texts:
I am a small music creator operating through a limited liability company in the United Kingdom.  One of my music tracks was licensed by a major Hollywood studio, and used in the trailer campaign for a major motion picture, so it received a lot of exposure online.  On YouTube it received 21 million views.

A person running a YouTube channel, with a Ukrainian address, ripped my music track from the internet, and synced it to their own video. I found it, and used the YouTube procedure to issue a copyright takedown notice.  YouTube asked for proof that the music track is mine, I supplied that proof to them, YouTube accepted my proof, and took the infringing video down.

Subsequently the owner of the video, in addition to sending me multiple abusive emails,  has challenged my takedown notice using YouTube's counter notification process.  YouTube have now sent me this notification:

"We have received the attached counter notification in response to a complaint that you filed with us.  We're providing you with the counter notification and await evidence (in no more than 10 business days) that you've filed an action seeking a court order against the counter notifier to restrain the allegedly infringing activity. In most cases, such evidence would include a lawsuit against the uploader who filed the counter notification, which names the specific YouTube URL(s) at issue. If we do not receive notice from you, we may reinstate the material to YouTube."

YouTube also included this statement from the owner of the infringing video in the counter-notification:

"I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good-faith belief that the material was removed due to a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.  I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the district in which my address is located or, if my address is outside the United States, the judicial district in which YouTube is located, and will accept service of process from the claimant."

QUESTION 1
So it seems to me, that the video owner has said he will accept the jurisdiction of YouTube, which is the state of Californa   So I don't have to try and bring a legal case in the Ukraine, which would be virtually impossible anyway. I could take action in California, which would likely be sufficient for YouTube to uphold my claim, keep the video offline, and uphold the copyright strike that I lodged. Is this correct, that I can take action in California and YouTube will accept that validity, because of the statement the copyright infringer has made about accepting that jurisdiction?

QUESTION 2
If the answer to QUESTION 1 is yes, court action could be taken in California because the infringing party has stated he will accept that jurisdiction, is it then possible to inexpensively take the necessary court action that will satisfy YouTube's requirement for having "filed an action seeking a court order against the counter notifier to restrain the allegedly infringing activity".  Would a small claims court action do the trick?  I understand YouTube would be in the jurisdiction of San Monteo for small claims.  Does anyone know
a) How much that would cost?
b) Would the action be accepted by the San Monteo small claims court, if lodged by a company based in the UK?
c) Would the small claims court accept a case against a defendant in the Ukraine, given the defendant already said they would accept the jurisdiction of the courts in YouTube's location?
On the San Monteo small claims court website I looked for an email address for someone to ask these questions to, but couldn't find one.
Thanks!
R.


texts: NSW, Australia. How to kick out a guy in the house who hasn’t paid so many weeks

texts:
I am living in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

I am head tenant of my house, by which I mean I rent the house.
I want to kick out a guy who is living in the house now. He hasn’t paid rent in many weeks; he is now more than $3000 in arrears.

He also doesn’t want to sign a sub-tenant agreement.

Legally I can't lock him out or remove his belongings from the house.  The only way for me to remove him is through an eviction process.

Moreover, I called police because someone told me if I can call the police it would be solved because he doesn’t have any documents to prove his right of tenancy. But police declined to remove him.

How can I remove him or get him to pay?


texts: Reclaim VAT after buying a car to be exported from Germany to outside EU

texts:
I'm a North African citizen living in an Scandinavian country (temporary residence permit - working grounds) and planning to buy a car from Germany to be exported to my home country (outside EU). I can see that in some websites like mobile.de that you can search by reclaimable VAT cars

1) am I eligible for reclaiming the tax, in my current situation ?

2) will I be eligible for reclaiming the tax IF I will move to Germany and have a temporary residence, Or you can't reclaim the VAT for the exported goods when you are German resident ?

3) What is the process for buying, exporting and reclaiming the VAT for the car ? any resources about the process ?


texts: Returning faulty item under long term UK warranty, but can't find accessory. What's my position?

texts:
Long story short, I bought an SD card for my phone. It has a 5 year warranty in the usual terms - replace with similar or better, or full refund, at their discretion. A couple of weeks ago it became faulty so I returned it. It was packaged with an adapter I never needed or used, like this (but 64 not 128):

I got an email back saying "what about the adapter", which I don't have, and was a very minor part of the product.

I'm sure legally that they must honour the warranty, but I'm at a loss how to best demonstrate that's the legal position, or that I don't need to return the adapter to claim in full on the warranty of the card itself. The item is too low value to be worth getting legal advice (about £30)

What is my position, and what would some helpful relevant legal arguments or UK consumer law precedents be, to research it or avoid a long dispute?


texts: What can we do with people still travel under corona pandemic?

texts:
What can we do with those people who still decided to travel (for skiing, example) and causing huge problems after they return, even though they know the fact that corona virus (or anything new in the future) is deadly and already spreading around the world?

--
Update:

According to Phillip, I want to point out a specific country like Finland, with Finnish law, for Finnish people who traveled to Italy.

--
Update 2:

I asked this question because I think in this way: If you're drunk and going to drive, and because of your irresponsible action could lead to the danger for some (one, two, maybe ten people), so you will be punished, even when you have not made a scratch to anybody.

But then why do there are people who would do something which leads to the danger of thousands of people, free to walk away?

Of course, we can exclude people who do not know, and people who have important things to do.


texts: International law regarding human trafficing

texts: What lawyers can handle a case that crosses borders and involves debt bondage human trafficking plus other crimes for victims of these crimes that take place canada usa


texts: Can I use an existing trademark of a 3rd party to name a totally different product of mine?

texts: For example can I start producing exclusively designed plungers and name them "Colgate" (like the toothpaste), write my own Internet browser (to compete with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox) and name it "Orbit" (like the chewing gum) or write a book, say, about how to organize your life piece by piece and name it "Lego"?


texts: What is the punishment for misusing Aadhar card details in India.?

texts: Some unknown person created an online account with my Aadhar card details and booked a room with that account.  I guess the person is the PG owner to whom I gave my Aadhar card to photocopy as proof of address.  Now he is misusing the address proof for creating fake accounts and booking rooms like this. What should I do now?


texts: Precedents for Attack on Lawyer in Court and Response from the Judge

texts:
I watched the classic Liar Liar Movie and also the breakdown by a youtuber Legal Eagle where he noted in the case where the lawyer injured himself to look wounded and get relief that the entire court house would have gone into lockdown and a search would have started for the assailant. He also said that the judge would have not asked him to continue like he did in the movie.
Has there ever been such a case in real life? I would really like to look up any such cases


texts: Can a CEO of a C corporation who make no salary qualify unemployment benefits?

texts: Many officers of startups do not make a salary, but they are actively working for their company.  While they do have options, these options may not be worth much of anything in the beginning.  If the startup is winding down and they are actively looking for employment, would their status for an existing company disqualify them from benefits?


texts: Where can single-asset alternatives be marketed to retail investors?

texts:
I know that in most countries/markets alternative investments can be marketed and distributed to retail investors... but only through pooled investment vehicles, i.e. funds.

My question is then, where is it possible for retail investors to place money and trade on single-asset alternatives? In which country/market and under what conditions?

After all, anyone can invest in a venture capital fund... you just need lots of money... and anyone can buy a house, you just need a lot of money...

But to buy commodities and derivatives, you are obliged to go through an intermediary... but intermediaries are usually forbidden to market and distribute such instruments to retail investors... right?


texts: Can I own the copyright for a translation of a public domain book?

texts:
Let's assume that I publish a German translation of a book in the public domain (because the author is dead for 70+ years) that hasn't been translated so far.

Do I own the copyright for the translation or is the translation automatically also in the public domain? Moreover, is someone else able to publish another translation? (I assume this is possible if it's substantially different, but I would like to know the exact rules.)


texts: Delete another user's account using my email address

texts:
Let's suppose I have an email account: user@example.com. Then, some other user signs up on a third-party service with email-based login with my email address (by mistake or not) and then I receive a confirmation email to activate that account on my inbox. I'd like to ask the following:

Is it legal for me to follow the account-verification link and delete that account?
Is it also legal to ask for an account recovery process and do the same thing: delete the account?
Does the answer depend on parts' jurisdiction/location?


texts: A podcast indicated that it is illegal to buy \ sell a kidney in everywhere but Iran and was labelled a 'repugnant' transaction.  If an American who was critically in need of the organ went to Iran to receive a kidney, does American law provide for policing / enforcing law for an act that takes place in country XYZ?


texts:
In its opinion the Court discusses earlier wire fence construction that, though somewhat similar to Glidden’s, did not “anticipate” the Glidden invention. “Anticipate” is a term of art in patent law. In order for a device in the prior art to anticipate, and so defeat novelty, the prior art reference needs to contain each and every element of the invention claimed by the patent applicant. The degree of similarity required must be essentially complete. If an applicant for a patent is claiming “a device consisting of parts A, B and C ” and the prior art contains two devices, one consisting of an A and a B, and another consisting of parts A, C, and D, neither of the prior art references anticipates the claimed device, and it is not permissible to combine them.

Above is a quote from my textbook. I am confused about the parts in bold and am not sure what it is trying to say. I think it is trying to say that the patent for "a device consisting of parts A,B and C" is novel and therefore ok because it was not anticipated by a previous patent. And the reason why it wasn't anticipated in the previous patent is because.........

