texts: Can you unilaterally renege on a signed contract if the other party tries to push you into doing something illegal?

texts:
This question came up when I was reading this recent thread:

Is it illegal to infringe copyright if your boss or your client ordered you to do it?

in which that the poster was asking about a scenario where that someone was hired to develop a piece of software as a freelancer, and their hirer told them they needed to install some software to complete the job and, moreover, that the way they were to get this software was to download it illegally from a pirate site. And it was mentioned in the top-voted answer here how this could be considered as actually a crime - not just a civil infringement but an outright crime since it's copying being done for commercial gain.

The question I'd have, then, is that under this, what happens if we propose the following modification, because it didn't seem to come up and yet also seems worth considering as a separate question in its own right: suppose that the freelance developer has already signed a contract to develop, and thus are now legally bound to deliver the product on time. Suppose that also, the contract explicitly states that they are not going to have to pay for any additional software that will be required in the course of construction. Now, the hirer, during the course of development, asks the person to download a necessary component illegally. The developer is aware of this law and points out to them, as mentioned in the answers, that to do so is to commit a crime. The hirer responds with "I don't want to pay for it, here you go, now download it" and also that sie will not accept software developed with another tool. You tell them again, point blank, it's a crime. They repeat the demand. Then,  in response, with no further warning, not feeling up to doing the job anymore, you, the developer, simply walk away and abscond from the contract of your own volition and agency as a free human being, never delivering anything and just letting it go.

The question is:

how serious is what you have done, legally? If the contractor tries to take you to court for a breach and you argue you didn't do nuffin because it said explicitly that you would not incur any fees and the hirer was demanding a criminal act on your part, would you be able to be absolved of any liability? If you are not, what sort of consequences as in damages could you expect?
from a moral point of view, since I like to have both, to how rightfully an extent should this or not prejudice your reputation many years in the future by other assessing your trust? (For me, if I heard they were the developer in this situation in this context when considering to hire them and heard about their past here, I'd blow it off and take the person under my wing.)

ADD: Was going to put it but forgot - the relevant jurisdictions are the same as in the original question: the United States and the European Union.


texts: Is harmlessly appearing to be a school bus driver a crime?

texts:
Hypothetically, if someone who owned a school bus legally drove said school bus to a bus stop 3 minutes before the stop would ordinarily be made, allowed schoolchildren to board without speaking, then proceeded to drive them to their normal destination of school, unharmed, would this possibly result in charges being levied?

If so, what charges could be brought against such an individual?


texts: Is it legal to fake a social media post?

texts:
There are many fake social media post generators out there, so that you can generate a fake twitter tweet or a fake whatsapp message and so on.

See e.g. this: http://simitator.com/generator/twitter/tweet

Is it legal to use these fake posts and present them as genuine?

For example, here's a possible use I had in mind: say I read a tweet some time ago, and I would like to present it in a blog post of mine. If I am unable to find the tweet, I can simply paraphrase the content of the tweet inside a 'fake tweet' like above and present that.

Would that be legal? I am of course being dishonest to my own readers, but I'm guessing while unethical, that can't be illegal. The problem is whether Twitter would allow me to present made-up content as if it was posted on their site?

For my specific case, I don't think they would mind, but it may be illegal if e.g. I could use these fake posts to present an image of Twitter that they might have something against, and so a rule may exist against it just in case?


texts: International sexting between two minors - Text only

texts:
A 12-year-old living in the U.S. "sexted" with a 14-year-old in Sweden.
Was any crime committed?
Are there possible legal consequences for either child having engaged in that act?


texts: Who owns rights to a live streamed footage of a concert?

texts:
I work for a festival in the digital department. I received a request from a documentary filmmaker about wanting to use a portion of a live-streamed footage of our concert. The clip lives on our YouTube channel, which is where the filmmaker came across it. In the contract with the performing band, it stipulates that the festival reserves to right to live stream the performance and place on YouTube in perpetuity, and also that media outlets may use record and use 2 minutes of the performance (doesn't say of the 'livestreamed' performance). It doesn't say anything about allowing a third party to use it for another type of a production (=documentary).

My question is: who owns rights to this footage? The festival, the company that did the livestreaming, the band, the band's label? Do I (as the festival) have a right to give permission to use the footage to this filmmaker? If I should refer them to someone else, who should it be?

If it helps, I am in Canada, the artist from Columbia, as is the filmmaker who made the request.


texts: Full ownership split between two legal entities

texts:
Hope this is fit for Legal.SE. I work with large financial institutions and often obtain diagrams representing the legal entity perimeter (i.e. full list of legal entities, with ownership % and "who owns who").

I have found in multiple occasions that a parent company A will have multiple wholly-owned subsidiaries, some of which will have the following pattern:

Company A fully owns (100%) company B;
Company A fully owns (100%) company C;
Company B owns 99.99% of company D;
Company C owns 0.01% of company D.

This results in a diamond-shaped ownership structure with the end result being that company A fully owns company D via B and C. I am curious as to what is the legal / business justification for not maintaining full ownership of company D within either B or C.

This was observed both in the US and Canada.


texts: Hospital visitation rights and health-care decision-making authority in Maryland

texts:
Suppose there is person A who lives in Maryland.
Person A has parents B and C.
Person A has sibling D.
Person A has spouse E.
Now, Suppose person A becomes medically incapacitated.
Three Questions:

Can E block B, C and D from visiting A in the hospital?
What legal authorization form(s) can person A fill out and provide to B, C and D to prevent that from happening if this is a serious concern?
What legal authorization form(s) can person A fill out and provide to B and C so that they get precedence in medical decision-making authority over E?


texts: I’m in high school. In my school, students are given Chromebooks with the software called GoGuardian automatically installed, as well as Securly. For some background, GoGuardian saves information and screenshots of what a student is seeing on the Chromebook. Every student is required to have this software, and it is monitored often. I am taking an online course that falls under FERPA laws. This course is run by a university and the university insists that my parents are not able to see any information about the course. I don’t believe I have signed any documents giving my rights away to allow monitoring, but my parents did sign a document allowing monitoring on the Chromebook. I have read the law and it did seem to say that it is illegal, but as a high school student with no law experience, I would assume my judgement may not be accurate. Is the school monitoring my course and all of the information for my course legal? If this is legal, do I have rights regarding this information that is taken from me? I am willing to give any context that would be required.


texts: What happens if a driver refuses to sign a speeding ticket?

texts:
Hypothetical Facts

A driver is pulled over for speeding.
The officer writes a ticket and asks the driver to sign it.
After questioned by the driver, the officer explains a signature is not an admission of guilt, but only indicates "acceptance" (receipt) of the ticket.
The driver refuses to sign the ticket.

What will most likely happen next?


texts: Do I have to move right away if the Unlawful Detainer Judgement is in favor of the defendant?

texts: In California (Los Angeles, specifically) does a person have to move if they are named in an Unlawful Detainer action, they answer the Summons and Complaint and appear, and the judge rules in their (the Defendant’s) favor? If so, can anyone please point me to any statute(s) and/or case law that would illustrate such an outcome? Thank you!


texts: If a driver thinks their car has been wrongfully towed, is it up to the company to sue the driver, or up to the driver to sue for their money back?

texts: This is just something that I've been wondering. If you think that your car has been wrongfully towed, do you need to pay the company and then sue them for your money back, or do they need to let you take your car back and then sue you for the money?


texts: What does "beyond a mere matter of compensation" mean?

texts:
I'm guessing that "compensation" means pecuniary damages, thus "matter of compensation" means private law (contract and tort). Is LCJ Hewart saying that the accused negligence's exceeds contractual and tortious negligence, and must be criminalized as criminal negligence?

The standard is that of gross rather than ordinary negligence. The difference between the
two is a matter of degree and judgement in each case. Broadly speaking, negligence will be
gross if the defendant’s conduct not merely fails to meet the standard set by the reasonable person
test, but falls short of that standard by a considerable margin—i.e. if the defendant’s
conduct is not merely unreasonable, but very unreasonable:196

“in order to establish criminal liability the facts must be such that, in the opinion of the jury,
the negligence of the accused went beyond a mere matter of compensation between subjects
and showed such disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime against the
State and conduct deserving punishment.”

It may be negligent to drive around a particular bend at 50 mph; if so, it is grossly negligent
to do so at 80 mph. Hart puts the test another way: “Negligence is gross if the precautions
to be taken against harm are very simple, such as persons who are but poorly endowed with
physical and mental capacities can easily take.”196

195 Bateman (1927) 19 Cr App R 8, 11–12. In manslaughter, this is a demanding standard: Sellu [2016] EWCA
Crim 1716, [2017] 4 WLR 64, [144]–[155].
196 Punishment and Responsibility (1968) 149.

