Internet crime using your Wi-Fi connection, such as sexting or nudes, and you were actually out of the country on a vacation, and this is discovered 3 years later. Can you use the arrival and departure stamps on an expired passport to prove that you were not even in the country when that happened?


texts: Who owns my idea? Me or my company? [UK]

texts:
I work in a small, specific, applied software development niche. The industry I operate in is relatively small and everyone knows everyone. Recently myself and a colleague have been floating the idea of leaving our current company to develop a new software product based on an idea that has been discussed at my current work.

A customer who I know very well and work with closely approached me about developing a software feature which would be an extension to our current platform (which would represent one feature amongst many for our current piece of software). I, in turn, brought this to my company saying that I thought it would be commercially interesting and this was met with general approval. However, due to other priorities we haven't been able to work on it. This happened about 9 months ago. In the last two months, due to company instability my colleague and I have been thinking more seriously about taking this idea and turning it into its own product and starting our own company based on this. To further complicate matters, I am the only person at our current company with the skillset to develop a particular part of this feature/product. However, none of the development relies on proprietary algorithms and all the knowledge required to develop the functionality exists in the public domain and is part of published standards. We would be taking this knowledge and applying it in new scenario. No code has been written for this in my current employment however I have done research and determined that it is possible. I have sent emails to other members of staff confirming this.

My employer is an American company and as such has a very strict contract (which I have been told before is unenforceable in sections). My contract says words to the effect that "any idea or know-how conceived in the employment of the company is their property and should be disclosed immediately to the employer". It also states that any work I do at any time, whether inside or outside work hours is their property. Does this prevent me from starting the company and building a product based on this idea once I have terminated my current employment? What do I need to be careful of? If I start a company and am sued by my current company, are there legal insurance packages that would cover me? I don't mind giving it a go, getting a cease and desist, and calling it quits - I do mind losing all my savings because I have to pay their legal costs.

On a separate note, the aforementioned customer and I have a close relationship and I would like to make them my first customer. My current employment contract also contains a restricted covenant which prohibits me from communicating with customers who I have dealt with in the last 12 months of my employment for 3 months after the termination of my employment. My guess is that this is relatively enforceable and I would need to be careful here?

I'm really excited about this idea and hope I can make it work! Any advice gratefully received.


texts: What law requires payment of a termination fee as outlined in a contract?

texts: My employer canceled on me (I am a contract worker) and didn't pay the termination fee we discussed. I want to show him the actual law so that he may understand that he should pay me because I have a legal right. The fee was written in the actual contract.


texts: Where do telecommunication crimes take place?

texts:
In the United Kingdom, where does a telecommunication crime take place?

Is it the location of the criminal or the victim?

For instance, if you hacked a computer in London, but you were based in Wales. Have you committed a crime in London or Wales?

Or if someone in Northern Ireland called another person in Yorkshire and verbally abused them over the telephone - where has the crime taken place?


texts: Can a police officer film me on their personal device in my own home?

texts:
A police officer was allowed into my home by another occupant before I arrived. During the encounter, I began recording the situation. After attempting to have me remove my sunglasses and stop recording, he pulled out his personal phone and began filming me.

Since this happened on private property, using his personal phone, is it possible for me to request the media he took of me be destroyed, returned, proof of no copy, or so on?

Would this put his device in the public domain?


texts: In Canada is it legal for a doctor not to be able to do something they should know?

texts:
This is a strange question. A few years ago I was a victim of a crime and I had been feeling bad about it. I go to University and once was told it's a good idea to make use of the counselors there while they're free. I went to see a counselor who said he thinks I have autism as I've been perseverating over a past event and seemed to not be doing well socially (for example when he asked me if I had any romantic interests, "I didn't clearly answer the question"). He told me to seek one of the university psychiatrists.

I tried, but found out the psychiatrists weren't comfortable with diagnosing adult autism because they hadn't done it in a while.

Is it legal for a doctor not to see someone because they don't feal skilled enough to help them (in an area they're supposed to be)? Is it legal for a psychiatrist to not see someone who thinks they may have autism? Is it legal for the councillor to make such a stupid statement that I have autism because I don't have a girl friend :P

Just to be clear the psychiatrists did "refuse" to see me as they didn't feel they new how to diagnose autism. I find this hard to believe, isn't that like saying you went to the dentist to have a cavity fixed but he didn't know how to do it (I know this is illegal as a dentist is required to know how to treat, at least basic, cavities in order to hold a dental licence). Autism isn't a rare mental illness so I would guess a psychiatrist needs to know about it to hold his licence?


texts: Is CE marking necessary for product used by myself?

texts:
I have made a device to take and print pictures during parties and social meetings, as part of my job (party organizer).

If I sell this device, it would fall under "Low Voltage Electronic Device" and would require CE-marking.

But I'm not selling it, just using it myself during the parties I'm organizing to take pictures of people attending.
Is CE-marking necessary for such a use case?


texts: Must you stop walking if a police officer wants to talk to you?

texts:
I know a person has a right to silence and not to answer an officers questions. But can the officer keep trying to talk to you to prevent you from carrying on your way?

Yesterday a police car pulled up beside me and told me to stop. They kept asking vague questions like if I live in the area, where I'm coming from, where I'm going. For some reason they seemed to be coming up with random questions and finally I said I had to be on my way. Hypothetically could a police detain you for leaving when they're speaking to you?


texts: NDA and other forms in Minor (Age) Company

texts:
I am 16 working on a startup with a friend of mine.  I have heard that legal forms signed by minors are invalid, so I was curious.  How can I guarantee with a form that both of us cannot ditch the other in the company?

In short, I want to make sure that neither of us can screw each other over in this startup (before creating the legal company) as minors.

The partner is also a minor.