And that is where I get lost. Is it saying that the previous patent must have a diagram of a single device containing ALL the same elements as the new patent does in order to anticipate it?

bonus question: What if the previous patent had a diagram for a device with components "A,B,C, and D"? I take it that the inclusion of D does not prevent anticipation. Right?


texts: Why don't US courts use numbered paragraphs?

texts:
Many, if not indeed most,  jurisdictions' (eg  Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, the Court of Justice of the  European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights) courts make use of numbered paragraphs for easy citation across a variety of platforms.  This avoids issues with citation and allows for (on platforms such as BAILII or AustLII) HTML pinpoint linking to specific parts of judgments.  I know that US statutory provisions use paragraph numbering, and a google (I have no formal study of American law) seems to suggest that court papers such as written arguments often require numbered paragraphs.  Yet, the US supreme court and (again, from a quick web search) the US state courts do not seem to use this easy and extremely simple innovation to aid citation.

Is there a reason why? Or is this one of those things like inches and Fahrenheit where it's just an American practice that doesn't have a reason?


texts: Postage for letters to the pope sent from Italy

texts: When royal forces defeated papal forces in 1870 and overthrew the Papal States, one of the various unsuccessful attempts to mollify the pope was a law saying that no postage need be paid on letters to the pope, sent from anywhere in Italy. Does that law still exist?


texts: Who has right of way between a legal u-turn vs car driving out of a parking lot as per Texas rules?

texts:
A car stopped in a left-only lane (not a traffic signal/intersection) on a main street and was making a u-turn (it is not prohibited) and no-through traffic from the opposite side. The car turns and has reached half-way at an angle into the third-lane (4-lane each way). At same time, a driver coming out of a parking lot takes a right and tried to move to the same lane and not the right-most(closest to curb) and meets this above car in an accident.

Since the car in the left-turn lane is on a main road, do they have right-of-way over the parking lot car. The first car turned into the lanes even before the other car drove out of the parking lot. Is there a law about who takes precedence in this case?


texts: When can a person be kicked out of private property?

texts:
I know the short answer is "whenever". So does this mean if someone paid cover to get in somewhere it would be legal for them to be kicked out the minute they step inside (and didn't do anything)?

I noticed a sign at McDonald's saying people are only allowed to stay inside for 30 minutes and can be removed at managers decision. So if someone bought $100 from a fast food restaurant and sat down to eat it, they can still be told to leave? Is this actually within policy of McDonald's?


texts: Create a lead sheet and play a song in a church service

texts:
I am an amateur musician who often performs (sings, plays guitar, plays piano) at church.  I attend a Unitarian Universalist congregation, and so the songs are often secular ones (a recent one was Lenny Kravitz's "Let Love Rule").

I play by ear, so my work process is the following:

Find the lyrics via Google and copy them to a MS-Word file
Find the song on Spotify or Youtube
Listen and write down the chords on the lyrics sheet (i.e. create a lead sheet)
Decide if the native key is appropriate.  If not, transpose the chords to the desired key.
Practice
Perform it in the church service (utilizing my self-created lead sheet)

Are there any copyright issues with what I described?  Would it be any different if I shared my lead sheet with a couple of friends who performed the song with me?

I understand that no license is needed to perform any type of music in a church service.  I suppose my question pertains specifically to my creating and utilizing the lead sheet.


texts: Tradesman charging twice - call out the full cost of service

texts:
I bought a stove and called an Electrician to install it at my rental property.

  He quoted me $240+GST and I agreed and paid up front.

The Electrician called me back 30 minutes later saying the electrical socket in the stove had been tampered with and he couldn't install it. We agree he would come back and install it when I got the stove repaired / replaced.

  3 weeks later the stovetop was replaced and my tenants got the tradesman back onsite. He called me in the morning to tell me it cost another $240! I told him "but I already paid" and we had a little chat and ended with "there will be a discount on this call out".

He rang me after installing the stove and said he called head office who wont budge on price. I told him it was exorbitant and amounted to $160 p/h and if I had pay they will not be happy at the online reviews they get from me. So he called head office again and called me back and said they would reduce it to $220 including GST. I think this is extortion, $484 all up for 3 hours time/labor. And I'd cut out the bench, fitted it and provided the heat resistant silicone. All he had to do was connect 3 wires +,- and earth and glue it in.

I am OK to pay a bit extra for the initial call out and a consulting fee incurred 1st time but not $220.

I'm NSW Australia, is there anything I can do? I haven't paid the additional charge yet and am speaking to the manager on Tuesday?

Advice much appreciated.


texts: Using translated company type on website

texts:
Is it legal to display the translated the company type on a website in English if the site itself is English? Also, on a bill?

My specific problem is that in my country (Hungary), the short name for limited liability company is KFC which sounds weird, like I'm part of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. Can I use it like LLC on my website or everything should be as-is, like S.R.O. or GMBH? (Using the long version isn't an option either, some foreign phrase would scare the customers away.)


texts: How can I legally use trademarked entities in my free computer game?

texts:
I'm making a free computer game based on Star Trek. It'll reference a few characters from the show, along with the Enterprise.

My understanding is by using character names from the show, I risk infringing on existing trademarks. Can I mitigate that risk by adding a line indicating "Star Trek and its characters are property of XXX corporation; I make no claim to ownership, etc..."?


texts: Having a body exhumed and reburied elsewhere

texts:
My mother was buried by her husband (second marriage) in a military graveyard in the state of Florida in 2016. The cemetery was counter to her (verbal) wishes and  we, her children, would never have chosen it. His choice was solely due to cost.

My sister and I would like to have her exhumed and moved to a family graveyard in Tennessee where she was born, and where her parents and her daughter are buried. However, it's very unlikely the husband would cooperate with us and he may be incapable of cooperating due to dementia.

Once he dies, would it be possible for us to do this? If so, what first legal steps would we need to take?


texts: How much time do you have for sueing someone for copyright infringement from the moment you have the proof?

texts: If I have a proof that someone has (or has had) an illegal copy of my work how much time do I have in order to sue for copyright infringement?


texts:
President Trump has been accused by women of rape, however he has never been convicted in court.

If one were to write in a reputable publication that Trump "is a rapist,"  would such a publication be potentially vulnerable to a libel lawsuit?


texts: Possible custody problems involving parents of different nationalities

texts:
Situation: Women residing in Spain (but different EU national) gave birth in Spain. Father of the child, who is a UK national is legally known and present on the birth certificate, was present at the birth and the kid took his name as well as the mother's: [name][fathers surname][mothers surname]. Mother and father are not a couple and the father is currently living in England. They currently both wish for the mother to take care of the kid, with the father only visiting on occasion.

Are there any dangers involving the father that the mother should be aware of? For example, does this situation pose any danger for the woman's custody rights over the kid under Spain or EU law? Would it be safe to travel to the UK (or any other country) with the kid, if for instance the father decided to keep the kid in the UK.

Thank you for any advice, and let me know if I should split this into multiple questions.


texts: Who has authority to determine whether death was natural, accidental, suicidal, or homicidal?

texts:
My understanding is that generally (and in broad strokes) it is the responsibility and authority of a jurisdiction's Coroner (a.k.a. Medical Examiner) to determine the cause and manner of any death not certified by an attending physician.

Suppose someone is found dead after a fall.  Suppose the Coroner, on reviewing the body and scene, finds nothing but deadly injuries consistent with the fall and the circumstances in which the body was found.  Now, one of four scenarios is possible:

The person died of natural causes and then fell (natural death)
The person fell accidentally (accidental death)
The person fell intentionally of their own volition (suicide)
The person was caused by another to fall (homicide)

Does the Coroner have the final say on cause of death?

Or do any other offices have the right to investigate a death to look for evidence of homicide in opposition to a verdict of the Coroner?  For example,

Can police pursue an investigation independent and contrary to that of the Coroner?
Does a District Attorney (when not the Coroner) have the means and/or authority to conduct an independent and contrary investigation?


texts:
My company run a popular monthly photo competition, we allow users to vote on the photos, with the top photo receiving a cash prize. We run the competition globally (essentially, all traffic is US, GB, CA and AU), but based in the UK.

We also have a virtual currency, gems, which can be used to buy bonus votes  and unlock features on the site/app.

Gems are given away, as rewards for completing achievements, checking in daily, etc. We also sell the "gems" at one of five tiers.

We want to add some form of mini game (roulette probably), where we would give away the first spin away for free, then additional spins would be charged, gems and/or cash.

My questions:

Does this class as gambling? (I assume yes)
Would it differ if we removed the cash prize?
How do games, like 8 Ball Pool, get away with it (Spin & Win, Scratch)

Any advice on this would be greatly received.


texts: How does one determine if illegal goods were accepted if an individual who has both legal and illegal source of income pays another party?

texts:
Lets say that an individual, Bob, has a regular job which covers his daily expenses, but also has an illegal side job.  A decent percentage of his disposable income is due to Bob's illegal activities, but he has some disposable income coming from his legal activities.  Both sources of income are placed into a bank, and bob then makes payments using a credit/debit card.

I'm wondering where the line is drawn for stating that someone has received illegal goods, as there is no longer a way to tell what money was legally earned and what was illegally earned.  I'm wondering both in cases in which one is aware of bobs illegal activities and in cases where the receiver of the money does not know it's illegal, but could still be compelled to refund it if it were illegally obtained.

