texts: Is there a knife, that can be legally carried in both NJ and NY?

texts:
I live in NJ, but work in NYC, and would like to be find a knife, that can be legally carried in both locales.
NYC seems to ban all folding knives, while allowing any fixed-blades under 4" long.
NJ appears to be the opposite -- folding ones may be Ok, but fixed-blade require vague justifications like "explainable lawful purpose".
Is there anything suitable for both?


texts: Is a job offer letter sent and accepted by email legally binding?

texts:
I am considering accepting this job offer but am in the interview process with another company that I should hear back from soon. This current offer is for a 3-month contract and the one I am waiting on for is a Full-Time position.
My question is:
If I accept this job offer via email, is it legally binding in case I want to rescind the acceptance if I get the better job?
The email offer I received is below:

Hello [Me],
Great news!!!
[Manager] would like to offer you for [job role] while we are pending the reference checks. As they do not want to lose you while we wait.
Manager: [Manager Name]
Start date: 5/3/2021
Once you accept the offer, please confirm the following details:
Are you able to start on the start date listed above:
Do you have time off already planned in the first 90 days of employment?:
Do you prefer a PC or Mac:
Your complete Address for shipment:
Phone number:
Personal Email:
Reply awaited,
[Recruiting Manager]

There is no place to sign and I am curious if accepting this offer via email before receiving additional documentation to sign or beginning the actual job/onboarding process is legally binding in any way in case it's better for me to back out and take the other job (if I get it).
They said they needed the response by this afternoon, but I did send an email asking for more time to consider accepting the offer. As of right now, I haven't heard back from them on this extension. I've been out of work due to Covid and need a new job, but I'd hate to be locked in to a 3 month position only to go through this again when there's the possibility of a better position just on the horizon. Any help sorting this out would be appreciated.
Thanks!


texts: Does a trademark application for technology like semiconductors or voting machines require an invention or embodiment?

texts:
New York Times' China Grants Ivanka Trump Initial Approval for New Trademarks:

HONG KONG — China granted initial approval for 16 new trademarks to Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter and senior adviser, renewing questions about the Trump family’s intermingling of official roles and international business interests.
Among the broad array of trademarked items were shoes, shirts and sunglasses — the sort of products that were sold under her recently closed fashion label. Other categories given initial approval were less obvious fits, like voting machines, homes for senior citizens and semiconductors. (emphasis added)

Washington Post: China greenlights large batch of Ivanka Trump trademark applications (Mercury News also):

HONG KONG — Ivanka Trump-branded semiconductors and voting machines? In China? (emphasis added)
That’s an odd, if remote, possibility after Chinese trademark regulators awarded preliminary approval for 16 trademark applications from the president’s daughter and White House senior adviser, online Chinese government filings show.
The approvals by Beijing on Oct. 13 were notable for their timing, coming just as Chinese and U.S. officials were seeking to restart trade talks that had collapsed amid acrimony. They also raised eyebrows for covering a grab-bag of products, including electoral hardware in a country not exactly known for its elections.

Question: Do trademark applications for specific technological products like voting machines or semiconductors require the submission of a related patent, or a design, invention, or at least example of an embodiment as part of the trademark application?


texts: Is it legal for manufacturers to lock bootloaders on Android phones?

texts:
Some backgroud :

A bootloader is a very low level piece of software that runs first and loads an operating system of some other tool. On a lot of new Android devices the bootloader is "locked", that means that it checks if the digital signature of the installed OS and then only accepts to boot the device. Some phone manufacturers have started to lock bootloaders in order to prevent any system modification whether it is done by a legitimate user or not.

My question :

Android is an operating system based on Linux, and Linux is distributed under the GNU GPL v2 license. The GPL v2 grants some rights to the user, in particular being able to modify a program licensed under it.

As bootloader locks prevent users from modifying an Android phone's software in some ways, is it legal for phones manufacturers to prevent the user from removing the bootloader lock ?


texts:
Read an article recently regarding FlyBe, and their attempt to find out (from a list of unknown user data) who wanted to be contacted in the future with promotions, etc.

They sent an email to this list of unknown users to determine just that, but they were later given a penalty for spamming (£70K). It is only fair to say that they did this because of the impending changes with the new GDPR rules.

If this was a genuine attempt to ensure that the company remain within the remains of the law/GDPR rules, how else could they have gone about this?
If we are talking millions of rows of user data that could bring in a large amount of business, would it have been better for them to dispose of this?

I also wonder if a much larger company, e.g. Some big pharma company, did the same. Would they suffer the same sort of penalty?


texts: How do I file a certificate of service when making a money claim online?

texts:
I recently submitted online a court claim for money owed.

Prior to making the claim I had written to the defendant several times to explain the breakdown of money owed but not got a response.

Now that it's been more than 14 days since the claim was submitted and he has not responded, I can proceed to a request for judgment.

The page says: "If you served separate detailed particulars of claim on the defendant(s), you must have filed a certificate of service within 14 days of serving these and, where you've done this, you must confirm this if you proceed to request judgment."

I sent the separate detailed particulars on several occasions before the money claim.  And I have resent them now.  However, I don't know what a 'certificate of service' is, or how I can 'file' such a thing.


texts: What is the Copyright Status of code posted on JSFiddle?

texts:
Programmers share code on the site JSFiddle http://jsfiddle.net, the website section called Licence states:

All code posted to the site belongs to the poster and no license is enforced.
jsFiddle are not responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any kind during the usage of provided code.

I  (not a lawyer) can see two interpretations of this wording ...

Any claim to rights is up to the 'poster' to pursue, jsFiddle will not pursue licencing issues.
or
The poster forfeits rights by posting on jsFiddle and will not make claims

On the website there are private and public repositories, the public repositories are intended for sharing and (probably slightly more important) on the site there doesn't seem any way 'posters' can specify a licence.
So I'm wondering whether the above licence and indication of intent to openly share code allow for the code to be commercially used by others?


texts: Why are there no public arbitration proceedings?

texts:
Despite the ubiquity of binding arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, I am unable to find a single example of an actual consumer arbitration proceeding (emails, exhibits, hearing, etc.).
This is in contrast to litigation, where millions of dockets are available via PACER.
This is surprising as the American Arbitration Association consumer rules do not impose any sort of confidentiality restrictions on the consumer.
What explains the lack of public arbitration proceedings?


texts: Can I use any library I want in a public domain program?

texts:
If I install a library on my system (let's say it's called libfoo and it is under the BSD license), then include the header in my program (in the public domain) and link the program to libfoo, is that legal?

It seems like it would be, since no library code is actually getting included in my final binary.


texts: When is it OK to not sign a traffic ticket

texts:
I've done some first page of Google research on signing vs refusing to sign a traffic ticket. I understand that it's technically illegal not to sign, though one can still refuse in any case. I also understand that not signing means one can be taken into custody rather than be released on their own recognizance with a promise to appear in court or settle the ticket in the alotted time.

So knowing all this, is it ever OK, or beneficial to still refuse to sign a ticket?

This question was prompted by watching a YouTube video, where an off duty police captain claimed he witnessed a violation, for which he had another officer pull the driver over and issue them a citation, which they refused to sign, because the issuing officer was not a witness, and the violation itself was contested by the driver.


texts: Why do we need lawyers in the Judicial system?

texts:
Law is supposed to be known to all citizens.

It is also assumed (implicitly) that it is correctly understood: Ignorance or misinterpretation is not an excuse before the judge.

So why are we required to be represented by lawyers in criminal and civil trials? Why should a lawyer need to pass a bar exam before practising?

In my country, like many others with a Spanish heritage, everything must be done through a lawyer. So you can't claim ignorance (as a defense). Also, you can't defend yourself by claiming you are a simple lay person (ignorant). That sounds a lot like hypocrisy.

Why is the law supposed to be known and understood by everyone, when that is not the case?
How can a legal system based on a false assumption do justice?

I do not deny the advisability of having an attorney for legal matters. Personally, all my legal matters are handled by my family's attorney.


texts: What does it mean to "pirate" a game, app, or other digital resource?

texts: I've heard the term "pirate" many times before, but I have never really understood it. How do people do it and why?


texts: Does publication remove patent protection?

texts:
I found the following publication: Fast Multiplication on Elliptic Curves over GF(2^m) without Precomputation which

  describes an algorithm for computing elliptic scalar multiplications
  on non-supersingular elliptic curves defined over GF(2^m).

In the paragraph 4.2 a version using projective coordinates is described to avoid field inversions in GF(2^m) (please refer to the publication for unknown variables).

On the other hand, I found the following patent: Accelerated finite field operations on an elliptic curve which presents

  A method for multiplication of a point P on elliptic curve E by a
  value k in order to derive a point kP comprises the steps of
  representing the number k as vector of binary digits stored in a
  register and forming a sequence of point pairs (P1, P2) wherein the
  point pairs differed most by P and wherein the successive series of
  point pairs are selected either by computing $(2mP,(2m+1)P)$ from
  (mP,(m+1)P) or ((2m+1)P,(2m+2)P) from (mP,(m+1)P). The computations
  may be performed without using the y-coordinate of the points during
  the computation while allowing the y-coordinate to be extracted at the
  end of the computations, thus, avoiding the use of inversion
  operations during the computation and therefore, speeding up the
  cryptographic processor functions.

From my point of view, the algorithm presented in the publication is a particular case of the invention described in the patent. Plus it is well known that there are a lot of patents about ECC over binary fields. But I have a little doubt because one of the author of the publication (Julio Lopez) is from the same university of the patent authors (university of Waterloo).

