texts: Is a customer responsible for invalid transcations caused by using machines that fail to discern valid from invalid forms of payment?

texts:
Canadian law question here.

I was recently accused of using a fraudulent credit card to pay for a parking permit. I used a debit card at the machine to pay, not seeing the small sign on the machine that states the machine does not accept debit cards as a form of payment, and those who use debit cards may be charged with using a fraudulent credit card. However, when I used my debit card, I received a parking permit and a receipt. Even if I had read the sign, I had no way of knowing anything had gone wrong with the transaction (I later looked at my bank records and discovered the transaction had not actually been successful). I explained the situation and the fine was reduced, but I'm still being accused of the same charge.

I suppose my question is this: legally, does the fact that I received the permit and receipt from the machine protect me from this fine and charge?


texts: Mandatory languages for privacy policies in Japan (APPI)

texts:
I work on Apps, currently Android, which are distributed via Google Play.
As the EU has GDPR, in Japan they have APPI (Act on the Protection of Personal Information) which is something like the Japanese version of GDPR. I read at several places that it is required that the GDPR is always available in the country's own language which requires a lot of translations for the EU. However, I cannot find information if APPI is mandatory in Japanese or if English is sufficient.
I assume it is mandatory, but I would like to have a confirmation and/or a link to the according rules.


texts: It is legal to show copyrighted material that was illegibly obtained by a 3rd party for a news report?

texts:
Let's say that company A is planning to release a product X to the market, and person B illegally access the data servers of company A and pulls some copyrighted confidential material with the information of the X product. He later anonymously releases this data in the internet.
Now that people knows that this data exists, news agency C wants to use this information information that B stole from company A and shared on the internet to report on product X.

Would it be legal for news agency C to show a snippet of this data?
Would a small amount qualify for fair use? (as the content is copyright of company A)


texts: I have a following clause in my employment contract that I signed when the company hired me: "For a period of ONE (1) year after the end of employment, the Employee shall not control, consult to, or be employed by any business similar to that conducted by the Company, either by soliciting any of its accounts or by operating within the Company’s general trading area." I was on paternity leave during the last year. What are the probable consequences if I start working for another company that conducts the similar business? I live in Ontario Canada. Thank you.


texts: 3-clause BSD + Apache License 2.0 + Mozilla Public License 1.1

texts:
I'm currently handling a project where devolopers have used the 3 different oss codes & respective licenses abovementioned and also proprietary code.
scenario is as follows:

The sw tool being developed will use the oss code (set of libraries) without modifications;
The libraries will be used in binary form;
Proprietary source code is not intermixed with libraries code; but
It calls the use of the api of the libraries.

I know that Apache 2.0 and Mozilla 1.1 are incompatible. Since i can also apply Mozilla's 2.0 license terms this makes all these different licenses compatible with each other?

Getting to the question: what license terms should prevail? or is the correct way to distribute the sw tool to do it including a ABOUT file with all the different license terms?


texts: How do we sue an appraiser who violated professional standards?

texts: We applied for a residential real estate mortgage and the bank sent a licensed appraiser.  Both our insurance appraisal and the property tax assessment valued our home at over $1M and the bank’s appraiser valued our home at $830K.  The state found the appraiser to have violated professional standards.  The loan officer withdrew our application because the new loan-to-value was too low to pay off another mortgage.  We are paying higher interest on the other mortgage.


texts: Are hot drinks legally classed as a picnic in the UK?

texts:
Recently, two women going for a walk in the UK were told by the police that the hot drinks they brought with them were classed as a picnic (note that going for a picnic is illegal in the current lockdown).
Is this true?
(Was wondering about asking this on Skeptics.SE, but I would like an answer per law, so asking here.)
(For completeness: the fines have been withdrawn and the police apologised but my question still stands.)


texts: How could accusations of defamation themselves be defamatory?

texts:
I was reading a helpful document on defamation in Scots law and it includes this:

  Further, it is important to remember that to accuse someone of making defamatory comments may, of itself, be defamatory.

The only instance I could see this being the case is if Alice publicly and repeatedly accuses Bob of defamatory statements without ever bringing an action in order to make him look bad.

Would this be correct as an example, and what other examples could there be? It's obviously not the kind of search that search engines are helpful with so any help or insight would be gratefully accepted.

Any examples from other jurisdictions would be of interest too.


texts: What must I do when hiring a personal assistant in Connecticut?

texts: I recently hired someone to work with me on personal tasks, such as listing some of my personal items for sale online. We both live in Connecticut. We work together in person in Connecticut for 1 hour per week, and I pay them $15/hour. We are both working as individuals (not businesses). What must I do (to abide by the law) when hiring a personal assistant in Connecticut? For example, must I withhold taxes or report anything to the government?


texts: Can text message be used against me in court

texts:
My daughter's father has petitioned the court for custody modification and is using text messages he downloaded against me.  The text messages in question were not sent to him but, rather, were conversations that I had with other people. conversations that I would have with my girlfriends, boyfriends etc.  He went back as far as two years ago.

In addition he made the statement that they are real time.  I sat there while his attorney read them out loud.  None were real time nor was there any time or date stamp on them.

I have friends that are horrified that their conversations are out there. There is nothing illegal in the text messages - just private conversations.  And of course some steamy conversations.

Does he have the right to use them against me?  Am i protected by the privacy law?  Are the admissible in court?


texts: If an emergency vehicle approaches from ahead while I am driving on a two-lane road with no shoulder, what am I obligated to do?

texts: This morning, I was driving along a road that had one lane going each way. There was no shoulder; to my right was just a field. Up ahead, there was an emergency vehicle coming toward me.


texts: Is it legal to copy pictures found on social media and upload them again?

texts:
I know with other works, as soon as a person creates it, it is automatically copyrighted. So does that mean when a person takes a picture its automatically their property and no one else can do anything but view it?

I ask because I'm curious how this effects social media. I'm part of a free running group I found through Meetup.com and they normally take pictures and post them to the Meetup page. I would like to put some pictures on my Facebook but not sure if its allowed. It's not really feasible for me to ask every person in the picture because most of them I don't know!


texts: In Canada, can a jury convict you of a crime that wasn't oringially charged?

texts:
Can you be charged with one crime, but convicted on a different crime? For example, could one be charged with first-degree murder, but be found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder? Could one be charged with murder but found guilty of manslaughter? Could one be charged with manslaughter but found guilty of aggravated assault, etc.
I'm asking in a Canadian context but interested for American context as well.


texts: Who owns or controls the Atacama Desert?

texts:
This question arose from a discussion about colonising Mars. Clearly if you can live on Mars then the Atacama Desert should be a cinche. So that leads to the question of who owns it. The bulk is in Chile. I know that there are some towns, and a bunch of abandoned mines that may belong to someone, but what about the rest of it?
Suppose a few hundred settlers started erecting domes and polytunnels somewhere in the middle of the desert. Who would have the legal right to object? Government? Indigenous peoples? Is it a National Park? Or is it terra nullis?


texts: What Constitutes Possession in a Shared Living Space?

texts:
I am currently a college freshman living in a suite style dorm. As freshman like to do, two of my three roommates like to party and drink. At first there were just small gatherings, but as of late these parties have been getting bigger.

My main concern is that we are all underaged and sharing this dorm. While I have never touched alcohol and don't take part in these parties, can I still be held responsible for my roommates and possibly be charged with possession of alcohol as a minor?

My college's code of conduct only states that students may not be under the influence or in the possession of alcoholic beverages. And all of my research into state law does not seem to define what constitutes possession.

Basically I want to know:

1.What constitutes possession of alcohol by a minor in Texas?

2.Would I be held responsible for alcohol found in a common area?

3.Is there anything I can do in this situation to protect myself from charges should my roommates get in trouble?


texts: Is it illegal to copy commercial software features into an open source project?

texts:
Imagine I work for a company that has a software X, no algorithm in this software is patented.
If I want to create an open source software Z that has similar features as software X by looking into the code of software X and recreating the logic would that be illegal?
Consider that software Z would be created using different technology, different programming language and would not have copy-pasted code from X.


texts: Should there be a tenancy contract even if I don't intend to charge rent?

texts:
I have a very close friend and we've agreed that she will move into the spare bedroom of my flat - viewed as her being an equal resident with me in a shared accommodation, not as a lodger in my spare bedroom.

However, I do not wish to charge her rent. To her, a year's rent is half her net pay. To me it is pocket change, an amount I could spend on a whim. I would feel terrible charging her such a significant sum when to me it would mean so little. I would prefer her to put that money aside for a house deposit so that if she ever chose to leave this arrangement she might be able to afford the deposit on a shared ownership scheme (staircased rent to buy) and then get a foot on the property ladder, if she so wished.

Should I still create a tenancy contract in this case? Is there any benefit to this for either of us if I don't intend to charge rent?

(I live in a leasehold flat with no mortgage. The leasehold agreement specifically permits subletting).


texts: How do i report an Email crime in Germany?

texts:
A couple of German companies are making money off my name. Since they do not care about my requests to remove my name from their sites and Google refuses to remove them from the Google search I would like to get in touch with the German internet regulator.

