texts: Could you theoretically sell financial assets in the US without coming under the jurisdiction of the federal government?

texts: So let's say you were some financial market that operated solely in a US state so all of your transactions never crossed state lines. Would federal government agencies like the Commodities Future Trading Commission be able to regulate you? As far as I understand it, it shouldn't because it's not interstate commerce, right?


texts: Is it legal to record copyrighted media on a VHS and share it

texts:
I believe that the legal progresses that were made in the 80s when the first VCRs came out allowed people to record on a physical object, and own, copyrighted media (TV shows, films, documentaries, etc), legally.

Today, modern technology usually rules out using VCRs (or DVD recorders) to capture a work while it's being broadcasted, which has numerous downsides such as losing your recordings whenever you upgrade, difficulty to share with friends, publishers removing their own content, etc.

If someone installed a TV in their house and plugged in a recording device such as a VCR or DVD recorder today, would it be legal for them to record media and share their tapes with their friends?

Or did the law remove this right from the users at some point?


texts: Employer not paying the raise I agreed to when I accepted new position

texts:
I’m wondering if I have legal recourse here. I live and work in Cleveland OH.

About 4 months ago I was offered a change in job role , considered a lateral move but was offered a raise to do so. I was offered $17.50 an hour (from 16.83) and agreed to it. Shane in me for not getting this in writing though . I trusted them.

Shortly before my official start date , I emailed my Dept manager , supervisor , and previous supervisor to confirm my new hourly rate is effective my first day.  I was told yes , via email , but my old boss suddenly said we agreed to $17 an hour .

On top of this I am owed a payout in unused PTO  from 2018 which they are dragging their feet on also.

Well it’s been almost three months now and they still have not updated my hourly rate or paid the PTO.  Initially my department manager told me they’re working on it, needs to process paperwork , go through our CEO and talk to him.  Now she has gone radio silent and is ignoring my emails .

I sent HR an email and copied her last Friday, no reply from anyone.

What are the legal rights of a person in such circumstances? Is there an individual right to sue? Is there an administrative process that must be followed?


texts: People have said that the FBI couldn’t raid Epstein’s Island before his “death”

texts:
The FBI apparently did not raid Epstein’s property on Little St. James in the Virgin Islands until yesterday. Is this because now that he is dead, Epstein’s lawyers cannot make motions to block search warrants?

Given that there was sufficient evidence to arrest him, should that evidence not haven be more than enough for investigators to obtain one or more Federal search warrants?

Finally, wouldn’t the Emergency Clause of executing a search based on reasonable suspicion of possible threats to the well being and lives of any potential children being trafficked have been more than sufficient grounds for executing an immediate search when Epstein was taken into custody?


texts: Can Apple be found in violation of antitrust laws for Apple Music?

texts: Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and certainly others that I haven't heard of are all competing for a spot on iOS while Apple's Music software is both bundled and cannot be uninstalled. Are there parallels here to Microsoft and Internet Explorer? Is there something I am missing otherwise?


texts: What duties do U.S. organizations have to monitor foreign affiliates for practices that are illegal in the U.S.?

texts:
There is a U.S. based corporation with foreign subsidiaries/affiliates in "third world" countries. Let's say that some of these foreign organizations are engaging "locally" in practices that are illegal in the U.S., such as violating (U.S.) child labor laws, or bribing officials and thereby violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

To what extent is the U.S. corporation responsible for monitoring its subsidiaries or suppliers for such illegal activities. Suppose a "whistle-blower" contacts the U.S. corporation with credible evidence of such activities. What duty (if any) does the U.S. corporation have to 1) follow up on the whistle blower charges and 2) to apply sanctions to or suspend relations with the foreign subsidiary or supplier? And are "subsidiary" and "supplier" two separate cases?


texts: Licensing a Project that contains Others' Works

texts:
Right now, I'm making a video game that uses another's font. I want to make absolutely clear that this is font is not made by me. Can I say so in a different file (say, fonts/the-fonts-i-didnt-make/README.txt), or do I have to include it in the license file I have now, ./LICENSE.txt?

Additional Information

The current license I use is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
The font I want to use is called "DS-Digital", and is marked as shareware.
I found the font here, including its license.


texts: What are the requirements for an ALE employer notifying employees about open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act?

texts:
My understanding is that employers can choose when to offer open enrollment and for how long. However, my question is whether an employer is required to notify their employees about their open enrollment period, and what are the requirements for doing so. For example, if my company only posts this information on their Facebook page, or some similar method that requires the employees to go look for it (without knowing when it will be posted), is that allowed?

If it makes a difference, my employer is an Applicable Large Employer under the ACA.

I've tried to find this information from several sources, but everything I find is merely a recommendation on how or when to provide this information. One source stated that it was the employer's responsibility to notify employees, but did not define what (if anything) notifying legally entailed or offer any legal source at all for this information.


texts:
Is there some maximum length of a movie clip that can be publicly shared as "fair use?"

E.g., the Youtube channel Movieclips shows clips with an average length of 2:30.


texts: What is the law regarding Christmas activities in public school systems?

texts:
Consider a scenario where a public school that set aside some time to show Christmas themed movies and for the students to exchange some gifts with each other.

Is this permitted? What is the law about religious holidays and public schools?

What if some of the students gave dirty looks to other students who didn't bring presents? Is that permitted?


texts: What's the minimum age of consent for sexual matters in India

texts:
I'm confused about the age of consent for sexual relations. Is it 18 or 16?
IPC (1860) has various sections like 375 which criminalises sex with girl under 18years of age even with her consent. But some High Court and Supreme Court delivered judgements which conflict with IPC (section 375 etc).
So in light of latest laws (like POCSO Act etc), what exactly is the age of consent in India? (Is it gender neutral?)

Edit : For further reading on this issue this news article is helpful.


texts: Is it legal for a restaurant to take back your food and cook it again?

texts:
Example 1. You are served a burger, but it is not cooked enough for your liking. Does it violate any food safety regulations for the server to take the plate back to the kitchen, disassemble the burger and put the patty back on the grill to cook it further, then reassemble the burger and bring the plate back to you?

Example 2. You are served a basket of fries, but they are cold. Does it violate any food safety regulations for the server to take the basket back to the kitchen and put the fries back in the frier, then put them back in the basket and bring them back to you?

I suspect these would be examples of poor customer service, but was wondering if they were even legal in the United States or specifically in Colorado.


texts:
For the notice of payment hearing forum it has a section for "payment order" and "interest". How is interest calculated? What percent is it? What time does it start counting from, was it from when the order was made or until the plaintiff receives a copy of the validated order and the objection period was past?
For example if a plaintiff filed the application in January 2020, was awarded in February but didn't receive the validated ordered until March, which date would be used?


texts: What does Recital 13 in GDPR make exempt?

texts:
I read through Recital 13 in GDPR and it states

  To take account of the specific situation of micro, small and
  medium-sized enterprises, this Regulation includes a derogation for
  organisations with fewer than 250 employees with regard to
  record-keeping.

However, I couldn't find an official definition of "record-keeping" pertaining to GDPR.  I'm aware of what record-keeping is in a general sense, but I'm not sure how far the term goes in this context.

I'm assuming it includes such instances as a record of who accessed the data and when and what the data was/is used for.  But I was hoping for a legal definition I could point to as proof.

For reference:
https://gdpr-info.eu/recitals/no-13/


texts:
Context: B2B Contract

If one party chooses to discontinue future service, does this statement void the rest of the contract?

  Contract terms are binding as long as services are provided on a mutually agreed-upon basis.

My Reasoning: Since the services can no longer be provided on a mutual basis, as one party wishes to discontinue service, then the terms of the contract seem to no longer be binding.


texts:
Is it legal to change the curriculum of an university degree?

I mean, suppose you are studying mathematics at the university, and, to obtain your degree, you have to pass 240 ECTS, suppose as well that one day you find that your curriculum has suddendly changed so you have to pass 6 additional ECTS to obtain your degree.

Is this situation legal? I thought curriculumns were immovable so that any change will only affect those who begin their studies one the changes are approved.


texts: Is it legal to stop somebody taking your stuff if you've left it somewhere?

texts:
Suppose that you leave your phone on a bench and you leave for two minutes to stretch or do something. Somebody takes it. You catch them in the act and ask them to stop, but they start running.

Are you legally allowed to stop them using physical force (let's say that the force used is not enough to seriously injure them)? What would happen in the case if you do seriously injure them?

And more than that, what's exactly the difference between self-defense and vigilante justice? Is it vigilante justice to stop someone from stealing your stuff?


texts: Can I refuse to provide information when a police officer asks about my mental health?

texts:
The studies aren't conclusive but some seem to suggest those with mental health diagnoses tend to be treated differently by police officers.

For example, Watson, Corrigan Ottti report that

  Teplin, Pruett and Teplin found that officers are more likely to arrest subjects with a mental illness

in the introduction of their paper.

There are lots of mental health diagnoses which are very common and should not be relevant to most situations like people with depression and OCD.

If asked about mental health issues, is it okay to deny having them, or to not answer the question?


texts: Mobile payment app: infringement of Apple's IAP guideline?

texts:
I just read about Apple's App Store Review Guideline:

  Apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than IAP.