So my question is the following: Can I use the publication to perform ECC without being under patent protection? More generally, can an academic publication be under patent protection?


texts: Can language in a settlement agreement have affect on taxes for a personal injury lawsuit?

texts:
I am located and suing in California. My lawyers filed a personal injury lawsuit/claim and sent a CCP 998, which the defendant accpected for judgment in my favor. The defense has sent over a settlement agreement, which my lawyers told me is a "standard settlement agreement" for terms of payment. The defense does not accept liability, disputes/refutes, and alleges my claims. The contract states in order to prevent further costly litigation both parties agree to settle, etc. It's important to note there are no punitive damages involved, and this is for a significant amount of money.

I've consulted tax attorney's and cpa's who suggest I add code 104(a)(2) to the settlement agreement, but the defendant refuses to amend. If I don't sign this agreement, we will have to appear in court to receive judgment and it would take longer to receive my money. Just to clarify my lawyers said whether I sign this agreement or not, it will be recorded with the courts that I've won. Apparently, this settlement agreement is just so I "can get the money sooner".

What I am questioning is; if the language in the settlement agreement is relevant to the IRS, since my claims solely arise from personal/physical injury? I want to make sure there are no loopholes as to what language is needed in the agreement to be considered tax free. Could there be tax implications if I sign the agreement acknowledging the defendant does not accept liability, or disputes my claims?


texts: Is it illegal for a family member to withhold/hide the passport of a legal adult, from the rightful owner - in the UK?

texts:
If yes, what action should be taken and on what grounds is it classed as illegal?

Considering that both individuals are UK citizens, with a passport registered respectively, does it go against the law to do the aforementioned.

Providing that, the true owner explicitly asks for it to be returned to them nor asks for the passport to be held be the individual, in the first place.


texts: Do patent royalties date from the date of filing?

texts:
Alice invents a widget, files patent; it gets granted after a couple of years. Meanwhile, Bob has copied the widget and been selling many units of his copy.
Alice and Bob reach a license agreement whereby the latter will pay the former a royalty per unit sold.
By law and custom, are back royalties due back to the date the patent was filed? Or do they only apply forward from when the patent was granted?
And have the rules for this been the same since the patent system started, or have they changed over the years?
The jurisdiction I'm concerned about is the US, if it makes a difference.


texts: Is it legal for a landlord to arrange viewings with less than 24 hours notice in the last month of tenancy

texts:
I am at the last month of tenancy. My landlord has been arranging viewings at very short and inconvenient notice (and not particularly asking nicely for permission either, but mostly informing me of the fact they will be walking into the house at a certain time, just so I'm aware). Today it was 2.5 hours notice, and I only happened to see the message by chance.
I asked that from now on I expect the legal 24 hour notice for any future viewing requests. They replied simply to say:

as per your contract, the 24 hour notice rule does not apply in the last month of tenancy:
▪ To permit the Premises to be viewed at all reasonable times (including weekends) during the final month of theTenancy,  following a prior request by the Agent, wishing to view the Premises with a prospective tenant.

Is this loophole legal under UK law? My own interpretation of the unqualified term "prior request" would be that the legality of the 24 hour rule is still implied, rather than overruled. Is the contract even valid on such a point?


texts:
I saw a website that involves programming problems. One problem asks to write a program that finds a string whose MD5 hash is given.

Is it criminal to crack the MD5 hash by finding those strings?


texts: Force person on stand to only say, yes or no, legal?

texts:
I've searched and have been unable to find the answer to this. It's a pretty basic question and something you see a lot in USA crime/law dramas. A person takes the stand under oath, under examination the individual from the opposing side badgers and forces the person to simply say, "yes or no," to the question at hand. This is also seen with expert testimonies where a simple yes or no will very likely misconstrue the truth as the world is not black and white.
Is this sort of thing actually legal? Or can the person insist on giving a more complete testimony?


texts: Difference between "1099-MISC worker" and "independent contractor"

texts:
I live in Massachusetts which recently passed a very complicated law for Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML).  I'm trying to understand my obligations under this law as described on this mass.gov page.

This page states a 1099-MISC worker is covered by the law unless the person is an independent contractor as defined in the usual way (see here).

So this PFML law seems to be stating that:

you can be an 1099-MISC worker, but
not be an independent contractor.

I was under the impression that a 1099-MISC worker was the same thing as an independent contractor.  A Google search seems to confirm this.

Can anyone explain what is going on here?


texts: May I claim fair use for public commentary of a political ad?

texts:
Preface

I am not a legal professional

I know that fair use is such an ambiguous area.

Hypothetical Scenario

I want to publish (online) a marked up copy of a political candidate's campaign advertising (postcard mailer) for the purpose of public commentary of his claims, but I don't want to get sued for copyright infringement (the candidate is a real politician ... if you know what I mean).

Questions

Is a campaign mailer copyrighted?
Have there been any court decisions specifically for the fair use of a copyrighted campaign mailer?

Possible Answer

If I had to guess, I would say that: yes it is copyrighted. Specifically: the photography and layout.

I think it would be legal to quote sections of the text (How else would I be able to make commentary?).
I suppose the legal question would be: is the reproduction of the ad necessary for making the public commentary. I could see a court deciding "no, textual citations is sufficient". I could also see a court saying that "yes, the visual representation of the copyrighted ad is necessary to make the commentary".

(Again I'm not a lawyer or law student)

Research

I found this during my Internet research, but none of the examples were for public commentary of mailers.


texts:
Interesting and confusing situation posed to me..
When there are multiple households a child lives within, who retains ownership of items provided to a child by one parent if said child passes?
So far: HOBLYN v. JOHNSON Seems to have the most information.  Yet it seems to have also oppositional statements as well.
HOBLYN v. JOHNSON
2002 WY 152
55 P.3d 1219
Case Number: 01-169
Decided: 10/09/2002

"As a general rule any property acquired by the child in any way except by its own labor or services belongs to the child, and not to the parent." [46 C. C. 1314]. . . . It furthermore goes without saying that a parent cannot deprive a child of its property except pursuant to law (31 C. J. 1011), and the fact that in this instance the father had the property in question assessed as his property could not affect the title of the children. In Banks v. Conant, 14 Allen (Mass.) 497, it was said: "In consideration of the duty which the law imposes on a father to furnish adequate support to his child during infancy, the services of the child during that period are due to the father, and, if they are rendered to a third person, the right of the father to recover the value thereof is clear and indisputable. But this is the extent of the father's right. He has no title to the property of the child, nor is the capacity or right of the latter to take property or receive money by grant, gift or otherwise, except as a compensation for services, in any degree qualified or limited during minority. Whatever therefore an infant acquires which does not come to him as a compensation for services rendered, belongs absolutely to him, and his father cannot interpose any claim to it, either as against the child, or as against third persons who claim title or possession from or under the infant."

This reads to me that the one parent(or even a third party) can claim ownership of items without recourse for the other parent...   (Confused?)
Yet the next paragraph indicates that-
"Despite the general rule, parents do retain property rights in certain items they provide their children for the purpose of support, maintenance, or education such as clothing and books. 1 Kramer, Legal Rights of Children, supra at § 8.12; 67A C.J.S. Parent and Child, supra at § 119. It is uncontroverted the daughter's paternal grandfather gave the horse to her as a gift, the horse was titled in her name, and it was not necessary for her support or maintenance. As a matter of law, the horse belonged to the daughter, and the parents had no implied authority over it simply because of their proprietary interest in the premises on which it was located."
Which is it?  I'm leaning toward the latter... and...
If a parent has items that were provide for "support, maintenance, or education" in their custody when the child passed the death created an "involuntary bailment" of these items, correct?
However, when said parent refused requests the others request to return property the bailment became "voluntary" does it not?
Does that then constitute an act of conversion?
If so what are the recourses?
I cannot find any instances where this kind of situation has gone to court, and with all candor find that hard to believe...


texts: Electric personal delivery device use on local street

texts:
I wonder whether Electric personal delivery device (EPDD) is forbidden to use local street in residential neighborhoods (the lowest level of "highway" ever). There is an amendment to the Virginia Motor Vehicle code online (HB 2016 and SB 1207). Citing from HB 2016 full text:

  § 46.2-908.1:1. Electric personal delivery devices.

  ...

  D. No electric personal delivery device shall be operated on a public
  highway in the Commonwealth, except to the extent necessary to cross
  an intersection or crosswalk.

Street crossing is explicitly allowed. But if I understand it correctly EPDDs are in now way allowed on any kind of public highways (=all kinds of streets/roads ever) which would not permit them on local streets either.

If I did not miss other statements in the amendment then the question really is what is meant by "public highway" in this context. Is there a chance an "intercity road" is meant excluding local streets from the denial?


texts: What determines jurisdiction when two people litigate in federal court?

texts:
A, a resident of California, wants to sue B, who works in New York, for something that happened in New York, using the federal court system. Would this matter be litigated in California or New York? Would either A or B have a choice of venue? And how would it be decided which state's laws apply?

Suppose they settled the matter with B agreeing to make installment payments to A. The two states have different rules regarding interest rates, default rates, start dates, etc. Which state's rules would apply, or would they negotiate?


texts:
Lawyers seem to be accustomed to the phrase "reasonably ought to have known."
Lawyers also sometimes have occasion to be concerned with the concepts of honesty and dishonesty.
If you reasonably ought to have known that the sky is blue, but didn't and thought it was green, and said so, when, if ever, would lawyers consider that dishonest?


texts:
I have a recollection that late in the 20th century in the United States, A called B a "bastard." B sued A for defamation.