A few examples of the ambiguous situations I can think of:

I assume if Bob buys a single drink at a local bar this would not be ruled as spending illegal money and the bar would not be committing an offense even if the owner of the bar was aware that Bob had an illegal income source, as Bob could easily purchase a drink with his legal income.

Likewise I assume if bob goes out to buy a Yacht that he could never afford with his legal income it would be considered to be purchased with illegal profits.

However, what about a more ambiguous case.  If bob buys an expensive fur coat for someone, which he could afford to do with his legal income, but which he likely wouldn't have chosen to spend money on if he didn't have the additional illegal income, does the coat count as profiting from illegal goods?

What if Bob offers a smaller sum of money to many people, small enough that Bob could easily afford to give such a gift to one person, but the combined cost of so many small gifts adds up to an amount bob couldn't/wouldn't have been able to afford without his supplementary income?  Could someone argue that the gift they received from Bob came from his legal income, but the other gifts Bob made to others was due to Bob's illegal activities, by claiming Bob was likely to give a gift to them without the extra illegal income but not to the others etc?


texts: What are an amateur photographer's rights at a protest/riot?

texts:
Suppose an amateur photographer, i.e. does not get paid for her work and has no press credentials. The photographer does post photos to social media, e.g. instagram.
The photographer attends the rally in Washington D.C on January 6 for photography purposes only. The photographer is wearing neutral clothing, has a camera bag over her shoulder, and a DSLR camera with a large lens. The photographer starts with the crowd at the White House and follows the crowd to the Senate building and even into the building itself, all the while taking photos.
Is the photographer guilty of a crime at any point? Are press credentials required as a form of  immunity from arrest/prosecution?


texts: Interpreting an ambiguous definition in an insurance policy

texts:
My wife has a travel insurance policy where "dependent" is defined as follows:

  Dependent means your spouse and your or your spouse’s
  unmarried natural, adopted or step-child of the participant
  or spouse, or a child for whom you or your spouse are the
  legal guardian, who is under the termination age, is not
  employed on a full-time basis and is dependent on you or
  your spouse for support.

Do I qualify as a dependent if I am employed full-time?
I.e. does the phrase "is not employed on a full-time basis and is dependent on you or your spouse for support" apply only to children, or to the spouse as well? Using the normal rules of English, the definition seems ambiguous (could be read either way). Is there some official "legal" way to interpret this? The jurisdiction is Canada in case it matters.


texts: Are parents allowed to not pay for their children's surgery?

texts:
Through public internet group chats, I was able to meet a 16 year old girl that suffers from a medical condition on her feet. She lives in Washington, US, but in a neglectful household where her parents pay little attention to her.

According to the doctors she has seen her feet will have to be amputated some day, but not in the near future, meaning that she will probably still have around ten years to pay for the surgery after becoming an adult.

She seems to be already assuming that nor she nor her parents will pay for the surgery, so that she will simply lose her feet. I wonder however what her options are.

My concerns are the following: what if, as an adult, she needs the surgery but is incapable of getting it due to lack of money?

Are there any laws that will grant her the right to a free surgery since she is underage?

Are her parents spared from paying for the surgery because she will have the option to pay for it herself one she is an adult?

I would really appreciate any help.


texts: How does one evict a tenant in Arizona if they have a lease/purchase instead of a straight lease?

texts:
I've read there are differences to eviction based on the type of lease/purchase, so if more information is needed please comment.

Tenant pays a lease payment each month that includes a monthly rent amount, an amount that is 1/12 the yearly taxes, and an amount that goes toward the eventual down payment
Tenant is responsible for all repairs and maintenance to the home during their tenancy.
While it is phrased as an "option" to purchase in a lease attachment, the purchase is required (they cannot choose not to purchase at any point or it will breach* the contract)
The tenant is required to improve their credit within 2 years in order to be able to qualify for a mortgage to purchase the home. If they are unable to qualify for one, the contract will be breached.
Tenant is required to go through only one credit improvement program. Said program is run by the landlord's partner.
Tenant is required to provide parts of the eventual down payment prior to move-in, one year later, and a smaller amount every month for 18 months.

*For any breach, tenant loses all monies put down on the home, including any repairs or improvements made during their tenancy.

If the tenant is suddenly unable to pay their monthly lease payment, how would an eviction be accomplished? Is a normal 5 day pay or quit, then eviction notice, sufficient?


texts: Apartment requires that I consent to them using images of myself on social media

texts: I am signing a contract for an apartment.  In it, there is a section stating that I agree to the apartment using images, video, and/or audio clips of me wherever they'd like (Facebook, their website, etc.)  I'm not comfortable with this, but I want to live here.  Can they really make me do this?


texts: Usage of trademarked generic top level domain

texts:
RED.com makes digital cameras for the cinematography industry and has tradermarks for "RED".

I would like to sell a product called called "something.red". The name of the product would be the domain name, something.red, .red is a gTLD recently introduced.

The product is not a digital camera, but a video transmission system. RED.com is not in the business of making video transmission systems, but their trademark is generic enough that I believe a video transmission system to fit in it. This is the registration I took a look at: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/010579043

Am I looking for troubles using RED in a product name, even if RED is the gTLD?

Changing the product name now would be sort of a mayor problem, but it is still better than being forced to do it in a few months.


texts: Domain name registered by co-founder's friend

texts:
Founds of an informal organization that's been around for several years want to form an LLC. One of the founders (we'll call Bob) has a friend that own's the domain. Bob doesn't know how to manage domain registrations, so Bob told his friend it was okay to transfer the domain to one of the other founders responsible for IT (Joe). Their friend is hesitant for whatever reason; instead giving Joe access to the management of the domain.

Joe doesn't want to push too hard and strain his relationship with Bob or make Bob's friend uncooperative. However he would still like to secure legal ownership of the domain by the business.

What type of contract can Joe have Bob's friend sign, that establishes their business as the owner of the domain name without forcing Bob's friend to immediately transfer it to Joe or the business?


texts: Inventions Assignment Agreement in California

texts:
As I was being hired today, I was asked to sign a "Confidentiality and Inventions Assignment Agreement" which partly reads:

  "I agree that all right (...) to any copyrightable material (...)
  conceived by me (...) solely or in collaboration with others (...)
  during the period of time that I am in the employ of [company name]
  (including during my off-duty hours) or with the use of [company]'s
  equipment (...) are the sole propriety of [company]."

However after a quick search online I have found from the respected Nolo website that:

  "In California, for example, an invention assignment agreement is not
  valid as to inventions created entirely on the employee’s own time,
  without using any of the employer’s resources or property (including
  intellectual property)."

As a Designer, I fall in the category described on the page in the bullet list near the end:

  Are you likely to invent during your employment? If you are a creative
  tinkerer, always coming up with ideas and improvements, you might not
  want to sign away your rights to earn some money off whatever you
  invent.

The document also has a blank page at the end where I am invited to add "List of prior inventions and original works of authorship", which would require a lot of time for me and also implies not only disclosing past and current projects, which might be extensive work and/or confidential, but also implies stopping work on them?

Is this agreement common practice, and what is a simple and quick way to make sure my ownership of my works outside of work is preserved?


texts: Landlord changed the locks but is demanding rent

texts:
Hello and thanks in advance! I was/am in a two-year lease on a house in Denver, CO. I found a new apartment and submitted a 60-day notice to vacate. A friend picked up a package on the last day of the 60-day period and was seen and photographed by nosy neighbors. The keys were then left in the house as per our agreement. The landlord has called me to tell me she has changed the lock on the front door because the home is "no longer secure" and intends to change the back lock as well. She is now demanding rent for this month despite wanting to claim the keys (she could not find them but I have since left her a message letting her know where they are). She also threatened to get an arrest warrant for my friend for trespassing, despite us the supposed leasees giving them permission. Is it legal for her to charge me this rent or take me to small claims despite her changing the locks without my consent/claiming my keys? It seems to me that she has a clear understanding that we will not be coming back to the property.

Additional info: it's legal for me to record our phone conversations in Colorado, so I have evidence that she has changed the locks and will claim my keys.


texts: Is it possible to have a social media site that leaves the copyright with the creator, but by posting gives the site posting rights? Is this common?


texts:
Is a corporate registration service located in Delaware compelled to reveal the identity of one of its customers upon my request?

I am trying to track down anybody from a particular company that is registered in Delaware under the name of a corporate registration service. I have had no luck by any other means, so I've considered calling the service and just asking. Can I expect success?


texts: Under GDPR Data Processing Officer's email address bounces - what to do?

texts:
In 2007 (>11 years ago) I registered for an (otherwise legitimate) business SMS newsletter. Now, when GDPR is live I wanted to use my rights to finally stop them sending me these texts.

So I had sent an email to their official Data Processing Officer email address, but their server responded with a generic failure message:

<inspektorODO@vistulagroup.pl>: host
vistulagroup-pl.mail.protection.outlook.com[213.19 9.154.170] said: 451
4.7.500 Server busy. Please try again later from [213.180.142.153].
(AS77713200) [DB5EUR01FT011.eop-EUR01.prod.protection.outlook.c om] (in
reply to end of DATA command)

This email address was mentioned as the only contact info in their GDPR newsletter.