Simester and Sullivan's Criminal Law (2019 7 edn). p 168.

(a) The elements of gross negligence manslaughter

To cause or allow the death of another negligently will not, of itself, incur liability in
manslaughter. The failure of care or concern must be more egregious than is required for
civil liability. According to Lord Hewart CJ in Bateman, it must be the case that:330

“in the opinion of the jury, the negligence of the accused went beyond a mere matter of
compensation between subjects and showed such disregard for the life and safety of others, as
to amount to a crime against the state and conduct deserving of punishment.”

The dictum has been criticised for vacuity, yet it usefully stresses that juries should be cautious
when attributing criminality to a defendant who has neither intended nor foreseen
that she would cause or allow harm to another. The dictum was approved by the House of
Lords in Andrews331 and reflects a consistent pattern of jury directions.

330 (1925) 19 Cr App R 8, 11.
331 [1937] AC 576, 582–3.

Op. cit. p 432.


texts: How can I read your cookie policy without using your site

texts:
I see a bar at the bottom of the screen that reads:

  By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service.

My question is how can I read and understand those policies without using your site? It seems a little late now, doesn't it?


texts: Schwab 401k 'hacked'; somehow they added/linked an unknown bank account and transfered out ~10% of my balance!! How

texts:
I recently received a couple of 'notification' emails from Schwab re. the approval/completion of various changes I supposedly requested to an old 'inactive' (past employer) 401k account, including:

the addition of a bank account linked to my Schwab 401k;
the successful transfer of 10% of my 401k to the linked bank account;
and the required IRS 'penalty' forms resulting from my 401k early withdrawl.

Having significant Network/IT related experience, my first reaction was to 'trace/track' any info I could find to help ID the thief, however, I noticed that the transferred funds had just cleared that same day (literally, ~6 hours earlier) AND the added/linked unknown bank account was still active; so, I immediately set up a reverse transfer back to my 401k (~10% +$50 to cover any potential fees I might need to cover as a result).
I contacted Schwab next, and explained what I had done.  They all seemed to get a kick out of my reverse transfer, but also informed me that my funds would be returned regardless and they would handle reverting my account to its original status with additional security protocols. In the end, my reverse transfer went through and the unknown bank account was deleted.  About a week later Schwab subtracted the extra $50 reverse transfer portion.  I contacted them to find out why (-$50), and what the status was with my ID/Bank Fraud (victim) case. I was shocked to find that their position/policy in such security breach / fraud cases was; "these ID Theft rings are highly sophisticated and nearly impossible to catch....it very well may have been an 'inside' job scenario, and there really is not anything more Schwab can do unless the police get involved...which typically is a dead end anyway...".

So...my general question(s):

Is there any truth to Schwabs' responses or are they just trying to avoid any bad publicity?
It's been over 3 months now and I am still feeling an excessive insecurity regarding all my internet financial accounts, and a continuous suspicion that it may have been a 'personal attack'.  Any advice or suggestions on dealing with this situation or my options (legal or otherwise) should I choose to pursue this matter would be gratefully appreciated.
And, where did the extra $50 go?  Why does Schwab get to profit from my loss (do I still have to pay the penalty for early withdrawl or do I need some documentation from Schwab?).


texts: (Canada, BC) Camera Repair Shop taking 3+ months

texts:
It has been 2ish months since the camera shop received my order to fix an issue. This is not including time required give me a quote and receive a reply on the quote, which was admittedly about a month turnaround because I was busy with school. I emailed them last week and they said it would be ready to ship back on Monday, but I have not heard back from them.

TLDR Camera shop is taking 2ish months to fix my camera.

What are the relevant laws around this? I've found the repairers lien act, but this seems to apply mostly to cars, boats and planes. What are the repairers obligations? What are mine? What should be my next course of action?


texts: Can information about a drug - trade name, interactions, etc. - be copyright protected?

texts: Can information about a drug, like its trade name, interactions, pharmacokinetics, etc., be copyright protected, or is the information free for use in a commercial sense?


texts: Is it legal to resell a McDonald's Big Mac?

texts:
Or any other meal from McDonald's.
Reselling as in I buy it and resell it without telling the buyer it's from McDonald's.


texts: How can huge company mergers that kill all competition be legal?

texts:
Disclaimer: I'm a programmer/electrical engineer and therefore a complete novice to law.

My question is: how can mergers of direct competitors, each already having a dominant market oligopoly, be legal?

The trend in the electronic industry the recent years has been that two huge, multi-national companies that are each other's direct competitors, with little or no other competition, have merged into one. Some notable examples:

Infinion acquires International Rectifier. Both companies specialized in advanced MOSFET circuits with barely any other competitors existing in the whole world. They now have close to monopoly on these kind of circuits. You find these circuits in every modern car.
Microchip acquires Atmel. Both companies were direct and fierce competitors in the market of cheap, small microcontrollers. They were the only two companies in the world that profiled themselves as having beginner-friendly, easy to use microcontrollers and so they have been competing over the very same kind of customers for the past 30 years or so. There is barely any competition left at all on that market now.
NXP acquires Freescale. The companies had many overlaps and were competitors in many areas, particularly in microcontrollers and automotive electronics. These two companies branched out from Phillips and Motorola respectively, roughly at the same time, some 15 years ago. Since then they had the same owners. NXP now got a different owner Qualcomm, at the same time as the merger. Qualcomm being another of these huge companies, but with a focus on telecom electronics, where they in turn have close to monopoly. So essentially this is 3 companies merging into 1.

There are many more examples. ON Semi acquires Fairchild, Analog Devices acquires Linear Technology and so on. All in the past 1-2 years. It is the same story over and over, two huge multi-national companies that are direct competitors, with little or no other competition, merge into one. Imagine Microsoft and Google merging and you get the idea.

The nature of their products - advanced electronic components - is such that barely anyone can start up a competing company, as they would need to do massive investments in R&D, head-hunt all staff from the existing companies and possibly also make massive investments in production lines. Because of this steep threshold to enter the market, there has traditionally only been around 20 companies like this in the world, making 99% of the world's advanced electronic components.

I take it that these mergers must have been approved by authorities in USA and Europe etc. Are there no laws regulating this? If there are, how do these companies manage to repeatedly dodge such laws world-wide?


texts: Why did the EPA/NHSTA decide on 1.5% FE/CO2 increases for LDV and light trucks in its final SAFE ruling?

texts: In their final ruling, the EPA/NHSTA settled on alternative #3, where LDV (light duty vehicles)/light trucks are required to increase their fuel economy and reduce CO2 by 1.5% per year. There are 8 total alternatives, plus the base case proposed by Obama administration in 2011. The document is nearly 2,000 pages. I have read a lot of it. What I can't understand is their rationale for choosing alternative 3. They spend a ton of time discussing and showing charts, but the charts don't point to alternative 3 being the best! See the summary of the charts below. Does anyone know where in the document I can find an explanation of this? A "alternative 3 does not have the highest net benefits but it was chosen anyway because..." is the sort of thing I am looking for. They seem to just display the information and then assert that they have chosen alternative 3.


texts: By what mechanism does a parent company control its subsidiary?

texts:
Company B is a fully-owned subsidiary of Company A, a huge international conglomerate.
All the employees of Company B are in the orgchart of Company A, all under Company B's CEO. That CEO's boss is a regional manager at Company A, who is a few steps away on the orgchart from Company A's CEO. The two companies mostly function as one unit, using the same facilities, including the same email domain and other organizational tools.
The situation I described above applies to many tech companies, many of which are a federation of small fully-owned subsidiaries.
My question is: By what mechanism does Company A tell Company B what to do? Obviously Company A owns all the shares to Company B, but the decisions it makes are more involved than ones made by typical stockholders, like electing a CEO or approving the yearly report. The CEO of Company B follows the plans created by his "superiors" in Company A, who determine his day-to-day priorities. But... They're not really his superiors. They work for his shareholders.
What mechanism do the executives from Company A use to control Company B? What recourse does the CEO of Company B have to refuse the orders of the executives from Company A?


texts: I like to make video games and I figured I might as well make some money off of it. The problem with it is I have no idea how to get a copyright on my games before I start selling them. How would I do this? (Just comment if I need to specify anything else or if this is the wrong site.)


texts: Are cops required by law to have "reasonable suspicion" in order to detain a person? If so, do they have to inform the detainee about the suspicion?

texts:
I was stopped while cycling on hwy 59 in Texas,  about 50 miles south of Huston.

Officer started asking me questions about my travels.
I asked: "Have I done anything illegal?
Officer: "No, but I need your ID"
I: Am I being detained?
Officer: No.
I: Am I free to go?
Officer: Hmm.. No.
I: Do you not have to have a "reasonable suspicion" to detein me?
Officer: No, I do not. I need to know who you are. What if a truck passes you by, and the wind draft pushes you into the ditch and you die. We need to know who to send the body to.