The court ruled in favor of the defendant. Its first observation was that (at the time) one of out every four American children was born out of "wedlock," (the literal meaning of "bastard.") The judge also noted that "bastard" and similar swear words were in wide use at the time, and that people would take it as such, and not as an accusation that the circumstances of B's birth were compromised.

My guess is that B's suit would have had a much better chance to succeed a century or two earlier, in the late nineteenth or eighteenth century. So what would be the standard for "defamation?" Would it be related to contemporary understanding or usage?


texts: Which jurisdiction applies in an international case around a missing package?

texts:
Let's say a company in Mississippi send a package to a customer in the EU (Germany). The item has already been billed, including shipping costs.

Due to mishandling at the customs, the package is sent back before the customer is either informed or can act/retrieve the package.

The package is never returned, and the customer cannot initiate a postal search inquiry (since those can only be initiated by the sender).

If the company then becomes non responsive to inquiries to initiate such a search, which jurisdiction would apply? Where would the customer need to consult a lawyer/open a case/go to the police in order to force the company to initiate a search inquiry/refund the items?


texts: Can US born minor obtain Indian citizenship by registration?

texts:
If a US born baby to Indian citizen parents, did not register by birth/descent at Indian mission, however opts for US passport.

Now if parents and US born baby with US passport return to India, can the US born baby obtain Indian citizenship by registration ?

As per the law for citizenship by registration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law#Citizenship_by_registration "minor children of persons who are citizens of India"

If so what is the process ? Any catch ? I would appreciate any first hand experience, any link to more information for even advise on a good advocate with knowledge of Indian law.


texts: Is it legal to take full pay for partial service?

texts:
My fiance recently went on a 7 night cruise abroad and would not have cellular service. She hired a local pet sitter to come by her house 3 times a day to feed, water, and change her dog's paper. They agreed on 9 days for $35.00 per day. The pet sitter requested and was paid $315.00 in full prior to beginning the service.

My fiance stays in a gated community and added the sitter to her guest list so that she can access the home. After the second day, the pet sitter was denied entry through the gate by security. The sitter contacted her emergency contact to notify her that she is unable to care for the animal since she cannot access the home. Her mother took care of the pet for the remainder of the 9 days.

Upon returning back to the country, she learned from her mother everything that happened. Thankfully, the dog was okay since her mother was able to take care of the dog while she was abroad. My fiance contacted the sitter to offer 4 days' pay, $140.00, for the 2 days of service she was able to do her job to compensate for any inconveniences. The sitter maintains position that the agreement was for $315.00 for 9 days of service and that it was not her fault she couldn't do her job for the remaining 7 days, so she kept the full payment.

Is it legal for the pet sitter to keep the full payment, even though the contract was breached?

Was the sitter right for keeping full payment with only providing a fraction of the services agreed upon?


texts: Is it legal for police to use their lights to go through a red light?

texts:
Many of us have seen this. A police car stops at a red light and after ten seconds with no cross-traffic, they put their lights on only (no siren) drive across the intersection against the red light, then turns off their lights on the other side and drives slowly away.

I assume that flashing their police lights is to avoid a fine in case they are caught by a red-light camera. Is it legal for police who don't have an urgent police reason to do this?


texts: Meaning – relevant clauses contained a carve out in the event of fraud

texts:
Richard and Damian Taylor. Contract Law Directions (2019 7 ed).  p 356.

Application [of Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999] to case law
The first reported case on the Act, Nisshin Shipping v Cleaves (2003) makes it clear that the onus
is on the contracting parties to make it clear that they do not intend the party benefited by a term
to be able to enforce it under the Act. If the contract is neutral on this point then the third party is
permitted to enforce the term. In that case, the charter contract between the shipowner defendant
and the charterer stated that the claimant brokers were entitled to a 1 per cent commission.
Coleman J held that the brokers were permitted to sue the shipowner for the commission due
even though the broker was not a party to the contract. Further, the broker was bound by s.8 of
the Act to bring its claim in arbitration as the right to commission fell within the arbitration clause
in the contract; see also Fortress Value Recovery Fund I LLC v Blue Skye Special Opportunities Fund
LP (2012) which reaffirmed the principle that a third party takes the benefit of rights subject to any
arbitration clause in the contract, although in that case the court rejected the defendants’ attempt
to stay proceedings brought in the Commercial Court in favour of arbitration because the contract
conferred on them ‘defensive’ rights under an exclusion clause and, in any event, the defendants
had not pleaded such a defence (presumably because the relevant clauses contained a carve out
in the event of fraud (which formed the basis of the allegations against them)). The substantive
claims brought were therefore not ones which arose pursuant to the Act (unlike the claim for
commission in Nisshin) and so s.8 of the Act did not bite and the defendants were not entitled to
be treated as though they were parties to the arbitration agreement.

I read the case, and the clauses cited by Coleman J cited  don't moot or use the noun 'fraud'. The judgment also doesn't contain the noun 'fraud'.


texts: Does a USA bookkeeping or accounting app have to be certified by a regulatory body?

texts: If an accounting/bookkeeping app is developed in the US, and released for use in the same country, is it required by law that it first be certified or reviewed by a regulatory body, for instance to ensure that it performs basic ledger entries correctly or calculates gross or net correctly?


texts: Can someone divide and simplify this sentence so I understand?

texts:
Context is Children's Act 1989.
The full sentence is this, I especially have a hard time understanding the bold part:
"The local authority having indicated it wishes to apply for an urgent interim care order, and this is to be dealt with at a separate hearing to the case management hearing, the parties are directed to discuss in respect of any order or direction applied for, the purpose of the hearing, any directions that will be applied for, whether any part of the hearing will be contested and the length of the hearing, and the local authority shall inform the court in writing by 1.5.19."


texts: If the grand jury refuses to indict, can the prosecutor try again?

texts:
A prosecutor seeks an indictment for Charge X, but the grand jury returns a no-bill.
Is the prosecutor free to seek another indictment on Charge X from the same grand jury, or from a different one? Does it matter if the prosecutor has new evidence? Is there any limit on how many attempts the government can make?
Is the answer different between the federal government and the states?


texts: Is it legal to use scientific personality tests like MMPI or IPIP on a website with ads?

texts: There are a lot of personality tests developed by scientific organizations, which goes under different licenses. The examples are MMPI, different big-five personality tests, the test for smoking behaviour developed by the World Health Organization. What are the conditions to use these tests for free on the websites with ads?


texts: Does California Penal Code 1214.1 disallow the requirement to pay bail before Trial by Written Declaration?

texts:
California Penal Code 1214.1(b2) states:

  Payment of a civil assessment shall not be required to schedule a
  court hearing on a pending underlying charge.

However, California Traffic Courts require pre-payment of bail before allowing a Trial by Written Declaration.

Is this allowed by the Penal Code?


texts: I made a software version of a semi-popular board game for free. Is that legal?

texts:
All the code is 100% my own - I made it for practice, and to showcase my abilities to potential employers. To facilitate this, I want to release the code open source on GitHub.

I credit the game's designer in the opening menu, and use the title in my title. Surely since I'm not running adds on the site I plan to host it on, or monetize it in any way, I should't be in any legal trouble?

Thought I'd ask first.
What kind of licence would I use?


texts:
X and Y both buy 10 shares in company C. X leaves the 10 shares, or the net sales thereof, to Y. X dies after having sold the shares and the value of the shares (say £1000) are inherited by Y, who then dies, leaving all Y's shares to two grandchildren, with the remainder of the estate left to Y's children. Do Y's grandchildren have any claim on the £1000? They would if Y had inherited the shares themselves, but what if Y inherited the net proceeds of the sale of the shares from X?
Let me ask a related question:
X and Y jointly own a house. X leaves his interest in the house, or the net proceeds of the sale of the house, to Y. Y bequeaths her interest in the house, or the net proceeds of her interest, to A and B and the remainder of her estate to C. The house is sold, with X's share of the proceeds being £200,000, say. X dies, with Y inheriting the £200,000. Y then dies. Do A and B have any claim on the £200,000 inherited from X or will it be passed to C?


texts: Appeal process in UK from District Judge

texts: Could anyone please explain to me my options. I am appealing against a possession order from a District Judge to a Circuit Judge. I have a hearing for permission to appeal in two weeks time. I am worried if permission is denied, can I appeal to the next level above, Appellate Court or Supreme Court? My case is in public interest, the Judgement was biased to Local Authority. Despite that I am a litigant in person and a secure tenant, my recent research in Possession claims confirmed to me that Judgement was obviously wrong and unfair.


texts: How long are the documents of courts stored in the contries of the West?

texts:
Can anybody enlighten me about how long the documents of a judicial trial are stored in the court (or in archives) and are available for studying in the countries of the West, say in France, in Britain, in Germany, in USA?

I am asking because in Russia, where I live, people face problems in getting acquaintance with the documents of the court after certain period: all the documents, but the verdict of the judge, are annihilated in several years. I am curious how this problem is resolved in the West.


texts: Can you take an existing copy right licenses and tweak it?

texts:
I'm interested in putting some stuff up on DiviantArt, and while I like the license options, I would like to restrict them a bit. Namely I'd like to prevent copies or derivatives from appearing places that I haven't also published them. If I put something on DA, otherSite.com, and YAsite.com then those are the only three places I wish to allow derivative works or copies to be posted. At the same time, I wish to be able to post my work anywhere I wish. Furthermore, if by some strange chance I come into a situation where I can make money off of my work, I would like to do so, while disallowing derivative works to be sold for money (but still allowed for non-profit). Can I say something like ``CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 except for X-Y-Z provisions"?
Looking this up, I found that the GPL (GNU Public License) may be modified, but I'm not interested in GPL, rather a modified Creative Commons license.
edit: To be more explicit, I want to say the following

This is work may be lisenced as per the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 with the fallowing alterations:
(1) $myName, the original IP creator, may collect monetary compensation of his work. This does not imply that the original IP creator may monetize derivative works, nor that derivative works may be monetized by their creators.
(2) Distribution of copies and derivative works is restricted to those methods/places/whatever that the original has also used.