How can I deliver my request to stop processing my data?


texts: Suppose I sign a lease for an apartment and also pay the agent who showed me the apartment the fee they require.  I ask the agent if I can move in a day early and she gives me the phone number of the current tenant so that I can make arrangements. The current tenant is very obliging and says I can move in three days early.  I reserve a moving van, hire movers, ask my friends to help, and tell the couple taking our old place that they can move early as well. It turns out that the real estate agent gave me the wrong phone number and that the real tenants can't vacate early. Thus the money I paid to reserve the van and hire movers is lost, and everything is a mess. Is this negligence? Am I entitled to damages? Putting me in touch with the previous tenants seems like a part of the duty of a real estate agent.(I live in Massachusetts)


texts: What are the laws regulating practical polygamy in US?

texts:
I can understand that polygamy is illegal. However, some people think that it's simply illegal in a sense that government doesn't recognize it.

It's like Sarah can marry anyone she wish but she can't force Bob to celebrate her marriage with Charlie kind of thing. So perhaps Sarah, Janette, Cindy, can all marry Donny but they can't force government to recognize it.

So what about if a few guys live together with one girl or the other way around? What about if they call each other husband and wife but do not get government recognition.

What laws would get them in trouble?


texts: If party doesn't do what's agreed in settlement, can you sue again or is enforcement the only option?

texts:
I filed a dispute with the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT). A settlement was reached. Two terms of the settlement were

the defendant will make available my property for me to pickup
parties agree this agreement extinguishes any claims either party has against the other

Though I rented a truck to pickup my property, the defendant failed to return it. He has admitted he still has it. The CRT can't enforce orders, they leave that to small claims court. At this point I prefer to get money, instead of enforcing the term that he must allow me to pickup my property.

Am I able to start a new dispute for monetary compensation, or would that be in violation of term #2? In other words if someone breaks a settlement, does it nullify the extinguishment of other claims and remedies?


texts:
I was recently offered my first position as a junior web developer and was simultaneously notified that I would need to sign an NCC. After some research, I'm starting to feel skeptical about the position (plus it was through Craigslist) and some articles that I have been reading think that it is morally wrong.

I realize that I will now need to make a great deal of effort to flesh out every detail in this contract, regarding the length of time, method of termination, geographic range, but I am also worried that this may be a complete scam with some ridiculous fine print clauses somewhere in there causing me to become responsible for their bankrupt business or legal fees or something?

I am planning to take a copy of the contract home and review it first before signing anything, but I would like to know how common are these Non-compete clause contracts are (especially for a first-timer like me)? And what types of precautions should I take or be aware of before I do anything.

From BC, Canada.


texts:
Can fully-clothed dry-humping someone without consent count as rape?
And if not, what sort of offense is it? If found guilty, what would a typical punishment be in the US?
Does it matter whether the victim is under-aged?
Does it matter if the perpetrator is in a position of authority? (Say the perpetrator is a high school teacher and the victim is a high-school student.)


texts: How can I protect 3D characters which are used as emoji in a chat app?

texts: I want to protect 3D charecters which are used as emoji in my chat app, how can I do it: copyright (the Copyright office of USA offer a registration service) or as trademarks?


texts: In Breaking Bad, how strong would Hank Schrader's case be if he had lived and Walter White had gone to jail?

texts:
Yes, Hank has definitely put together that Walt had been manufacturing methamphetamine and committed several other crimes to protect himself, and he'd fight tooth and nail for a conviction. However, even at the time of the arrest, all the concrete evidence he has linking Walt to the crimes is Walt's knowledge of the location where $80 million is buried, not necessarily that the money belongs to him.
I'm not doubting Walt would face some kind of conviction had he actually stood trial, but I was curious to hear people knowledgeable with law weigh in on how messy such a trial might get.


texts: Does the establishment clause prevent schools from promoting religious doctrine as truth?

texts:
According to this man...
https://donotlink.it/7PyG

The modern notion that the separation of these powers implies opposition or incompatibility is a gross misrepresentation of the founders beliefs and intentions, imposed on the nation by a cabal of hyper-partisan Democrat secularists led by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black (a virulent anti-Catholic and one-time member of the Ku Klux Klan), along with his co-conspirator Lyndon Baines Johnson, author of the “Johnson Amendment” that purported to ban church involvement in politics.
Black wrote the majority opinion in the 1947 US Supreme Court case Everson v Board of Education which redefined the separation of church and state as a barrier to church/state cooperation – reversing over 150 years of legal precedent in which it had been recognized as a facilitator of church influence in government. It was this early and egregious example of judicial activism in Everson that shifted America from following the Judeo-Christian presuppositions of the founders to the Secular Humanist presuppositions of Cultural Marxism: preventing government from recognizing the authority of God in our law and history.

Except I know the founding fathers said differently. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/constitutional-myth-4-the-constitution-doesnt-separate-church-and-state/240481/
It goes both ways then?


texts: Is slavery Illegal in the United States?

texts:
I have been bothered by the phrasing of the 13th Amendment since I first read it, in particular the bold:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.

This is less clear wording than if the bold were omitted, but was it intended to allow for slavery to continue?  Clint Richardson of RealityBloger claims that this allows private correctional companies to basically be slave labor sweatshops, and compares its legal status to that of marijuana:

Marijuana is illegal without a (state approved) doctors prescription,
making it legal for state approved persons by state approved
distributors.
Slavery is illegal without a judges (the STATE’S) prescription
(permission), making it legal for state approved institutions to have
slaves which are state approved (condemned) individuals.

Richardson claims a conspiracy between courts and prison companies, and make generally unfalsifiable accusations.
Jim Liske of USA Today wrote an article titled "Yep, Slavery Is Still Legal" which also asserts that slavery is technically still a legal punishment for convicts.  He slightly contradicts his title at one point:

Importantly, Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century ensured that
no one today is sentenced to actual slavery as a form of criminal
punishment, but shades of Douglass' critique still ring true.

But he does not elaborate on which court decisions ban slavery or how.
In trying to determine when and how slavery was completely banned in the USA, I have come up short.  Sources that assert that slavery is banned generally attribute it to the 13th amendment.  Has there been any legislation or legal precedent that outlaws slavery in stricter terms than the 13th amendment?  Are state governments responsible for banning it individually?  Is slavery still legal in the United States?


texts: Freedom of speech and terms of use of social networks, are TOS allowed to violate FOS?

texts: Freedom of speech is a constitutional right in many countries. But nowadays, several social networks "which allow freedom of speech" are appearing and growing because several of the main social networks don't allow content which is against certain ideologies. Certain theories or statements of certain ideologies are taken as true, and they can't be discussed because when they are, accounts are suspended or banned under violation of "community standards" and things like that. My question is, can any social network manage their own rules and declare that certain ideological/political ideas can't be discussed (but you can talk in favor of them) . Dont these "community standards" violate freedom of speech?


texts: Is it possible to sell a software to enterprises, then release its source code for free?

texts: The title says it all. Out of curiosity and because I didn't find any result when searching about that, I'm asking here if it's technically possible to sell a software to an enterprise, then months later make it open source, or you have a kind of contract that completely disallow you from doing so ?


texts: Any legal consequences using existing free product available for everyone

texts:
First of all, I want to say that my language used in the question might sound vague and incompetent, because it I'm not familiar with legal terminologies even in my native language.

I have an idea and product realization that is it sort of built on existing patent. It is a kit to build Google Cardboard VR. Kit is imprinted on a existing selling product package. Of course, by selling this product I make money. Google Cardboard kit scheme is free on internet for home assembling and manufacturing. I tried to find the licence of the Google Cardboard kit, but failed.

According to which US & EU laws, I'm allowed to incorporate this imprint on the package?

Is there a room for law suit for any kind of infringement, even if I just imprint the scheme and let people fold and assemble it themselves?


texts: Weapons vs objects coincidentally used as weapons

texts:
My understanding is that many easily-concealed weapons are illegal to use for self-defense in many if not most states.  For example, knuckle-dusters are illegal to use in self-defense in most if not all of the country.  What I do not understand is how the courts tend to define weapons.  Is there a legal difference between the following two scenarios?

A young woman leaves her martial arts practice, carrying a fighting stick which she bought online specifically for that martial art.  She is attacked in the parking lot and uses the stick in self defense.
A young man is out running when someone jumps him from behind a bush.  He manages to grab a heavy stick which is on the ground nearby, likely broken off a nearby tree in a recent storm.  He uses that stick to fight off his assailant.

I can imagine similar analogues for other weapons.  For example, knuckledusters:

A mechanic buys a pair of knuckledusters and carries them in his trendy fanny pack every day to and from work.  One day he is attacked by a gang-member.  He defends himself with his knuckledusters, and seriously injures his assailant.
A locksmith is walking to work when he is attacked by a gang-member.  He happens to have a bunch of keys in his hand.  He slips his index finger through the key-ring, turning the keys effectively into a spiked knuckleduster, and uses it as a weapon in self defense, seriously injuring his assailant.

I hope my point makes sense.  While these scenarios may seem far-fetched, I imagine that people probably frequently use whatever they happen to have on hand as a weapon when attacked, if they resist at all.  So in general, I'd like to know how the courts in the US tend to treat those sorts of situations, and where the line is drawn between weapons and tools or objects which coincidentally happen to be useful as weapons.