I thought he was joking, and I started to walk away. Then another officer (ID 13378) came and said I had to show ID or he will arrest me.

I gave him my ID and I was on my way quickly.

My question is: Did the cops act illegally in any way there? Do they or do they not have to have a reasonable suspicion to detain people on the road?
I love cycling my way to wherever I need to go. I comply even with what I consider illegal requests from cops, but it is getting aggravating after too many encounters.

I wrote a few emails to the state, but no answer

Edit:

I tried ACLU and same, no answer, no reply. I tried to simply tell cops "NO, it's not ok" and I got arrested for obstructing an officer (I have a question about it here ) I tried cycling south of the US-MX border. That seems to have worked great :)

If the answer is "no, the cops are not required to tell the detainee the reason for stoping" (which is counter intuitive), can someone back that up with an actual law or case law please?


texts: Landlord agreed to dog, but property management said no. What can I do?

texts: I asked my landlord if I could keep a small dog in the apartment for therapeutic reasons. I struggle with depression, anxiety and ptsd and felt a dog could provide emotional support.


texts:
How does a "direct appeal" work? My understanding is that a direct appeal happens when the defendant, now called an appellant, appeals to a higher court or the highest court in the State, to override judgement for conviction or sentence from a trial court.

But how does that work? What are the documents or procedures needed to do this type of appeal?

Also, since this type of appeal is based on your conviction and sentence, does that mean you must have gone to trial, and lost, in order to file this type of appeal? Can you plea guilty and be "convicted", then proceed to this type of appeal?

Now, for example, say one were to file a motion to dismiss a criminal case, and the court refuses/rejects/denies whatever grounds and arguments you've brought up. How does one appeal that order that denies a dismissal?

Since the denial for dismissal is actually counted as a "Final judgement or decision", would it still be called a direct appeal if you were to pursue an appeal to grant the dismissal? You aren't yet convicted, pleaded, or have gone to trial.


texts: Is there a licensing recourse to recycling a riff?

texts:
I don't mean covering a song and making a few changes to the arrangement; there are mechanical licenses for that. I don't mean sampling, because this involves recording, and I'm thinking of playing the notes on one's own instrument.
I mean taking just a riff and doing something completely different than what the original artist did; if it were a cover, it would almost be unrecognizable. I mean the equivalent of doing what Chopin did when he took this Beethoven piece and made it into this beauty  (and these will take fewer than four minutes if you listen to them one after another, so please do). What legal recourse do I have if I want to do that?


texts: Is it legal to translate an article without author's' permission

texts:
There many articles in the web

if I translate an article to another language and put it in another website (with mentioning the source)

will it be illegal to do that?

Do I need author's permission before doing that?


texts: Any evidence of cases in the United States where tenant won quiet enjoyment suit?

texts:
Are there any cases won on the grounds of quiet enjoyment where a tenant whose life was being disrupted by another tenant or the other tenants' guests? Or are there any cases regardless of circumstances in case law regarding quiet enjoyment that ended up in a favorable outcome for a tenant?

I have had my quiet enjoyment violated a couple of times as a tenant throughout my life and yet, unless they are violating a state law in general, I don't see why quiet enjoyment is even mentioned or exists as it does not exist as de jure nor de facto.

Also, if the agreement is between landlord-tenant, how does one prove the landlord is at fault for another tenant?

Could you make the argument that their change in visitor policy is the problem? For example, if the new policy says, hey as long as the visitor has a permit parking pass we consider them okay to be on premises indefinitely, whereas perhaps before the policy was a visitor must register and they must be there no more than 72 hours or 3-day visit.

The quiet enjoyment seems like more of a social contract, but when that social contract breaks down, either between landlord-tenant or tenant-tenant, if the circumstances are not illegal, nothing becomes of that breakdown.

So my past and present experience has shown me, its quiet enjoyment violation if and when a local, property or state law has also been violated, otherwise, its your problem and civil suits are fraught as someone once said.


texts: What does it mean to resolve disputes with arbitration and mediation? I understand that they're alternatives to going to court, but how can companies or individuals enforce this with contracts? What I mean is, if it's always a cheaper and faster than going to court, why would someone not want? Also it's my understanding it's unenforceable to have a person not go to court e.g. a term is invalid if it says a party can't go to court, so how can companies like IBM force it's employees to agree to arbitration? Is it to dissuade them from a full process in the sense they have to go to arbitration before going to court?


texts: Licencing software programs, and dealing with violations of the license

texts:
What can a programmer do once they found that someone has violated the terms of a software license for software that they have written?

I know there are companies (Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk) that have entire teams looking for people and companies that are using their software illegally, but this is not something a programmer or a small company would have the funds for.
These companies also have everything disclosed in their end user agreement and the fines are really high.

If a freelance programmer found out his client was using the software illegally (maybe they allow access to more users then they are allowed), what can they do?


texts: Removal of Content under creative commons

texts:
I wrote content for 2 years on a website licensed under creative commons license CC-SA-BY 3.0. The community has become increasingly toxic and abusive and I no longer wished to be affiliated with the project. Upon requesting that my content be removed from the site the admin refused claiming that it was community property, before the owner claimed that I didnt write it and that he can do anything he wants with it according to creative commons.

Is there legal action I can take to have my content removed from the site? I have drafts to prove that I am in fact the original author.


texts: Copyright Status of IP After Retroactive Move to Public Domain by Content Hoster

texts:
Suppose I post a piece of intellectual property (e.g. an essay or picture) to an Internet forum.  The forum has no explicit licensing policy; therefore I assume my work is under copyright.

One year later, the forum updates their policy, stating that all existing posts without explicit licenses attached are considered to be public domain.  If you do not assent to this, you may add a license or remove your content.  I do neither.

When does my work enter public domain, if indeed it does at all?

My guess is that, after a certain point, my content is now public domain (I've voluntarily, implicitly, ceded my copyright, yes?).  However, I would also expect that there would be a legally required grace period for me to remove my content before that happens (if so, how long is it)?


texts: Can I file a DMCA takedown notice for a derivative book I made without authorization of the author which was published on the internet by my students?

texts: I made a summary book of a larger book and I provided it to my students six years ago. This derivative book has my name on it and was made without authorization of the editorial of the original book. It was not my intention to sell or profit from this, I wanted to provide my students with a summary of the important topics. I recently realized they published the document in websites like slideshare. I do not want the editorial to realize there is a derivative work online made without they authorization. Can I file a DMCA notice on my name, even if the document is not even registered legally on my name?


texts: How common is it for bills to be introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate?

texts:
Five bills are mentioned in this report. Two of them, H.R. 2422 and S. 829, are very similar and appear to be applicable to the same situations (though I can not find the full text of the latter), with the only difference being that the former was introduced in the House of Representatives, and the latter was introduced in the Senate. As of the report's publication, both were pending legislation in the 109th Congress.

Is it common for similar - if not identical - bills to be introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate at the same time? Why is this done?


texts:
Can a fast food place like Wendy's, charge for refills at whatever price they want, without having any form of notice
or pricing on their screen menus?


texts: What legal visitation rights do grandparents have with their grandchildren?

texts:
Upstate NY, USA here.

What legal visitation (and other) rights do grandparents have with their minority (< 18) grandchildren?

If a parent does not want their child to have a relationship with the child's grandparents, can the grandparents sue/petition for certain visitation rights?


texts: I read on the internet that one can sell, online, less than 25 troy ounces of  gold Maple Leaf coins without reporting the sale to the IRS. Is this true? Is this over a calendar year?


texts: In the United States how can a federal agency constitutionally regulate aviation?

texts:
The Federal Aviation Administration is a federal agency with the authority to regulate all civil aviation in the United States, including flights over state rather than federal territory. How is the federal government able to regulate aviation over state territory? The Constitution says nothing about aviation. (Obviously the original Constitution is going to be silent on the issue, but there haven't been any amendments regarding aviation.)

The interstate commerce clause of the Constitution probably does give the federal government the ability to regulate commercial, and maybe even private, flights between multiple states. But how is the FAA able to regulate small manned flights that never travel out of state, or drone/unmanned aerial vehicle flights that almost always stay within the borders of a single state (the latter seeing a lot of new rules lately)?