I'm thinking something like that, but not necessarily that.


texts: Using copyrighted material falsely advertised as Creative Commons or public domain (in U.S.)

texts:
You're searching for images to use in a book you're working on. You find an image with a Creative Commons license on Wikipedia or some other website. So you use it, adding the proper attribution.

But after your book is published, you're sued by someone for copyright infringement. Turns out user "nox7" uploaded a copyrighted image, falsely claiming it was licensed by CC.

If the website you got the image from is still online - solid evidence that you were duped - what bearing, if any, might that have on your case?

I'm assuming you can still be sued, and you could lose. But are there cases where a court says, "Hey, this guy was lied to. He made an honest effort to ascertain the image's legal status, but he was duped by user nox7"?

The judge then throws the case out, on condition that the image be removed from future copies of the book. Or the defendant still loses, but he gets off with a light fine.

Can anyone give me some guidance here? If there's no definite answer, it would be helpful to know about specific cases involving this situation.


texts: Under what circumstance is trial by jury suspended in the UK?

texts:
The most obvious example I can think of is a Diplock court, where juries are suspended and the case presided over by a single judge.  This arrangement was created in response to terrorism during The Troubles.  As I understand it, this is only relevant for terrorism cases.

I'd like to know if there's any other circumstances where juries are not required for prosecution.


texts: I'm an engineer. Can I build something that is patented asuming I don't share, sell or profit off the item?

texts:
I found a few posts but they were a bit ambigous a a lot was left to the uneducated imagination of mine. Title says it all really. Say I wanted to build a special type of laser, I do NOT want to sell OR profit off the device.

All I know is this device has a global patent, or perhaps a UK one, whats the difference if it was a UK patent and I was in the UK or what if it was a UK patent and I was in the USA?

Say if this laser was very good at cutting things in a 3D printer but I didn't sell any of the items that the 3D printer produced. Is this illegal?

I'm in the UK BTW. But I would also really appreshiate it if you just assumed it was what ever your country is.

Thanks.


texts: Downloading music using "online converters"

texts:
Is it illegal to use online converters to download .mp3 files of songs from websites such as Soundcloud, YouTube etc.

You can search online for terms such as youtube to mp3 or download from soundcloud and find countless sites that allow users to paste in links and direct-download an .mp3 file of songs.

I think I've heard that distributing music collected this way is illegal, but keeping them for yourself is okay.

I've seen this post, but I'm specifically interested in general music from any website.

What are the laws regarding this? And do they vary in different countries (UK, Australia, North America etc.)?


texts: How can a database derived from copyrighted works be public domain?

texts:
I've been using the website RefractiveIndex.INFO to get some optical constants for a physics project.

It seems like all the graphs reference a book or some source for the data they contain. For example, the most popular one would probably be for water (located here), which references G. M. Hale and M. R. Querry. Optical Constants of Water in the 200-nm to 200-µm Wavelength Region, Appl. Opt. 12, 555-563 (1973).

When I read about the database here, the author says that he has released the database to the public domain. How can he do that if the data in this database is not really his own?

Also this leaves me unsure exactly how to cite the source. It feels odd to not include the authors of the actual data.


texts: Can you sell autonomous drones in the US?

texts:
USA here. I am a software engineer and hobby roboticist and I have just successfully built a quadcopter drone with a full-fledged microcontroller (running firmware that I wrote myself) inside of it, that flies around my backyard, identifies certain things that it finds and sends me reports of what it finds. I do not need to control it with any sort of remote at all.
Are there any laws or regulations banning selling this as a consumer product? Never mind the electronics testing/certification/verification aspect (i.e. all the processes and hoops you have to jump through to have an official "UL" logo on your product). I'm wondering where modern US (likely FAA) drone law stands on completely autonomous, unmanned, non-remote-controlled quadcopter operations for commercial use—not for delivering the mail like what Amazon is doing; this is just something that flies around on its own in your backyard or in a field, does simple object identification and knows how to stear clear of most obstacles.


texts: Whom can I contact if I'd like to translate a literary work into my mother tongue if the writer is dead and the publishing house no longer exists?

texts:
I am carrying out some little translation works for a publishing house and I, personally, want to translate a specific literary work (a novel) that impresses me a lot, into my mother tongue. But the problem is that I am quite ignorant about the copyright issues. The writer of the book I want to translate is dead, and the publishing house that first published the book no longer exists. So, how can I trace and find somebody to contact to ask whether I can or not; what are the conditions; or how much does it cost to me or to my publishing house?
I avoid using the name of the book and the writer here, but if it is not something illegal or something (I mean, to state my intentions) and is necessary for you to provide me a more detailed explanation, then I can give the specific name for more accurate information.


texts: Can I process the e-mails from my own e-mail account to make statistics?

texts:
I'm working on a project for a company and I’m not sure if it's legal.
I've made a system that automatically analyses my e-mail account and then displays statistics like:

-Most common senders
-Most common origin countries
-A heat map

I try to make statistics based on all malicious e-mail messages in my own personal e-mail account.

To make this possible I made a script in Python that extracts all e-mail headers from all e-mail in my mail account.
I process:

e-mail names
e-mail addresses
IP-look-up information

On the IP-address in the header and some other basic information.

In the Netherlands we have a law (Wbp) what is based on 95/46/EG the Europa version. It feels like I’m not allowed to process personal information like
name, country and e-mail address. But if this is not allowed why can we view this information on the e-mail clients? Then Gmail should violate the rules as well?

I use only information what Gmail/Outlook make available for me. I'm not asking for people to send me e-mail message they choose to send me those spam e-mails.
Is it because they choose to send an e-mail to me I’m allowed to view/process there information?

I'm not allowed by the law to process personal informative that can trace back to the person. While I'm doing this by making a world map with a head map
to get a feeling from which countries most e-mail comes. But to make this information I store the persons name, e-mail and country. But when having a Gmail/Outlook account I do basically the same without visualizing the data in a dashboard.

Does someone know if this is allowed in The Netherlands or in Europa? And if yes/no why? I have to defend this reason but ATM I’m not sure.


texts: Is it ever legal for a company to instruct employees not to call 911?

texts:
First question, is it illegal to prevent someone from calling 911 in the event of an emergency? I'm assuming it is.

I had an internship in large corporate buildings and have seen some weird things. On some phones it had a number to call for security (999) or a private incident response team. I never was able to get a straight answer out of the bureaucracy, but do some really large corporations have private police forces you are supposed to call before (or after) calling 911?

What is the point of having a fire-warden in the building, is that so you don't have to call 911 if there's a fire? Maybe this is a better fit for workplace.stackexchange.com but I'm interested if it's legal.

I'm in a common wealth country but interested about the US as well.


texts: US naturalization application processing delay — Writ of Mandamus; Action under Section 336(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b)

texts:
When applying for US citizenship, after taking the interview with the USCIS and being told that no further interviews will be required, according to the US law, the USCIS has up to 120 days to make a decision on the case.
When there was no decision within 120 days, based on what I have read, there are two possible legal actions that the applicant may take (please let me know if there are others):

File a petition for a Writ of Mandamus in Federal Court.

File a petition for an action under Section 336(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b) in Federal Court (The Federal court acquires jurisdiction over the matter; The court may either decide the naturalization application or may remand the case with instructions to USCIS).

For each one of the two possible actions above:
A. Can the (non-lawyer) applicant file independently (without hiring a lawyer)?
B. Does the applicant need to have a US address at the time of filing (assume the applicant stays abroad for a few months)?
C. Does the applicant need to physically be in the US at the time of filing (assume the applicant stays abroad for a few months)?
D. If the applicant currently does have a US address in which he currently resides, does he need to file the petition in the federal district court, in the jurisdiction in which the applicant resides? Or can he file it in any federal court in the US?


texts: Could a class action suit cause you to accidentally sue yourself?

texts:
I know there have been stories (and questions) about people who deliberately sued themselves, usually as a symbolic statement or satire.
But supposing Bob invents the designs for (Product), and then (Company) manufactures a bunch of them. Tons of people, including Bob, buy a (Product).
Unfortunately, (Product) is defective, and some of the people who bought it are granted class action status to sue Bob and (Company) on behalf of everyone who purchased the product (which seemingly includes Bob).
Is Bob automatically excluded from the plaintiff class if he's the defendant?
Or does he have a duty to explicitly opt out of the class action?
Or could he seriously just remain on both sides of the suit?


texts: What are some cases / journals / books about withholding favourable evidence from the defence

texts: I have access to westlaw and lexislibrary but cannot find any relevant cases to the police or prosecution not sharing expert evidence from the defence at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated, even if it is not directly relevant. (UK Law preferably)


texts: Can a power of attorney allow you to act "pro se" on behalf of the issuer?

texts:
Anyone can represent themselves in a court of law, if he or she doesn't want, or can't afford, a lawyer. On the other hand, only lawyers who have passed the bar in a state are allowed to represent others.