Examples of items which could coincidentally be useful as weapons could include key-rings, heavy metal flashlights, metal "tactical" pens, certain EDC tools such as this, umbrellas, heavy Stanley mugs, etc.  Their real-world weapon analogues, respectively, could be knuckle-dusters, metal whap-sticks, metal spikes, knuckledusters again, fighting sticks, and clubs.


texts: Can I sell a figurine of my own design, despite it being a game character?

texts:
I am making a Deku scrub figurine from The Legend of Zelda series to 3d print. I decided that I could sell these figurines on Etsy. Is there any legal requirements for the UK where I have to say something or I cannot sell this at all?
Thank you from the UK,
Domford


texts: Can companies use user data for App Store marketing screenshots?

texts:
Apple's App Store lets you preview features of a published app via screenshots, images, and even videos.

In the case of a social media app, those functionalities can only be shown through including pictures, account names and some account data.

Is it legal to have in such media, faces and data of actual people subscribed to said social media? Or, should the company ask for permission to each of the accounts that would be shown?

UPDATE:
The nature of the question is whether using this data, without asking, is legal or not.
In the described scenario might not be possible to ask for permission to each user and the only alternative would be to use dummy data.
Moreover it is important to note that screenshots are a way of describing what an app does, so the exposed data would not be in a text format like a website but rather in some kind of view only mode (pictures or video)


texts: Can a person be prosecuted for unknowingly possessing illegal computer files?

texts:
Today there was a news article that claims researchers have found illegal files embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain.  This is a large database-type file that contains a list of all the Bitcoin transactions that have ever happened along with possible "meta-data" and it's claimed that some of this data contains illegal images of child abuse.

Bitcoin power users may have the entire blockchain downloaded locally to their computers, but people do not just browse the file for fun.  It contains transaction data that is parsed by automated bitcoin clients and mining utilities, so you wouldn't expect any user to directly access the database and just browse it.  Everyone's copy is exactly the same, so if illegal content is proved to be in the blockchain, then everyone with a copy possesses the illegal content.

So, the question is...  Could someone be arrested or otherwise "get in trouble" because they have a hidden illegal image on their computer that they do not know about?  Especially since the file is hidden amongst useful data that is required for certain bitcoin tasks that the users do have a legal right to participate in?

Tagging as US because that is my primary concern, but would be interested in other locations.  It was German researchers that have found the material.


texts:
First, is it legal to use profane language in school (specifically a high school in California, United States)?

Also, what is the maximum punishment allowed for a student using profanity (assume the worst case)?

Note: I am not looking for answers about the First Amendment and what should or should not be allowed.


texts: Reasking in Law forum from academia- Can i defend myself?

texts:
original: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/78853/is-it-unethical-of-me-and-can-i-get-in-trouble-if-a-professor-passes-me-based-on?noredirect=1#comment194231_78853

I originally asked this question in academia, and although I received a lot of comments I'm looking more fore a legal viewpoint. so I thought I would post one here.

Edit: There is some information I originally left out but I want to include here.
 **1) the only thing I have documented from me and the professors exchanges is my email mid semester asking her for office hours, conversations were made on phone.
   2) The university did not restrict native speakers to take this course.

3) The reason I was comfortable with originally not showing up to class was because 2 native speakers did the exact same thing before me, and when I asked about the legality of it they told me the professor said it was okay we speak it, and that the prof wants to enroll more students in order to "open" the section. this went over my head, and at the time I thought it was normal as many colleges give credit for competence.
   4) Public institution**


texts: Should the client be informed every time when more personal data is requested under GDPR Article 13?

texts:
A SaaS company offers some services, which require registration. Its clients are notified about Terms of Service and  Privacy Policy during the registration process.
Should the company send to the client an email according to GDPR Article 13 after the registration?
If later the client adds some new personal data to her account info (e.g. profile image), should the company again inform the client about obtained new personal data according to GDPR Article 13?


texts: Is it possible for a contract to refuse a contract award

texts:
Suppose you have this scenario:

Company AA is an automotive manufacturer that needs to upgrade the IT system that lasted for 10 years. It asked the same supplier of old IT system to provide a feasibility study on how the system could be improved in terms of speed and efficiency. Company AA recevied a report that the system can be upgraded. Then, Company AA issued a formal invitation to tender for the work involved on the basis of Company AA 'Standard Terms for IT Services'. The supplier produced a tender with detailed information like cost and duration, however the tender made several modifications to Company's standard contract terms for IT services.

Then, A formal notification of contract award was issued by company AA to the contractor, but ignored the Clauses modifications and included a reference to the original standard terms of contract for IT services.

The contractor did not agree with the original terms, so refused the contract award. Is the contractor obligated to start working on the project as they have reached the contract award stage. In other words, is there any legal obligations or can a contract award can be resufed if the contactor did not agree on terms ?

P.S following common law in US & UK


texts: Are US government agencies required to disclose whether or not they record conversations?

texts:
Let's say I'm inside a US government building, which houses a government agency, and I'm speaking with an employee (or agent) of that government agency.

If I directly ask them whether they recording our conversation, and I ask them whether such recordings contain video, audio, or both ... are they legally required to tell me whether they are recording?

Would this be regulated by federal law, or state law?

It is my understanding that all recordings, including surveillance recordings, obtained by the government on public property (e.g. government property) are public records, unless the government can provide a good reason why publishing such records would pose a credible threat to public safety and security, etc.

Therefore, if you ask the government for a recording of a conversation you participated in, the government is generally required to provide a copy of the recording to you.

However, could government agencies realistically try to get around this requirement, by refusing to tell people what types of recordings they have or don't have?

After all, if you can't prove the government actually possesses a particular recording, you can't hold the government accountable for meeting this requirement.


texts: Is it legal to program a published game for educational purposes (and put the source code on GitHub)?

texts:
I own a card game that I enjoy playing (not a playing card game using a standard 52-card deck). I enjoy it enough that I thought it'd be fun to write a program (complete with AI!) that plays that game. Is this legal? Furthermore, may I publish the source code to a public website such as GitHub without incurring any legal issues?

Assuming it's illegal for me to do this, at what point does doing this become legal? I likely cannot simply change all the names of the various cards to something else, right? If I start changing the rules of the game, does that make it legal for me to share my source code, for instance? It'd be a game that's heavily inspired by the original, but isn't (different rules, different cards, different amounts even).


texts: What crime did Walter White commit against Jane in Breaking Bad?

texts:
In an episode of the famous series Breaking Bad, the main character, Walter White, is responsible for the death of Jane, the girlfriend of Jesse. The main question is, from a legal point of view, how much is he responsible for this? Is this a homicide? What kind?

Here's a summary of what happened; you can find a video here. Walter and Jesse are partners and they make drugs. Jane is the girlfriend of Jesse and Walter doesn't like that, since he thinks she could be an obstacle to their business. Both Jane and Jesse have problems with drugs.

One day Walter enters Jesse's house, where Jesse and Jane are in the bed together, on their sides, completely stoned, unable to wake up, and apparently sleeping. Walter tries to wake up Jesse shaking him strongly without success. Doing that he modified slightly the position of Jessie and a conseguence (since she was in a sort of hug with him) Jane. In particular now she is on her back. It is not clear if she had a pillow on her back to avoid this position. Some time before, Jesse had explained to Walter that in this situation the pillow is important, since it keeps you on your side and not in your back, so if you vomit you avoid choking to death. And this is exactly what happens. In the new sleeping position, Jane starts to vomit and cough, while still sleeping. At first Walter tries to react, running to the other side of the bed to help her, but then he stops and decides to do nothing as she dies.

What is this? Homicide? Voluntary? Or just failure to assist a person in danger? Are there extenuating circumstances due to the fact that the actual cause of death is the drug?

Take into account that Walter could have easily saved her with no risk.


texts: Absurdly high painting bill deducted from apartment security deposit

texts:
I moved out of a 2 bedroom apartment in Los Angeles under a month ago and have just received my deposit back with ~$1200 taken out for re-painting. This is for a below average size 2 bedroom apartment (just under 1,000 sqr ft) and during the move out inspection they didn't mention a full re-paint. During the move out inspection, the property manager only mentioned light touch ups, with wording along the lines of "repainting a few scuff marks, but it shouldn't cost you too much".

I know this is all soft wording and I don't have anything that explicitly states I can't be charged $1200, but do I have any ground to dispute this kind of bill in California?

I should also note that I didn't receive a detailed itemized bill, receipts, photos of the damage repaired with this amount, or any additional information. Just a paper (and check) stating the 2 deductions from the deposit ($1200 for repainting and $300 for cleaning).


texts: Can two federal questions involving separate actions be treated in the same case?

texts: If some act is challenged as unconstitutional and another act is also challenged as unconstitutional, and the supposed unconstitutional actions were executed by the same defendant against the same plaintiff, and the actions are not dependent on each other and took place at different times, can both of the alleged unconstitutional actions be challenged in the same case or do they have to be raised separately?


texts: moving to dismiss a count in an amended complaint although "answered" in the original complaint

texts:
Hypothetical scenario:
Plaintiff files a complaint having three counts A, B, and C.
Defendant files an answer to counts A & B and moves to dismiss count C for "failure to state a claim."
On Plaintiff's motion, judge grants leave to amend and denies pending motion to dismiss as moot.
Plaintiff files an amended complaint containing counts A and D (D being a new count, B and C having been removed). The language of Count A remains completely unchanged.
Defendant files a new motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on all counts.
Is the Defendant's decision to challenge count A permitted by FRCP?
It seems at the very least a logical necessity that either the initial answer or the subsequent motion to dismiss must have been filed in violation of Rule 11 because:
I don't see how defendant can initially believe that Count A states a claim and then later decide it does not. I suppose I should add the assumption that they did not come across any new case law during the time interval between pleadings and that the governing law did not change. Rule 11 requires a reasonable inquiry be made into the sufficiency of a plaintiff's complaint, and that no document be filed for an impure purpose. I can't think of any "pure purpose" one would have in filing an answer when a motion for dismissal is warranted. So it leads me to conclude that either the Defendant did not make a reasonable inquiry into Count A before filing an answer, and has wasted both the court and plaintiff's time by not raising Count A's insufficiency initially, or that either the answer or the later motion to dismiss were filed for an impure purpose.


texts: Is it possible to acquire a post-1951 Oscar statuette legally?

texts:
Since 1951, the Academy has required Oscar winners to sign an agreement whereby they agree to sell their Oscar statuette back to the Academy before offering it to anyone else.