And also, how can Congress require TSA checkpoints to be located at major airports? (Or is the TSA knowingly unconstitutional, created as an emergency response to 9/11 on the grounds that 'the Constitution is not a suicide pact'?)


texts: Copyright for image for custom-design bank card

texts:
I noticed my bank's offer for a custom-design credit cards and so I decided to create a fancy card with an artwork from a movie (My Neighbour Totoro to be precise). The bank however wouldn't agree to accept anything that can have even a small chance of being copyright protected and the artwork was rejected. So I got a crazy idea of contacting the copyright holder and kindly asking him if I could make this happen because I doesn't feel I'm actually stealing any profit with it; nor do I earn something (sorry for being so down-to-earth here - I'm not a law guy at all).

Question

Before digging deeper into it just wanted to ask for an advice, if it's actually worth it? I.e. maybe there are regulations/laws that won't let any sane copyright holder to do so (e.g. AFAIK bank cards are the bank's property meaning the rights for the artwork should be granted to bank and not by me)? And in general, is it even possible to get a personal clearance from a copyright holder for one single artwork?

ps: the bank is an Estonian branch of a Swedish one.


texts: I want a name that creates a reaction from the public. At the beach they have a seafood place called Dirty Dicks. When I left the beach that name stuck with me. How far can I go to having a profane name to my store? Are there any limits on what I can call my store?


texts: Can residential/custodial parent change our kids health insurance unilaterally?

texts:
We have a parenting plan that designates all health decisions as "jointly made." The other parent previously had our child on their employer insurance plan. They just changed jobs and hence insurance plans, and simply informed me that our child will be on a new plan, far more costly than the last, and that I am obligated to pay my share of the increased premium cost as an "uninsured medical expense" that we are indeed obligated to share under our parenting plan.

I'm mostly concerned with whether the other parent can make this decision without consultation/agreement. They maintain that since they already have child on their insurance, they can make this change without consultation, and that "joint decision making" on health issues only applies to health care and not insurance.

I simply maintain that when a significant change or action takes place related to health, the decision needs to be jointly made.

Jurisdiction is Washington State.


texts: What did SCOTUS signify by 'metaphysical doubt'?

texts:
Legal Writing in Plain English (2nd edn, 2013). po. 214 Bottom - 215 Top. Link to old edition.

  If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not sufficiently probative, summary
  judgment is proper.29 As the Supreme Court has made clear, a nonmovant cannot

  raise a genuine fact issue merely by showing "some metaphysical doubt" about the
  facts.30 If the record as a whole could not lead a rational fact-finder to decide for the
  nonmovant, then no genuine fact issue remains for trial.31 As this Court has observed,
  summary judgment "affords a merciful end to litigation that would otherwise be
  lengthy and expensive."32

  30 Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586; see also Little v. Liquid Air Carp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir. 1994) (en banc).

The relevant para. beneath from Matsushita, doesn't explain this term though, which (I divine) signifies something else than the signification in philosophy?

  Second, the issue of fact must be "genuine."  Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. 56(c), (e).  When the moving party has carried its burden under Rule 56(c), [Footnote 12] its opponent must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.  See DeLuca v. Atlantic Refining Co., 176 F.2d 421, 423 (CA2 1949) (L. Hand, J.), cert. denied, 338 U.S. 943 (1950); 10A C. Wright, A. Miller, & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2727 (1983); Clark, Special Problems


texts:
If something is "generic" then there can be a copyright question. Is it easy to know what is "generic" and what is copyright, for example an innovation can't be "generic" and have a copyright iiuc.

For example, if I make a website and then somebody sues me and says the code belongs to them, then they must prove that the code is not "generic" to have a copyright, unless it was already proven that the code had a copyright.

Did I understand correctly? This is not an actual case, I'm wondering what I can expect to claim copyright on for myself and others.

In my language we say "height of technology" e g that you must prove a "technology" to claim a copyright or a patent, but maybe the question is only about legal formalism since you can get copyright on almost anything (well maybe not code like "Hello World!").


texts:
I am a college passout student who is doing his internship in a company for 3 month and was in need of a place to stay for this period.

I took shelter in a private hostel where I was made to sign a form and fill only the basic details by the hostel owner (I did not write any date of leaving there). He charged me ₹8000 as caution money(refundable and mentioned in the bill) and ₹7000 as rent amount.

After 3 months approx, now I plan to move out of the hostel to, but the owner refuses to return the caution money and apart from that harasses me daily to pay the fees for the current month. I had not written the date of leaving on the form but it was later filled by himself as per his wish. Now he wants me to pay for the next month or leave the hostel without refunding the caution money (As the form states a date later than the period in which I am leaving). I am tortured daily for this and am planning to seek help. Please guide me what should I do and how am I protected under the law by such frauds.


texts: Is it illegal to print a copy of an out of print book for personal use?

texts:
I am in need of paper manuals for D&D 3.5e because using digital versions and websites has proven to be problematic: websites are mostly in english so I have to translate everything in Italian (most of the people I play with don't know english).
It would also be far better to have them on paper so I can scribble, highlight, take notes on them, stick post-its etc., saving bookmarks on a laptop and having 3 digital notepads (and 2-3 paper ones) open at the same time while playing isn't comfortable nor efficient.

The problem is italian manuals have been out of print for at least 8 years (maybe even 10), I looked for used copies online but they are way too expensive (haven't seen one for less than 150/200€)

Therefore I'm considering having them printed professionally on good quality paper, but I am wondering: is it illegal to do it?


texts: Is it illegal to make a truthful statement about a fictitious ingredient?

texts:
Let's say that a company is selling a moisturizing cream with the "stuffase-free" marketing argument on its face label.

The cream indeed doesn't contains stuffase, but the label is implicitly implying that:

other creams may contain stuffase (which is false in most cases)
stuffase is bad for your health (which is either false or true but irrelevant since it is not found anywhere)

This question applies for following variations:

stuffase doesn't even exist,
stuffase exists but its effect on health is currently unknown,
stuffase exists but is thought to be safe for most humans' health

Since nothing is explicitely false in this speech, I'm wondering, is it illegal somewhere (World/Europe/France/US)?


texts:
Can an NDA require you to not only not tell anyone about your signing of it, but also to obscure any implication of your having signed it?
For example, from these comments from this question:

"The NDA will let you know whether you're allowed to disclose that you've signed it or not." – Lilienthal 9 hours ago
Without context, "The NDA will let you know..." is rather amusing. "Did you sign an NDA with company A?", "I am unable to discuss that" "How about company B?" "No" – DoubleDouble 7 hours ago

In this case, could the NDA of company A, be worded so that you'd also have to answer "I am unable to discuss that" for "How about company B?"?


texts: An individual drives into an apartment complex, of which they do not reside, and adds an item to the recycling bin. This occurance is hypothetically during COVID-19, during Washington's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Safe". Are there legal grounds to punish?


texts: Can a screenshot from a Youtube (standard license) video be used on Wikipedia?

texts:
Regarding images, Wikipedia requires either the approval of the owner or to have a license which allows free usage.

Does the "Standard Youtube License" allow to use a screenshot or "frame capture" of a video on Wikipedia? If not, would the approval from the creator be enough?


texts: Can the buyer's salesperson receive commission directly from a private seller?

texts:
Imagine a private seller wants to save money by not hiring an agent, but is willing to pay some amount to a potential buyer's agent to seal the deal.
In the described situation can the buyer's salesperson receive the commission directly or they should have the seller to write a cheque or something under the brokerage's name and then get their share from the brokerage after the brokerage has taken their portion?


texts: Is it possible to collect damages for free content?

texts: Some content, especially online, is freely available, such as many pictures, Creative Commons content, and video game modifications. If the creator never makes any money from selling said content, is it still possible for him to collect statutory damages upon copyright infringement? It would seem that actual damages would be $0, and so not possible to collect.


texts: Is there a legal definition of maintaining another (paying maintenance) in English law?

texts:
In the legislation for Inheritance (Provision for Dependants) Act 1975 it states that "any person (not being a person included in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection) who immediately before the death of the deceased was being maintained, either wholly or partly, by the deceased" can claim under the Act.
If a couple are both earning a similar amount of money and have no dependent children could it reasonably be argued that one maintains the other if they share household bills? It is being alleged that a family member maintained his partner by paying half of the rent and utilities, but I do not believe this is really maintenance.
Just because one member of the couple has the monthly payments set up to come from their account and the other person reimburses them for their fair share, surely this is not maintaining them? To draw a parallel, if a group of 5 people go out for dinner and one pays the full bill on their credit card with the others reimbursing that person 1/5 each, are any of them maintaining the payee? Surely not.


texts: Would a confession obtained via Wonder Woman's Magic Lasso be admissible in US court, or any court?

texts:
There's a scene in Justice League (the movie from 2017) where a policewoman is taking down the stories of three criminals who are wrapped in in Wonder Woman's magic Lasso.