Does anyone know what legal recourse I have in Germany? For instance, what is the name for the German internet regulator (national level)? What other legal authorities should I complain to? Or should I sue?


texts: Is there any way a president could be voted in by popular vote more than two terms?

texts: If everybody was to vote on their ballot for a United States president who had already served two terms and won the election what would happen?


texts: Are search keywords seen as non-personal information?

texts: For example someone is browsing a popular shop like Amazon, what does GDPR say about this?


texts: Is it legal for a publishing company to have a name containing "entertainment" in it?

texts:
Imagine a writer opens a LLC in the state of Wyoming for selling their books on Amazon.
Is he allowed to name the company "Horror and Fury Entertainment" (provided there are no other companies named like that)?
I'm asking because "entertainment" can mislead people to believe that the company makes movies or video games (as opposed to "Horror and Fury Publishing" or "Horror and Fury Press").


texts: Proprietary data formats: When converting to another format, when is it no longer proprietary?

texts:
I am an architect on a redesign of an old software system into a new system.  One of the big problems of this older vendor based system is that it only communicated out on its interfaces in the vendors proprietary format.  Many other systems and vendor systems interfacing to this were tightly coupled to the vendor product because they were programmed to talk in a proprietary format.  One of the design principles I am adhering to here is that interfacing systems not talk in any proprietary format to the new system.

Related: Is it legal to write software to convert data from a proprietary format? I was told from management that Legal has in writing, explicit permission from the new vendor that we are allowed to convert their proprietary XML formats into another data format.

The new software system is also a vendor product which in turn has its own vendor proprietary formats.  The project is not doing so hot at the moment and we are not likely to meet our dates.  Project managers are trying to convince me and the developers that they can save time by simply removing the namespace declarations of the proprietary XML formatted messages, and that by doing so that the document no longer declares its namespace thus cannot actually be considered in the proprietary format.

I don't have the authority to say for sure that the PM is incorrect, however I know for a fact the PM has no authority to make that assertion.  I do have the authority to say that XML messages they transform from proprietary must have a declared namespace meaning that they have to transform the message into some format that is distinctly different.

The PM is now trying to ask me what are the minimum possible changes and transformations required to where we can no longer consider the resulting message to be proprietary.

Is there in fact a black and white answer for these sorts of things or is it like most things in Law where it is incomprehensibly a gray area?  I don't want to have to raise the flag for legal help on a trifle like this because that would be an expenditure of what little political capital I have on an increasingly stressful and chaotic project.


texts: How long dos it take for the federal government to make a disability retirement decision?

texts: I'm currently going through the disability retirement procedure, and was wondering how long it takes for the federal government to determine if you can retire with a disability, or if they can fire you without any recourse.


texts: Identity of the controller (GDPR): can any website now ever be anonymous?

texts:
No matter whether a website collects personal data or not, it seems that a privacy policy is required anyway, and such a policy should contain (citing article 13 of the GDPR, first paragraph):

  (a) the identity and the contact details of the controller and, where applicable, of the controller's representative;

What is "the identity" supposed to be, exactly? What forms of identity are allowed by the GDPR?

For example, I wonder if the domain name of a website can be considered an acceptable form of identification, allowing you to say that the data controller is "yourwebsite.com", for example. And the contact details could just be an email address on that domain, for example. Because if this was not possible, and if it was always necessary to specify the controller's name or a company name, then it would not be possible anymore to own an "anonymous website". Somebody might want to start an anonymous blog called "controversialstuff.com" and have a right to remain anonymous. How does the GDPR deals with this?


texts: How broad can a copyright be in case of a graphical representation of a physical object

texts:
There's a maker of toys on the market and they only produce physical toys which are quite peculiar, unique and distinct from everything else. Suppose I have an idea to buy several toys from them, make photographs and drawings of those and sell that art on my website. Is there a general law (in the US) that could prohibit me from doing that or is it decided strictly by the producer of the original product?

Could a copyright even apply to works like these? And is it enforceable? There may be different variations of it, such as: a specific toy appearing amongst other objects in a busy image, or a very stylized type of art that is only broadly reminiscent of the original object that inspired it.

My question is not "how different can it be before copyright kicks in...", it's about two different representations of a product, different mediums. I.e. I'm not comparing a painting to a painting reproduction, rather I'm trying to understand the relationship between a physical three-dimensional object intended for play and leisure and its representation in 2D intended by me as "art".


texts: Can employee be restricted using his or her BYOA or BYOL by employer?

texts:
Can employee be restricted to use his or her BYOA(Bring Your Own Application) or BYOL(Bring Your Own License) by employer?

I recently buy 1 per seat license of diff application from scootersoftware. They said I can use this application in my home PC and my company's PC etc as long as I'm the only user who use my license.

And I said that I want to use this application to quickly get my work done to my company(my employer). But my company said that you can't use your license in this company because this license is not bought by this company. And strange thing is that the application is used in another section of my company. So the problem is not the application security matter. My boss said it seems my company don't want manage individual license. Should I obey them from this reason?

I believe scootersoftware is the only company that can say such a things. From my view, my company behave as they have monopoly license. But in fact they only bought a few dozens of per seat license.

Does my company violate scootersoftware's right? Or am I missing something?


texts: Was Youtube ruled not to be a public forum in this ruling, contradicting another judge decision that another social network is?

texts:
In a former ruling for a case a judge argued Donald Trump's Twitter account was a public forum.

But recently there was another case, where PragerU media sued Youtube, arguing that they infringed freedom of speech because Youtube was a public forum, and it also becomes a state actor (something I came to the same conclusion before reading this case when just thinking about these kind of issues)

First Amendment doesnt apply on Youtube

This last case the judge said

  The Supreme Court in that case found that "merely hosting speech by
  others is not a traditional, exclusive public function and does not
  alone transform private entities into state actors subject to First
  Amendment constraints."

To me this judge is doing a workaround to avoid saying the word "Youtube isnt a public forum", because there are other rulings which said social networks were in other situations, but at the same time the judge seems to be implying it isnt for this case.

Could the Equal Protection Clause apply here? How can a social network like Twitter be under certain circunstances a "public forum", and another social network apparently to be implied not to be? Or how can it be argued that "First Amendment doesnt apply to Youtube", but the First Amendment applies to Twitter?

It looks to me the judges arguments in social networks issues in relation with freedom of speech are getting more and more obscure and fuzzy, to avoid showing there is a double standard.


texts: How much do I have to repay on my shared equity loan?

texts:
I purchased my new build home in the UK 5 years ago on a shared equity scheme provided by the developer.  The loan company has a 20% equity share in my property.  I'm now in the process of part exchanging for a new home and my shared equity loan will need to be paid off.

Here's the main issue: when negotiating the purchase of my new home, I managed to haggle an extra lump sum of money above market value from the new developer for my home, rather than discounting the new home which would have lowered the value in the eyes of the mortgage provider.  All the wording at the time of the original purchase indicated that I would have to repay 20% of the market value of the loan.  However, the loan provider is being awkward and asking how much we got for the new house.

Re-reading the original contract, there's some legal mumbo jumbo that I'm just not sure about.  Here's the relevant parts of the solicitor's original letter:

  What does the developer receive?
  The basic position is that you will repay 20% of the market value of the property at the time of repayment shown above.  The provisions of how market value is calculated are at Clause 6 of the Fixed Shared Equity Mortgage Deed.

Clause 6 states:

  The Disposal Value of the Property means:
  (a) if the Repayment Date falls to be ascertained under [transfer of the property from you] in relation to a disposition in good faith and at arms length with vacant possession the full consideration for such disposition provided that the consideration is not less than the true market value of the Property.

  (b) in any other case the value at the Repayment Date at which the Borrower's legal estate in the Property with vacant possession might be expected to be sold on the open market in good faith and at arms length such sum to be agreed between the parties or determined under clause 7.

  and in any event after deduction being made for any increase in value of the Property caused by any improvement alteration or addition made by the Borrower.

My Question

Do I have to repay the developer:

20% of the market value or;
20% of the price I negotiated with the new developer?

I'm having difficulty understanding that Clause 6(a).  I intend to seek proper legal advice, but it would be nice to have some opinions from here first.  Could the negotiations I made count as "addition made by the Borrower"?


texts: Is there a time limit for airline's responses to compensation requests?

texts:
I have been on a KLM flight from Prague to Amsterdam, with a connection to Portland. Due to refueling issues on KLM's side in Amsterdam, my plane from Prague to Amsterdam got delayed by 2 hours, causing me to miss my connection, and forcing me to stay overnight in Amsterdam.

According to my rights as a EU citizen, I am entitled to a compensation of 600 Euros (the desk lady confirmed this to me).

I filled out a respective complaint form, and started waiting. After two weeks, I contacted KLM about the processing of my request, leading to one of those standard "we apologize for incoveniences ... are working at our best ... will get back to you as quickly as possible ..." messages.

It has been one month now, and my request hasn't been processed yet.

Do I have the right to a timely processing of my request / an information about the remaining time it'll take?


texts: Is a work copyrighted on fixation or publication? What's the difference? How is it proved?

texts:
This is in part a followup to this comment in which a user wrote:

“fixation” broadly depends on publication. How else d’you think fixation is established?

In a later comment the same user wrote:

In your context fixation is a fact, but it's also irrelevant. What matters is solely what can be proved, which is publication.