However, if the owner of an Oscar dies, or simply ignores the agreement and gives or sells the Oscar to someone else, can the Academy contest. For example, let's imagine that an Oscar winner gives their Oscar to their child. Can the Academy somehow sue the child to recover the Oscar or make some claim that the Oscar is "stolen", even though the owner freely gave it to their child in violation of the agreement?


texts: Do I have a right to British citizenship?

texts:
I currently have a dual-citizenships. I am German and Spanish. However, I was born in the UK and moved to another country at the age of three. I would like to know if I have a right to British nationality. At the time I was born (1988), my parents had already worked and lived in the UK for 6 years. Neither of them has British nationality.

I found this website:
https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-citizenship

In it it is stated that if I was born in the UK after 1 January 1983,  I have a right to British citizenship, if either my mother or my father was 'settled' in the UK when I was born.

These are my questions:
1. Are my parents considered to have been 'settled' at the time of my birth? 2. If I have a right to british citizenship, may I apply for it without renouncing to any of the other two?


texts: Are there legal limits to U.S. states taxing out-of-state income?

texts:
When a New York State non-resident has NYS income, NY's tax rates are based NOT on the absolute amount of the NYS income, but on the non-resident's federal income, pro-rated to the percentage earned in NY.
For example, if the non-resident earns $5000 in NY, and $95,000 elsewhere, her tax is not based on a $5000 income, but rather, she pays 5% of the tax on a $100,000 income. In this example 5% is the percent earned in NY. The computation is on NY's form IT203, lines 31 to 46.   (I understand the progressive mindset behind this, and my question is not about whether it is fair or just).
My question: Are there constitutional limits on how aggressive a state could be in doing such things?   I'm surprised NYS can compel a non-resident to even disclose out of state income, let alone set a tax that is based on that entire income.   They are not formally "taxing" that other income .... but could they?   If I drive from New York to LA and pay tolls and sales taxes in every state along the way, establishing a very weak and dubious "nexus", does every state become entitled to, say, impose an income tax on my entire global income?   Is there anything to stop states and local governments from setting taxes that accumulate to more than 100% of my income?
A couple of straw man theories
Perhaps an overly aggressive approach to taxing out of state revenue would intrude on the rights of Congress by having the side-effect of discouraging (therefore "regulating") interstate commerce?  The NY approach to income tax (and apparently CA does the same thing) do not appear to have that effect.
Perhaps there is no constitutional limitation to what a state can do, but economics and politics regulates this?  If a state is overly aggressive, outsiders will cease to contribute to its economy, and the voters will respond.  So it can be self-regulating.   I'm skeptical, however, about whether 50 states would benevolently "self regulate" this way over 200 years.  If no state has ever attempted a wild non-resident money grab it must be because they cannot.


texts: Does a community-made project using data from a games API need to adhere to GDPR?

texts:
I am part of the team on a popular website that provides users with overviews of their statistics for a particular game.

Our data is gathered from a publicly available API and in order to provide our users with features like graphs of their performance over time we store a records of their statistics each time they are searched.

In order to uniquely identify each account the game developer gives each user a unique ID (appears to be UUID v4) and this unique ID is stored in our database alongside the statistical data. Other than this unique ID, and the players current in-game username (which can be changed by users every 30 days), no other personally identifiable information is provided in the public API.

The Terms of Service of the game developer explicitly state that by registering to their service - which you need to do before you can play this game - the user is agreeing that the owner of all content (including usernames etc) belongs to the game developer.

We do allow users to register to our website using their email address - we are already taking measures to allow users the "right to be forgotten" and to remove this email address from our records by deleting their account. Aside from our GDPR responsibilities for this, do we need to worry about any other GDPR implications?


texts: A property management company wants to use images of the properties which it manages within its portfolio on its website and social media/marketing materials. They are just images of the building/block of flats or estate as a whole taken on public land not private. Does the company need to get permission from the owners to use these images?


texts: What authority (or authorities) have established the status of State ratifications of U.S. Constitutional amendments?

texts:
Background

In the Untied States, the NARA is the authority that receives all final documents related to the State ratification of a United States Constitutional amendment as implied on the NARA website:

  TITLE 1 -- GENERAL PROVISIONS

  CHAPTER 2 -- ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS; FORMALITIES OF ENACTMENT; REPEALS;
  SEALING OF INSTRUMENTS

  Sec. 106b. Amendments to Constitution

  Whenever official notice is received at the National Archives and
  Records Administration that any amendment proposed to the Constitution
  of the United States has been adopted, according to the provisions of
  the Constitution, the Archivist of the United States shall forthwith
  cause the amendment to be published, with his certificate, specifying
  the States by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same
  has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the
  Constitution of the United States.

In addition, the NARA has also received recession or rejections of certain Constitutional amendments from the states, the validity of which is not prnounced by the head archivist, but is seen as conclusive by another (unnamed) authority as stated here:

  In a few instances, States have sent official documents to NARA to record the rejection of an amendment or the rescission of a prior ratification. The Archivist does not make any substantive determinations as to the validity of State ratification actions, but it has been established that the Archivist's certification of the facial legal sufficiency of ratification documents is final and conclusive.

Since the most credible source I found on the matter does not state who "established" that the legal sufficiency of ratification documents is final and conclusive, I wanted to ask the following question:

Question

What authority (or authorities) has established that the facial legal sufficiency of ratification documents is final an conclusive?


texts:
Person 1 creates a fictional character and said character fits guidelines to pass both the Well-Delineated test and the Sam Spade test. The character has a well-detailed description, personality and unique defining characteristics as well as a graphic representation. The character also has a complete backstory. Does the character qualify for Copyright protection?

Later the character is used by Person 1 in collaboration with Person 2, who supplied their own character, the setting, and the basic plot, in a work. Is this considered a derivative work? Is copyright and ownership of the character still Person 1's or does Person 2 now have joint copyright and ownership?

Copyright and ownership were not discussed between Persons 1 and 2 beforehand. The character details, graphic, and the original work to feature the character (the backstory) was created and completed before the character was used in collaboration with Person 2.

If Person 2 were to use the character would they be in violation?


texts: Acknowledgement of alleged fact term in house deeds (UK)

texts:
Consider house deeds which contain a clause of the form

  the owner acknowledges that [matter related to nearby but non-adjoining land] has [legal status]

and that the owner believes the statement to be true on first glance, and that this is acceptable to them, and they consider themselves duly informed of the other party's determination of this fact.

What further legal force does this have over the owner? If the owner comes to a different opinion over the matter of the current status of the other land, it's surely not that they must vacate the property, or pay compensation, as a result of their opinion?

Are there any restrictions over whether the owner may, for example, petition for the status of the land (which they do not own) to change?

Can real estate covenants really extend to matters of the owner's determination of an objective fact?


texts: How can libel laws be consistent with the 1st Amendment?

texts:
The 1st Amendment states

  Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press

So how can libel law be constitutional?


texts: Is it okay to use the Arial Font in Software?

texts:
I'm building a video game. I was wondering if it was Okay to Develop software with the Arial font. Do I need a license? Do I need to purchase it? Because I'm not really sure.

Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.


texts: Can you buy rights to airspace in the US?

texts:
Say I am an astrophysicist setting up a location for an experiment involving measuring electromagnetic field strength from the ground. I can buy loads of land in the Mountain or Midwest regions of the country for my equipment, but I need to be sure I won't have aircraft passing overhead as they'll interfere with the data.

Is there a legal channel by which to gain control of the airspace over a patch of property, assuming I'm willing to buy several million acres of land to cover enough area?


texts: Is it legal for Grammarly to read, share and store forever all my emails?

texts:
I have just noticed the following paragraph in Grammarly Terms and Conditions.

By uploading or entering any User Content, you give Grammarly (and
those it works with) a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and
fully-paid, transferable and sublicensable, perpetual, and irrevocable
license to copy, store and use your User Content in connection with
the provision of the Software and the Services and to improve the
algorithms underlying the Software and the Services.

Is it legal for Grammarly to read all my emails, share them with all their partners and store them forever without the right to having them deleted?
I know I have agreed to the Terms and Conditions when singing up, but it seems like they have crossed the line of common sense usage of my personal data.


texts:
Context: Florida, USA

I have a guest at my house who was supposed to leave after two weeks, but it has been months. They do not pay rent, or offer anything in exchange for being allowed to stay. We have an agreed upon final move out date, but considering they failed to move out the last 3 times we set a date, I want something legal and immediately enforceable if they don't move out this time.