The Lasso does a couple of things:

Anything anyone who is touching the lasso says is true.
It compels anyone touching the lasso to speak.
And it also seems to compel this speech to be relevant. (Isn't magic useful?)

So a person bound by the lasso can't stay silent, or go on a rant about how Superman is wearing his underwear on the outside.

It seems to me that this sort of thing violates a person's 5th amendment right to stay silent. However, this question (ironically about masked vigilantes), asserts that a person's 4th amendment rights cannot in general be violated by a private citizen.

It seems to me that this should also apply to the 5th amendment, and I would find it hard to believe that Wonder Woman would be described as anything other than a private citizen.

Is the confession under the lasso admissible, or is it a violation of 5th amendment rights?

I'm definitely interested in US jurisdictions, but if you live somewhere else, I'd be interested to hear how the issue would be handled there.

EDIT:

As suggested by user6276 in the comments, it's quite possible that Wonder Woman is a deputized in some fashion, since she has various special immunities. It seems to me that if this is the case then the confession could not possibly be admitted (as a violation of 5th amendment rights). Feel free to let me know if that's wrong.


texts: Is it possible to "fix" copyright infringement by deleting the "infringing" part?

texts:
Two Live Crew was sued by the holders of Roy Orbison's copyright for their version of "Pretty Woman." Titles are not copyrightable, so the basis for this suit was the copied first line: "Pretty woman walking down the street." (The rest of the two songs were very different.)

"Crew" had a "parody" defense for using the first line. But suppose they didn't. Could they fix the problem by e.g. changing the infringing first line to something like "Pretty woman running through the park?"


texts: Is an exclusivity contract valid when applied over specific regions

texts:
I got offered a job which I accepted and had to sign an exclusivity contract.

This contract is inside a confidentiality contract and it says that I cannot work for anyone else on the island of Montreal and anywhere north of it.

Is this restriction valid or is it not specific enough to be correctly applied?

I live in the province of Quebec, Canada.


texts: Can my company get into legal trouble for employees using custom Slack emoji icons of copyrighted material?

texts:
My workplace allowed employees to add custom Slack emojis and as expected they went nuts and added thousands of awesome emojis. Mostly memes like party parrot, suspicious raptor and such. Some of these have origins from copyrighted material. The most clear would be a sports team logo.

Is there any real legal concern here?


texts: How many times compassionate appointment can be given to a family

texts:
In a family the husband who was a Group-D in Department of Posts, India died while in service. His wife claimed compassionate appointment and the Department has appointed the wife under compassionate ground. Subsequently the wife also has died while in service.

Now the question is whether any of the remaining dependent members of the said family is entitled for compassionate appointment if having requisite qualification and fulfilling the financial criteria etc.


texts: What would be considered as a true threat?

texts:
What is considered to be as a true threat?

Let's say that there is a person who said to someone else "You deserve to die... Watch your back, I'm coming for you." which becomes an issue in court.

On what grounds and argument would the Prosecution use to argue that this was a true threat and what grounds or argument would the defense argue that this was not a true threat?


texts: Can I refuse to refund a client/friend if they didn't give me access to their website to honour a warranty?

texts:
This concerns UK law.

Last autumn I made some minor alterations to the website of a business owned by a friend, adding their contact info next to the logo in the header of the webpage. I'm fairly new to the whole freelance thing, it's not something I wanted to do but I wanted to be paid for the work that they would essentially be using to profit from (clients would be calling them for work and would use this contact info that I put in the heading for them) and by extension to deter them from trying to use a friend for free labour as given previous things I'd done for them I was concerned it was going to happen. We agreed on an hourly rate, I did the work as requested (and then some that I wasn't originally asked about) and they were happy with the work done. As a kind gesture, I didn't actually charge for this extra work but that's kinda irrelevant.

About two months ago I was on the website while talking with them over the phone (I can't remember what exactly we were talking about or whether it was related to some more work nor not). Considering it was work for a friend (and me being new to the whole "freelance" thing) I didn't put anything in writing, however, I told them if for whatever reason something broke as a result of my code, I'd fix it for them. I'd noticed the work I'd originally done had disappeared and asked them about it, and they asked me to fix it "as per the warranty". I was sure that I only had offered a 30-day warranty (which made it out of warranty), however, they insisted it was 3 months (just about still in warranty). I genuinely can't remember, and I think that the code wouldn't just disappear like that unless someone tried to change it and screwed up. I wasn't in the mood to argue so offered to fix it regardless. The friend knew I was going away a week later as he was supposed to be coming (he didn't in the end). I did try to do work on the site while I was away but had trouble even connecting to it being abroad as I was using mobile data (roaming) though my smartphone as a mobile hotspot, which was practically unusable (Wi-Fi was of similar quality), although I don't feel like I should have to work while on holiday (I literally took the holiday to have a break from work (my day job)).

I had returned to work three weeks after the original request. I'd initially forgot I'd deleted their login information shortly after the work was completed, and when I realised I needed them again I asked them for it. I didn't get a response. A few days later the friend decided he wanted a refund.

I was willing to fix the issue, and still am willing to fix it, however without the access that they need to give to me to honour this warranty I cannot do anything. I'm comparing this to not RMA-ing goods for repair and demanding a refund because they haven't fixed it. Are these situations equal? Can I refuse the refund?

Any additional information I can provide if needed. I'd be really grateful for the advice.


texts: Of how much consequence are preambles in national international and state constitutions?

texts: Are there many cases where the content of a preamble has been decisive?  Or are the preambles mostly for show?


texts: How is responsibility fixed in a matter of mobile phone misuse, when multiple persons have been using the device?

texts:
This question involves a situation where somebody might possibly be misusing a relative's mobile phone to discreetly engage in some questionable online activity.

Sharing of mobile devices is still common here in India and is quite the accepted practice in many offices and families.

A sim card registered to my friend A is currently used not by her, but other family members including her mother for various routine tasks including online shopping and email, and by her brother B who is the primary user, mainly for internet browsing and listening to music. His cousin C (father's brother's son) also "borrows" the phone regularly, which is impossible to refuse without offending close relatives in this joint family.

Cousin C is a college student who has recently fallen in with bad company and my friend B is now apprehensive that his cousin  may be misusing the device to engage in some questionable online activities, being cunning enough to avoid directly exposing his own name, mobile number or email id. He might be doing this using either browsers or simple sms, which do not record which person is actually making use of the mobile device.

I have strongly advised B not to allow the cousin any further access to the phone, even at risk of unpleasantness within the family, but if his cousin had already infringed the law (strictly hypothetical, since we have no proof he has done so) will the responsibility fall upon my friend A solely for being the registered owner of the sim, or upon her brother B for being the primary user, when there is no other indication that either of them have actually participated in such an activity? Specifically, how can A and B defend themselves without blaming C when there is no conclusive evidence against any one of them being the guilty party?

Research done: I have tried to take advice from various websites devoted to questions on Indian law such as those listed in ask law india google search
but found that most of them will only answer to an actual legal problem and refuse to allow such hypothetical or 'academic' questions, unlike Law Stack Exchange.


texts:
So I am moving to another state (pooler, Ga.) and I need to enroll
My son into school. I would need to provide proof of residency
But I will be staying with my mother in law until I get more familiar
With the city and find myself and my children a home of our own. What can I do to provide proof of where I’m living ?


texts: Liability and Responsibility what is the importance of the distinction in common Law

texts:
In Civil Law( legal system) there is no distinction between Liability and Responsibility.

One can only seek(judicially) the cessation of an illegal act if they have suffered damages.

One can only claim someone is Liable before the tribunal and not Responsible(they can't go to court unless they have been damaged).

What is the importance( in Common Law) of the provision of Responsibility distinct from Liability and enabling people to seek the cessation of an illegal act even if they have not been damaged?

Who would go to court if they have not been damaged? Are they simply busyjobs and vigilantes?


texts: To what extent does copyright protect software functionality?

texts:
Suppose I see an innovative piece of (commercial) software that delivers considerable, non-trivial functionality.

Can I re-implement it?  Suppose I study it carefully, work out what it does and how it does it, and then write my own software to do the same thing.  I haven't (knowingly) copied any specific part of that system, but I have replicated the system as a whole ...its design.  So have I infringed the copyright of the original system?

Consider the possibility of translating a Harry Potter novel into French.  If I change the names, I could produce a text that didn't contain a single word of Rowling's original. But I believe that doing so would infring Rowling's copyright.  What is the situation with software?


texts: Does Trump's sanction on Huawei include Open Source US products, like Linux kernel & RISC-V? Does this ban effect Huawei's membership there?

texts:
Trump has banned US companies from trading with Huawei.

Does this ban include US non-profit organizations, such as the Linux Foundation and RISC-V foundation ?  Huawei is a paid member of those foundations, so does this ban effect Huawei's membership in those Foundations ?