Is that correct? Is a work copyrighted on fixation or publication? What's the difference? How is creation of a protected work proved in court? And what does "fixation" mean?
This is intended to be a multi-jurisdiction question.


texts: Letting out a property without permission of everyone on the title deed

texts:
Following on from a comment I made on this question, I have a three part question.

If there were two, or more people on the title deed of a property, and one of those people let the property out without the express permission of the others, what recourse would the other party (or parties) have?

Would this change if there were, say 3 people on the title deed, and 2 of them let the property without consulting the third (that is, does it work like holding shares, where 51% is controlling)?

Finally, does the answer change if I substitute selling the property for letting it?


texts: Is there a way to prevent an irresponsible pet owner from getting another pet?

texts: I hate to say it but I know someone who lives in an apartment and had a dog in the past and didn't get him groomed regularly. Now she is going to get another dog. Is there any way this can legally be prevented in BC, Canada?


texts: I'm struggling to find a concrete answer for this. Who approves the creation of new shares in a Proprietary Limited Company? Is it the Board of Directors (through board resolution), or Shareholders (through spcecial resolution), or does it requires approval of 100% all Shareholders? I can't find any clause of such in my company constitution.


texts: Making bad movies as money laundering scheme?

texts:
There is this youtube channel called I Hate Everything in which, among other things, this youtuber reviews Imdb's 100 lowest ranked movies in search for the worst movie: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOKy-G3phBomkGrPJuQwUawQmS_1ysNN

In one of such movie reviwes he points out that the budget was way too much for a movie that basically looked like it was recorded with an average hand-held camera, terrible actors and no movie sets whatsoever (one part of the movie was apparently recorded with an hidden camera at a real hospital with real, seemigly oblivious people instead of a movie set and extras).

This youtuber comments that it seems unlikely that such a terrible and lazy movie could have had such a big budget, and that it seemed like some sort of money laundering scheme (this company has more movies of similar "quality").

My question is, how does someone exactly launder money by making terrible movies and lying about the budget?


texts: What does "Preferably", "Optionally" and "Advantageously" mean when used in patents?

texts:
I am currently reading through a standard Australian patent and in the "Summary" section, I have seen the use of "Preferably", "Advantageously" and "Optionally" used numerous times when beginning almost every paragraph.

  Preferably, the web server is controlled by the computer program code
  to send, via the interface, the property identification data to a
  property verification server, receive, via the interface, verification
  of the property identification data.

  Advantageously, the application server is adapted to automate the
  identity verification process of the bidder, the vendor and property
  so as to substantially reduce manual intervention in the verification
  process.

  ...

  Preferably, if acceptance data is not received during the extended
  auction period, via the interface, representing acceptance of the bid
  amount by a vendor, then the web server is controlled by the computer
  program code to close the auction.

  Preferably, the configuration data
  comprises reserve price data representing a reserve price for the
  property and wherein if the bid amount is greater than the reserve
  price, then the web server is controlled by the computer program code
  to record the property as having been sold.

How do these adverbs differ when used in a patent and when should they be used? To a naive person reading those terms loosely (like myself), they all seem to mean "optionally".


texts: Does the government have to accept cash for taxes?

texts:
If a government entity assesses a tax, does that entity have to accept cash and/or coins, or can they refuse such payments and demand check or card? Assume that it is perfectly normal to pay this tax in person at a government office. Consider, for instance, property taxes, car tag renewals, income taxes, maybe even licenses and permits.

Does it matter whether the government entity is local, state or federal? Are there limitations (reasonableness, exact change, etc.) or must they accept cash payments without limitation?

I'm aware private businesses do not have to accept cash, but people also don't have to shop there. If you own a house, drive a car, or work for a living, you can't just take your business elsewhere.*

Assuming moving away and renouncing citizenship are not on the table.


texts: Do I have a "legitimate interest" under GDPR to not delete data my software needs to fulfil its function?

texts:
The GDPR gives users the right to have their stored data deleted.

How does the GDPR handle situations where the data controller needs the data to fulfil their obligations to users (specifically by allowing a software to function)?

For example:

Assume a software ("aggregator") that aggregates and displays information from a social network, to provide a more useful dashboard and notifications than what's built into the platform.

Users of the social network authorize the aggregator to access, store and display their friends' activity, and the service then notifies them when something interesting happens. This would make the aggregator (more precisely, the entity behind it) a "data controller" under the GDPR, right?.

Now if a user's friend requests deletion of their data from the aggregator, can the aggregator claim a "legitimate interest" reason to not delete that data? Since omitting friend activity from users' dashboards/notifications would mean  not fulfilling the contractual obligation to the aggregator's users.

As a compromise, would it be permissible to substitute deleted information with anonymous records, like "An anonymous user commented in your discussion", given a user can trivially reference the discussion on the original platform and identify this "anonymous" user?


texts:
I was part of a small software product company for 4 years. I reported directly to the owner and I was paid a percentage of the profits of the company and a minimum fixed pay of 8LPA. I was paid mainly by cheque under the name of the company. The company doesn't have any financial wing and they don't have any salary slips or other proper documentation.

Now my next potential employer is asking for a salary slip, and I was denied of this. The company is giving me many reasons like this won't be a reason for you to get rejected, giving something like that after the tax year could get them in trouble and all.

How important is this document in a hiring process?
How can I present a salary slip which reflects my actual pay (fixed pay+ profit based pay)? This is crucial as the next offer will be heavily dependent on this number.
What could I possibly do in a situation where I am denied of the salary slip or other documents (in India to be specific)?


texts: Is "invalid'' and "unenforcable" the same in a contract?

texts:
If a term in a contract is unenforceable, does it mean it's also invalid?
If a term in a contract is invalid, does it mean it's also unenforceable?
Are they the same thing?

I ask because inthe statement "if a term is found to be invalid or unenforceable, then it shall be severed from the contract and the remainder continue in full force" is invalid or "unenforceable" redundant?


texts: How to deal with threats involving suspension of auto license?

texts:
I passed through cashless E-ZPass booths several times between New Jersey and New York in December and January. I don't have a monthly pass, but I'm willing to pay the fees.

The issue is that I never received bills (from E-ZPass; MTA Bridges & Tunnels). This is obviously not a good situation to be in, so in March I called up customer support. They told me I had a $15 toll fee for early December, but absolutely nothing else. I paid it, but they said "nothing else (the latter toll fees) is showing up in the system."

In April I received a letter stating that I need to pay those toll fees, plus an additional $100 for each toll fee. This is ridiculous, because the original fees were $8.50 (listed in the letter).

I had no way of knowing since I didn't receive the bills, and customer support had said that they didn't have any information about them. I wasn't able to pay because there was no violation number to pay for. I contacted them again today and they simply told me to take it up with the postal office, who they blamed for not delivering my mail "reliably". I've had no problem with mail delivery, ever.

This sounds very fishy. I did some searching and found that there are many people in the same situation (https://www.consumeraffairs.com/utilities/ez_pass.html).

So if I don't surrender the fees (more than 1200% of the base toll fees!) they will disable my license.

Do I have any options other than paying all the additional fees?


texts: Civil prosecution for motoring offences in the UK

texts:
If an there's evidence (e.g. video footage) of a motoring offense being committed, such as speeding, dangerous driving, and the CPS haven't prosecuted, is it possible to make a civil prosecution.

Thanks


texts: When moving from abroad, can a US citizen ship his belongings to the US before purchasing his plane tickets?

texts:
I am a US citizen who has lived abroad for the past decade.  My wife (a non-US citizen), has been offered employment in the US, and is currently awaiting her H1-B visa.  We plan to fly to the US as soon as possible, which depends on the following:

My wife obtaining her visa (we've been told to expect a processing time of up to 4 months)
The lifting of the travel ban on European travellers (although this might not apply to us, as we're married).

As it stands, we are unsure of exactly when we will be able to travel to the US.  We would prefer to travel together, since we might otherwise end up separated for an indeterminate period of time.

In the meantime, the lease for our UK apartment is coming to an end, so we have decided to ship our belongings to the US ahead of us.  We have booked a moving company, and our belongings will be shipped to my parents residence for storage until we are able to collect them.  The moving company has advised us to list myself as the importer, given that I am not subject to the travel ban.

As part of this shipping process, the moving company has asked us to fill out US Customs Form 3299, which specifically asks for the

"IMPORTER'S DATE OF ARRIVAL"
"NAME OF ARRIVING VESSEL CARRIER AND FLIGHT/TRAIN".
"IMPORTER'S PORT OF ARRIVAL"

As we do not yet know when we will be arriving, we are unable to provide this information.  This brings me to my first question:

  Is this information required, or can it be safely omitted?

To complicate matters, the moving company's broker initially made a fuss explaining that we had to be physically present in the US by the time our property arrived at customs.  In the meantime, he has back-pedaled saying it's acceptable if we arrive within "three or four months following the arrival of our property at US Customs".  This sounds hand-wavy to say the least, hence my second question:

  How long after my property arrives in the US can I arrive in the US?

Many thanks in advance for your help!


texts:
I'm a game developer. Lately, I've been wanting to work on an open-world RPG game, but since I have a very small team I've been constantly looking out for the maximum help I can get for such a big project.