What's the scope of this requirement? Does it only apply to payment to unlock features or functionality within your app or all payment behavior? Do online payment apps (Line Pay, Alipay) violate this guideline? After all, their sole purpose is to direct customers to their own payment mechanism.


texts: Is it legally acceptable to make a videogame adaptation of a gameshow?

texts:
Would it be allowed if I adpated the game shows ideas into a virtual based game and still use its original name. It is not a stand alone game its more of a single server however I could to set it up where I could accept donations or someone could purchase in game vanities. So my question is, 1 is it legal to even host a server based off the game show?, 2 If yes then am I allowed to accept donations from players if they were to donate?

Also for reference I wanted to make a Garry's mod server based off of Big Brother


texts: Why would rescinding DACA privileges be illegal?

texts:
The Supreme Court recently refused to hear a lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of the DACA policy. This supposedly prevents Trump from rescinding the DACA program.

But why would cancelling DACA be illegal? If Obama created the program with an executive order, what could possibly prevent Trump from cancelling it with a single stroke of his pen?


texts: Do copyright notices need to be placed at the beginning of a file?

texts:
I'm a student and won't be publishing code any time soon, but I am working on improving the composition of my code. I'm interested in open source and I've only seen copyright notices and license text at the very beginning of files.

If I place the copyright later in the file, say, after the synopsis, or even at the end of the file, would someone misusing my code be able to get away with saying: "Oh, well you're supposed to put the copyright at the beginning, its not fair to expect me to go looking around for it".

Textbooks also put copyrights before the table of contents, which I think is weird because if I was looking in a book for specific information (the copyright), the first place I would look would be the table of contents, to see which page to turn to, but then it isn't always listed.

Basically, are there any hard rules about where I'm allowed/not allowed to place copyright notices and other legal info?

Edit:

I actually really like all the answers, but this paragraph in David Schwartz's answer tells me what I feel like my brain should have realized before asking the question in the first place:

  Rights separated by copyright law include making copies, distributing to the public, performing in public, making creative follow on works, and so on. These are things you always need the copyright holder's permission to do and if you can't get it for any reason, you simply can't do those things.


texts: User-solicited personal information beyond consent

texts:
What does the GDPR say about personal information provided by a user about themselves, in the case that the service sign-up process and ToS have always asked of the users not to provide personal information about themselves?

Imagine that an Internet service has ToS that request of the user not to divulge personal information, and then some users have divulged personal information of theirs while using the service nonetheless.

Further imagine that the Internet service provides means for free-text communication, so it is very possible for a user to include personal information by chance or in order to make a point even though never solicited for personal information by the service.

Which of the GDPR obligations does the service provider have to undertake or actively fulfill in such case?


texts: Can I distribute the vtd-xml Java JAR (uses a GPLv2 license) with my commercial product and keep my product closed-source?

texts:
Can I distribute vtd-xml with my commercial product without having to share my source code?

I came across this article and now I'm really confused: https://opensource.com/law/14/7/lawsuit-threatens-break-new-ground-gpl-and-software-licensing-issues

Do I need to pay for a license from the creators (Ximpleware: http://www.ximpleware.com/)?

If I do have to pay for a license, is there a way around it? Can I offer the vtd-xml JAR as a separate download that the user then puts into a lib directory for my application?

I'm a Software Engineer and not a lawyer, so all this legalise is driving me crazy. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!


texts: How to exclude somebody from being a guardian in a will?

texts:
My wife and I are completing our last wills and testaments. We have named 3 guardians for our children in case we pass away (the guardians are in descending order, so the first has priority etc.). We also want to state in our wills our preference that some of our relatives should not be considered as guardians (they were horrible parents themselves and have criminal history).

I have read here (Is it possible to exclude individuals as guardians?) that it is not possible to completely exclude someone from being a guardian but that our wishes can be stated. My questions are:

a) should we include such wishes in the main document of our wills or in a separate letter to the court (obviously, we would share this letter with all of our guardians so that the letter can be brought forth if needed)?

b) which language could we use to state our wishes? Do you have any template paragraph or document? Also, should we document why we believe the above-mentioned relatives are incapable of taking care of our children or just state that we believe they are?
Thanks.


texts: Elderly man cannot care for himself but refuses nursing home. Wife/primary caretaker cannot care for him. Options?

texts:
Background

A married couple I know have a large age difference - about 20 years.  The husband has been "dying" for literally 6 or 7 years now - in and out of hospice a number of times, and then was in a nursing home for a while before convincing his wife to let him come back and live with her at home.  The husband is not able to live independently.  As just one reference point, I remember sitting at his table talking to him 5 or so years ago and he literally fell asleep mid sentence.   I thought he died on me, but when I called his name a few seconds later he jerked awake and attempted to pick up the conversation where he had left off.  He cannot drive nor does he live in a place that has public transportation (not that it matters - he is not very mobile).

Through most of this his wife (now in her late 50s) has been his primary caretaker.  After a number of hospital stays she moved him into a nursing home for a while.  After maybe a year or so he convinced her to check him out and let him stay with her again, once again becoming his primary caretaker.  The problem is that as his health has declined he has become a more and more ornery person.  I can tell that the stress of caring for him is very much wearing on his wife, and we recently learned that there was a brief period of time when she was even contemplating suicide.

Question

The situation seems fairly critical to me and the most obvious solution to me is having him move back into a nursing home.  The wife has considered this but believes the husband will refuse.  From my own reading he could possibly be forced against his will if the wife were to be legally declared his guardian, but from what I have read that is both expensive, time consuming, and doesn't have a high probability of success.  Either way, I don't actually know much about this process or whether or not it is really an option anyway.  I'm wondering what legal options might be available given that:

The person is clearly incapable of taking care of themselves
Their only caretaker is (mentally) incapable of taking care of them also
Real harm may happen to one or both parties if nothing changes

Attempting to force him into assisted living is the first option that comes to mind, but I'm happy to hear about any legal options that might help alleviate some of the stress from the wife.  I'm guessing there isn't any serious hope of forcing him into assisted living, but I also don't see any great options otherwise so I figured I'd ask here.  If relevant, I believe there is a nursing assistant who comes once or twice a week to help.  They are very poor (I assume the nursing assistant is paid by medicare?) so anything involving any amount of money is more or less a non-starter.


texts: Who is responsible for copyright infringement on P2P distributed systems?

texts:
Let's suppose there is a P2P system for storing files on a blockchain. The stored files would stay online forever and cannot be taken down because of the blockchain's own nature.

If some copyrighted data (music, films, images) was uploaded into this blockchain, would the block holders be liable for copyright infringement? Would it be the person/company who created the platform? Or could the legal responsibility fall onto the uploaders?

I'm not sure which governments or jurisdictions could claim copyright ownerships since the blockchain is replicated worldwide.

Thanks in advance


texts: Is the National Enquirer guilty of the crime of blackmail?

texts:
According to this Guardian article, the National Enquirer has written to Jeff Bezos threatening to publish nude pictures of Bezos unless he stops his investigation into how the Enquirer obtained some private messages.

According to this article by law professor Eugene Volokh in the Washington Post, this is the "paradox of blackmail", where A threatens to do something legal unless B does something else which is also legal. The paradox is, how do we define the crime of blackmail in such a case without also criminalising all sorts of perfectly honest and beneficial behaviour, such as threatening a lawsuit unless stolen money is repaid.

So my question is, assuming the Guardian article and Bezos's assertions are accurate, has the National Enquirer committed the crime of blackmail? I'm specifically interested in whether this is a crime under the relevant laws, rather than whether this falls under the dictionary definition of blackmail.


texts: Copyright law. Can I make youtube videos solving past exam questions? Can those videos be monetized?

texts: There are past exam questions often freely available on exam sites, like SAT sites, BMAT sample papers, AP exam papers. Can I use these questions for YouTube videos to show how one would solve them?


texts:
Does the idea of using plastic for making roads and generating electricity using plastic, come under the intellectual Property Rights ?

How can one protect their product if it's not under the Intellectual Property Rights?


texts: What does this mean for these things to be patented by Amazon if other companies use same technology?

texts:
Looking at these US Patents filed by Amazon.com:
[6,853,982 - Content personalization based on actions performed during a current browsing session|
Internet-based customer referral system, U.S. Patent 6,029,141, February 22, 2000|
Method and system for integrating transaction mechanisms over multiple internet sites, U.S. Patent 6,882,981, April 19, 2005|
Use of product viewing histories of users to identify related products, U.S. Patent 6,912,505, June 28, 2005]

It seems to me that a lot of other companies also use these technologies? So, what does it mean if Amazon has these technologies, but other companies are using them? I thought if Amazon has it patented, other companies using these systems like Google, Facebook, etc. need to obtain permission?
Thanks in advance if you can explain this!


texts: United States HIPAA and New Zealand HISO from outside these countries

texts:
We are developing a software product for storing and managing health records in Australia, with the software product primarily targeted towards Australian healthcare organisations. This requires us to be compliant with the Australian Privacy Principles among other things.

I have two questions that are not immediately clear to me:

This is a SaaS product, where end users sign up themselves. If someone from the United States or New Zealand sign up, and we end up inadvertently storing data from patients who reside in these companies, are we violating any rules? Or is it best practise to ensure this is not possible?
If we wish to willingly engage with customers from these countries, must be also comply with their local healthcare codes of practise? I.e. if we wish to additionally target customers in New Zealand or the United States, is it also now a requirement we adhere to HIPAA, HISO (and all other mandated requirements) despite the fact we are an Australian incorporated company?


texts: Collections from a dissolved entity in Florida

texts:
If a corporation in Florida owes a business money, but the the debtor entity is now dissolved, what collections avenues are available to the creditor?