Suppose you have an aging parent (or other relative) that is certifiably "incompetent" but has given you the power of attorney. From the sound of it, this means that you would be able to represent this person "pro se" or through other means.

Is this true? Or is it a case where "power of attorney" doesn't confer the right to act as a lawyer for someone who is incompetent, even though it sounds like it does (to a layman).

Are there at least some forums, such as small claims court, where the "power of attorney" gives you the right to act as someone's "lawyer?"


texts: Can articles of impeachment be repealed?

texts: Suppose the House of Representatives of the United States impeaches a federal officer such as the president or a federal judge, etc. Can they repeal that act before the Senate tries the case?


texts: Any liability for receiving mail for elder parents

texts:
My in-laws were put into a nursing home.

If we have their mail sent to our address can we be any liable for any of their bills?

I assume the answer is no, because we are not signing for any of their bills, but wanted to double check.

We want to have their mail sent to us so we can manage their bills for them.


texts: I want to leave Islam, but they would execute and kill me. What do I do?

texts:
I live in an Islamic country, but I don't want to be a Muslim.  I have no choice but to claim to be a Muslim: If I leave Islam, they will execute me according to Muslim law.

Where can I go to have a peaceful, non-religious life? Can I get asylum in any English-speaking countries?

For example, would the Republic of Ireland accept me as a refugee?

This is a hypothetical/abstract question of law.  I am not making any personal statements about my beliefs or intentions.


texts: Is it legal to publish letters from a lawyer?

texts: Is it legal in Australia to publish letters and emails sent to me by a lawyer on behalf of their Client?


texts: Does the "stand your ground" law regarding shooting an intruder apply when the door of the dwelling was not locked?

texts:
I was wondering, suppose someone enters a dwelling uninvited in a state that has a stand your ground law (or as I am being correct on, Castle Doctrine). If the door was not locked, would the homeowner (or renter) be justified in shooting (and even killing) the intruder if they feel their life or well being was seriously threatened by the intruder?

Would it matter if the door was left unlocked by accident or even intentionally or would that play a big factor in the case in determining possible guilt (such as the homeowner was hoping for an intruder to come in so he could shoot that person, perhaps knowing that someone was after him)?

Does the law require all necessary precautions (locks, security system...) be taken before deadly force can be used in home defense? For example, suppose someone came home from work tired, forgot to lock the door and fell asleep on the couch, only to be awakened by an intruder who they then shot. Is that shooting justified under "stand your ground / Castle Doctrine" or would the shooter be in big trouble because the door was not locked?

I am thinking since this situation could also happen in a car where the driver didn't yet have time to lock the door if an intruder tries to get in and do harm quickly.


texts: Would she be entitled to welfare benefits?

texts:
Say an Irish national resides in another country (Denmark) and looks for work and cannot find work in her profession. But instead, she finds a part-time job that is poorly paid and she is only working 6 or 10 hours per week. A year later she seeks welfare benefits to supplement her income.
Would she be refused welfare benefits on the basis that she is not a 'worker'?


texts: Driving without physical copy of License

texts: If you have a license and drive but forget your license and get pulled over what happens? Do you get a penalty for forgetting it at your house?


texts: Can gender fraud be used to nullify a marriage in India?

texts:
Hypothetical

A is a male who married B, a woman, in India under Hindu religion.
A had never met B, and relied on photographs and the efforts of third parties.
The marriage is less than 2 months old.
A is of the opinion that B has a masculine appearance and acts in a characteristically male manner.
A currently lives in the U.S.
A wants a divorce and anticipates that B will resist his efforts to divorce.

Questions

Can A successfully file for divorce or have the marriage annulled?
What defenses can B assert to stop a divorce or annulment?


texts: What legal actions can be taken against a streaming video website?

texts:
Say I own website a.com, and this website is a streaming content website (People goes to watch Illegal movies and Series).

But the website itself is not hosting any of that content, it is only allowing the users to watch those "videos" through links from 3rd party sites (Dailymotion, Rutube, videome, etc..).

Is there any legal action that can be undertook against the website itself, or should they be made against the 3rd party, which is where the actual copyrighted content is hosted ?

The website is in some kind, helping the distribution of copyrighted content, but is not the one hosting and distributing it to begin with. The website has nothing else than links in it's hard disk and database.

Thoughts on such a situation ?


texts: What's the difference between "a question of fact" and "a question of law"?

texts:
I'm trying to understand the difference between questions of fact and questions of law but it's difficult to find any good definitions of either, and it would be helpful to have some illustrative examples.

The best definition I can find is that a question of fact is about "what happened", while a question of law is about "applying subsequent legal principles to those facts", but that definition doesn't make it clear to me how to determine whether a specific example is a question of fact or law.

When searching for definitions I seem to find more legal review / reform articles discussing the difficulty of defining and distinguishing the two than I can find definitions.

Are they indeed indistinguishable, such that appellate judges are free to twist the definitions whichever way they prefer for any given case (as was suggested in 1 of the legal reform articles that I read)?


texts: Can I sue my job employer for false promises?

texts:
My employer, a chain restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama, promoted me to shift leader where I ran and closed a store for 5-4 months expecting to be paid $10 per hour and was told I would be getting paid for training in the process. Turns out, I was getting paid only $7.25 an hour.  I was the lowest paid in the store even amongst the employees I was overseeing.
Once I found out I brought it to my manager's attention as well as the area coach's attention.  I had a meeting with the area coach. He verbally assured me that I would receive back pay after I completed the online serve safe course which I did and still wasn't compensated. That area coach resigned and the company says they won't give me back pay because they don't give back pay.


texts: Software content library license requires "including a valid copyright notice". How does it limit my use?

texts:
I recently purchased licenses for two pieces of music production software; specifically, those are virtual instruments with a library of sound samples.

The end-user license agreement terms for both applications state that I am free to reproduce, distribute, perform etc. my derivative works (musical pieces utilizing the sound samples), as long as I don't distribute the samples on their own. There is also a statement that requires my "including a valid copyright notice" on each of my derivative works.

The contents of that paragraph read as follows:

  LIMITED RIGHTS TO MEDIA ELEMENTS. The software may include certain pictures, animations, sounds, music and video clips for your reuse. You may create your own works based upon these media elements, and copy, modify, distribute, display, and perform your derivative works provided that:

  2.1.         you indemnify, defend, and hold [company name here] harmless from and against any claims or liabilities arising from your use of the media elements;

  2.2.         you include a valid copyright notice on your derivative works.

  You may not sell, license or distribute the media elements by themselves or as part of any collection, product or service whose value is derived solely or primarily from the media elements themselves.

My assumption is that I am required to copyright my derivative works in order to prevent other people from copying parts of it (which could be recognized as redistribution of samples on their own).

However, the paragraph is quite confusing and I'm not completely sure whether it asks me to copyright my music with my own name, or rather include a notice attributing the creators of the software.

If I'm supposed to copyright my works, does that mean I'm restricted from releasing them on a license such as Creative Commons BY-NC-ND (attribution required, non-commercial use, no derivatives)? Could I license my works for other people to use (in unmodified form) e.g. in their videos?


texts: How does the 'legitimate interest protected' by exorbitant credit card interest differ from that of exorbitant interest 'on outstanding fees'?

texts:
Paul Davies. JC Smith's The Law of Contract (2018 2 ed). pp. 425-426.

This question's title refers to the red underlines beneath.
What exactly is this  'legitimate interest protected' by exorbitant credit card interest rates?


texts: In Toronto, can a security guard withdraw the yellow parking violation notice he issued?

texts:
A security guard, not a police or Parking Enforcement officer, issued  a yellow parking violation notice in Toronto. Does he have the discretion to withdraw or retract it?
He alleged that he can't — once he issues a ticket, it's on the books. Is he correct? I'm aware of submitting an online dispute to  a Screening Officer.


texts: Why aren't all guilty people charged with perjury

texts:
Say you are convicted of murder, for example. When you go to court, and plead not guilty under oath, isn't that perjury, since you're lying by saying that you didn't do it?

  "Perjury is a criminal act that occurs when a person lies or makes statements that are not truthful while under oath." (https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=30944)

You are making a statement that isn't true (you aren't guilty), while under oath, so why isn't this perjury? If this is then does that mean that if you are guilty, and you don't plead guilty that you are committing perjury?


texts: Does public denial of statements made under oath have legal consequences?

texts:
Say a witness is called and makes statements under oath.

As soon as he leaves the court, he tells the media that he lied under oath, and the truth is exactly the opposite to what he said (this may or may not be the actual truth).

Will he break any laws by saying that (assuming the actual truth cannot be found out)? Does the amount of time between him leaving the court and giving statements to the media make any difference e.g. if he publicly denied his testimony after 1, 5, 10 years?

Answers re any jurisdictions are welcome.


texts: Where in the Protect America Act is it stated that the NSA can monitor all electronic communication?

texts:
There is a statement that I have heard floating around regarding the Protect America Act (2007) https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s1927/text and the powers it grants to the NSA (National Security Agency)

I have heard it stated that the act allows the NSA to, "monitor all electronic communication," even domestically, assuming that the domestic individual is, "communicating with foreigners who are the targets of a U.S. terrorism investigation."

After reading the Act however, I have found nothing that indicates this. Is the claim false, or am I just missing something?


texts: Is usage of a still frame from a video considered a derivative work/adaptation?

texts:
Let's say that Alice makes a video and releases it under the CC-BY-ND license. Bob now wants to use a still frame from the video in his work (maybe to showcase or aggregate thumbnails of Creative Commons videos). Multiple places on the Creative Commons website, including the license deed for CC-BY-ND and their FAQ, emphasize that:

  Merely changing the format never creates a derivative.

and

  All CC licenses allow the user to exercise the rights permitted under the license in any format or medium.