I decided to take inspiration for the creatures in my game from 2D illustrations of creatures in other games so that I can get a headstart. Would it be a copyright infringement of any kind if I use a copyrighted 2D illustration to make a 3D model that resembles the illustration?


texts: Using Whatsapp for Legal Communication UK?

texts:
I currently have a consumer rights dispute over a car and have been trying to resolve it through communication via WhatsApp, as the only method i had to communicate with the Dealer. I have followed everything i can and sent him messages explaining my rights and the issue.
Last week i sent him a message stating i wanted to hear back in 7 days regarding the next steps as i was getting no where but i still got no response (it does show he's seen all my messages).
Would i be able to go down the route of a partial refund or have i wasted all my time waiting and have to start again with writing letters?
I am happy to do a letter before going to court asking for a refund, but i don't want to cancel my garage appointment for the repair and start all over again waiting months for a reply just because i used whatsapp.


texts: Can a last will and testament require successors to attend the funeral?

texts:
My spouse and I worry that my multi-millionaire grandparent will pass soon, and based on interactions with other family members, we suspect that the will could contain language that says that all of a successor's descendants must be present at the funeral in order for that successor to receive their portion of the inheritance.

Does this sort of thing happen? Is this enforceable in probate?

(For the record, we don't know or care if we would get any money ourselves. We are worried certain family members would try something drastic if their millions depended on our attendance.)


texts: Extension of existing License agreement to a new Party

texts:
Two Parties have signed a software license agreement.
Now one the affiliates of the Licensee wishes to extend the scope of such license in order to cover new software. But they want to sign this "amendment" to the original agreement themselves.

Is it possible to do that even when the Affiliate obliges himself to comply with the terms of the Agreement signed by its parent company?
The reason i write "amendment" is because i'm not sure if such a construct only configurates an amendment per se or rather a different kind of agreement (adoption?).

What should be the proper way to proceed here?


texts: Would I be allowed to use a device hardened using a hardening guideline provided under a cc-nc license to do commercial stuff?

texts:
I want to install a new OS on my main computer.
After I install it, I want to harden it according to these guidelines:
https://learn.cisecurity.org/benchmarks
I am not part of any company yet, and the device is my private computer.
However, I may or may not use this device to do commercial things in the future.
The guidelines seem to be provided under a creative commons license with nc clause.
Would first hardening the device according to these standards and then using it for commercial purposes later on violate the nc clause of the creative commons license of the standards?


texts: "Reward" for each biological child in prenup agreement?

texts:
Let's assume this hypothetical scenario where:

to-be husband does not want to enter marriage without prenup agreement that clearly ensures separate property; AND
to-be wife does not want to have children unless they are married without a prenup.

So as "middle path" to-be husband offers to guarantee 100K one-time payment for each biological child in case they get divorced (payable at the time of divorce). To-be wife find such offer compelling too.

Can something like this be legally realized with a prenup agreement in California?

Would such offer be constructed as incentive for to-be wife to file divorce? Hence deemed unenforceable? Also, this one time payment would not be intended as waiver for child support, but rather as something extra. Can such offer be constructed as waiver for alimony?


texts: Fairness where Judges are elected and accept donations?

texts: In some jurisdictions, like GA and NY, judges are elected. They accept donations to fund their election campaigns as do any other politicians. Law firms make many such donations.  How can the judges maintain fairness in the face of such contributions?  Are there limitations on such donations?  For example, can a law firm with a case before a given judge donate to that judge's political campaign?  If you have a case in such a jurisdiction, should you seek out the law firm that made the most and largest contributions?


texts: Can I use Microsoft Word to write a book that I plan on selling?

texts:
One of the most popular document processing software is Microsoft Word. If I write a book using this software, am I legally allowed to sell it without paying royalties to Microsoft?
As far as I'm aware using the software for commercial purposes is not allowed by default. But then I wonder, do all publishers who use Word actually pay Microsoft a share of each and every single book sold?

PS. I am aware that most publishers use Latex for preparing books. My question is specifically about Microsoft Word.


texts: Has the gay/trans panic defence ever successfully been used in court?

texts:
The gay or trans panic defence, also known as the Portsmouth Defence, is where someone claims that they were temporarily not responsible for their actions due to extreme shock. The shock results from discovering that someone is gay or transgender, or some action related to those factors such as a straight person being invited to participate in a homosexual relationship.

I know of at least once incidence in the US where a transgender woman was murdered after her sexual partners discovered she was not a cis woman. Has the gay/trans panic defence ever been successfully used to avoid conviction or to significantly lessen punishment?

I'm interested in all jurisdictions, not just the US. I believe that the name "Portsmouth Defence" comes from the city of Portsmouth in the UK, for example.


texts: With GDPR, can you request 'real life data' be deleted/forgotten?

texts: For example, can you request libraries remove your name from books you have checked out?


texts: Is it illegal to reference other brands in an app for profit?

texts:
Simply put, I'm developing a 'social' app centered around similar interests in brands (specifically restaurants). The main function of the app has users add restaurants to a 'shareable favorites list' of sorts. I intend on generating profit through ads or possibly otherwise in the future

If I intend on generating profit from ad revenue, am I allowed to reference said brands/franchises? Does the answer change if I use a trademarked logo? If not, does it change if all entries of restuarants and logos are added to the database by users and not the app owner(s)?

Ex. If my app's feature allows users to access entries for McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's (which have respective locations and trademarked logos attached to them), will I get sued for making a profit off of that feature the app?


texts: "Flash of Genius" - Intermittent Windshield Wipers

texts:
In the movie "Flash of Genius," which covered the law suit involving intermittent automobile windshield wipers, it seemed that the individual parts (wipers, control box, electrical components) were already available, but what was done with the wipers was not done previously.  In the rulings for the claimant engineer (he was finally awarded something like $18m from Ford and $30m from Chrysler), what met the requirement for being:

Beyond prior art?
More than an obvious extension of knowledge possessed by the ordinary person skilled in that discipline?
More than an extension of known engineering techniques?

For beyond prior art, is it enough to show that prior art didn't exist?  Wouldn't that be difficult in terms of proprietary (non-public) trade secrets held by claimants?  A defendant auto company could build a similar device or control box "over the weekend," and over the >10-year case, multiple designs could actually have been manufactured.  (that's what actually happened, since the claimant was a contractor to Ford, and he noticed "his" intermittent wipers appeared on a newly manufactured car).

Why were intermittent wipers considered more than an obvious extension of knowledge of an ordinary engineer in automobile manufacturing?  I think introducing intermittency control for wipers is an obvious extension of knowledge by an automobile engineer, but maybe it was not obvious because it was not thought of by another engineer.

Lastly, how could intermittent wipers be considered to be more than an "extension" of known engineering techniques?  Maybe it was enough to show that the technique for intermittent design was not a known technique.

Something leads me to believe that there was an element of "first to file" in this suit, but that didn't exist by USPTO in the 60's/70's.  In the first answer to this OP, it is stated that an examiner only needs to argue that an ordinary person in the field could eventually come up with the invention using individual components.  Given this, and given the fact that automobile manufacturers would eventually develop and manufacture intermittent wipers, why was the ruling for the claimant?  (I don't know if it was patent infringement and/or damages related to lost financial opportunities).


texts: Under which country's law is perjury across borders adjudicated?

texts:
E.g. If someone provides false testimony to a court in another country by letter, does he perjure himself?

If so,

Will he be prosecuted according to the law of the country whose court requested the testimony? (In other words, whose oath is sworn, and whose penalty applies?)
Do precedent cases indicate effectiveness in the ratio of prosecutions over filed cases? (In other words, is groundless preemptive litigation high or low risk?)


texts:
After the setup of the GDPR law about personnal data security, I have a case I'm not sure about.
Test case: I receive an addresses file from a client containing x lines of addresses with personnal data (phone number, address, name,...).
I have a treatment to be ran on this file and I see that a data is incorrect (date format for example):
- Do I have the right to modify the original file?
- Should I ask the client to resend a new file?
- Can I change the format of the date if I make a copy of the file before?

Not really sure that case is concerned by the GDPR thought...


texts: Exact minimal steps to forming an LLC in NYS?

texts:
I'm a software developer that (finally) has a working prototype of an app that I've been moonlighting with. I'm about 4 months out from having it 'market ready' and would like to form a 'barebones LLC' for a number of reasons:

I need to start reaching out to prospective clients to see if I can use them to trial a "soft release" of the app and incorporate their feedback into the final v1 product launch
I'd like to associate some intellectual property with a business, not myself personally
Soon I'll need to start signing contracts and would like the protection of an LLC

Now I fully understand that using a lawyer or a legal service is highly advised here. Duly noted! But, I think I'm more than capable of handling this initial barebones formation (which consists of just myself, no partners/members, etc.). If you disagree, please give me the reasons! Otherwise, my question is written from the perspective of someone who wishes to execute the LLC formation by himself/herself ("himerself").

From what I can tell, formation in NYS (not NY City or any of the 5 boroughs) is as simple as:

Writing an Articles of Organization, which I can bum from free/open source online templates and tweak as needed; then
Filing these Articles with NYS Department of Corporations, and pay the $200 fee; then
Announce the formation in 2 newspaper publications in the county of formation

Here are my concerns:

How do I determine which newspapers qualify as publications (and hence satisfy that criterium)? Does the DoC maintain a list somewhere?
Any other important formation steps I'm missing? For instance, do I need to file financial statements with the NYS Dept of Taxation/Finance and/or IRS as soon as the LLC is formed? How about obtaining a FEIN? Etc.


texts: GPDR Soft opt-in requirements for pre-GDPR customers

texts:
The UK ICO documentation on GDPR definition of legitimate interest says that emails/text messages to existing customers – obtained using ‘soft opt-in’ are allowed.