Furthermore, can the creditor pursue the principals of the business?

If the principals of said entity opened another corporation, can the creditor pursue the newly opened corporation?


texts: Is it illegal for a civil litigant to report the process to the whole world?

texts:
Say Bob mounts a civil lawsuit against Rob. Bob acts pro se. The case takes ages.

Bob considers telling the whole world about the case for a number of potential benefits (media coverage, supporters, raising public interest so that the court gives the case a higher priority, naming & shaming Rob etc.). So Bob creates a blog where he frankly opens his cards, publishes the court documents, speculates about what is going on etc.

Provided that none of the court documents are explicitly prohibited from publication, does Bob commit any wrongdoing?

(Any English-centric jurisdiction).


texts: Is translating and posting comic original text + translation w/o image considered legal?

texts:
I'm interested in doing translation for Gundam Japanese comics that haven't been licensed outside of Japan for the purpose of enabling other people outside of Japan to do research (e.g. characters, timelines) on Gundam pop culture. In essence on my non-commercial website I would post the raw text (not the original comic page material/image) and the translation along with a link to purchase the actual material at a site I don't own or have vested interest in (no commercial gain for me).

Would this be considered a legal and fair use of 17 U.S. Code § 107's 'research' clause?


texts: Big corporation in the UK, Conflicts of Interest and a Contract

texts:
I've recently been offered a job for a large technology corporation in the UK. I've asked another question here about IP but also have a question on Conflicts of Interest I'd thought I'd ask separately.
I'm technically a director of a company which is not currently trading (and I've not taken any pay from). I'm worried that this might be problematic with my soon to be employer. In the contract it states:

Conflict of interests
You mustn’t be involved either directly or indirectly with any other trade or business competing in or conflicting with the interests of our Company. If you want to be involved with another business whilst working for us then you’ll need to get a letter from the Director of your area confirming that they’re happy for you to do this.
We understand that many people make investments for the future and you’ll not be prohibited from being a holder or owner of any stocks and shares as long as they’re listed on the stock exchange and you don’t hold more than 4% of the total share or loan capital of another Company.
...

I set up the company I'm a director of as a side project and I am fine with resigning from it.
Is me being a director of my side-project company a problem here?
My side-project company and the one I've got a job offer from, are only related in such that they are both technology based but otherwise are unrelated.


texts: Opening a daycare near previous employment

texts:
Location: Canada, Ontario

Background: A friend got a one-year contract to work at a daycare from June 2017 to June 2018, but was let go after working two months.  Key things on the employment contract says:

The employee agrees that this contract shall be binding from June 01, 2017 until and including June 1, 2018.
The employee agrees that upon leaving the daycare, for any reason, they will not open a school or initiate a business that has any similarities to the daycare's concept.  If the employee opens an educational institute or daycare facility that has no similarities to the daycare they agree that they cannot locate the school within a fifteen mile radius of both campuses.

With that said, a 15 mile radius from both of these daycare is basically the entire greater Toronto Area.

Question: Does this mean my friend cannot open a daycare within 15 mile radius of these daycares for life?  Is this even legal?  Or can they open a daycare after June 1, 2018 since the contract says it is binding from June 01, 2017 to June 30, 2018?

Another note of interest, the address of both daycares are not present, only the name of the school.


texts: Is it legal for a company to offer free coding courses to women only?

texts:
A company is offering free coding courses to women and non-binary individuals only.
Is this kind of sex-based discrimination legal?


texts: What's the best way to apply the 17 U.S. code 121 to obtain a copy of music in an alternative format?

texts:
I am interested in getting a score from Hal Leonard Corporation, but they might not be able to transcribe it to Braille directly, so that's something I will have to do myself.

Would I need to provide documentation certifying my blindness to get a PDF copy? Would I need to purchase the score first and then provide a copy of the receipt?


texts: Would "Puff Daddy" sue if I call my social media thing "Puff"?

texts:
thank you for reading!
I want to name something after part of a rapper name. So that I don't give away the name, I will use "Puff Daddy" as an example and I want my product to be "Puff" as an example which actually stands for something meaningful and the acronym is respected in the digital field.

"Puff Daddy" the example rapper.
"Puff" as my example digital social media software and social media site.

Puff Daddy is relatively unknown by me (chicagoland) but has 100s of thousands facebook followers. He has a mobile app so you know when his concerts are named "Puff Mobile". And he has a small TV series which might be discontinued but I'm not sure. He is still active and will be for about another 10 years I suspect.

I am making a digital presence software which will also have a social media site created as a result. I will name it "Puff". No one else is taking this name space, except for "Puff Daddy". "Puff Daddy" also happens to have a trademark on the name "Puff Daddy", but not "Puff". His trademark has mentions of music as well as "multimedia", this is the only debacle I have. Importantly... His followers call him "Puff" even though he is constantly marketed as "Puff Daddy".

My question, will he have good legal ground to sue my company social media site and social media software (does automation stuff)? Let's assume my business will do very well. Second, could I get a trademark on Puff having it state "automation, software, social media, etc." with no mention of music, but I would likely have to mention multimedia (I would change it to this in the future once it gets bigger).

Second, if the name was 9-10/10, would you go with it in this scenario from what it stated? Or try to come up with a new name?

Thank you! I really appreciate it!

The Names are as Examples, but extremely relevant


texts: Under FERPA, is a professor forbidden from publishing a gradebook that includes school-issued student IDs?

texts:
I have a college professor who publishes a gradebook where I can find my grade simply by looking up my student ID #, which I do not believe I can change. Until recently, I was able to look at the attendance sheet and correlate student IDs with legal names. However - upon my polite asking - the professor removed the student IDs from the attendance roll. While I appreciate her reaction to my note, I do not believe this is enough.

Am I right?


texts: is there any law for using unlicensed or cracked software?

texts:
Is there any law for using unlicensed or cracked software for our personal use?
Can we use cracked versions of software in organization?


texts: If a U.S. jurisdiction secedes, can they still keep the old laws?

texts:
I've heard that most municipal code is actually copyrighted material, thus, for example, you can't just re-publish it without violating the copyright law.

The issue becomes interesting in the case of secession.  If, say, a California or Colorado county, city or a set of such were to secede from the rest of the State, or from an existing county or city within the State, do they have to start their legal framework pretty much from scratch, could they reference prior state/county/city law as of date of secession, or do they somehow get some kind of a special right to the collection of statutes?  Can the old jurisdiction prohibit such access?

From the copyright perspective, would it at all be easier for a state to secede (e.g., whole of Texas), since I presume constitution is in the public domain?  What about the rest of the federal laws?  (What about most state laws, in case of a county-to-state succession?)


texts: Can ISPs in the EU (covered by GDPR) record the device IDs on a home network?

texts:
In theory an ISP who provides a integrated router/Wifi point could sniff and record the traffic from individual devices on a home network. These devices (like PCs, phones and tablets) could be identified by internal IP address or MAC address of the device so are almost certainly counted as a personal identifier.
Are ISPs in the EU allowed to record this data and provide metrics on activity and bandwidth usage by device? what about websites accessed from each device?


texts: Does Creative Commons ShareAlike condition apply to Collective Works?

texts:
If an image with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license (CC BY-SA 2.0) is used in a Collective Work such as an article, online slideshow, or book.  Does the book, article, or slideshow need to be released under the same license as the image?

I believe a Collective Work is not considered a Derivative Work (and thus not subject to Derivative Work restrictions) but I'm not clear whether a Collective Work is subject to Share Alike restrictions.

Also, does the answer to this vary at all with the different versions of the CC BY-SA (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc)?


texts:
If you have gotten a court date for a civil case by the labor tribunal (violation of contract clause), is it normal to have some interview session asking for necessary documents before the court date?

Question 1: What if by unexpected circumstances you will not be able to attend the interview session assigned before court date? Will this be disadvantageous for both the plaintiff or the defendant (whoever did not attend the interview session)?

Question 2: If you happened to miss the interview session, could you still have the opportunity to hire a lawyer and properly defend yourself in court?

Because from what I see the interview session seems like nothing more than an evidence gathering session to defend or raise a charge against the opposing party. But if you are absent for that session, in court the judge might not be aware of your defense or charge, hence do you get an opportunity to defend yourself on the court date itself?

EDIT: in particular the country I am referring to is Hong Kong


texts: Can a state agency, asserting "equal footing", ignore an order from a state court

texts:
Awhile back I had to hire an attorney when the state of California was erroneously notified from another state that I had been convicted of a DUI...resulting in a suspension of my California Driver's License. In California, one is only entitled to a DMV hearing for an administrative suspension. To contest a suspension resulting from a criminal conviction, one has to file a petition for a writ of mandate against the department ordering the suspension be set aside. My attorney notified me in this instance that he had heard that, on occasion, the department will effectively assert its equality with the court and refuse to remove the suspension...in which case one then has to move to the federal arena and get it ordered by a district court.

I'm curious as to whether this is actually true. That is, can a state agency simply assert that it is equal to a state court and ignore a bona fide order from that court? In case this is "too broad", answers restricted to the laws of the State of California would suffice.


texts: Playing cards, other than for stakes, in licensed premises (UK)

texts:
You hear a great deal of rumour and out-of-date information about the legality of playing cards in pubs. If I play cribbage or dominoes with my son, who's under 18, in a pub but with no money or anything else being involved, just to pass the time of day, are there any restrictions on that?