This suggests that changing a MP4 file to, say, an AVI file is not considered an adaptation. However, taking a still frame from a video seems a bit unclear. On one hand, it could be interpreted as "converting" the file from one format to another (for example from MP4 to GIF) and it would not be an adaptation. On the other hand, the use could be considered "transformative" and therefore a derivative work since Bob chose a still frame that represented the whole video (or another way to think of it is that he "cropped" all the other frames of the video out and therefore modified the video, which would then make it a derivative work). Here are my questions:

Is Bob's usage considered a derivative work under US copyright law?
Is Bob's usage considered an "adaptation" under the CC-BY-ND license? If it makes any difference, let's say that Alice has licensed her work under the 4.0 version of the license.


texts: How to prove I live in a specific address?

texts:
https://www.flhsmv.gov/ddl/address.html

I need to provide proof of address for the DMV, but the process can be difficult because:

I live with someone else; I do not pay rent/utilities; and they will not assist in the process.

The Florida DMV asks that you need two of these for proof of address, which can be tough:

  1.Deed, mortgage, monthly mortgage statement, mortgage payment booklet or residential rental/lease agreement

Can't -- don't have any of the above because I'm not paying rent nor am I a homeowner.

  Florida Voter Registration Card

Cannot be obtained until after proof of address was obtained initially for the relevant application I'm trying to go for now.

  Florida Vehicle Registration or Title

Don't own a car/vehicle.

  Florida Boat Registration or Title

Don't own a boat.

  Statements (Certification of Address Form) Customers with one proof of
  residential address may self-certify using the Certification of
  Address form as the second proof of residential address document

A caveat also states that this must be accompanied by the person you live with's signature and/or their actual presence, which I explained that they refuse to do so.

  A utility hook up or work order

Don't pay bills.

  Automobile Payment Booklet

Don't own a car.

  Selective Service Card

This is only for males.

  Medical or health card

I have one, but it doesn't have my address on it so it's not proof, according to the DMV.

  Medical bill

Never had one.

  Homeowner's insurance policy or bill

Not a homeowner.

  Automobile insurance policy or bill

Don't own a car.

  Educational institution transcript forms

Have no such things and cannot obtain any since I am not in the public school system as of now.

  Professional license issued by a government agency in the U.S.

Caveat -- must be currently valid and up-to-date and it isn't, and this is what I am initially trying to get renewed in the first place.

  W-2 form or 1099 form

I am self-employed, so neither of those can work for me.

  Form DS2019, Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1)
  status

This is only for Visa/resident/non-citizen card holders.

  A letter from a homeless shelter, transitional service provider, or a
  half-way house verifying that the customer resides at the shelter
  address

I'm not homeless and none else applies.

  Utility bills

Don't pay utilities.

  Mail from financial institutions; including checking, savings, credit
  card statements or investment account statements

I haven't been issued paper mail by a bank since years -- everything digital.
I also don't have credit card debt because I've never had a credit card and have no other "investment statements."

  Mail from Federal, State, County or City government agencies
  (including city and county agencies)

If I was getting federal mail I'd be worried -- it's never happened.

  Personal mail that does not list the recipient as “occupant”. Example: Magazines, journals, etc.

I throw all that junk out, or hardly get it in the first place.

  Transients - Sexual Offender/Predator/Career Offender:  �����- FDLE
  Registration form completed by local sheriff's department

Doesn't apply -- I get plenty of sex without offending anyone.

What can I do? I was thinking of writing a certificate or affidavit stating that I admit under some penalty of perjury that I live in the address -- however, I can almost bet they'll still want the person who pays rent to sign, so I'm out of options.

I suppose I could get a credit card and rack up a bill and get statements, but that would probably take at least a month and I need this certificate very soon.


texts:
My employer (in the EU, where GDPR applies) uses Google GSuite, and as a result I have a work webmail that I can check at the host mail.google.com. From what I understand, Google uses GeoDNS, i.e., requests to mail.google.com are handled by different servers in different locations according to my source IP address.
In particular, if I access GMail during a short trip in the US (or just after my return, if my DNS cache remembers a mail.google.com IP from the US), my webmail is served by a server in the US. Both my personal data and personal data of others that I am handling in my e-mail for my work (my employer is the controller) go through that US server.
How is that GDPR legal? From what I understand, GDPR should prevent that my mail transits on an US server unless that is necessary and explicitly approved by me and my clients.
Similar question but a different scenario, GDPR and global load balancing


texts: Are all GPL Licensed projects free to use for commercial use even if they appear to be paid content?

texts:
I having a few issues understanding how sites like gpldl.com can call themselves legal. This is basically a site where they purchase themes/plugins from developers such as:

WooThemes
iThemes
Gravity Forms
WPML
WPMU DEV
Elmastudio
Elegant Themes

The site then states that since their plugins/themes are licensed under GNU General Public License, they can then share them with others.

Some of the WooCommerce Plugins are kind of expensive and is it possible that these could in really be "free" excluding the support from the developer? Basically, my question is, is this actually legal to use? Can I download plugins and themes from this site and use them legally on a commercial project?


texts: Can I use the logo of an ISO standard in an open document

texts:
In the frame of a European H2020 project, we are creating educational content for companies on the topic of energy efficiency in industry. The educational content will be made publicly available under a Creative Commons license on an online platform in the form of editable Word documents and Powerpoint presentations. The idea is that companies with access to the material will be able to modify the documents to suit their specific needs (e.g. add their logos, adapt or translate the text...).

In this context, I would like to know if it is possible to incorporate freely (i.e. without asking any sort of permission) the logo of an ISO standard in a Powerpoint presentation that will be made available on an online platform?

More generally, my question applies to other types of logos (companies, associations...)?


texts: What licenses and registrations are required to start a home business repackaging food in NY?

texts:
I'd like to start a home business repackaging food in New York State in the US.  For example, let's say I'm buying 10kg bags of rice from the supermarket and I want to put them into jars each containing 250g.

I started on the assumption that the state would not approve if I started doing that without any permits, so I went to Google.

The New York State Small Business Development Center has a guide that I think addresses this very issue.  This suggests on page 55 that, to start a home food business in New York, I need a 20-C license from the Department of Agriculture, and also that I don't need to register with the FDA as I'm operating from my home.

I also found this page at the Department of Health, but it seems to be a registration system for restaurants, not food processors.

So, is the 20-C all I need for home food reprocessing?  Or am I better off scheduling a meeting with the Small Business Development Corporation and then self-answering this question?


texts:
During the Cohen trial last night, Trump was described as "Individual-1."  Now I know they weren't trying to hide who this "Individual-1" was because they deliberately said that Individual-1 became President in 2017, which narrows the possibilities down to one person.

So I thought there must have been some legal reason why they didn't name Trump directly.

Why name him "Individual-1" rather than saying who he is directly?


texts: Can I ask for damages based on the financial risk I have to take to hire a lawyer?

texts:
I spoke to a lawyer and got a consultation a while back because my apartment complex had me sign a 4 month lease which I read and agreed to, then on move in day they told me "you have to sign a 12 month lease or you cant move in." the lawyer reviewed my original lease and determined there was no such thing mentioned and I could sue the complex and recoup my legal fees if I win. But here's the thing: I'm low income and if I take that $2.5K risk to retain the lawyer and lose for any reason, that's really going to hurt. It seems to me that by forcing me into this situation where I need to put $2.5K at risk just to pursue justice, the complex is essentially causing damage in the form of serious financial risk.

Could someone explain why I could or could not reasonably ask the court to award me damages, in addition to legal fees paid if I take this to court and win?

I'm in Florida.


texts: What does a a landowner deposit made under Highways Act 1980 and the Commons Act 2006 actually mean?

texts:
In Cambridgeshire, UK. I've recently had a few notices go up around my village, near farms with public footpaths, and small green spaces that local villagers roam across regularly, stating:

An application to deposit a map and statement under section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980 and Section 15A(1) of the Commons Act 2006 has been made in relation to the land (or lands) described below and shown blue on the accompanying map.
PLEASE NOTE: This deposit may affect rights over the land described below. Deposits made under section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980 may prevent deemed dedication of public rights of way over such land under section 31(1) of that Act. Please see guidance at http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/protected/greens/ for further information.)[sic]

It goes on to mention the location, dates, and people who applied. With an attached map that outlines the areas affected. And also says the register can be accessed at the local office (at times nobody with a full-time job could reasonably get there, go figure) or online at the following site: Landowner deposits.
What do these deposits mean? I've looked at the links and cited acts, but it's really not clear to me. The various areas being deposited include public footpaths and greens that are generally treated like 'common land' (but I guess actually aren't).
Are they simply asserting their right over the land in case they want to use it in the future? Will these deposits invalidate existing public footpaths, or rights of way, etc.? I'm slightly worried the greens that the whole village actively enjoy, and the public footpaths that I moved here for are going to have houses built on them or perhaps something else.


texts: What counts as a surrounded perimeter in Ireland?

texts:
According to the 2004 amendment to the 2002 Public Health (Tobacco) Act, which I believe is still legally binding, smoking tobacco is prohibited except in certain conditions. Among them are the following:

(7) This section shall not apply to—
(a) a dwelling,
(b) a prison,
(c) subject to paragraph (d), a place or premises, or a part of a
place or premises, that is wholly uncovered by any roof, whether fixed
or movable,
(d) an outdoor part of a place or premises covered by a fixed or
movable roof, provided that not more than 50 per cent of the perimeter
of that part is surrounded by one or more walls or similar structures
(inclusive of windows, doors, gates or other means of access to or
egress from that part),

It is that last portion that I am curious about. In standard mathematical usage, the perimeter of a zone is its linear bound.