From ICO Direct Marketing Guidance:

  The term ‘soft opt-in’ is sometimes used to describe the rule about
  existing customers. The idea is that if an individual bought something
  from you recently, gave you their details, and did not opt out of
  marketing messages, they are probably happy to receive marketing from
  you about similar products or services even if they haven’t
  specifically consented. However, you must have given them a clear
  chance to opt out – both when you first collected their details, and
  in every message you send.

For 'hard opt-in' GPDR specifies strict requirements for opt-in, e.g. no pre-ticked checkboxes.

For soft opt-in on the other hand, the requirements seem looser and I cannot find any exact specification for what is needed. "Did not opt out" (and indeed the very concept of soft opt-in) implies that an explicit opt-in was not needed. In the case of my own customers each email sent contains an unsubscribe link, and while the original signup did not contain an opt out it clearly stated that opting out was possible by clicking unsubscribe on any email sent.

Rather than sending an email at the present time (pre GDPR start date) that requires explicit opt-in, is it acceptable instead to send an email reiterating that opt-out is possible at this stage?


texts: Setting up a website to document current and past Human Rights abuses

texts: Can recent (2012-2016) historical emails and documents/reports pertaining to the  Human Rights abuses of a marginalized group of people be published?


texts: Do genitals need to be censored even in non-pornographic works in Japan?

texts: Building on this question, I want to know how the law is interpreted for things that just happen to feature nudity, but aren't meant to be consumed as "pornographic material". Example: sculptures, images or 3d models of naked people. How does the law treat these things? Does it matter if it's pornographic in nature or does the mere presence of genitals require it to be censored in some way?


texts: Origins and legal terminology for the distinct classes of crimes such as Theft and Rape

texts:
I came across a recent news article on verdict related to the Roman Polanski Case.
In which A judge has rejected a request by the woman who was raped by director Roman Polanski 40 years ago to have the criminal case against him dismissed.

I do not know the right terminology, but i would like to know: if there is difference between the type of cases for which something can be settled between the victim, and the suspect, by money, or just by forgiveness . And cases for which one will remain persecuted by the state, even-though the victim or its family did not file a charge, or request to dismiss a charge?

Maybe it is clearest to ask by examples cases:

person A is drunk and crashes with his car in to the car of person B
person A steals a substantial amount of person B
person A fires the house of person B
person A rapes person B

Without going in too much details for each case, i would like to know:

If there is a difference (not in the crime) but in the style of persecution between these cases?
What is the related terminology?
What are the origins/justification of such differences?

A some what related question: If you is an uninvolved witness of one of these  a crime examples. For which of these cases are you obliged to report your observations to the police by law?

If you are not a witness but you "heared" from person B about person A doing a thing mentioned in the previous cases, while person B did not report this to the police, are you obliged to report this?


texts: Can Korean American men visit South Korea without being drafted?

texts:
I've read some things about how Korean American males 18 or older can't visit South Korea between the age of 18 and 35? 38? (inclusive?) without being drafted into the military. South Korea, of course, requires all able male South Korean citizens between the ages of 18 and 28? 35? to serve in the military for 18? 24? months. Wikipedia's article on South Korean nationality law says that one way to automatically acquire South Korean nationality is “By being born to either a South Korean national father or South Korean national mother after 13 June 1998, or to a South Korean national father before then.”  Does this require any registration on the part of your parents/relatives, or is it truly automatic?

An article by Seattle Pi from 2004 gives an example of someone who was drafted because “it appears a family member -- maybe his paternal grandfather or his father, who is divorced from Chun's mother and lives in South Korea -- entered his name in the nation's family census registry, the hojok.” However, according to the Wikipedia article on hoju, it was abolished on January 1, 2008.

It seems that before 2010, South Korean dual citizenship was impossible, so if one were born before 2010 and had ethnically Korean parents who were both American citizens at the time of their birth, that child wouldn't have any chance of automatically being a South Korean citizen?

Is it still true that one would have to rescind their South Korean nationality before the age of 18, and one is unable to do so later?

Does visiting Korea for a short period of time (I've heard 30 days) eliminate the risk of being drafted? Is there any paperwork you can fill out beforehand like you can with Israel?

The relevant laws have been changing quite a bit in the past few decades apparently, so it's hard to tell what information is still true or what's outdated. Please cite reliable sources if you can.

For clarification, I am not in any way Korean, so this question is just out of curiosity and/or for a friend.

(Repost from https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/149164/can-korean-american-men-visit-south-korea-without-being-drafted which was closed as it might be a better fit on this site)


texts: Can I modify a paper contract, and then mail it to the bank?

texts: If a bank sends me a contract to sign to apply for a credit card, can I scan the contract, modify it, and then mail it to the bank?


texts: What would it actually mean for a minor "3rd party" to get 5% of the vote in a general election?

texts:
United States here. I have several friends who are Libertarian and who claim that if Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian candidate) gets 5% of "the vote" this general election, they will begin getting "equal ballot access" and "federal funding". I did a few Google searches to get more information about these claims but not much cropped up.
Can someone with a solid knowledge of the voting system here in the US help explain to me what a 5% vote for the Libertarian Party (or any "3rd party") actually means?


texts: Open Source Contributor License Agreements / Apache2 and patents

texts:
Many CLAs contain the below clause that is more or less taken from the Apache2 license:

  Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this
  Agreement, You hereby grant to ACME and to recipients of software
  distributed by ACME a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge,
  royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this section) patent
  license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and
  otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those
  patent claims licensable by You that are necessarily infringed by Your
  Contribution(s) alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s) with
  the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If any entity
  institutes patent litigation against You or any other entity
  (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that
  your Contribution, or the Work to which you have contributed,
  constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any
  patent licenses granted to that entity under this Agreement for that
  Contribution or Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is
  filed.

I am unsure about what this means in a scenario where

A project we contribute to does infringe some patent of my company
My contribution does not contain or touch those code parts

If I read this correctly

  [...] that are necessarily infringed by Your
  Contribution(s) alone or by combination of Your Contribution(s) with
  the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted [...]

my contribution has to infringe that patent and if it does I grant the license. So the question is - when is a patent considered to be infringed?
If I just change a typo?

Our lawyers take is:

if we sign the CLA
and contribute to a project that infringes one of our patents in any way
we will grant the license

Consequently, we have to check each project we contribute to for potential patent violations. (which is pretty much impossible)


texts: Is an abuse of power necessarily a criminal offence?

texts: Trying to make sense of the conflicting opinions regarding the 2020 impeachment proceedings in the USA. In particular, is the claim that an abuse of power does not necessarily has to be a criminal offense valid? That is, can a government official abuse power in a manner that is not a crime or a misdemeanor? I am intentionally asking the question more generally than the specific alleged actions by Trump, for I'd like to know whether such thing as a non-criminal abuse of power exists.


texts:
I was a witness in a trial back in 2012, representing the plaintiff who was fired illegally. https://www.kafourymcdougal.com/a-washington-county-jury-awards-nearly-1-million-to-esd-whistleblower-2012-08-10/

I want to use this as proof that the verdict was official, and the district was found to be in the wrong.

I'm looking for more than just the link I provided, like any written or spoken testimonies, stenotyped transcripts, etc.


texts: What is the penalty for not complying with a quarantine order?

texts: According to the CDC, in most US states, breaking a quarantine order is a criminal misdemeanor.  If someone broke a quarantine order, what would be done?  Since the person is still contagious, would they still be incarcerated immediately?


texts: How do Creative Commons licences WITHOUT the Share-Alike attribute work? Can derivate works only be more restrictive, or what?

texts:
I don't understand how CC licenses without the attribute Share-Alike are supposed to work.

Ok, you can "share differently", but differently how?

You can be more liberal? Doesn't make sense, as this would be equivalent to putting the work into public domain so there would be no point in having this license in the first place,.

So you can only "add restrictions", keeping those already there?


texts:
In France, the Article 1316-3 (mirror) created by Law n°2000-230 on March 13, 2000 - art. 3 JORF March 14 2000 says that:

  "L'écrit sur support électronique a la même force probante que l'écrit sur support papier."

which can be translated as:

  "Writing on electronic media has the same evidential value as written on paper."

Does this mean that if some legal entity ( e.g., a bank ) asks me to fill up, sign, and return by snail mail a form they sent to me by email, I can instead email  them the completed and signed form, and the legal entity is legally forced to accept it (i.e., they cannot ask me for snail mail)?


texts: Is it "unethical" for a lawyer to argue both sides of a point of law?

texts:
In other words, is hypocrisy a frowned upon or even a disciplinary matter?  Suppose a lawyer has two clients and the circumstances don't warrant a "conflict of interest" problem under the rules of professional conduct.  The two clients aren't doing anything related to one another, but on just one question of law it is helpful for one client to argue one way on the question and helpful for the other client to argue the other way on the question.
If a judge or anyone else sees a lawyer trying to have it both ways, is that a problem?
If this is an impossible situation such that this is, by definition, a conflict of interest, imagine the two clients waived the conflict of interest so that the lawyer could represent both of them.
Imagine this sort of dialogue.