EDIT: If Huawei is barred from trading with Linux & RISC-V Foundations, then China may have to start it's own Open Source training center. Note that, Linux training & certifications are done by US-based Linux Foundation for a fee. Another example is, Blender training & certification program, which based in Netherlands, but may loose US trade license if it trades with Huawei.


texts:
During the covid pandemic, I requested to work from home due to my kids being out of school. I was told that I would need a laptop In able to work from home. My manager told me that when I got the laptop I would be able to be set up to work from home. About a week later after going from store to store searching for a laptop.which were sold Out due to more people Working from home I finally found one and purchased it. After I informed my manager that I now have a laptop she told me to get set up with IS and the front desk lead to work from home. I proceeded to do both which I took the rest of the day doing some training with a front desk person.when getting set up with is took about two weeks and I still was not successful due to underlying requirements that I was not aware of. I constantly had to put ticket after ticket request in in order to even download the app to my computer. The last call I made to IS they finally told me what the problem was and he informed me that I was to hav training through learning links in able to have access, he informed me that he would still put in a token requested but my manager would have to approve it. I went to inform my manager of this and she told me just to report to work the next day but I was already taken off the schedule to work from home. My only baby sitter is now returning back to work due to the fact that I was approved to
Work from home and after months of me battling, trying to manage with not leaving my job is to find a sitter which my luck is now running out. I explained everything of this with childcare to my manager and she agreed to let me work from home. She even took my off the schedule which I Have proof of also messages and emails getting me set up to work from home. So yesterday morning I looked at my email to see if it was approved, the request said rejected. I then saw my manager and she said that she had to speak with me, once we spoke she didn’t even mention the fact that I was not approved and I have to report to work the next day. I had to mention it to her, what she said she had to speak with me about was totally different from the fact that she denied me to work from home. Her reason was because I had to do 4 days of training and she couldn’t afford for me to be out of work for four days .... but she already took me off Te schedule and it’s been two days now and people are covering me the days I was suppose to be off..... so how does she not have coverage if everyday I come in and see that an extra staff is here to cover me .....after me purchasing a laptop and going through everything I had to
Go through just to be turned down even after being taken off the schedule. I’m pregnant and I’ve been crying every since because it’s depressing to me that I now have to possibly quit my job because I can’t battle with having a sitter anymore. Do I have a right to sue them for renege/false promises?


texts: Can the goverment force me to decrypt a hard-drive in Norway?

texts:
I have very little knowledge about the Norwegian laws and the cryptography parts of it.

Suppose the police seize my computer and all my hard-drives on suspicion that I have pirated software.  All of my drives are encrypted with BitLocker. Can they force me to provide a decryption key? What would consequences be of refusing to provide it?


texts: Who is responsible for Refunding the customer in Australia with Download Codes

texts:
In Australia, Australian Consumer Law dictates that within reason Australian Customers are entitled to refunds which Steam/Valve got into trouble by refusing.

A while back i went to buy Warhammer 40k but i couldn't play it because it required an internet connection despite  me using a single player campaign, so I took it back and got a refund (after successfully arguing that the package did not state that a net connection was required for single player which had no social connectivity to it, and that the packaging can be interpreted as referring only to the online mode).

However, imagine I brought the same game but as a Download Code from EB (a games shop and online retailer) and used it on Steam and was unable to play it because I need an internet connection for the single player campaign (despite needing the net to download it I am able to play The Ship in Steam just fine without a net connection).

Does the Australian Consumer Law entitle me to a refund? If so who do i inquire to to get my refund? Steam/Valve or EB Games

NOTE: Steam has the power to remove my game from the library but EB doesn't, however it was EB which I paid for the game not Steam.


texts: What is the difference between "controlled substance" and "needing a prescription"?

texts:
I was prescribed a medication. The doctor said it was not a controlled substance. Why did he write a prescription? If it's not controlled couldn't I just go to the pharmacist and ask for the medication? It is not a common medication and obviously something you would only get from a pharmacist. I practically don't see getting the medication without going through a doctor.

The only thing I could see is health insurance only covering it if it's prescribed. In that case, could I ask him to prescribe me Tylenol to have my insurance pay for it?

Or is controlled just an extra layer of prescription?


texts: Is an e-bike without pedals considered a bike? (in Europe)

texts:
I'm interested in ordering this product: Smacircle S1: The eBike That Fits In Your Backpack. This link is only for the purpose of explanation.

I am trying to figure it out if in Europe (EU regulations) this will be considered an e-bike or a motorbike?

Specifically:

the possibility of bringing it on flight (also in terms of battery)
driving it without helmet and/or license
other regulations involved


texts: Could the Holocaust legally happen in modern day Canada?

texts:
I was thinking about the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and it seems that it has the disturbing implication that allows arbitrarily bad abuses of government power, up to and including the scale of the Holocaust.

If Parliament passed some legislation stating that all Jews shall be imprisoned and executed, notwithstanding sections 2, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 15 of the Charter, would it be legal for the government to round up all the Jews, send them to concentration camps, and gas them as in the Holocaust?

Short of revolution, is there any mechanism to prevent this? As far as I know (but I'm not certain at all) the Charter is the only portion of the Canadian constitution that deals with human rights, and if the notwithstanding clause is invoked, such legislation would be constitutional and could not be struck down by the courts. Furthermore, as far as I know, Canadians cannot recall their MPs, so it would not be possible to remove the MPs who support such legislation until the next election, which could be up to 4 years away.


texts: Is it lawful for a police officer to order you to put down your baby and submit to arrest?

texts:
Are you required to comply with a police officer's order to put your baby down in an uncertain situation and allow yourself to be handcuffed?

I am thinking of the recent incident in Phoenix. Although I could not watch the whole video, I am told that at one point, the officer ordered the mother to put her baby down. I can't imagine Mom was able to think about the law at that point, but it made me wonder: is there any scenario where it's legal for an officer to make that demand?

Why it's not a duplicate:

The other question to which this seems to be a duplicate is a broader question. The answers addressed personal rights: consent to search, right to remain silent, and broader subjects. None of these apply--nor can they be extended to apply--to my specific question.


texts: When we are calculating the cost for implementing a new web application, should we have separate cost for providing the source code to the client

texts:
I am working on a new asp.net core MVC web application as an out sourced senior software developer/architecture. now i did many requirements gathering sessions with the client, and i came our with a detailed requirement and design document, which have been singed by the client. then i break-down the document into tasks and i calculated the total effort for designing,developing,testing and hosting the web application, something as follow:

Database creation and Design. 50 hours + cost 4,000 USD.
Developing user registration and profile creation. 10 hours + cost 8,00 USD.
Developing transaction workflow. 200 hours + cost 16,000 USD.
tasks for development and hosting and UAT goes on...
Final. 500 hours + cost 40,000 USD.

so the above cover the full implementation time and cost for the project. but should this covers by defualt giving the client the application source code? or this is not necessary ? and if our client need/ask the source code then we can separately provide costing for it? Now inside the contract we did not mention anything about transferring the source code, currently we only include that there will be UAT sessions to deliver the system + 1 year warranty to cover bugs + 10% plus or minus variation/changes based on the singed requirement and design document. but we did not include any thing about delivering the source code to the client.. so should we do so? and is it normal to charge the client extra money for delivering the source code (let say 20% of the total price), beyond the implementation time in our case (500 hours/40,000USD)?


texts: Usage of Images of Google Images for commercial purposes (print)

texts:
I want to open a service for people to print portrait images of people they are inspired by. Musicians, scientists, people  such as Einstein, Mozart, etc.

What are the legal concerns of using images of Google Images and how can I find images which can be legally used for this purpose?


texts: In the US, when and how must police identify themselves during an arrest? What are the remedies?

texts:
When and in what manner must police officers identify themselves during an arrest such that a charge of resisting arrest could be sustained against the arrestee in the case that they resist the detention?

If there are requirements for identification, what are the remedies in the case where the police fail to satisfy those requirements during an arrest? Would evidence found during search subsequent to the arrest be subject to an exclusionary rule?

If there is a requirement stemming from the US constitution, is that requirement (or remedies) materially enhanced by any federal statute, state statute, or state constitutions?


texts: Why are documentary crews allowed to be a party to illegal activity?

texts:
I was recently watching a documentary that was about underground firearms trade. The crew found themselves in the Philippines where Colt .45 1911 knockoffs were being manufactured and stamped with seals and phony serial numbers, and in Oakland California where those firearms were sold to an underground dealer, and in Mexico and Guatemala where the Oakland dealer sells firearms that have been used in a crime in the usa.