So, for instance, under this interpretation, if one side of the space is the entrance to my establishment, and I put a two-foot wall (say) on two of the other three sides, then it is illegal to smoke tobacco in that region?

Contrariwise, perhaps the law is based on surface area instead. If I put up three walls, each of which covers 51% of the region between itself and the roof, is it illegal to smoke tobacco in that region?

Is there some other criterion for the minimum amount a wall must surround on this perimeter? For instance, perhaps a 45% height wall is not considered a wall at all, and so if I have a 90% height wall, and two 49% height walls, in addition to the wall that contains the entrance, smoking can be permitted, even though there are walls on three sides and more than 50% of the total area is covered. If a wall has to go from floor to ceiling, I can easily create a smoking space that is walled in putting in a 6-inch gap, say.

For that matter, is the wall (presumably with an entrance) between the outdoor part and my establishment included in the perimeter, under any of those interpretations?

Which of these meanings, or any other, is at play in Ireland's laws regarding public smoking?


texts: Social security and bank account numbers in plain text in web app

texts:
I am in an "argument" with my company about them showing each and every employees social security and full banking routing / account number in plain text on a leading hosted HR Management software application. They have the ability to hide it, like every other application I have ever seen, but they refuse to for their convenience. They cite things like it is hosted in the same server farm as the CIA.

I am not too concerned with security in the backend systems, just the fact that they present the data to a user logging into the system in the front end of the application in plain text (though encrypted). I know it is bad practice to do this, but I can't get them to budge.

I believe that the application has 2 factor authentication set up for reports and more data vulnerable functions. The application does use RSA 2048 / sha256RSA.

I have brought up the Sony, White House, Anthem, and OPM hacks, but they still shrugged it off.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to convince them to turn on masking of these fields (XXX-XX-1234)?

Are there any laws, lawsuits or other kinds of guidance that I could cite to help push the securing of this information (like PCI DSS compliance)?

I guess the real question should be: How do I elegantly explain this to "people who do not understand the actual risk"? (this was run by the "risk manager" as well)

Previously asked here, but am looking for a legal aspect to the question.


texts: Employment intellectual property ownership loopholes

texts:
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help.

I work for a large software corporation and have in my employment contract the standard clauses saying the company owns essentially any idea of mine regardless of if its during or outside office hours.

I have a handful of hobby project ideas that I believe could earn good money that are completely outside the industry I work in. I understand because its "software" my corporation could claim ownership regardless.

Is there any loopholes I could use to avoid this as the corporation doesn't seem interested in the idea of having contact amendments to allow the ownership with me.

If I was employeed by Microsoft and then took a sneaky second job at Apple, could Microsoft claim ownership of any IP I worked on while working at Apple? Could I say create an organisation or a trust or something that "owned" the solution which would only mean i have violated my contract and be sacked, over them taking ownership?

This is likely dependent on country, region etc. but just seeing what options there are as currently I feel my only option is to leave the organisation.

I understand I would need proper legal advice, just trying to work out if its worth pursuing lawyers to help on this or just giving up.


texts:
I recently watched a german crime series and there was the following situation:

Kidnapper kidnaps several hostages
Hostage A wants to break free
Hostage B joins them (voluntarily)
Near the exit they are confronted by the kidnapper
Hostage A pushes hostage B towards the kidnapper to gain time
Kidnapper immediately shoots hostage B
Hostage A can escape

In the show there was no "conclusion" for that part and I also would not have expected any that would be according to any real world laws but I was wondering, what would happen to hostage A? They used hostage B as some kind of a human shield or at least distraction to escape and in that course hostage B died. Is this self defence?


texts: To achieve ECTS credits at my school a student is forced to drop his/her right of privacy

texts:
Some background about the situation:
I attend a vocational university (university of applied sciences)
I live in the Netherlands - Europe

We have a mandatory activity that provides us with ECTS credits (if you don't know: these are required to finish the study in a whole)

The problem I'm facing is that this activity takes place in a commercial enviroment, we have to take part on a day on which al sorts of demo's are being given. The event (which is not an academic one, but purely commercial) is being held at the company, and for taking part one must agree to let the company use personal information (Pictures taken on the day itself for the most part) for commercial endpoints.

I would not like to give this personal information, thus I am not able to attend the event, thus I am not able to get all the required ECTS credits to complete my study. This activity was not described when I started the study but only 1 to 2 months before taking place (in the 2nd year)

My question is: Is there a law that makes this illegal for a university to do? I was thinking maybe the very essential thing a university should be responsible for is neutral education, without making a student giving up his/her privacy for it (not more then essential information at least)


texts: Is downloading a Youtube video legal in this situation?

texts:
Having read through the Youtube ToS, it states:

  Content is provided to you AS IS. You may access Content for your
  information and personal use solely as intended through the provided
  functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of
  Service. You shall not download any Content unless you see a
  “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for
  that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, make available online or
  electronically transmit, publish, adapt, distribute, transmit,
  broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content
  for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or
  the respective licensors of the Content. YouTube and its licensors
  reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the
  Content.

I understand it's a breach of ToS to download a video from youtube without a download button.

However, if I do have prior written consent from the respective licensors of the video, does downloading that video without a "download" button mean that I'm still breaching Youtube's ToS?


texts: Is it legal for a spouse to gamble against each other at home in the US?

texts: Is it legal for a spouse to gamble against each other at home in the US, with no third-party involved?


texts:
I have been reading a little about the housing mortgage crisis of 2000s.  I have found some articles on the internet, some inference and intuition that has lead me to believe that many banks in fact wanted individuals (poor credit rating or not) to default on their mortgage payments.  Often using predatory tactics to induce certain behavior upon borrowers.

In similar suit, the various USA governments have enough motive to keep large sums of money that initially are expected to be returned to the payer upon completion of obligation.

Does anybody have stats that show how often bail money is returned vs kept by the system?


texts: Who is responsible for damage to my neighbour's floor from my tree?

texts:
Background: I am in the process of buying a house in South Africa, with the transfer going to be completed in a month or two's time. There is a large fig tree close to the wall on (soon-to-be) my side of the property, which is more than 100 years old as far as I've heard, and so predates the building of both mine and my neighbour's house by a few decades (my neighbour's house was built less than 10 years ago). About a year ago a crack appeared in the kitchen floor of my neighbour's house which she alleges is due to the root system of this tree and she wants the tree to be cut down; as far as I know there isn't any solid proof. The way I currently see it, even if the damage to the floor is caused by the tree's root system, the builders of the house should have taken the roots into account when building the house.
If it is proven by a third party expert that the damage to my neighbour's floor is due to the roots of the tree on my side, can I be held liable?


texts: Constitutional validity of financial regulation of individuals

texts: I am probably simplifying a complex situation, but this is the way I see it. There are several laws in India that govern the financial behavior of individuals - what securities they can buy in foreign markets, that they cannot buy stock on margin in foreign markets, and so on. All of these laws forbid individuals from using their own money as they please in other markets despite India's interests not being affected adversely in any manner. The preamble to the constitution of India guarantees justice, equality, and liberty to all citizens. Isn't the liberty (freedom of choice) of citizens being violated by the aforementioned laws? Are these laws even constitutional given that the constitution is interpreted literally? They appear to me to be an instance of legislative overreach.


texts: Foreign Fighter Classification \ Jurisdiction

texts:
Two British nationals are alleged to have executed Americans under the guise of ISIL and are in American military custody. Assume that the suspects remain in American custody and are not transferred to Britain or any other body.

What are the subjects labeled as?  Enemy soldier combatants?   Common criminal?
What US venues would have jurisdiction to try the Britons?  SDNY?


texts: Is there a reason not to use liability insurance?

texts:
I was recently hit by a car while riding my bike home from work, and the police determined that the driver was at fault and wrote her a ticket. She is insured, and presumably has enough liability coverage to take care of my damages (mainly bike repair/damaged clothing, etc. and no serious injuries).

However, she has insisted that she will just write me a check for the damages and doesn't want to go through insurance. Her exact quote from our email exchange was "I am not reporting to insurance. Long story."

I'm conflicted about this because on the one hand, I'm getting reimbursed either way, but on the other, she seems to just want this problem to go away and may be affecting generosity to avoid higher premiums.

Is there a legal, or at least ethical, obligation to report this to her insurance company?


texts: How hard is it to modify a standing order not to take child out of state?

texts:
Automatically when a request to change the parenting plan is filed by one parent, the court in Georgia issued an standard order that says, in part, that neither parent will take the minor child out of the state.  I imagine the court wants to assure that the parties do not do an end run by taking the child out of the court's jurisdiction.

Sometimes that restriction on travel is burdensome and it is possible to file a petition with the court to have that restriction lifted.

On what factors are such requests usually adjudicated?  Is risk of flight the only factor that is considered, or is equity also considered.

If risk of flight, what factors lead a court to lift the restriction.

If equity, what types of inequity between the parents do the courts consider noteworthy?


texts: Lossless version as proof of copyright in court, alternative protection measures

texts:
I'm a little paranoid about being plagiarized.