Tuesday

Lawyer: "Your honor I really think that statutory definition of a week means the time starting from the Monday after the action took place to the Friday following that Monday.  Here is the case law on that matter."

Wednesday

Lawyer: "Your honor I really think that the statutory definition of a week means from the time the action took place until 7 days following that time.  Here is the case law on that matter."
Judge: "Hey, just yesterday you said you thought the statutory definition of a week meant something else when you were representing another client.  You sound like a hypocrite to me."


texts:
Florida Governor signs executive order that bans mandated use of Covid-19 vaccine passports.  The Order, effective immediately, says vaccines are available but not mandated in the state and cites freedom and privacy concerns as the primary basis for the action.
Given that Florida public schools require MMR vaccinations (precedent?), how is it possible that such an order be lawful?
Other interesting & relevant precedent includes:

Jacobson vs. Massachussets:  Supreme Court finds Vaccines can be mandatory
Roman Catholic Diocese Of Brooklyn, New York v. Andrew M. Cuomo

I am having difficulty reconciling that the Supreme Court would uphold fines for not vaccinating, yet it concluded that NY state violated the right to congregate, despite a pandemic.


texts: How do opt-outs impact enforceability of an arbitration clause?

texts: In the United States how does providing the opt-out option help prevent a mandatory arbitration clause in a standard consumer contract from being unenforceable?


texts: Employer lied about charitable contributions

texts:
I have been working for a year for a privately held company that prominently touts in it's recruiting process that it gives 20% of it's profits to charitable causes. But it doesn't, at least for the last two years, and probably ever.

By virtue of this claim being used as a hiring incentive, can they be forced to make the promised contributions? Can a claim for essentially unpaid wages (since lower wages were accepted based on their promise) be made on behalf of the entire class of employees recruited past and present based on this lie?


texts: Is it legal to use a brands name in products title?

texts:
Amazon keeps deactivating listings for this reason. The reason that i am using their name is;
I am producing product for (compatible) their products. Titles are like "Bag for XXBRAND XXMODEL".
I have to use their name to reach correct customers(search engines). Amazon told me to write a line that describes i am not associated with the brand(as i understand). My native language is not English so: How can i explain this in formal language? Or is it legal to use their name like this?


texts: Is there any precedent of what would happen to state law if a state ceased to exist?

texts:
Say a contract is specified to arbitrated by the law of the state of Virginia (or whatever).
Then, WW3 happens and entire jurisdictions, state and countries cease to exist including Virginia.
Is there any precedent for what happens when entire countries and jurisdictions where contracts were made cease to exist?


texts: Is it legal for a store to accept payment by debit card but not be able to refund to it, even in event of staff's mistake?

texts:
A store accepts payment by payment cards, including debit and credit cards. Refunds are allowed, however due to a technical problem refunds cannot be made to debit cards.
Sometimes a refund is necessary if a mistake was made, for example if the clerk scans the same item multiple times or the scanning gun malfunctions. This happened and the customer paid by debit and didn't have a credit card. (The mistake was caught after the customer read the receipt). Also the store does not carry cash. The store can give him the products that he paid for, but may the customer insist on getting a refund? Could the store give the customer credit, or must they actually return the money?


texts: What is the correct way of discharging contract when parties can't agree on shipping?

texts:
When selling stuff on TradeMe, one way of specifying shipping options is "To be arranged". That is, seller can skip researching shipping options/costs and only worry about it once the item is contractually sold. This is made clear to the buyer.

Essentially, buyer and seller enter a contract without specifying shipping terms. They only agree to "arrange shipping" (or, at least, attempt to).

It will not be uncommon that, when making such arrangements, the buyer realises that shipping costs are too high for them. Or, the buyer wants the seller to use a courier service which is impracticable for them to use.  Then, if the parties agree to rescind the contract, they do so. Happy days.

But what if one party does not want to rescind and insists on performance?

Can such a contract be discharged by frustration or another similar way?


texts: Do I need some verification for Terms of use and Privacy Policy if I write them by my own?

texts:
I have an app and don't want to pay somebody to write them for me.
The Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy are pretty similar with other's websites/app and I want to rewrite them by my own.
Do I need some verification or are them mandatory before posting them on the app/website?

Can I be sued for copying the terms or conditions?


texts: Is it trademark fair use to use company name/logo on your resume?

texts:
I have an online resume website that I created, and I list the logos of companies I've work with over the course of my career. Rather than a dry date list of work experience, I'm just listing the names and logos of the companies on the website. I even have a disclaimer stating this in no way represents endorsement or sponsorship.

I assume this use of the names / logos is considered fair use, an anyone can put a companies name or logo on their resume to state where and who they've work with when talking about their work experience / history. This is exactly what I'm doing here, and what happens when people fill out their LinkedIn profiles too.

Is is considered trademark fair use to use a company logo on your resume?

My website is an online resume / portfolio to use as a digital resume outside of LinkedIn or other places. For reference, it's located here: http://chrispietschmann.com


texts: Second lien forecloses but does not pay off first lien

texts: Our house was foreclosed by a roofer who put a lien on our homestead in Texas.  The roofer bid $3000 against his $80000 lien.  He has not done anything else.  He has not paid off the first lien, a mortgage.  If a second lien holder forecloses, what responsibility does he have to the first lien holder?


texts:
What constitutes a leading question?

Until recently, I assumed it was the same as a "loaded question" in a casual context, like a question in a push polls designed to bias the answer. But through answers here, it's become clear to me that the legal meaning of a leading question is something with much more nuance.

I understand that leading questions generally aren't allowed on direct examination, with a few exceptions, but are fine on cross-examination. But I am not understanding the difference between these two formulations:

Leading: You were at Seagull’s Pub the night of October 31st, right?
Not leading: Where were you the night of October 31st?

The former introduces the idea that they were at Seagull's Pub. Is that the only difference? Would it still be a leading question if it was rephrased as, "Were you at Seagull's Pub the night of October 31st?"

If the answer is specific to a jurisdiction, I am especially interested in US law and how it is most often practiced at both the federal and state levels.


texts: Does it make sense to suing a foreign company who fired you with no fair cause?

texts:
Premise: in my experience when you are a solo-freelancer working for a corporation who does have their own lawyers and resources to fight against you, a win is very unlikely (I have even been told this fact face-to-face). Nonetheless I would like to have a second opinion.

I am a professional developer ("programmer") and I was working for a US-based company (remote position) as a freelancer (i.e. as a company). The contract was meant to last until the end of year 2017 but they terminated the collaboration (by email, not even over a call and with absolutely no notice ).

As any contract, termination conditions exist. In this specific case (I quote):

<< The company engaging with the contractor has the right to terminate the agreement after several warnings have been issues >>

However, no FORMAL warning has ever been issued. All I got is:

A Slack message expressing some "generic concern" (after I communicated some personal struggles and that I was aware my productivity level was not at the top for the last 2 weeks)
I've been told I made one mistake in my job, which I believe it can happen

Nonetheless, the company I am considering suing has sent out a cold email, announcing that they (and the clients the project was committed to) would void the collaboration for poor performance and lack of commitment.

I know I could use Slack records and even (very few, unfortunately) emails as proof.
However, Slack as many other business apps is a "black box" so I have no way to access those records.

When I expressed my concerns about this unfair decision, my message was ignored.

My final question is:

can I legally put pressure on the company to get a compensation? (e.g. write an article explaining what they did)
Is it worth suing them (they're US-based), considering the cost or the legal action would not come cheap (I guess)? As a side note I am based in Europe (I avoid putting the country here, as a means to protect my privacy)


texts: Can the police gather fingerprints and/or DNA for "exclusionary" purposes without a warrant or arrest?

texts:
Occasionally on police procedurals some well-meaning or otherwise bystander disturbs the absolute sanctity of a crime scene before Our Heroes™ can perform a CSI montage. They might be accosted and asked to provide prints/DNA for "exclusionary" purposes, so any fingerprints found can be identified as the bystander versus an unknown suspect.

Can the police obtain these without consent (without an arrest)? If they are provided (consensually or otherwise) are they at risk of being added to some (criminal) database?


texts: Recreating images from video games in a stats app

texts:
I am making a Discord bot that tracks in game stats for many popular video games and I'm having trouble discerning whether it's ok or not to display these stats in a format that replicates the in game schema.

Essentially, what I'm doing, is taking an in game screenshot of let's say my gamer profile, erasing all the data and from this, my app inputs the statistical data with the players info, essentially replicating the look and feel of the game but my plans are to extend the data to include some more statistics when possible or needed.

Atop the recreated in-game profile images I am using images I found on google of the in game charaters to provide a visual representation of what each player uses or their stats for each charater.

(None of the images I've mentioned include logos or anything I think would be considered a trademarked item/image, nor have I deliberately removed any)

Note I am currently self hosting the bot with no company/business being the owner (just myself) I charge for extra features on the bot using patreon by means of these features being perks of being a Patreon supporter but these perks do not apply to the image use, they just offer small bonus features to the bot itself.

I do plan to make a website for this app as well in the future if this holds any value to the question.