I am confused by much of the discussion and legislation which, in the excerpt form typically used in discussions and blogs, seems always to assume a wager part.

I do know that cribbage and dominoes are explicitly mentioned in some pieces of legislation so have good reason to think that the precedent of Magic: The Gathering meetups, iPhone games, etc, are probably not sufficient.


texts: Fine and contract-renew after NOT receiving an invoice

texts:
First things first, let's provide a little bit of background to my question:

3 Years ago I moved to Germany, where I pay my taxes. Since the first year I didn't understand very much about this topic, I decided to turn to a "Verein" that managed my tax-declaration.
During the first year I had a lot of contact with the guy working there, therefore I simply asked how could I pay and he gave me an invoice, which I paid.

The second year I no longer needed the "Verein" services and I simply did not ask the guy to submit my tax declaration. Absolutely no communications were sent from both sides.

During the third year I received an invoice from the "Verein", stating that I had to pay the sum due for the second year, plus a fine, because I didn't pay them before (how was I supposed to? They didn't send me anything - and the payment is based on people's income). Since I was not willing to have arguments, I paid and asked to terminate what I found out to be our contract right at that moment.

The woman I spoke to, told me that it would not have been possible before the end of the third year, and since it already started, and I needed to honor my part of the contract and pay for that year too.

There is more than one problem with this contract, I don't have any copy, and I am quite positive that if I did receive the invoice on time (2nd year), I would have understood that I was under a binding obligation, and therefore would have asked to terminate the contract as well before having to pay for another year.

Am I under any obligation to honor that payment, provided that I never received their invoice for the second year within an acceptable timing?


texts: Are there any country with laws allowing insurance buyers to cancel their insurance within 14 days?

texts:
In Indonesia, there is a rule. If you buy an insurance, after you send the money, you will get some info.

Some info are written more clearly after you buy the insurance.

If you don't like it, you can return it.

In practice, this is used for scamming customers.

Most customers read terms carefully before buying product. Most customers are not aware of the 14 days rule.

An Agent, for example, can claim that all money are invested. The customer puts money and found out that there is acquisition fee whose price is 100 times normal insurance rate.

The fee is not disclosed before the purchase, or if disclosed at all, in a very obfuscated way.

The insurance companies is well aware of this issue. That is why they have insurance products that "cost" 100 times normal price.

The 14 days rules are then, among other things, used to justify that the customer "consent" to the term.

It's as if the state itself help propagating the scam. Without the 14 days rule, an insurance company must write the fee more clearly before the customer buy. Now it can choose not to bother writing it, or do it less clearly.

The agent will simply not tell the customer about the 14 days rule, not tell about the unreasonable fee. The customer think he has done due diligent. Then a clearer explanation is done within the 14 days.

Typical customer would think the deal is done and that there is nothing else to consider. Hence, typical customer would not know that he has to check anything after "buying". After all we are careful before buying, not after.

I wonder if other countries have similar things.


texts: Living will to euthanize me in a Phineas Gage/Tila Tequila situation?

texts:
There are fates which scare me more than death, more than permanent comas or disability, more than amnesia or dementia. It's suffering brain damage which would render me abhorrent to my former self. Examples I'm thinking of are Phineas Gage (took a railroad spike to the skull, and became a selfish fool) and Tila Tequila (suffered a stroke and became an unhinged 9/11 truther). From the perspective of my current self, it's metaphorically like I no longer exist, but a demon has eaten my soul and possessed my body.

Assuming I could quantify when such a thing happened in a legal sense, is there any way to force euthanasia in those circumstances? Obviously, in such a situation, the future "me" would claim they want to live, but the current me would, if I still existed, absolutely not want to live like that.

Is there a way to force myself to routinely undergo a sort of moral Voight-Kampff test, and end whoever it is claiming to be me if I fail?


texts: I have rewritten the library in a different language than the original. If I publish it under my name do I infringe the copyright law?

texts: So let's assume that there exists programming library Lib1 made with language Lang1. If I rewrite this library in language Lang2 and expand with additional features (or scrap few existing), name it MyLib and then release under different license and take copyright to myself (only for MyLib)  do I infringe the copyright law?


texts: Rental Application Fee Refund in case of Multiple Applicants

texts:
I live in Chicago and have been looking to rent a condo. I hired an agent, visited one of the choices she offered, liked it, paid $50 as an application fee that involved a credit history check.
In a day the agent called and notified me that there was another application by a married couple. The owner preferred them because in general couples are financially more secure (e.g. if one person looses job, the second member can still pay the rent)
Here is my question: am I entitled to application fee refund due to the fact that my credit history was not an issue?
It would be a surprise for me if this kind of practice is not regulated. I have nothing against the condo owner going with a choice he/she deems more secure. What is shocking that agents are allowed to collect multiple non-refundable application fees, choose one tenant and keep the rest of the proceeds making juicy profit.
I thought there would be a common sense approach. If I pay for an application, the agent would stop accepting other application fees until my application is rejected. Alternatively, if the owner wants to pick and choose their tenants, rejected application fees should be refunded unless there is an unsatisfactory credit history in this case my credit report should be shown and explained why it is not accepted.
Could any one well versed in Tenant-Landlord Law clarify what the regulations say, if anything?


texts: Gaining control over domain name being used by scammers

texts:
The company I work for has a U.S. trademark on our name, and operates a site of [COMPANY].com

We're now aware of two instances where scammers are impersonating our company and have registered variants of our name: [COMPANY].me and [COMPANY]inc.com

What's the least expensive way to get these fake domains shut down or transferred to us? They do appear to be actual scammers, so I'm guessing it will be difficult if not impossible to track them down and serve them legally.

I looked up the Uniform Domain-Name Resolution Policy, but it appears it would potentially cost thousands for us to just submit the challenge?


texts: Are Harvard-style open access policies lawful under civil law?

texts:
The open access movement tries to make scholarly articles freely available online, to move away from the traditional model where publishers charge access to the articles. To support this movement, universities implement open access policies, requiring researchers to make their works freely available.

Open access policies such as that of Harvard or MIT are implemented by granting the university some non-exclusive rights on the works written by faculty. This is very useful as it circumvents subsequent copyright transfers (to some extent).

There are a few articles explaining why this is compatible with copyright law, so in common law (see below). I wonder whether similar policies could be designed under authors' rights, in civil law (for instance the french "droit d'auteur"), where rights transfers seem to obey to slightly different rules.

Useful links:

Simon Frankel and Shannon Nestor, Opening the Door: How Faculty Authors Can Implement an Open Access Policy at Their Institutions
Eric Priest, Copyright and the Harvard Open Access Mandate, Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, preprint August 1, 2012


texts:
Feist Publication, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340, 349-50 (1991) (citations omitted) gives the primary purpose of copyright:

  The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but [t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts. To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which copyright advances the progress of science and art.

The first clause above seems to imply that U.S. law does not consider copyright infringement an act of injustice toward the copyright owner.

Which countries do or do not consider copyright infringement theft?

cf. the § "IP & Property Rights" of Stephen Kinsella's CC BY-licensed work Against Intellectual Property or Aaron Swartz's related short article "Downloading isn't Stealing"


texts: Can a minor legally sign an employment contract?

texts:
Let's assume that Example, Inc. (a tech company based in California but registered in Delaware) wants to hire a non-emancipated 16-year old minor for a full-time position (using the principle of at-will employment). Provided the necessary work permits and similar are in place, the minor's employment should be valid once they sign the employment contract.

However, this brings up the question as to whether a minor can sign and enter to an employment contract themselves. Is this legally acceptable, or is a parent/guardian signature required?

If a parent's/guardian's signature is required, does the minor also need to sign the contract to be valid?


texts:
Florida Condo Law Statute 1682 prohibits

  an officer, director, or manager of a condominium association from soliciting, offering to accept, or accepting a kickback for which consideration has not been provided;

Q1) If my CAM (Community Association Manager) provides me with compensated jobs or work, am I running afoul of said statute?  Assume I am a board member.

Q2) Does the statute prohibit the the CAM from soliciting or accepting referral fees (kickbacks) from vendors such as groundkeepers, pool maintenance service etc.?


texts: Can tenants change their mind as to move out date? (UK Law)

texts:
The landlords serve an invalid section 21 (some pre requisites haven't been met), however, the tenants agree to the move out date (in writing).

The landlord then makes arrangements for travel costs to take the property back on the agreed date, and also puts a deposit down for builders to come and renovate the property (Starting immediately after the agreed move out date).

2 weeks before the agreed move out date the tenants then go back on their word, saying that "a couple of weeks after we put down our holding deposit, the offer fell through". The tenants then find a new place which is due to start 20 days after the agreed move out date, and the tenants refuse to find temporary accommodation before then, which means the landlords must stay in temporary accommodation instead, and the builders cannot renovate the property so the landlords lose their deposit with them.