Let's say I publish music on Youtube (for example) and several blogs. I only publish the audio on a compressed lossy format. I keep safe on my hard drive the lossless audio file. If for any reason someone decides to plagiarize me, can I go to court and support my authorship with those lossless audio files? Because they wouldn't have the lossless audio.

On the other hand, am I already protected by uploading my material to Youtube? If I send a gmail email to myself, does it help? Does private registration services such safe creative help? I know there is no substitute for an official copyright register, but as an artist, I create a lot of Images, Music Demos, Drawings and is economically impossible to register each of my creations.

Finally, If the material I upload contains footage of my face or even only my voice. Would that be enough as a proof? Or maybe should I add image/audio footprints as a protection measure?


texts: Is word "Times" in name of Newspapers trademarked or is it generic word?

texts:
I'd like to ask about all those "X Times" newspapers. like NY Times,LA Times.
Can i create another newspaper that will have word "Times" in it?
(Like "My Hobby Times")

I've checked in Trademark Database and there is about 8k live trademarks for word times and time but most are non related to newspapers.


texts: Where do an Assistant Attorney General's (AAG's) loyalties lie?

texts: The tax payer foots their bill, so I would think if there was a dispute between an AAG and a citizen and a body the AAG represented, some consideration would be given by the AAG to the argument of the citizen.   Government bodies shouldn't be able to "lawyer up" if they're doing something wrong.  Of course "wrong" is sometimes a matter of interpretation.  The AAG also has his attorney's oath to consider.  Do they swear loyalty to the law, to the government official they represent, to the people?  To the governor? To the Attorney General?


texts: Can I copy books metadata on my website. Is it legal?

texts:
Books metadata includes:

ISBN and other identification numbers
books title
authors
category/genre
number of pages
publication year
publisher
description (short summary)
and book cover page


texts: Looking for case: grad student union cannot negotiate student housing

texts: I remember hearing of a court case that ruled that a graduate student union at a university in Illinois (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne?) could not negotiate on matters of housing.  However, I cannot find a record of this court case.  Can someone confirm that such a court case exists, and link me to a record of the outcome?


texts: Is it possible to have a software license that is free for people, but expensive for mega corporations?

texts:
I've been searching for a software license that seems like it should exist.  The fact that I'm not finding it anywhere makes me wonder if it's just not possible.
This page has a pretty good list of licenses (https://choosealicense.com/licenses/) none of which achieve something that seems pretty obviously desirable:
To have a software license where you can share your code, but you don't end up doing free labor for mega-corporations.
I've heard from my non-profit friend that sliding-scale fees can be a bit of a legal hassle... so maybe that's why no such thing exists?
Is it legally possible to have a software license which is in-effect open for individuals and small companies, without being free labor for large corporations?


texts: Is it legal to modify the display of website content?

texts: Several apps and sites like longform and readability offer users a "read view" of other sites, which includes stripping the content of ads and changing font to make the text easier to read. I am working on a similar concept and wanted to check what legal issues are involved with doing that.


texts: Can I share an academic article with people who contact me via email after they have seen my web annotation?

texts:
Am I allowed to share an academic journal article (e.g. downloaded from ScienceDirect) with people who contact me via email through a Hypothesis annotation that I left on the web page of the respective article?

Figure 1: Example screenshot of the web annotation


texts: What assets can be garnished in lieu of legal fines owed by an author or publisher? (U.S.)

texts:
Suppose you write and self-publish a book that inspires a lawsuit. You might be sued for libel, or perhaps the government says you wrote something that supports terrorism.

You lose in court and the judges levies a huge fine that you can't pay.

What assets, if any, can the government or your debtors garnish? For example, can they take possession of your book or your publishing company? Or can they garnish your bank account?


texts: The big-boys want to use our condo-fee to repair their private portion

texts:
I live in a small condominium with eight units. Two units have their private balconies with private entrance. They want to have a major repair done for their private portion. The expected cost is about 20K and they added this cost to the condo-fee which is to be shared among the units.
This means that my yearly condo fee effectively raised from $1.2k to about $2k. However, from my understanding, the repair cost of any private portions cannot be shared. I explained the law to the owners but they are not supporting me. One of the big-boys explicitly says that: "I do understand the law but I want to have my balcony repaired with your money anyway"
Do I have to sue them to fix this issue? A lengthy law-suit is too costly for me. If I refuse to pay $2k and only pay 1.2k, will I be facing any legal troubles?


texts: Are teachers allowed to require students to create a social media account when an option like Remind already exists?

texts:
I am very reluctant to create social media accounts. I once had to create an account for Instagram as an optional assignment. However, one of my teachers is requiring us to follow their Facebook account in order to receive updates and things about the classroom. We also use an app called Remind - a classroom friendly option made especially for students.

Now I wouldn’t have a problem with this if 1. Facebook wasn’t required to be installed on my phone in order to receive notifications, 2. Remind wasn’t enough to cover all the functions needed (but it does perfectly fine in what our classroom needs), but the bigger problem I’m having is that 3. recent Facebook privacy problems like the Cambridge Analytica problem really cause a concern to my privacy. Facebook does not have much to do with school, and it might also be somewhat another distraction in this world. I don’t use social media for a reason. I’m not trying to make a case here, please don’t think that, but I’m not sure if I am able to be required to create an account for Facebook.

Could someone please tell me the greatest extent a school/teacher can go in creating accounts on websites? Thanks :)


texts: When can you use images from arxiv papers for commercial purposes?

texts:
I was reading https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.6572 and noticed that the key image involving pandas is reproduced all over the Internet. I would like also to use the image in a commercial talk I am to give.  I searched online and the suggestion is to read the individual license. In this case https://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/license.html says only:

I grant arXiv.org a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distribute this article.
I certify that I have the right to grant this license.
I understand that submissions cannot be completely removed once accepted.
I understand that arXiv.org reserves the right to reclassify or reject any submission.

What is the situation with using an image from a paper licensed in this way in a commercial setting (with suitable attribution)?

(I have emailed one of the authors to ask them directly but they have left their previous employer.)


texts: Difference between Europol members and Europol cooperating countries

texts:
According to Europol, they are actually 28 members in this organization but also numbers of others external co-operating countries like Switzerland, Norway and even USA

So, what the point of being not members of Europol but cooperating with them anyway ?

Are there any differences between Europeans cooperating countries and non Europeans one like USA or Colombia ?
Are non-Europol members countries more sovereign than members of Europol ?
Are they any difference in intelligence sharing between members and non-members ?


texts: Is online gambling for points legal when those points can be used to purchase merchandise?

texts: Say I bet on something, but the prize for winning is points instead of cash that you were freely given daily. You can also buy more points if you want to play more, but it is not required. However, you could use these earned points to buy coupons or gift cards. Would this be considered gambling under law?


texts: Do I need to add the option to disable cookies or is just informational popup sufficient?

texts:
recently I stumbled upon an EU law about cookies. It is quite unclear to me. I understand that all sites that use cookies has to have some kind of informational popup to tell the users that they use them. What is unclear to me is if it is sufficient to tell the user something like " If you are using this site you are agreeing with our cookies policy" or if it is required to have user give specific permission before any cookies (or any data to localstorage, sessionstorage, etc.) will be saved?

Thanks for the anwser!


texts: Can I use a tow truck for personal use (towing own vehicles)

texts:
I am sort of thinking of getting a vintage tow truck someday, partially as a restoration project, but I was also wondering if it could be legal for me to save money and tow my own vehicles if they break down. I would of course make sure all the towing equipment is up to snuff and not damaged.
The truck would probably be something like this:

Now, I understand there are somethings I would have to avoid:

I would not be able to tow other people's vehicles, as while the truck itself would be fully insured, I would not have commercial liability insurance nor a CDL (might get non-commercial A or B-Class license)
Towing someone else's car for compensation is forbidden, as I am not a business (and very possibly for other reasons too).

Other then that, could I legally tow my own personal property down public roadways? Would I need to use the orange flashing lights while towing?
For location, I live in the US state of Wisconsin.


texts: Are there ways to hold communal companies?

texts:
I'm going to give this a try:

Suppose a group of people want a kind of non-profit, open-source company that anyone can donate to or derive assets from, that no singular person owns but still has some level of organization, similar to communal housing.

What is the best kind of organization for this which is legally able to be registered in developed countries?


texts: How is obfuscated code treated by the law?

texts:
Hypothetical Scenario

Developer, A, contracts with company, B, to write code, C, that accomplishes X.
A writes C.
A obfuscates C. (Obfuscation transmorphs C into C' which still accomplishes X but C' is very difficult to interpret by another coder.)
A demonstrates to B that C' accomplishes X.
B pays A.
A delivers C' to B.
At some time later, B hires another developer, D to do some code maintenance and/or upgrades.
D informs B he can not interpret or work on C' because it has been obfuscated.

Question

  Does B have any recourse against A?


texts: What are the applicable laws for an educational app that teachers could promote in classrooms?

texts:
I am working on an educational app for the iOS App Store. The app requires teachers and students, so the teachers would have to encourage students to download it. I was recently advised that I should check on what laws I would have to put disclaimers in the app for. Does anybody know any major laws that I would have to look at when making educational apps? Thanks for your help.

Edit - More specifics-

Teachers and students both create accounts
Only asking for first name, last name, and password
I take in any other info
Users can see other users' names in the class


texts: All the cases have the plaintiff's name first and and defendent's name after it ( as in Mohiri Bibi v. Dharmodas Ghose). But there's a case wherein the defendant's name comes first ( in: Khwaja Muhammad Khan v. Husaini Begum). Why so?