They have agreed to sign a notarized move out agreement, but I want to be sure that the agreement is immediately enforceable + severe.

If I include that by breaking the contract, they will be trespassing if they are ever on my property, do I still need to go through the Unlawful Detainer process?

Also to show I'm serious this time, I want to include something that gives me permission to make their life hell if this agreement broken ($10-100k violation penalty or something), but I'm worried that including such an item might allow it to be thrown out as an unreasonable agreement in the case it has to go to court.

In short, what do I need to make sure is stated in this agreement, and what is the best way to make sure breaking this agreement is the worst mistake they can ever make?


texts: Annoying neighbor abusing insurance claims

texts:
My mom's neighborhood was effected by the California wildfires. Her house was untouched, but it destroyed the fence that stood between her backyard and the backyard of a neighbor.
Insurance has already approved the construction of a replacement fence; however, the neighbor is refusing to sign off on the construction. The neighbor works in construction, and is claiming that he and his friends in the industry will replace the fence themselves. My mom suspects that he is trying to drag his feet until my mom pays the full price for the fence, so that he can pocket the insurance pay out that was designated for the fence.
He pulled a similar scheme when my mom moved in the house, so that he did not have to contribute to paying for a fence between the two properties.
What can we do to make him pay his half for the replacement fence? I have considered reporting him for insurance fraud.


texts: Can I be arrested in my country's embassy abroad?

texts:
I am a Syrian refugee who escaped a war!

In my country I am considered to have broken the law by doing this. I live in Romania and need to visit the embassy to renew my Syrian passport, as they officially announced that they are renewing passports even for people who broke the law.

Can I be arrested for breaking Syrian law inside the embassy of Syria in Romania, and maybe later sent back to Syria?


texts: How are derivative works legally produced and sold?

texts:
From strategy guides to board- and videogames to projects like Cliff Notes - derivative works abound these days.

What are the legal issues concerned in producing and selling these? What are you allowed to use/say and what aren't you? In the end, who owns what, and does the original creator of the work need to get involved at any point for the creation of such materials to stand?


texts: Manager asks for car keys. Is this illegal?

texts:
This question stems from this question on TheWorkplace.StackExchange.

If a manager with no power to fire an employee, but who can still "discipline" said employee, demands that everyone surrender their car keys at the start of the shift, and must ask for them back, is it theft?


texts: Is a quit claim deed legally accepted if filed with the county?

texts:
I am the joint tenant owner with right of survivorship with my mother. We would like to remove her name and add my brother's. I've filled the form out with all the necessary details (grantor/grantee, property description, parcel id, etc.)

I am ready to file this with the county comptroller. I want to make sure when it's filed (book/page observable in public record) that the change of ownership is legally binding. I think it is based on what I've read but I just wanted to add some confidence otherwise I'll seek a lawyer (but would really rather not).


texts: Is it legal to sell a product with a class 3 laser in Western Australia?

texts: Say the object isn't handheld and therefore doesn't meet the definition for laser pointer.


texts:
While kidnapping and extortion are illegal, is it legal to pay such criminals for the release of the person or thing being held?

Are there particular circumstances of the payer or payee that make it legal in some circumstances and illegal in others?


texts: Do email and SMS marketing laws prohibit a single invitation message if a person you know provides your phone number or email?

texts:
The CAN-SPAM Act and TCPA provide regulations governing what email and SMS messages you can send to people and how you can send them.

Email marketing requires opt-in, as does SMS marketing. Email marketing services such as Mailchimp ask how you got your list of addresses, and how the opt-in was done. SMS services such as Twilio talk about opt-ins as well.

The question is in two parts. What is required for a legal opt-in, and what kinds of services have the opt-in requirement.

First, what exactly is required for opt-in? In this case, a single message invitation would be sent after someone you know provides your phone number. Basically a SMS or email friend request. Clearly you didn't give the service your phone number or email, but it wasn't generated by an auto-dialer or purchased from a bulk list. This is a communication from someone who claims to know you, inviting you to join a social service, but it is the service sending the message. If you decline or ignore the message, then you won't get more.

Second, is this actually considered Spam? The service would be sending you a single invite to join, with the name of your friend in the message, and no more messages unless you reply or sign up. Once you join, then we have a business relationship and the SMS messages or emails are transactional as part of the service. You can also turn off notifications or even quit the service at any time.

Reading online, most of the discussion seemed to only cover auto-dialer and list generated messages, not something as specific as my use-case. Transactional messages such as for password reset or account activity seem to always be allowed, and alerts or notifications seem to be okay as long as there is an opt-out or way to control what notifications are sent.

It's the single invite message that I don't know about. If I was getting the emails and phone numbers from lists or an autodialer, then I'd say it was unsolicited bulk marketing, and should have an opt-in first. But since the email/number is provided by an individual to invite you to interact with them on the service, I think the auto-dialed, bulk, and unsolicited categories don't apply. Even then, I would only send the invite message once to any user or phone number, no matter how many of their friends try to invite them.

I haven't been able to find anything authoritative to confirm or refute my theory though. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what law covers the email case and the SMS case, and if I can do this invite message legally without the recipient's prior opt-in. Also, if I can send a message, what language do I need to include in the message to ensure it is legal?

Thanks Stackexchange!


texts: How far does the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine extend?

texts:
Suppose that an individual has been arrested, multiple times, for possession of controlled substances (i.e. illegal drugs), but has managed to get the charges dropped or dismissed by a court after a hearing each time because the searches leading to the arrest were blatantly unlawful under the 4th Amendment prohibition against unlawful search and seizure. These bad searches are the only evidence available that the person is a drug user/dealer. There is no informant evidence available.

Generally, the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine forbids using evidence only obtained as a result of an unlawful search or seizure to convict someone. But, where does the chain of causation end?

Can the past arrests serve as a basis for reasonable suspicion to stop a person? As probable cause for a future search warrant or arrest warrant or wiretap? As basis for active surveillance without a stop or arrest or search warrant? As a basis for inclusion of the person on an informal watch list?

What if law enforcement set up a string operation targeted at this individual? Could the suppressed evidence be used to counter an entrapment defense (which requires a showing that the defendant didn't have a propensity to commit the crime)? Could the suppressed evidence be used to impeach testimony in a criminal case that the defendant had never used drugs before?

Are there any cases that serve as good examples of these limits?

(FWIW, this question was inspired by an incident in the TV show "The Santa Clarita Diet", in which a cop enters a house without a warrant or permission to enter and discovers a protagonist smoking pot in California without a medical marijuana exception, but is not limited to those circumstances.)


texts: Is a software license still valid, if it claims copyright for previous years?

texts: I had a FOSS project with a license which first mentioned "Copyright 2016". Then year 2017 came, and I replaced it with "Copyright 2017". After a while, I realized my mistake and replaced it with "Copyright 2016-2017". Is the license still valid, at least for 2017 onwards?


texts: How much of a work needs to be used for it to be derivative?

texts:
Consider for example the starship enterprise (registry NCC1701) from the star trek tv series. If someone takes a picture of the ship from the tv show and sticks it on a poster, it is clearly a derivative work. But what if they only show part of the ship? What if they only show a small enough part that it is not recognizably from the enterprise? Or what if they just produce a gray (the starship enterprise is gray) image, with "NCC1701" written on it?

Is that a derivative work? Would it matter if it used a different font, or a different color background? Would it make a difference if it was less iconic, e.g. a reproduction of a different ship that only appeared in one episode?

My question is not specific to start trek, but regarding any works which have distinctive subcomponents (e.g. the monolith from 2001, the rebel alliance symbol of from star wars, the one ring from the lord of the rings etc.) - how much of an original work needs to be reproduced for it to infringe the original copyright?


texts: Question about notice to perform (buyer/seller)

texts: I've told my agent, who is a dual agent for me and the buyer, to send a 2-day notice to buyer to perform. My agent said it was delivered on Saturday. I believe this would mean that Monday night would be the deadline since the 2 days are calendar days as specified by CAR and my contract. However, my agent says the 2 days begin on Monday and that it only counts weekdays. In the case my agent never did send the notice, would I still be able to cancel the purchase contract? If so, would the buyer take me to court even though I submitted a notice but agent failed to deliver? If not, can I take the agent and/or brokerage to court for any sort of damages for failure to deliver? Thank you.


texts: Does anything in international law that limits a countries ability to recognize secession governments?

texts:
In 1903, Panama separated from Colombia. Colombia tried to forcefully retake Panama, but Panama quickly allied with the U.S. which easily prevented the reunification. Some view this as the U.S. essentially taking over that region.

Now a days, directly taking over a region would be considered a war of aggression, which would cause U.N. members to implement sanctions against the aggressor (in theory). My question is, does international law say anything about recognizing secession governments?

As an extreme example, a government could just ask someone in some region to declare independence in exchange for military protection of their new government and an alliance. Here is a more concrete scenario. I am Pennsylvania. If I formed a secession Pennsylvanian government and entered into a military alliance with China, would that be a breach in international law? Obviously the U.S. would try to destroy my government, not even attributing any statehood to the government I formed. Would third parties be required to sanction China, however? If my new country was successful (with the help of China), would it also get sanctioned (let's say my uncle in New Jersey also forms a secession New Jersey government and agrees to give my new country free transport of goods through the east coast)?