Who is liable to pay the builder's deposit, and the landlord's temporary accommodation and other costs incurred as a result of these circumstances?


texts: Who decides DNR decision when patient is non compos mentis?

texts:
My 83 year old mother's mental and physical health has deteriorated rapidly in last six months. At this point, she asks if her mother (dead 35 years) is coming to see her, if her grandchildren are taking music lessons in elementary school (all graduated from college now), etc.
She is married to a much younger man, my stepfather, a good guy who loves her and only wants the best for her, and he has asked if she has a DNR wish.
There is no DNR order in effect that anyone knows about, and I'm pretty confident that she would not be considered competent to be able to understand her situation well enough to make her own decision regarding this.
My guess is that it would be the husband's decision, even if he asks for and takes the advice of her children (my brothers and sister and I).
Is this correct?
DISCLAIMER: I'm obviously not asking for binding, rock-solid legal advice here, just wondering if anyone has any idea before we inevitably go to a lawyer.
(By the way, the jurisdiction is the State of Florida, USA)


texts: Is it illegal to bypass user agreement window?

texts:
I have a download page with many files. If a user clicks on the download button of a file, then a window with user agreements shows, and you can only download the file by pressing the I agree button, then I send the word allowed to the server so that it knows the user accepted the agreements. Then the server initiates the download, otherwise I send notAllowed and nothing will happen (simplified).

However, It is easy for users to bypass this agreement window and just send allowed to the server without even seeing the user agreement window. (for more technical details click here)

Questions:

Is this considered as a cyber crime if they do it intentionally?

Are they automatically accepting the user agreements if they initiate the download this way?


texts: What can qualify as a terminal illness with respect to assisted suicide?

texts:
As an example, HIV used to be considered a terminal disease by doctors. Nowadays, there are treatments which extend life significantly for HIV patients, and doctors consider it to be a manageable disease through treatment rather than terminal.

Does the law have an explicit definition of terminal disease? Or what qualifies a disease to be used as a reason for assisted suicide in relevant jurisdiction?


texts: "Evading" police car (with lights on) before it turns around to follow you

texts:
Say you're excessively speeding down a divided highway when a police cruiser passes you on the other side of the median and flips on the lights and sirens. Now of course you assume this is a result of your speeding but of course you can't be sure they could be trying to get to another scene down the road.

So now you realize if the cop is coming for you it will take a full 30 seconds to get to the nearest turn around and back to you, it will also for whatever brief margin put you out of view. Would it be illegal to then pull off and park behind a building in a fairly obvious attempt to hide from the police? What if in a less obvious way you just turn down a side road and keep heading that way would that be evading the officer?


texts: Is repairing dealership cars in Ontario illegal without mechanics license?

texts:
I want to start a car dealership in Ontario, Canada. Some of the cars I will be selling will need to have minor repairs done that I can do myself to pass safety (brakes, oil, lightbulb, etc.).
I do not have a mechanics license but I do have an apprentice license and finished my college degree in automotive practices in 2018.
Is this ok?


texts:
I just watched a random video where an Uber driver is stopped by the cops, and the cops eventually mention that "there's a lot of history on this vehicle", and mention that it makes sense that there is "history" on the vehicle because he is an Uber driver.

The driver then seems to imply that he's just driving the vehicle and that it isn't his.

But isn't the whole point of "Uber" that it's like "peer-to-peer taxi"? Isn't an Uber driver just some guy who has registered as a driver on an "app" and then he drives people from point A to point B, just like a traditional taxi, using his own car?

If it isn't his car, then whose is it?

If you need context, this is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UQKkYWDUQ4

(The relevant part is a few minutes in, maybe 4:30.)


texts: A landlord must provide free internet access, can he charge a deposit for the router?

texts:
Had an interesting conversation with a friend about what would happen in such a situation.

Let's suppose the contractual term was:

"Internet must be provided free of charge to tenants".

But a landlord may for obvious reasons want a small deposit paid to secure the router.

Could a landlord demand such a deposit, or would it be a breach of the term?


texts: What license model to use for disclosing the source code of a paid software product?

texts:
I am developing and selling a piece of software over the internet. Recently a customer has asked me for a copy of the source code, so he can add custom features and maybe also assist to fix bugs. He also offered I could use the bug fixes in my main version so other users would benefit as well.

Now the question arises, under which software license I can disclose my code, without losing ownership over it. I want to keep the right to sell it, even if other people can volunteer to maintain it.

I have looked at some public license models, but all of them seem to either grant everyone permission to sell my software, or to make it completely free to use.

I don’t want to be in a situation, in which one of the contributors suddenly changes his mind and I am forced to remove all the code he added. Or worse, allow him to sell the entire software on his own.


texts: Why there was no trial for Michael Cohen

texts:
I am reading in the news that Michale Cohen will be sentenced today, however, I haven't seen any information about trial.

Is that because conviction is related to perjury plea, hence there is no need for trial and process is skipped right to the sentencing?

Or is there special process of trial when special counsel / prosecutor is involved?


texts: Which consumer protection law applies to Patreon?

texts: Which jurisdiction's consumer protection law applies to a patreon page of a creator who publishes content of international appeal ? As patreon allows issuing refunds must creators issue refunds according to laws of al countries patreon operates in .


texts: Someone copied and published content from my blog post - is this legal?

texts: About two and a half years ago I wrote a technical article on Medium.com, which included some graphs. I recently came across a book that was published (which I bought to see the content) last year that copied my words and graphics as-is. I was wondering whether this is legal, and who owns the rights (if anyone) to the content of my post.


texts: Can Walmart ban shoppers who wear Nazi face masks from entering in California?

texts:
Description of incident
The last paragraph is the one I'm interested in:

Walmart says the trespass notices issued to the couple prevent them from visiting any Walmart facility for at least one year.

I'm curious about this since it reads as though Walmart is banning the two people from entering the premises because of their political beliefs. A quick Google search indicates this is usually legal in the United States, but not always - in particular California, New York and the District of Columbia disallow such discrimination (this is admittedly not the exact same scenario since it deals with employment, but this source says the same thing about California). This seems to indicate that at least in these states, walmart cannot ban them from entering their stores.
However the second source above also says that "In general, refusal of service is justified in cases where a customer’s presence interferes with the safety and well-being of other patrons and the establishment itself", and clearly Walmart's other patrons disapproved of these two people. This seems to indicate that Walmart can ban them from entering their stores.
Question: if the two people in the incident go to California and attempt to enter a Walmart store, can Walmart legally prevent them from entering?


texts: What gives SWAT team members legal cover to conceal their identities by wearing balaclavas or similar?


texts: Are holographic wills really routinely thrown out by probate courts?

texts:
A lot of states do not permit holographic wills and specifically state in their laws that an unwitnessed will is invalid.
This seems like a cruel provision to me. So, if a person writes out in their own handwriting a proper will which is signed and dated, but it is not witnessed, then the state will just throw it out? For a person having no heirs this could be disastrous because instead of the money going to the intended charities and friends, instead the money would just go to the government if the will gets thrown out. Does this actually happen?
Also, any answer to this question I would hope will address the legal principle that the law "favors testacy over intestacy". In other words, there is a legal principle in common law that it is always better to follow some kind of intent of the deceased, whatever that might be, rather than treat them as completely intestate. This principle would seem to conflict with some state laws that brusquely state that wills that fail to comply with various technical provisions, such as holographic wills, are invalid.


texts: What is the legality of "reverse grafitti"?

texts:
I recently discovered several videos on YouTube talking about a new form of public art called Reverse Grafitti, the idea being that instead of adding paint to a wall, you form an image by selectively cleaning it. This creates a temporary form that will fade naturally within a short (few months) timeframe.

Here is a video demonstrating the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut96pkYUOiM

Now I know that in most places, grafitti is illegal. However, here are my questions:

Is "Reverse Grafitti" considered Grafitti? and
Have any similar ideas been brought before a court? What was the result?


texts: Can a company be sued if they allow their electronic product to completely stop working?

texts:
The Olio Model One is a smartwatch sold from 2015 to 2016 by Olio Devices, Inc. The Olio watches were rather expensive, with a price range from $595 to $1,395. Furthermore, to work, the Olio needs to be able to talk to a specific API server; without this API server, the companion smartphone app will not function, and without the smartphone app the watch itself will not function.

Olio Devices was acquired by Flex, Ltd. in early 2017, after which they never sold anymore Olio watches; apparently Flex acquired Olio Devices just to use Olio's technology in their own products. In addition to ceasing the sale of Olio watches, Flex also shut down the API server I mentioned above later in 2017, resulting in most Olio watches losing almost all of their functionality. Neither the former employees of Olio Devices nor Flex gave any solution to this; customers were expected to live with their $595-$1395 paperweights.

Under United States consumer protection law (Olio Devices was founded and headquartered in California and Flex has offices throughout the US), can Flex be sued for this, either for payouts or for a solution to make the Olio watch work again? If so, is there a time frame in which such lawsuits would need to be filed?


texts:
What does it mean that a drug was "repatented"?

From the New York Times:

  Albuterol, one of the oldest asthma medicines, typically costs $50 to
  $100 per inhaler in the United States, but it was less than $15 a
  decade ago, before it was repatented.

I get that it means the patients will have to pay, however, how can you re-patent something? Intuitively, I believed that once the patent expires, it's over. And that you can only patent novel inventions.


texts: On a French diploma, why are some decrees timestamped, while others are not?

texts:
I have noticed that on some French diploma, some decrees timestamped, while others are not. Why?

Example

In the red rectangle, the first line refers to a decree without mentioning its date, while the second line refers to a decree mentioning its date. The two lines can be vaguely translated as follows:

  With regard to the decree 2002-481, respecting the university titles
  and levels, and national diplomas; With regard to the decree 2002-590
  passed on April 24, 2002, which enforces the first paragraph of the
  article L. 613.3 and the article L. 613-4 of the Education Code and
  relating to the validation by Higher Education institutions of the
  knowledge acquired by experience;


texts: Can an internet provider replace content of websites if the end user is aware of it?

texts:
Let's say an internet provider (ex: Comcast, At&t, Verizon) says to their users: Hey we have this new free internet access, however, by using it the end ad content will be changed to our liking -for example they can change Ad Units to show their ads or inject ads into content.