The crew was surely witness to many crimes and knew the identities of the perpetrators. Just from the documentary I saw possession of illegal firearms, possession of drugs, sale of illegal firearms, and numerous others. I'm not sure, but the video leaves you with the impression that the crew may have also witnessed assault, battery, robbery, and maybe even murder.

These are serious offenses that you would otherwise be legally required to testify to, but film crews seem to get a pass. To what extent does that exemption go? Are all crimes witnessed exempt or just some? What about special interviews with wanted criminals? They get a pass too?

Maybe too much for this question, but what is the historical basis and reasoning for this allowance? I cannot think of any and it seems to me that people (producers of this content) stand to profit from these crimes, which I think is also a crime. What makes what they are doing exempt from prosecution?


texts:
My partner and I created a pre-employment testing website. Users come to our site, pick and choose questions they like from our library and then invite their candidates to take the test.

We (owners of the website) own the copyright to questions in our library. We would now like to limit/reduce/slow down sharing of the answers to our questions. To do that, we have stated in site's terms of service that we own the copyright to the solutions created by candidates.

When a candidate leaks their solutions online (mostly unintentionally), we would like to use these grounds to get the answer removed from the Web (DMCA take down notices) where it's possible to do that.

Is there any legal reason why we are not allowed to do this?

EDIT: Our knowledge of legal systems is very limited and some of the first attempts we tried so far resulted with statements that are putting in question our right to claim ownership over user-generated content so we wanted to quickly check if we are doing something obviously wrong.

EDIT #2: I would appreciate a recommendation for an ideally online law service that could help us sort this out (Terms of service that candidates need to agree to before taking the test) so that it's legally defensible.


texts: Will storing hashed phone numbers violate GDPR?

texts:
I've read GDPR document from start to end, but I am still not sure about one thing.

Let's say I have a system where I store phone numbers in hashed form (let's say bcrypt).

Will this violate GDPR if I have those stored in database without the owner consent, given there is no other data collected, no names, emails, nothing. They are not linked to any user (there are no users in the system actually). Just the phone number in a hashed form (same things as storing a hashed password).

From what I understand if the data is anonymised there is no problem, but I am still not sure, because if you have the salt you can still create hashes of phone numbers and compare them to the hashes that exists in the database. But this gives you nothing even if you succeed, except that the phone exists there.


texts: What percentage of a Qui Tam is recovered?

texts: In the case of a Qui Tam filing with the United States attorneys office what percentage of the recovered damages go to the person that filed with the office?


texts: At what point is unsolicited explicit material considered harassment?

texts:
My significant other and I were talking about how often she seems to get explicit advertisements on Pandora or Youtube. I'm sure many of you have heard one or two at some point - I can type out some examples if needed. Perhaps we just have delicate sensibilities, but we proposed a hypothetical question -
Because of the nature of these unsolicited advertisements, at what point is it equivocal to someone sending unsolicited explicit pictures or text to someone? (Which by my understanding can be considered harassment)
Have I entered into an agreement with the service provider than I consent to receiving these advertisements by using their services? How do the advertisers have the right to broadcast something that I would definitely bring up to HR if I heard a coworker say?


texts: Cancel contract ordered from online shop via email in Germany

texts:
I live in Germany and have ordered a part for my Angel Juicer from an online shop (cca. 100 EUR). The part is not available on the online webshop directly, so I contacted the seller. The seller said that he must order it and then is able to deliver. I then confirmed my order and waited. It took longer than expected and in the meantime I got the part from elsewhere. The seller contacted me today that he is able to deliver, but I refused and tried to cancel the contract.

The seller is now saying that I can not do that, because the part was ordered directly for me and there is no "Widerrufsrecht". It's not a personalized part.

I ordered from Germany, the seller is in Austria (Wien).

Can I send back the part if I receive it and cancel the contract (in written form)? I tried to cancel the contract via email.


texts: Does the license need to be specified in every file of a project?

texts:
It is common for open source projects to have a LICENSE file containing (obviously) the project's license.
It is however also common for open source projects to copy said license in each file of the project (usually at the top).
I don't understand the point of doing this; surely if a file doesn't specify another license then the project's license applies (otherwise what's the point of a project-wide license file), making it pointless to copy it hundred of thousands of times across the project. I'm assuming I'm missing something, probably a legal gotcha, or maybe project-wide license files have no legal meaning and are just informal hints and the license must be specified in each file? Hence my question here:
Why would we copy the project's license (in the LICENSE file) to each file in the project? What would be legally different if we didn't?
(I would've assumed someone else asked this already, but I haven't found anything)


texts: California’s AB5 and freelance software development

texts: Does California’s AB5 affect freelance software developers? If they own their own company (registered as Inc.) then they obviously are not looking to become an employee. They started their company to have autonomy and deliver work as they see fit.  Does AB5 force them to no longer own a company and instead become an employee?


texts: Can I discriminate against someone I hire to (mow my lawn) (cut my hair) (fix my plumbing)?

texts: If I can, what's the legal difference between a business that is forced to not discriminate when hiring someone and a person hiring somebody to perform a service for him?


texts: Petition or Motion: Finding practical court procedures and rules

texts:
Many of the processes for navigating a court can be found online in the state or federal code and rules that govern the court.  But not all of them.

I tried the following test: Imagine I'm involved in a federal criminal trial and I think the court made a mistake of law in a ruling.  I want to get the court to consider my observation.  So first I tried to find an enumeration of filings that can be made before a court in criminal cases.  The closest I came was this list of motions that must be made before trial.  Is there a more broad list of all types of motions and petitions that can be made before a federal criminal court?

Now, I happen to know that there is a process for requesting a reconsideration based on mistakes of law.  But is it a Petition or a Motion?  And what rules apply?  Again: both a general web search and a search of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure came up empty.  So am I missing something or is this sort of process information actually obscured?

(Except in fringe cases these things are likely well known by judges and lawyers practicing in the venue, but in principle the courts and their process are supposed to be accessible by any citizen.)

(Also, thinking that perhaps the criminal side presumes that every involved party has counsel I did a similar search on the federal civil side and had no more luck in this example.)

Clarification: Both answers so far focused on the substance of my hypothetical example.  But the example was just given to inform the question, which is: Does there exist a list of all types of motions and petitions that can be made before a court, ideally that clarifies which are allowed at each stage of process?


texts: Can I recreate the Risk board game for personal use?

texts:
My friend wants to make a 'risk table', which would have the risk board carved into it, as part of a larger game board challenge.  He would be making all the pieces and the board himself.

I'm wondering if he can do this legally, assuming he stops using the word Risk?  The game mechanics can not be patented, so in that regard he is safe.  He would, however, be remaking the board itself which I assume is copyrighted.  Since the board is just the world map divided into specific countries I don't know if this counts as 'recreating' the board?

Is the fact that he is using the same countries that the original risk board used enough to count as recreating the board/game?


texts: Is it possible to get extradicted to a country you never have been to?

texts:
I'm trying to wrap my head around the MegaUpload / Kim Dotcom case for quite a while now. On twitter he claims:

I never lived there
I never traveled there
I had no company there
But all I worked for now belongs to the U.S.

Now I came across a news item on the German portal Spiegel Online that says Kim Dotcom is about to be handed over to the U.S. authorities by a N.Z. court.
Now I am wondering: He never had any company in the U.S., also he claims to never having been or lived there. Is it even possible to be prosecuted unter U.S. law? It sounds a bit weird to me. Also, is it possible to get extradicted to a country you never have been to?
Personally, to me the scary part is: Do I need to make sure I do not break any laws in any country of the world in the future, not only in the country I live? Or is this a difficult question to answer because the accusations against him are related to internet business?


texts: Can a US court order the revelation of a secret that might incriminate the revealer?

texts:
I think the question is self explanatory.  It might also be naive.  In the light of:

the FBI request to  Apple to allow access to data on a phone
the protections of the fifth amendment
the Snowden leaks of NSA/ governmental practice

can a court order a person or organization (a witness?) to reveal a secret, whether incriminating or not?

I think this question is slightly different to the closely-related Can a US citizen be required to provide the authentication key for encrypted data on a confiscated computer?

Would it make a difference if the party being ordered and/or the target was not a US citizen/subject?

Can the court make a gag order on the request?

What penalties might apply for non-compliance?


texts: Stolen GPL program (a hypothetical case)

texts:
I learned that there is no requirement to distribute the source for an non-distributed (that is used only inside the company) GPL licensed software.

But what if a hacker steals it and puts online?

Does this make the company (which developed the software) obliged to distribute the source?
Does this give the third-party users the right to use the program?


texts: When is a "gift" considered conditional?

texts:
I gave my friend an old Les Paul guitar which I subsequently learned was worth a lot, so I wanted it back. I had given it to him only because he needed it for a class.  He has dropped the class.  Can I reclaim the guitar since he broke that agreement?