If not, what are the limits of recognizing secession governments? I can of course make the above scenario more reasonable if instead of China and Pennsylvania, we use New Mexico and Mexico, or parts of FSU states and Russia. Or, on the topic of U.S. states, consider the scenario where the current Pennslyvanian government allies with China.


texts: In modification agreements, do the courts go by the youngest or oldest childs age when deciding parenting plans. The age desparity is by 4 years difference being 2/6.


texts: Why's it "strange" for a judge to impose voidness on a guarantee?

texts:
O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract (2018 8 ed). p. 200.

I don't understand the red sentence underlined in red. Isn't it gainsaid by the orange underlines beneath? I understand the sentence in green.

Paul Davies. JC Smith's The Law of Contract (2018 2 ed). p. 330.


texts: Can the U.S demand extradition of a non-U.S national who committed a crime against a U.S national in a country other than the U.S.?

texts:
Is it true that the U.S can ask extradition of a non U.S person who has committed a crime against a U.S citizen in a country other than the U.S? I mean, I don't condone crimes but how can it possibly be that a person who has never set food in the U.S and committed a crime outside the U.S be extradited to the U.S and be judged by U.S law in the first place?

EDIT: I've edited the question properly.

EDIT 2: the sentence part "in a country other than the U.S" relates to the country the crime is hypothetically committed in, not an other country extradition is going to be delivered to. I know that the overall statement might be ambiguous.


texts: Do I need to ask for permission to use tokens?

texts: I know that you need to ask the user for permission to use cookies. However I use OAuth from Google Firebase. OAuth works with tokens instead of cookie-authentication, however, for the user it makes no difference. She/he gets authenticated across pages. Since I didn't find anything regarding "permission for tokens", I assume that I don't need it. Is this right? Any legal proof would be awesome.


texts:
Here in Brazil we have this case: justice has asked Facebook for some data from a drug dealer whatsapp account. Facebook denied. Now, justice has blocked Whatsapp service in all the country as a penalty..

My question is: does the government has the right to obligate a international company break their security policy?


texts: mitigation of joint and several liability when renting shared housing

texts:
My understanding of the rationale behind joint and several liability is that the tenants would be most knowledgeable how to fairly distribute a cost amongst themselves. My question is what can be done to make sure that one person won't be held accountable for everything? For example I've heard stories where the landlord evicts everyone and sues one tenant for the remainder of the lease.

My question is would the following be considered legally binding? Sure the landlord could have all the tenants sign the lease agreeing to join and several liability, but then could the roommates amongst themselves sign something to say that each is responsible for his/her own rent?

For example say a landlord rents a house with 5 bedrooms. The landlord has each tenant sign a lease that says "each tenant can be charged as an individual or all tenants can be charged as a group", but then the tenants amongst themselves each sign an agreement saying "each tenant agrees to be responsible for their own portion of the rent". Then if one tenant doesn't pay, would the landlord be forced to go after them in court, or would whoever ends up getting sued by the landlord be able to go after the person who didn't pay, or would it not really make a difference?


texts:
What if a plaintiff says that the defendant acted under a statute law and the defendant claims he acted under case law?

How can people on the street later claim that their acts where founded on case law?

I am asking the same question several ways to help clarify the issue.

What decides which law is superior; statute law or case law?

Is there a formula for deciding controlling law?

Statute law helps one litigant while case law helps the other litigant.  So, would not the statute law take precedents because it is more clearly established?

What if a state agency has their own statutes which grant them authority would not that have higher authority than case law?

Thanks


texts: Can a person run a business as an LLC, but never register?

texts:
Someone knocked on my door to offer landscape services, they call themselves "Landscapers LLC" (just an example, I do not want to put the actual name they used) and the paper ad they gave me also says "Landscapers LLC". They claimed to be a local business in Ohio (they even list a local PO Box as the address). They seemed a bit shady, so I called the Ohio Secretary of State and I was told there is no such business registered with them.

Is that business or person breaking any law? Can they operate/advertise as "Landscapers LLC" even though they did not register?


texts: If other party notified me that phone conversation is being recorded, do I need to tell them if I am also recording it?

texts:
When I call, for example, AT&T or any other company, then before they pick up the phone they sometimes give me a notice that the phone conversation could be recorded for training or other purposes.

Since they already gave a notice that phone conversation is recorded, do I need to tell them as well that I could be recording it on my end too?

This is in California where both parties by law need to agree before recording conversation.

I would also be interested how this law is interpreted in other states or countries.


texts: How does GDPR affect game data and how it is processed?

texts:
A real-time strategy game's data involving player points is available publicly (the point data is paired with their username). A player gains points through actions such as 'attacking' and 'building'.
An unaffiliated 3rd party processes that data (in particular, it accumulates statistics on point change) to generate 'heatmaps' of player activity which can help deduce player online times (which has a direct impact on game strategy) and publishes it on their website. For players with high activity, this may lead to sleep pattern/time zone deduction.
Does GDPR affect the publication of game data like player points?


texts: copyright question (constructs and presentations)

texts:
I got a threatening email from someone today alleging copyright infringement on a website that I built as a personal project back in 2013 to crowdsource the latest trail data from the long-distance hiking community. This person is an owner of a backpacking gear company which apparently owns the rights to the AT Guide, which is a popular resource of trail data among hikers. They are claiming that the part of my site which dynamically builds a PDF out of crowdsourced trail data is unfairly borrowing some visual conventions which can also be found in their guidebook.  (FWIW, I make no money from this site; it was my attempt to give back to the trail community.)

In their email, they specifically point to four aspects of the PDF which are similar to their printed guidebook. I've highlighted three of them in this screenshot. They're claiming copyright on: 1) the way of representing distances between shelters, 2) the sideways orientation of the elevation profile, 3) the icons, and 4) the convention of representing direction and distance for waypoints that are off-trail (e.g. "0.1e" = 0.1 miles east of the trail).

I'm new to copyright law. Can you really copyright such minor visual things? Their email specifically says that the "contructs [sic] and presentations" are protected by copyright. FWIW, I checked the US copyright database for the author's name (the one who allegedly has had the copyright since 2008) and nothing came up.

Since I make no money from this site, I'm reluctant to spend time/money fighting this. But if they're just trying to bully me using legal jargon (but no actual legal standing), I'd like to push back. Anyone been through this sort of thing before? Thanks for any advice!


texts: Can you be fired over behaviour in a second/previous job?

texts:
This is quite long-winded and I've tried my best to simplify it as much as possible. I'll clarify if needed.
Legal jurisdiction here is US and UK law (if there's a difference).
There are three scenarios here. "The Employee" is accused of sexual harassment in all three.
We need to take into account the following which apply for all scenarios:

The Employee is guilty of harassing their co-workers at Company A.
Any investigations conducted are done correctly and fairly.
The Employee is a publicly visible figure and a figure of authority having a management role.

Scenario 1 – Two Simultaneous Employers

The Employee is working for both Company A and B simultaneously. They are accused of harassing multiple co-workers. Company A's investigation finds them guilty and they are dismissed. Company B finds out after taking the Employee on as the allegations are made public by the victims.

Scenario 2 – Fired and then Hired

The Employee is accused of harassing multiple co-workers. Company A's investigation finds them Guilty and they are dismissed. They then get a job at Company B. After starting, B discovers this incident, although there are no grievances against the employee from co-workers at Company B and their disciplinary record at B is otherwise clean.

Scenario 3 – Allegations arise after Moving

The Employee leaves Company A to start a better job at Company B. Their disciplinary record is clean; i.e., no grievances were made against them before leaving Company A. After working at Company B for a while, former co-workers from A make a statement alleging that they were harassed by the Employee when they worked at A. Company B determines that this behaviour has not occurred with co-workers at Company B.

Can Company B dismiss the employee in any of these scenarios, even if they conduct an investigation concluding that the behaviour was not repeated while working with Company B? If they can, should they?
Does Company B have any obligation to investigate the employee's behaviour?


texts: What to expect when getting sued from abroad for libel?

texts:
I, a citizen and resident of the EU, wrote a biography of a British citizen who resides in England, and I published it on a popular online encyclopedia hosted in the United States.  The subject of the article has credibly expressed an intention to sue me for libel over the article and has implied that this suit would be brought in an English court.
I'm not looking for an opinion on the legal merits of the case, nor advice on what I should do.  I'm just curious about the general legal rules and procedures that would be involved in this sort of scenario and how I can expect these procedures to unfold.  In particular:

Can the subject actually sue me in England, or is it possible to sue only in the EU country I posted the article from, or in the US where the article is actually hosted?
If the subject can and does sue in England, what happens exactly?  Am I correct in presuming that I will be notified of this by mail and asked to enter a defence?  If so, what happens if I ignore the matter?  Will a default judgment against me necessarily be entered, or will the court duly consider the plaintiff's case, perform the bare minimum investigation/reasoning necessary to determine which arguments of theirs are (un)sound, and so possibly rule in my favour?
If I do choose to respond, can I hire an England-based lawyer to handle everything remotely, or can I be compelled to physically attend the court in England?
If the court rules for the plaintiff and awards damages, can this judgment be enforced in the EU, or would it apply only in the UK?
If the court rules in my favour, would I recoup my legal fees?


texts: Can a bail enforcement agent be assigned as a bodyguard?

texts: So I looked it up and google did a great job... of not answering my question. I am helping develop this game. It is going to be a very realistic game, however what I want to know is, can a bail enforcement agent be assigned as a bodyguard since bail agents are trained in the similar skill set as a bodyguard?