P.S. I'm unsure what tags to put here if someone doesn't mind helping me please. Thanks!


texts: Can judges be compelled to justify themselves?

texts:
As noted here:

  Sometimes a judge simply enters a verdict with no real substantive
  explanation whatsoever, despite the fact that a judge is supposed to
  write an opinion making the findings of fact and reaching the
  conclusions of law necessary to support the verdict.

My vague understanding of appellate law is that a timely notice of appeal compels a judge to make a written answer containing those findings.  Is that correct?

Are there practical reasons that the appeals process can't or shouldn't be used to elicit proper support of judicial verdicts?


texts: Is it illegal to hack twitter accounts and websites belonging to ISIS?

texts:
In particular, ISIS twitter accounts, networks, and propaganda sites.

Would the US government condone such cybercrime? Would they even encourage people to try? I have heard stories of ISIS defaming western websites, and I am more than confident people in the US would possess the technical skill.

I personally would not attempt it for the record, but is this legal in the US or other countries?


texts:
Couple of months my car got hit while parked , I got the other persons insurance information and I took forever to fail the claim til last week. The other person insurance too full liability, but I haven't fix the small dent.

Today a lady hit me on the same side ! And made more damage ! What happens now ?


texts: Can a US cabinet secretary be criminally liable for a misapplication of federal law?

texts:
I am a bit surprised that this hasn't been asked yet, but it seems indeed that it has not.
A few days ago, CNN reported:

President Donald Trump told Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan he would grant McAleenan a pardon if he were sent to jail for having border agents block asylum seekers from entering the US in defiance of US law, senior administration officials tell CNN.
Trump reportedly made the comment during a visit to the border at Calexico, California, a week ago. It was not clear if the comment was a joke.
Two officials briefed on the exchange say the President told McAleenan, since named the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, that he "would pardon him if he ever went to jail for denying US entry to migrants," as one of the officials paraphrased.

(I am not certain that CNN first broke this news, but the Guardian has attributed it to them, so I've gone along with that.)
I am not interested here in the political implications.  I would like to know, hypothetically, whether it would be possible for a cabinet secretary to be jailed for the misapplication of federal law in the performance of his or her duties, and, if so, under what circumstances.  More precisely, I would like to know whether criminal liability could arise, or personal civil liability (I understand that a presidential pardon would have no effect on civil liability).
I hope answers will also address any existing protections with respect to civil or criminal liability (or both).  For example, I am familiar with "qualified immunity" in civil rights actions against law enforcement officers, but not in other contexts.  Would qualified immunity apply here?  Would it apply to criminal liability as well as civil?  If not, are there other forms of immunity or other protections that do apply?


texts: Could government legally temporatiliy halt rent/mortgage/interest payments for the benefit of the greater economy?

texts:
I’m not well versed in economics or law by any stretch of the imagination. But I am confused with certain measures taken thus far by the government.

There is currently a temporary shutdown of vast sectors of the economy now and workers affected are not receiving any income.

To me, logic would dictate that here should also be a temporary cessation of payments for rental properties (for small businesses as well as individuals) and, to be fair, a temporary cessation of payments for loans for owners of those properties. In turn, banks would be given temporary cessation payments for interest to its customers since the banks would not receive any payments on loans including payments on mortgages from homeowners. That would essentially close the loop on money flow which again would be temporary and the impact to the greater economy would be limited.

If undue burden is placed on any one of these points in the cycle, and right now, workers and small businesses are taking that brunt, then there could be long-standing damage to the economy from bankruptcies, foreclosures, etc.

The Fed is already addressing the banking side of things by keeping rates close to 0.

Does the government have the authority to push for a standstill in mortgage/interest/rent payments?
I feel this temporary measure would alleviate economic hardship and prevent long-term damage to the economy.


texts: Question about (kind of old) immigration process

texts:
Long story short:

I live in Washington DC (South American country citizen, Green Card now).

I started the process to get H1b Visa (March-2016, I know, long ago) with a company in Houston, TX. In order to start the process, I made one payment to them $1500 (March-2016, and later $2500 in May-2016, after I was "accepted", to follow the process) and fill out many forms (a contract included) with some important information about me (SSN, DOB, address, etc.).

They gave me an "EAC" case number with USCIS, everything looked good.
It supposed I was accepted in the draw process (USCIS never gave me any information, they said only can do it to the company) in April-2016.

One of the many problems here is, the person whom I transferred the money is not anymore in the company (I do have the two bank receipts, though). Last time I talked to him, he told me that I should talk to company, not him, and after Harvey, the company had lot of problems, he was not sure if the company had disappeared (likely he was lying).

I have sent hundreds of email and made hundreds of phone calls for months, NEVER answered.

I know, VERY likely it IS a scam, but... What do/can I do?

Forget about it? (Maybe for fear of reprisals/revenge, they got my information. I now live pretty well, but $4k are $4k)
Talk to a lawyer? (Obvious, but expensive... and after time, worth it?)
Go to USCIS and talk? (I did this, no much information without the authorization of the company)
Where I can get more information of this "company"?

Thanks a lot, any advice (besides talk to a lawyer) will be really really appreciate it.

Thank you again.

PS1: If more information is needed, please let me know.

PS1: Apologies for any misspelling or error, I am not native English speaker.

PS3: If this is not the right place, please let me know and I take care of this


texts: Driving through a red after traffic lights have been broken

texts:
A situation happened to me today that got me thinking. I live in Victoria, Australia.

I was driving and entered an intersection on a green light to make a turn. I waited until there was no oncoming traffic, by which time the light turned amber, to complete my turn. As I was completing my turn the lights started to flash amber, which indicates an error with the signals and that drivers need to follow the rules for unregulated intersections. (There are also some pedestrian crossings with red-amber-green lights that flash amber as part of their cycle before turning back to green, but not in the area I was driving.)

After I completed the turn I could see that at least the next two sets of lights had been affected too and were flashing amber as well. As I approached the first set it changed back to red and I was able to stop in time. I was wondering what would have happened if I drove through the intersection just as the light changed to red (with not enough time to stop) and got a fine for driving through a red light? Would the authorities realise that there had just been an outage of the traffic lights and not issue it or would I have to prove that the lights had just been down to avoid having to pay the fine?


texts:
In a market every shop has an incentive to charge a fair price: Charge too little, they go bankrupt. Charge too much and they won't sell anything.
What mechanisms exist to encourage judges to rule justly, or to avoid ruling based on other interests than the law?


texts: Is it legal for a bar bouncer to confiscate a fake ID

texts:
Background:  I read a Reddit thread where someone had an international passport confiscated from them at a bar.  I imagine that the bouncer probably didn't recognize what he was looking at and assumed it was a fake ID.

From what I understand, the bar does not have the authority to confiscate such a real passport, but that got me to thinking, what if the Bouncer was right?  Does he actually have the legal authority to confiscate the fake ID?

The reason I ask, is because if he does have that authority, it feels to me like an awkward law, because a simple gap in knowledge can be what makes the difference between legal and illegal.


texts: Non-compete clause in UK, where do I stand?

texts:
I currently work for a financial services company in London doing strategy research in a particular asset class. My current contract has - on top of a 3 month notice period - a 6 month non-compete clause.
The relevant wording is:

Accordingly, you agree that you shall not either on your own account or on behalf of any other person, firm or company directly or indirectly at any time: during the First Restricted Period be employed or engaged by or concerned or interested or participate in any Competitive Activity, provided always that this shall not restrain you from being employed or engaged by or concerned or interested or participating in any business in so far as your duties shall relate solely to 1. geographical areas where such business is not in competition with the Business; or 2. services or activities with which you were not concerned to a material extent at any time during the Protected Period

I have an offer from another company to work on trading strategy research in a completely different asset class. An asset class that I have not worked on at all during my tenure with my current employer. It is my view then that my current employer need not waive the non-compete clause as I will not be in breach of it due to point 2.
Additionally, in the offer letter from the new company they have said

We are aware that your current employer imposes certain restrictions on your activities after you leave, and we understand that your employer has waived such restrictions in other cases. It would be best if you could obtain such a waiver from your current employer, but failing that, we believe our proposed employment of you as a researcher focused on  does not constitute a breach of the current restrictions.

To matters a little less clear my current employer has a policy of paying the base salary during the non-compete period if it is not waived.
I have not told my current employer the name of my new company. What I have done is resign and state said that I will be working on things I have not been working at my current role.
It would appear that my current employer do not wish to waive the non-compete. Am I safe to start work with the new company on the basis that I am not in breach due to point 2? Furthermore, what happens if I receive two salaries for 6 months?


texts: Drafting a will to have a third party sell an inherited home?

texts:
The question title may be a bit misleading - it's hard to word my issue. Apologies in advance.

Background

I am 27 and my sister is 23. We stand to inherit a 1500 sq. foot home should anything happen to my mom, who currently owns the home. My mom is nearing 60 years of age.

The issue

My sister and I are like night and day. I completed both a bachelor's and a master's degree debt free, have $100,000+ in savings and got hired out of college as a software developer at a healthy $90,000 starting salary. My sister on the other hand has a long history of psychiatric problems, drug use and promiscuity. She has dropped out of college and has net earnings of < $5,000 annually. She never has more than $20 in her bank account and spends all her money on reiki healing, crystals and all that other pseudoscientific healing garbage. My sister also lives off my mom and has never held a serious job. Psychiatrists have suggested diagnoses of both schizophrenia and/or borderline personality disorder.