What are the legal repercussions here? If the end user's agree, can sites that serve ads (ex: Google Adsense) sue you for replacing their content?

Also wondering about any other issues that can arise from such action.


texts: Do I have a Constitutonal right to refuse to answer questions asked by CBP - whether they are on the declaration form or in person

texts:
The Fifth Amendment states "no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself". The Supreme Court, in US v. Miranda, ruled it unconstitutional for law enforcement officials to force a person to answer police questions, though ID may certainly be required.

CBP forces incoming persons to answer their questions on a daily basis. You don't answer, they get to hassle you. Under the 5th Amendment, is this illegal?


texts: Argentina: Is it permitted to shoot a knife-wielding intruder to my property with a handgun?

texts:
I'm wondering how can I defend against an intruder in my house if I legally possess a handgun.  I'm in Argentina.  Supposing the intruder doesn't possess a firearm himself but is wielding a deadly melee weapon such as a fighting knife or sword like weapon. Can I shoot if the intruder is running towards me? What if he slowly tries to approach me and says no to my warning? (E.g., "Please don't go near me or I'll shoot you.")

Let's suppose the intruder doesn't possess nor claims to have a firearm, only a melee weapon.

Edit: This is the criminal code of Argentina, it's a official website. "Codigo Penal" means "criminal code", as the comment requested.


texts: I suspect bait-and-switch selling, what can I do as a consumer?

texts:
I’ll keep this as generic as possible in terms of which store and which products were involved, but here’s the situation:

Location, product(s) and retailer:

I’m in Canada, the seller is a chain store that is well known in their industry, they have a large presence online and with multiple retail locations both in Canada and in other countries. The purchases were made on their Canadian website. The product in question is a consumer product (a type of tool) of which there are many versions; the key difference between the different versions is the materials used. The different versions are easily distinguishable in pictures because they are differently coloured. For this situation we’ll consider two versions of the product: version A is an upgraded version of the “standard” version B, version A usually costs around double what version B does.

The situation:

I’m part of a facebook group that pertains to one of my hobbies. Someone on one of those groups shared a link to the online store of the retailer, who was selling version A of the product around 40% less than normal retail price (it’s common to share such links on this group when you find good deals). The advertised image on the website was that of version A and the description (basically a specs sheet) clearly stated the materials used were those of version A. It was a good deal, not too good to be true (stuff goes on sale all the time) but some group members contacted the store’s customer support to make sure. Customer support confirmed that it was indeed version A. So far, so good, everyone’s happy, a few of us bought the item thinking that it was version A. (you probably figured out where this is going)

A few days later packages start arriving in the mail and everyone received version B. We had a good deal on version A at 40% off, but even at that price it’s slightly more than what version B would cost… so one was happy. We contacted customer support who apologized, they said they did not carry version A (in fact, they never carried it in Canada) and that it was simply a mistake on the website. The website has now been updated to show the image and description of version B. Because they do not sell version A, they say that there’s nothing they can do to provide us with the products that were advertised. They offered everyone who contacted them to return the item for a refund.

Additional info:

Some people who bought the items took screenshots of the webpage which was clearly advertising version A, and of the email sent to them by customer support confirming that it was indeed version A.

My question:

What can I do in this situation? Does it qualify as bait-and-switch selling? How would I leverage that against them?

Ideally, I’d like to somehow force them to honour the listing and provide us with version A, however many of us already took the hassle-free route of simply returning for refund and since the items are worth about $140, there’s not enough financial motivation to call up a lawyer to sue them.


texts: Do I need copyright permission for a blog

texts:
I am thinking of creating a sports blog, and would like to know if you need permission from a team or the league to write this blog. For example if I am writing a article about the Philadelphia Phillies would I need to obtain permission from the team to write that article? It is worth noting that I would be using AdSense to generate revenue from views of the blog, but not charging people money to view the blog.

I don't know if this matters but I live in PA.

I am going to be writing about different stats and statistics for different sports teams, but I'm not sure if I can use the team names or player's names without infringing on copyright.


texts: Can I sign multiple job contracts with different German companies?

texts:
I'm from a non-EU country, I have received some Job contracts from Germany.
Is it possible to sign them all, so in any case, I will not be without a contract if I lose one? What is the legality behind doing that?
And what if I want to cancel a contract: do I need to send them my resignation but they still need to accept it.
Thanks


texts: Can my employer hold my 401k funds and not allow me to continue to contribute?

texts: My employer stopped taking my my 401k contributions after 12 years of my participation. They said since I am a union member I was never really eligible. However they won't release my funds so that I can start my own IRA.It seems to me if I can't contribute to the 401 my participation has been terminated and they should have to make the appropriate distributions. I appreciate any information anyone has on this subject.


texts: Is it legal to call someone a pedophile without a conviction?

texts:
I just discovered that a number of people are calling Alan Dershowitz - the attorney famously linked to Jeffrey Epstein - a pedophile online. Consider this statement made on Twitter:

  Alan Dershowitz is a pedophile with ties to billionaire pedophile Jeff
  Epstein. But so is Trump, so your support for Dershowitz makes sense.

Can someone explain what makes this statement legal? Or are they simply calculating that he won't sue them for libel, either because he doesn't have the time and resources to take on everyone making this charge or he thinks a libel suit could somehow backfire?


texts: Is it illegal to air a pay-per-view channel on a free-to-air frequency?

texts:
I stumbled upon an article wherein there seems to be an ongoing case on a certain country with one of their biggest TV network as it is currently pending franchise renewal - with only a month to spare.

According to the documents submitted by the one requested a quo warranto petition against them, is that they are airing a pay-per-view channel on a free-to-air frequency.

What are your thoughts regarding this? Is it illegal to air a pay-per-view channel on a free-to-air frequency or does it depend on the country?


texts: Hypothetical: If a thief gives the stolen money away

texts:
If a thief gives all the stolen money to their friend/family/charitable organization/etc. who has no idea that the money is stolen, and he gets caught, can the money be taken back?
I know that if the prosecution cannot prove the recipient knowingly took stolen money, they cannot be charged guilty. But can that money still be taken away? If not, this could be a huge loophole (e.g. corrupted politician donates to PAC, parents steal money to give their children). But if yes, it's not fair to take money away from someone who's done essentially nothing wrong.
My question is also: Has a case like this happened before? I assume giving stolen money away is not uncommon.
Edit: What if it's not a gift but a purchase; can the seller be forced to take the item back and return the money? What if the item is not tangible hence not returnable (for example, doing a favor)?
Edit 2: Okay, it seems like the seller must give up the money. Then does it mean every seller needs to scan the buyer to suspect whether he or she is a thief? That sounds like a real nuisance. If I sell something on eBay, there's no way I could reasonably know if the money is clean. Is there some legal protection for good faith sellers?


texts: In what states is it legal for an admin to read email on a server or Google Apps Account?

texts:
There is a scenario wherein some questionable activity has take place by a member of an organization.  The administrator of the organization's Google Apps account was able to retrieve this user's emails and information by simply logging in since he maintained the usernames and passwords.

What states permit such activity and allow such obtained information to be used in a court of law as evidence?


texts: Are the Walk of Fame costume performers legal?

texts:
I recently learned that there are many people (arguably "struggling actors" or possibly just homeless) who dress up in costumes around Hollywood Boulevard to take pictures with tourists for tips. For example, the tragic life of Christopher Dennis included dressing up as Superman, and there are also many other copyrighted characters owned by DC, Disney, and other major companies.
At first, I assumed that since they were profiting off of copyrighted characters, they would probably be sued out of existence immediately. But then I thought, I'm assuming these people probably purchased the costumes from a company that legitimately licensed the character. If the rights owners are authorizing the sale of these costumes, I don't see how they could possibly object to people buying and wearing them in public. So really that just leaves the question of whether it is legal for them to work for tips while wearing the costumes.
I don't recall ever seeing a costume with a disclaimer that said "Not for commercial purposes," but it still seems like a gray area at best. Are these performers breaking copyright laws?


texts:
Suppose some kind of work was created long enough ago that the work itself has entered the public domain.  But suppose the work has been "lost" so that it's not available anymore.  Now suppose someone finds it, but the physical medium is somewhat degraded due to age, so the finder restores it so the work can be enjoyed, and perhaps transfers it to a more updated medium.  Can the finder claim copyright on the restored work?  Does the restored work count as a "derivative work" distinct from the original (no-longer-copyrighted) work?

The example that has made me think of this is the UCSB Cylinder Recording Archive, which makes available MP3s created from old cylinder recordings.  Most of the recordings themselves are from before 1922, so they are in the public domain, but the archive has engaged in technical work to recover the sound, and they are saying you would have to pay to use their MP3s for commercial use.  It seems clear that if you had the cylinder yourself you could use the recording commercially without restriction.  Can a third party that made an MP3 of the cylinder impose licensing requirements on the resulting MP3?

Another example I was thinking of would be if I found, say, a lost story by Mark Twain in my attic, printed on old and perhaps water-damaged paper.  If I recovered the text by looking closely at the paper and then made it available, could I impose a license on the text of Mark Twain's story (i.e., requiring people to pay me royalties to use it)?

I'm most interested in how this would work under US law, but also interested if there are variations from country to country.


texts: Can someone be penalized for an "unlawful" act if no penalty is specified?

texts:
If a US federal statute specifies that an act is unlawful without specifying a penalty, without using any of the words "misdemeanor," "felony," or "crime," and without invoking Title 18 CFR, can a penalty be imposed?
Asked another way, is there some provision of US law that provides for a blanket penalty that could apply in such a case in the absence of a specific penalty in the statute that makes the act unlawful?  Alternatively, could a judge impose a penalty without a statutory basis (beyond the designation of the act as unlawful)?

The specific statute that prompts this question is subsection 215(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 USC 1185(b):

(b) Citizens
Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport.

Between 1978 and 1994, the last clause read "unless he bears a valid passport."  Before 1978, the original version of section 215 was in force, which provided for a requirement to bear a valid passport only during times of war or national emergency when invoked by presidential proclamation.  The section specified that willful violators would be subject upon conviction to a fine of up to $5000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years.

Furthermore, this question was prompted by a comment discussion on my answer to a question at Travel: What is the penalty for US citizens entering/leaving the US on a foreign passport?, here in summarized form:

Q: I'm not facile with US federal law, but there are often provisions in State law that provide if act x is deemed criminal by the code and a penalty not specified, then the penalty will be y. So even though there's no penalty in 8 USC 1185(b), there may be a penalty specified by another section of the USC.
A: The section in question only makes the act "unlawful," however, not criminal. I am unaware of a default civil penalty.
Q: I acknowledge the difference between saying something is "unlawful" and saying it's a "crime." I don't know federal law; in that arena, however, the two terms may be construed the same. At random (I searched for "federal crime"), I pulled 21 USC 841(a). It begins "(a) Unlawful acts. Except as authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally..." So it's not clear that use of the magic word "crime" is required.
A: Note how 841(b) provides explicit penalties for violations of subsection (a). The provision of penalties makes those unlawful acts criminal. The 1978 repeal of the penalties related to 8 USC 1185(b) meant that violations were no longer criminal. I've yet to encounter an analysis that holds otherwise, including in reported opinions. The magic word "crime" is not required, but if it is not mentioned then mention of "felony," "misdemeanor," "sentence," or "Title 18" will do. See 8 USC 1325 and 1326 for further examples.
Q: The conclusion in your second sentence might be true, but I don't know enough about federal practice to agree that there is a federal law distinction between "unlawful" and "criminal." Maybe there is. Absent a more sophisticated understanding of how the USC is drafted, or a section-by-section examination of the USC to demonstrate there are no USC sections that prescribe punishments for "unlawful acts," or a citation discussing the distinction, however, I can't (yet) agree.


texts: How can one prove they rented a house with no receipts/contract?

texts:
Where I live the law doesn't require a renter to fill out a contract. If a renter paid the damage deposit, and rent, and upon leaving the landlord refuses to return the damage deposit, how can the renter prove that he did in fact live there in court? Even if rent and damage deposit was paid through internet etransfer, it doesn't necessarily show it was for rent.

I know a person this happened to and he had to move out because the other tenants were doing drugs and the landlord refused to kick them out. So I doubt the other tenants would attest to the fact he was in fact living there.


texts:
A law firm did a lot of work for my company.  He sent us a first invoice and we paid it.  Nine months later, he told us that he forgot to bill us for some of the work that he did for us and he sent us a second invoice.

Let's assume for the purposes of this question that he did all the work described in the two invoices and that the work was satisfactory.

We are annoyed to receive a second invoice nine months late.  We already closed the books for last year and it messes up our budgeting.

Do we have a legal basis for not paying or asking for a discount for the second invoice?


texts: In the US, when is fair use a defense to copyright infringement?

texts: What is fair use in the US? When would it be a successful defense to  copyright infringement?


texts: Who within the United States would have a legal obligation to report (or stop) a suicide attempt?

texts:
Since suicide is not a crime in many states is there any requirement for anyone to do something about an individual who is attempting suicide?  That is to say does anyone, other then perhaps a therapist, have an obligation to prevent a suicide?

Could a police officer, for example, stand by and watch a suicide occur without being guilty of a crime by not acting to prevent it?  For that matter could a member of a hospital allow it to occur without violating their legal responsibilities?


texts: is landlord responsible for damage that's not his fault?

texts:
My apartment had a toxic contamination issue. It wasn't my fault or the landlord's (in fact, it happened before he owned the building).

Some of my belongings had to be disposed of. Is he responsible for replacing them?


texts: Is there a database containing all court cases publically available in the UK and or US?

texts:
I am a Cyber Security student just starting on a course the depends heavily on the use of court cases that used electronically stored information to determine the verdict of a case.

Are there a few database-like resources that would allow me to easily search for such cases?


texts:
Are ToS considered contracts in and of themselves, enforceable under contract/civil law?

Generally I'm talking about the Common Law systems in the major regions (UK, North America and Oceania). Anything that applies to (majority of) Europe would be fine too.


texts: Can a President of the United States be arrested for previous crimes?

texts:
Recently, the FBI decided not to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton, and as of 12:00 noon EST Clinton is projected to have lost her bid for POTUS. However - if the FBI had recommended prosecution and Hillary had won the election, what would the result have been?

I don't know how the US legal system works, but if it would have taken time for her to be convicted, she could have been sworn in as POTUS before being imprisoned, if guilty.

Could she have been arrested after she was sworn in? Or does the POTUS have immunity?


texts: Legal Term for Signing A Document That is Believed To Be Untrue

texts:
Is there a term in Law for when someone signs a document as true when said individual is under the belief that the contents of the document are untrue?

For example, if I was asked to sign a document that says "the sky is green", and I saw the sky that morning and it was blue. Signing this document would amount to (insert term here).


texts: How a physical person can become liable for claims made against dissolved company?

texts:
I'm shutting down my limited company (Ltd) in the UK
My accountant advises me to purchase run-off insurance

  With regards to PI Insurance, that is your decision however this is the main thing that could become a personal liability in the future. We just want you to be fully aware of the situation and possible future implications.

I did some reading:

https://www.policybee.co.uk/blog/5116/whats-run-off-cover
http://www.runoffpi.com/about-run-off-pi-cover-insurance/about-run-off-pi-cover-insurance.html

Apparently I can be liable for up to 6 years after dissolving the company.

  That’s because it can take months or even years for mistakes and latent problems to rear their ugly heads. If it turns out your work is at fault, you’ll have to pay to fix the problem regardless of whether you’re still in business or not.

So far it's clear. I just don't understand the following logic:

the whole point of limited company (Ltd) is to limit liabilities
what is the rationale for me becoming personally liable after the closing down the company?

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability

  If a company with limited liability is sued, then the plaintiffs are suing the company, not its owners or investors.

In my understanding it should be like that:

company did some work
company is responsible for it
company is no more, company is gone
why would anyone chase previous owners and employees of the company?

(SIDENOTE - I decided to shut down company to limit costs and apparently it is more expensive to shut down than to keep it open)


texts: Is it legal to directly tie a campaign donation to how a US Congressman votes on a bill?

texts: If you had a connection to a congressman, and spoke to him directly, and said vote yes (or no) on a bill and I will give your upcoming campaign $1M dollars, would that be considered legal under US law?


texts: Is it breaking and entering to open an unlocked for-sale car at a closed car dealership?

texts: Some people like to shop for cars when car dealerships are closed to avoid the salesmen. While looking at cars for sale at a closed car dealership, is it breaking and entering to open the door of an unlocked car?


texts: Are photographs of portraits of Mozart that are in the public domain free for commercial use?

texts:
While there are photos of Einstein that are in the public domain (e.g. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Einstein_(Nobel).png), Einstein ,the person, is not in the public domain. For this reason any use of images of Einstein requires a license and a minimum fee of $2500 (visit einstein.biz for more information). While portraits of Mozart are in the public domain, is Mozart (the person) in the public domain? And if he is, is it legally safe to reuse portraits of Mozart commercially in, for example, video games?

Edit 1: I was told that Einstein (the person) is not in the public domain by a representative of Einstein.biz; and, therefore, a license would be needed to use any image of Einstein. However, as Nate Eldredge pointed out, it is probably  personality rights that protect Einstein (the person) rather than copyright. In other words, saying that "Einstein is not in the public domain" is incorrect terminology. The correct terminology would be that the "personality rights of Einstein have not expired".

I am primarily interested in knowing whether photographs of portraits of Mozart (that are in the public domain) are open for commercial use in Germany.


texts:
Currently I use cookiesandyou javascript service that provides a popup like "We use cookies here" with 3 options:

Agree
Decline
"Read more" link to a common page "What are cookies?"

Additionally I implemented the features to recall agreement, and to send request of obtaining or deletion  all personal data of a person. (which is email address he he..) and whole account.

I described types of an information the Service collect and it's purpose in Privacy section of my site. I use external analytics tool, which isn't Google but is GDRP compliant and started thoung Google Tags on user's agreement.

Is it enough to be compliant to GDPR? Don't I need to describe every group of my cookies if I store only necessary cookies how do some of websites and don't do others?


texts:
I have seen a few videos out there where an individual will find a spam robo caller's number and flood the call center with their own robo call.

Preventing the spammer from making any new calls and scamming more people.

Is this legal? Or is this considered just as illegal as using a robo call to scam others?


texts: Divulging students' grades to third parties

texts:
In the U.S., I understand that it is illegal for teachers to divulge a student's grades to anyone with no legitimate claim to the information.