I have severe concerns about inheriting a home jointly with someone who is disordered should anything happen to my mom. Myself and my sister get along (usually) however the big issue is that she has nowhere to go should my mom pass away and will refuse to sell the home whereas I want to sell the home as fast as possible such that I do not own a joint venture with her. She does not understand that owning a home doesn't mean one "owns" the home - there is mortgage to pay, property taxes, utilities, etc. In her opinion, this is a conspiracy by Big Brother government to overthrow the public. Inevitably, the home will be lost due non-payment, neglect, among other possibilities.

The question

A question from my mom: Is it possible to re-draft a will such that a third party could sell the home on our behalf? What are the steps involved?


texts: Can the police ask a minor to bring suspicious evidence outside their house?

texts:
Based off of my previous question a young enough child (approximately 13 or younger) can not authorize the police to search their home: In the USA can a child legally authorize a search of a residence he lives in?
I'm wondering if police could ask a child to bring a piece of evidence outside of his home, and then claim it is in plain sight.  Would it matter if the item was in somewhere the child does not have their parent's permission to enter, such as the parent's bedroom, vs getting the item from common shared space?


texts: Definition of "relative" in UK contract law

texts:
I have a contract that requires a witness signature. The witness cannot be a relative.
At what point are two individuals not considered relatives? For example, could my third-cousin be my witness? i.e. our common ancestor is our great-great-grandparent.


texts: Do I need to file a DBA for a mobile application / website published using my LLC's name?

texts:
I have formed an LLC in my state. I am currently developing a mobile application under a different name, but published as my LLC. Note, the mobile application itself will not generate revenue directly. I am also developing a website under a similar name "[Application Name] Portal" that is business facing. This site will be available on a subscription basis.
Do I need to file a DBA for accepting payments on the business facing portal? If I do all transactions under the name of my LLC, would I still need a DBA?


texts: Why are Congressional Democrats suing the president? Isn't prosecution its own job?

texts:
I heard Congressional Democrats are filing an emoluments lawsuit against Trump.

I don't get this. Wasn't prosecution of "high crimes and misdemeanors" (aka impeachment) in Congress's own job description and jurisdiction, not in the judicial branch's?

How can Congress ask the judicial branch to remedy a Constitutional issue regarding the President?


texts: How to judge if a contract is detailed enough?

texts:
What is a contract and what is required for them to be valid? explains the basics of a contract. However, any simple contract may potentially have ambiguities that would make it difficult or impossible to decide if the contract is being fulfilled. For example, if I make a contract for someone to fix my car, I should actually specify what exactly needs fixing and what would constitute being fixed. Otherwise the person could just top off the oil and call it a day.

Presumably at some point, common sense is exercised to decide if some unexpected development follows this spirit and intent of the contract or not. After all, it's difficult if not impossible to state anything with perfect disambiguity. But some contract authors still try. Since EULAs are probably written by some pretty good lawyers, does that mean that such overly detailed documents can be considered the standard of a very good contract? What is a reasonable standard for how much a contract should specify, and how much should be left to "well, let's just hope we can all come to some agreement if and when that weird freak case happens".

When contract lawyers write a contract, how do they decide when it's "detailed enough"? Are there rules of thumb that a lay person could use?


texts: Can you get jailed for misreporting numbers to pay less for a billing on behalf of a company because your manager told you to do so? Let's say you make up a bunch of numbers to pay 1,500$ instead of 5,000$, and you do it, because the boss specifically told you to do so. Can you get jailed for it?


texts: Case law, statutory law, the UK and the European Union

texts:
I have been told that "statutory law" is a "blunt instrument" (presumably due to the cost of change?) and that the UK legal system has developed a system whereby a more flexible "case law" is used to ameliorate this problem, leading to a legal system that is well regarded.

Does the law-making system of the European Union have a similar design, or is my understanding incorrect?


texts: What does "in particular" mean in EU legislation?

texts:
The context of this question is the Schengen Borders Code, but the question itself is about the underlying principle of interpretation, so reference to interpretations of other texts in judicial decisions or elsewhere is welcome.
The code's Article 11 establishes a requirement to stamp "travel documents" (for example, passports) of third-country nationals when the they cross the external Schengen border.  There is a question over at Travel Stack Exchange that makes it clear that some Schengen countries do not stamp the documents of third-country nationals who have a residence permit from a Schengen country: Which Schengen countries don't stamp passports of ordinary residence permit holders?
The stamping requirement is stated thus:

The travel documents of third-country nationals shall be systematically stamped on entry and exit. In particular an entry or exit stamp shall be affixed to:
(a) the documents, bearing a valid visa, enabling third-country nationals to cross the border;
(b) the documents enabling third-country nationals to whom a visa is issued at the border by a Member State to cross the border;
(c) the documents enabling third-country nationals not subject to a visa requirement to cross the border.

(There are some additional provisions that do not apply to the hypothetical circumstances under discussion contained in 11(2) through 11(5).  I would note that a "residence permit" is distinct for these purposes from the "residence card" provided for in the free movement directive 2004/38/EC.)
It is perhaps to be argued that "third-country nationals not subject to a visa requirement" includes residence permit holders who would need a visa if they didn't have a residence permit, but let us assume for the sake of argument that it does not.  In that case, none of the examples enumerated in 11(1) covers those people.  But none of the subsequent exceptions covers them either.  It would seem therefore that the general requirement established in the first sentence of 11(1) should apply to them.
Some countries appear to have concluded the contrary: that because such people are not covered by the "in particular" list in 11(1), their passports do not need to be stamped.  Is that reading defensible under established principles of statutory interpretation?


texts: How do I get a US document notarised from overseas?

texts: How do I get a United States document (for business, to be sent to the USA) notarised and apostilled in the Netherlands?


texts: Do I have to pay my debt collector if I collect my debt myself?

texts: I setup an account with a debt collection service. The collectors will collect my debt for a percent taken from the owed amount. If I sue my client for unpaid debt and win a summons proceeding, do I have to pay my collector? Nothing to this effect was written in the collector's contract between us.


texts: Serving the individual or the company or both?

texts:
If a person is sued in their official and individual capacity, do you serve:

a. just the individual
b. just the company or
c. both the individual and the company?


texts: Is there a legal risk in giving emergency first aid?

texts:
There is a commonly held belief that an unqualified member of the public takes a legal risk in giving emergency first aid in case the patient dies or is injured as a result. This theory invariably refers to some unnamed US case where a passer-by attempted CPR on the victim of a heart attack, was unsuccessful, and was sued as a result. This came up on a first aid course I attended, and the tutor was fairly certain that the risk is very small if the passer-by takes such care as is reasonable given the lack of expertise.

Was the tutor correct?

I'd be interested in views from other jurisdictions, but my main interest is the position in the UK.


texts: What happens to businesses, properties, entire towns and counties after the US Supreme Court ruling on Tribal Lands?

texts:
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court basically just said that half of the State is Tribal Lands. Tribal Lands are not taxable from what I researched.There are entire towns, counties, homes, businesses all owned by non-Native American people on tribal lands.
Two Questions
They (non-native Americans) no longer own the land, so what happens to the tax laws in regards to property they never owned?
What legal avenues could the Native Americans do if they wanted all non-native Americans to leave?


texts: What exactly is banned if the US bans on several Chinese apps go into effect?

texts:
President Trump issued several executive orders, banning certain Chinese-owned apps in 45 days if they are still owned by their original companies (as I understand it):

EO 13942 (August 6, 2020) - TikTok
EO 13943 (August 6, 2020) - WeChat
EO 13971 (January 5, 2021) - Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office

The Commerce Department has published regulations on the bans:

Prohibited transactions with TikTok, temporarily blocked by this injunction and this injunction (part 1 and 2)
Prohibited transactions with WeChat (withdrawn, archived at Exhibit A here), temporarily blocked by an injunction.

If and when one or both of these bans go into effect, what would be the actual effect on an app user?

Would app stores be required to remove the apps from the app store for users in the US?
Would app stores run by US companies (e.g. Apple iOS app store, Google Play for Android) be required to remove the apps from the app store for users outside the US?
Would it be illegal for a user in the US to download the app somehow from outside the app store?
Would it be illegal for a user in the US to use the app if they have already downloaded it?
Would it be illegal (under US law) for a US citizen outside the US to download and/or use the app?
Would ISPs in the US be required to try to block network traffic of the app?


texts: Why can the right obtained by giving nominal consideration be less secure, if not negated?

texts:
Mindy Chen-Wishart. Contract Law (2018 6 edn). p 121. I read Law of Property Act 1925 s(205)(1)(xxi) quoted, but still don't understand (ii).

(xxi) “Purchaser” means a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and includes a lessee, mortgagee or other person who for valuable consideration acquires an interest in property except that in Part I of this Act and elsewhere where so expressly provided “purchaser” only means a person who acquires an interest in or charge on property for money or money’s worth; and in reference to a legal estate includes a chargee by way of legal mortgage; and where the context so requires “purchaser” includes an intending purchaser; “purchase” has a meaning corresponding with that of “purchaser”; and “valuable consideration” includes marriage [F6, and formation of a civil partnership,] but does not include a nominal consideration in money;