Is it similarly illegal for parents to do that?

In some newspaper "advice" column, a high-school pupil wrote that her mother was using her grades to compete with the mother of some other pupil. The reasons why it is unethical for a teacher to do things like that seem obviously applicable to parents for the same reason. Might limited termination of parental rights be considered by the courts to be a reasonable remedy? Might there also be criminal liability?


texts: How is a US political campaign supposed to verify that donors from abroad are US citizens?

texts:
According the US laws, only US citizens may contribute financially to political campaigns - especially presidential campaigns.

Suppose you are running a campaign. How are you supposed to verify that donations from around the world are actually from US citizens?

For example, take a look at Pete Buttigeg's page. He accepts donations from every country on Earth. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/pete-buttigieg-announcement-day How can he be sure that they are actually from Americans?

(The question applies to donations from within the US too. There can be non-citizens in the US with US credit cards and addresses. How does a candidate ensure that they are actually citizens? To what extent is this required?)


texts: How to get legal confirmation that a book is not copyrighted?

texts: Check if a book is in the public domain? asks how one can research whether a book has fallen in the public domain. Is there a way to go one step further, to protect oneself, either getting some official guarantee that it is not in the public domain that can be used in a courtroom, some official list (e.g. maybe a law university keeps a list which would be legally recognized), or perhaps insurance?


texts: Personal risk in assuming Power of Attorney

texts:
Florida, United States:

Following my father's passing I am being asked to take on Power of Attorney for my mother whose cognitive function is in decline.

This is something I really don't want to do, because for one I live on the other side of the country and second my relationship with my parents was not a particularly loving one.

But, in any case, what came of the chaos after my father's passing was me performing many of the tasks that having POA would entail anyway: managing her affairs & finances, etc out of simple necessity and because she wants me to.

I am worried as to what kind of personal exposure to risk agreeing to legally being POA would carry and what happens if I simply decline.

That is, if my mom is sued by somebody for some reason, does that mean I am being sued, and my personal assets are at risk, rather than just hers'?

And, what if she runs out of money, would I be personally financially liable for covering her expenses? I mean I would help of course but I am not a man of means and I couldn't possibly cover her costs without cashing out my own retirement savings and I don't want to jeopardize my own livelihood.

And then, what if I simply don't have time to deal with her affairs, that is where I am being put in a position where I have to choose between keeping my job and my personal relationships at home versus going to deal with things over there, would having POA force me to do the latter?

Thank you


texts: Can company sue me if I release a similar product outside their operated countries?

texts:
Allow me to directly go to the scenario and take real case as an example:

In the field of music-simulation game, there were many cases of patent conflicts. To name the few, Konami v Rock Band game, Konami v EZ2DJ, etc, some of those happened in US. And Konami v Pentavision which happened in Korea.

Let say, if I'm going to make a drumming game, maybe into arcade game cabinet, this would clearly violates MTV Drumscape or Konami's patents in affected countries. But what if I do this in unrelated country to those companies, let's say, Laos or Thailand, which those companies does not have branch offices in. And let's say :

I setup the program inside cabinet legally (the game might developed by my team)
I obtained the song's license correctly. etc. No other issue for local law.
Distribute the game nationwide.

My question is:

Can those companies sue me over this game cabinet? By any mean.
Can those companies file their existing US patent in those countries and then sue me after?
Will patents those big companies are holding expire and become public domain? If so, does that's mean I can then distribute this game into US?


texts: Legality surrounding impersonating a Federal Employee

texts:
I was interested in the legality of impersonating a Federal Agent/Officer, and upon a Google Search it only seems to be illegal if you try to obtain something of value in such a persona. There are still lots of situations left uncovered.

Gaining access to a (non-government) centre via impersonation
Convincing a person to stop questioning your actions via impersonation
Asking/ordering a person to do something (i.e. ordering them to sound a fire alarm) via impersonation
Exercising power over other Government employees in such impersonation
Instructing people on what to do in an emergency
Instructing people to evacuate/leave the area (assuming there is a legitimate emergency)

Let's assume in these situations that said person is impersonating an employee not a law enforcement agent.

What would be the legality of the above points?


texts: I'm aware that encryption of amateur radio communications is prohibited (or rather, any technique to make the message unreadable is). Does this apply to handheld transceivers ("Walkie-Talkies")?


texts: Trademark/Copyright of Fantasy species in games / tabletops / books

texts:
I'm a game developer trying to make something fantasy related I'm heavily inspired by the fantasy genre but I am trying not to get sued, not worried just was researching the topic and could not find anything useful
What are some general guideline/principles to follow when making a game (or other work) fantasy related,
I am thinking in regards to dungeons and dragons, tolkien fantasy, hp lovecraft dark fantasy, ... etc
Has there been a situation when someone sued someone about a fantasy creature characteristics, names, looks ... etc
Thanks


texts:
Suppose person X is managing money for person Y without compensation. That is, person X has trading authority over person's Y account. In this case, I claim person X is not an Investment Advisor for purposes of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
If person X buys the XYZ stock (a name I made up) in person's Y account, can he legally buy it for his own account the same day? I believe not. He needs to wait some time. How long does he need to wait? 1 day? 3 days?
I am in the United States.


texts: When does a single mistake in a contract invalidate the entire contract?

texts:
Assuming there is no "savings clause" or statement of the form "if a provision is found to be unenforceable, the rest still remain in effect", when can an entire contract be invalid because of one mistake?

For example, if you rent a car and sign a contract with the following provisions:

You will return it with a full tank of gas
You will be charged $1000 per hour if you return it late;

If 2) is found to be unenforceable then does that mean you also weren't responsible for 1)? What process would a court go through?

For another example: I have a lease where on the addendum there is a mistake. Instead of my name it's the old tenant's. Does this automatically mean I don't have to do any of the items on the lease, like mow the lawn? Obviously not, but how would the court decide?

If the written lease is just a reminder of the actual agreement, even though it doesn't have my name in the text, it's kind of obvious they meant I'm responsible for mowing the lawn and not the previous guy who moved out.


texts: Why does the FDA prevent the sale of health reports that may affect a diagnosis or treatment plan to consumers?

texts:
So I was reading an interesting article from MSN how a company can now map your genome for a relatively small fee. It mentions something confusing, that being that

  [...] the FDA restricts direct sales of health reports to consumers that have the potential to diagnose or change a course of treatment — information considered actionable [...]

Why would the FDA limit actionable material that may enhance treatment? I'm certain it's probably inbetween the lines of the linked article, but I don't understand why such information would not be made available to consumers.


texts: France, how long does a landlord have to give back caution if renovation are not the tenant's fault

texts:
I've recently moved out from my old place.
After talking with my landlord after checking the state of the premise, he told me that he was gonna give me back my caution in a period of two month.

At the time I did'nt think much, but after reading a bit about the law, most specificaly the Alur law I've realised that, since the state of premise was identical (actually it was much better) when we left the premise as when we entered it, he should give us the caution back in a period of one month.

Now I think he plans on giving us the caution back in a period of two month because there is renovation to be done on the premise, but the renovation is not due to our (the tenants) actions, but problem unrelated to us. Problem such as the ventilation not working, one of our wall being soaked in water due to a pipe being pierced by the precedent tenant of the neighboring appartment, as well as water damage due to an appartment on top of our old one.

So here is my question :

Does a landlord have the right to witheld the caution for two month, because of damages wich were not cause by the tenants? (Note that only answer concerning the french law interests me).


texts: When a new state is admitted into the U.S.A., when can the president appoint federal officers to serve within that state?

texts:
It seems the U.S. Senate had not planned to be in session on March 4, 1791, but President George Washington summoned them and addressed this message to them:

Gentlemen of the Senate [4 March 1791]
The ‘Act for the admission of the state of Vermont into this union’ having fixed on this, as the day of it’s admission, it was thought that this would also be the first day on which any officer of the Union might legally perform any act of authority relating to that state. I therefore required your attendance to recieve nominations of the several officers necessary to put the federal government into motion in that state.
For this purpose I nominate &c. [Nathaniel Chipman to be judge of the district of Vermont; Stephen Jacobs [Jacob] to be attorney for the United States in the district of Vermont; Lewis R. Morris to be marshal of the district of Vermont, and Stephen Keyes to be collector of the port of Allburgh, in the State of Vermont.]

https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Ancestor%3ATSJN-01-19-02-0103&s=1511311111&r=7
(The word it's and the word recieve are spelled in those ways on the linked web page.)
Note that he wrote "it was thought", without saying who it was who thought that. But nine days earlier the secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, wrote this:

The Secretary of State having recieved from the Commissioners for the State of Vermont a letter proposing these Questions 1. Whether, as that state will not be a distinct member of the union till the 4th. day of March next, the President can, before that day, nominate officers for it? and 2. if he cannot, whether he can nominate them after the recess of the Senate? makes thereon to the President of the U. S. the following Report.
He is of opinion the President cannot, before the 4th. of March, make nominations which will be good in law: because, till that day, it will not be a separate and integral member of the U. S. and it is only to integral members of the union that his right of nomination is given by the Constitution.
But that nomination may be made on the 4th. of March, and, if the Senate will meet on that day, may be reported to them for their approbation. [ . . . ] This therefore is what the Secretary of State thinks best to be done.
Th: Jefferson
Feb. 19. 1791.

My question is whether that precedent has stood.