Or is more required to make a scenario like this a "conditional" gift?


texts: Is there defense against public officials providing incorrect information?

texts:
On several occasions I've needed clarification on tax rules and have asked at the public tax office, and officials have provided guidance that another official has contradicted and/or denied at a later occasion.  This has lead to tax adjustments in both directions, but so far when I've informed them they haven't enforced overdue penalties in the times when I needed to make additional payments.
What worries me is that I feel they could demand I pay a penalty at any time and all I have is my word to back me.
Public officials are human and make mistakes, and my tax situation seems to be rather rare so I believe they are interpreting the regulations as they go sometimes.
Is there any way I can defend myself against penalties when mistakes are made in my favor?
Some options I've considered:

Asking via email: this doesn't seem to be an option in this case though or they ask me to visit the tax office to discuss sensitive specifics
Recording the conversation: I don't believe they'd allow audio recording due to the presence of other consultations in the room/building, not sure about recording laws over the phone (may be the same as 1)
Asking for a signed statement with the advice they provided, but I imagine that they would just say something to the effect of "this isn't a service we provide"
Asking for legal citations when they provide the advice.  I'm not sure they know though or if they've gotten their information indirectly through training, if they'd be willing to look it up, and if there's a reasonable number of citations (it could be quite a lot, and there may be other background knowledge in their decisions).

My examples above are mostly about tax but I'd like a general answer if possible, for example for other fields or something I could further google if traveling abroad, etc.


texts: Can an employer owe money for an employee's income tax?

texts:
In the USA, can an employer be held liable for their employee's federal income tax – specifically if the employer failed to inform employee of their responsibility to pay their own income taxes?

Let's say an employer reports a worker to the IRS as a contractor (1099), but fools the worker into thinking they are a full-time (W-2) employee.  Would there be a legal case to be had in holding the employer liable for that worker's federal income tax?


texts: To what extent is "no fault" divorce truly no fault?

texts:
In the 1970s, one after another of the U.S. states switched to "no fault" divorce. This is, divorce could be granted to couples without either one of them proving that the other had committed certain offenses that qualified as "faults" (adultery, desertion, etc.)
Yet, my understanding is that "marital behavior" is a factor in determining the terms of the divorce. That is alimony, property division, child custody, etc. Are these actually "fault" issues?
To what extent are the above items distributed on "equitable" (economic) grounds, and to what extent are they decided on "fault" grounds relating to marital conduct?
This question could apply to any of the United States, but the ones I'm most interested in are the ones I've lived in, that is, New York and California.


texts: What happens if a party to a contract is purchased?

texts: If there's a contract between parties X and Y, and Y is bought by Z, then what happens to that contract? Is it automatically as if the contract was between X and Z? Or instead, do X and Z need to negotiate a replacement contract?


texts: Consumer rights after broken firmware update?

texts:
In the UK (and all over the EU) as a consumer, I have strong protection if I buy a product and it was faulty when it was purchased. Even if the fault was not visible, for example if the product lasts only one year because of a faulty component.

Now with modern electronics, it often happens that the manufacturer updates the software in the product long after the product is purchased. How does that work out legally if let's say I purchased a product 18 months ago, it worked fine because it was actually faultless when I purchased it, and the manufacturer updates the software on the product and breaks it?

Normally if it breaks after 18 months I would have rights against the store where I bought. In this case the store is arguably without fault. So who has to fix this, and how do I get it fixed without going to court?

(A recent example is many Bose headphones suddenly not working anymore after a firmware update).


texts: Is it legal to restrict employee restroom access?

texts:
I went to the toilet at least 4 time a day on my last job.

However my boss would restrict access to the bathrooms after 4PM, saying that we could easily hold it until work ends at 5PM.

Is that legal?


texts: Can HOA force you to pay dues for a community service you do not use?

texts: To begin this, I have lived in this residence for a decade now. The community charges $300 annually for access to the community pool, to which I only actually used the first three years living here. I was handed a case by a police officer today saying I have exactly 30 days upon receiving the letter to pay dues for the community pool for the past 8 years that I have not used it. The communities HOA has made it incredibly difficult to contact to ask for a copy of the rules and regulations, since their automated phone system demands a pin of some sort to which it swiftly disconnects you if you do not have it. My question is, can they legally force me to pay this fee? Is there another way to obtain a copy of the community rules and regulations?


texts: Why don't most criminal convictions also come with an additional charge of making a false claim to law enforcement?

texts:
It appears that the vast majority of suspects proclaim their innocence to police at some point in the process (while being arrested, during an interview, etc)
Later, many of these people admit their guilt through a confession and/or guilty plea. Also some are proven guilty in court.
Are all of these people charged with making a false statement?  If not, why?


texts: Terms of Contract changed during drafting of Written Contract

texts:
I entered into discussions with an owner to purchase his business.   During the process I agreed verbally and via email to pay for the owners lawyer to draft the purchase and sale agreements.

The owner and I created a list of terms for the contract, not included on those terms was that I was to pay for the lawyer fees involved in the drafting of the contract although I fully intended to at closing.   The owner was going to finance my purchase of the business.

Upon receipt of the drafted contract the owner had added two items not on the terms of agreement:

mortgage on my home.
The ability to approve salaries and wages for my employees.

I called off the deal in part because of the items above and in part because I felt he had failed to operate the business over the previous 4 months in a manner that would allow me to succeed.   He is now taking me to small claims court to pay for the lawyer fees.   Does he have a case?


texts: Can U.S. border guards do warrantless searches?

texts: If I am a U.S. citizen entering the United States by car from Canada or Mexico can border guards legally search my car without a warrant?


texts: Why do prosecutors sometimes chase "weak" cases?

texts:
From what I understand, the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service is an exception to this question. Its rate of winning convictions is something like 80%, and about half the remaining cases are settled on terms favorable to the IRS. So it loses only a statistically inevitable "handful" of cases, where there might have been unexpected exonerating circumstances.

This varies in different parts of the United States, but from what I understand, prosecutors in some parts of the country sometimes pursue weak cases, usually against poor defendants. They have to prove "guilty" beyond a reasonable doubt," but it seems to me that the level of proven "guilt" in many of these cases is less than in the IRS cases. And it seems that most districts' prosecutions have higher rats of acquittal and/or wrongful convictions than the IRS.

What could be the reasons for this? Could it be that the IRS is a "national" organization while districts are "local" Does the IRS do a better job of picking "guilty" parties than district attorneys because they know that potential defendants have the money and attributes to defend themselves?

(From what I understand, the IRS rejects potentially meritorious cases that come below the 80% threshold, while some district attorneys seem to prosecute based on "probable cause," and get many acquittals, or wrongful convictions.)


texts:
I'm in England, UK. I own a flat which I rent out, and live elsewhere with my girlfriend. We broke up and I need to go back to my flat. Under COVID law, I need to give 6 months' notice to my tenants, but their contract is coming to an end in 2 months' time.
Can I just not renew their contract and go back to my place in 2 months or do I still need to give them 6 months' notice?


texts: Family trust but probate (informal or formal?) needed

texts:
(Based on @ohwillieke's answer, I've updated this to clarify the facts)

Family trust:

was set up by parents as a revocable living trust.
had "upon death" instructions to transfer all to beneficiary #1 (B1), or if B1 was dead, then divide among B2, B3, etc.
per the land abstract from the county recorder's office, shows (a) family trust recorded on MMM dd, yyyy with the trust itself as Grantees, and (b) a quit claim deed recorded a few days later with parents (not trust) as Grantors.

Real estate appears to be the only asset recorded, ever.

Upon each parent's death, their wills were poured over into the trust to handle non-real-estate assets (autos and such), and B1 received everything. (Not sure if the wills of either parent were ever recorded when they died, but maybe that's moot).

B1, who was also a trustee, eventually died and left the home and belongings (cited in the parents' pourover wills) in the trust.

B1 wrote their last instructions on their own; no lawyer or witnesses involved. It was typed but in great detailed, was hand-signed and dated, and there is ample extrinsic evidence to show B1's intent. Indeed, B1's instructions were essentially the same as in the trust: I'm dead, divide everything among B2, B3, etc.

So, B1 owned the home and kept it in the trust. The value is more than allowed for a small affidavit, but that is apparently moot anyway because the home remained in the trust. Yes?

B1's bank accounts and insurance polices were ToD (nonprobate). B1's probate assets were very old car, very old furniture, very old etc., certainly worth less than $42K.

Some of the current beneficiaries are also co-successor trustees. The home will be sold. There are no family disputes to settle. All known creditors have been notified.

Can this situation be handled via an informal probate (possibly under the guidance of a lawyer), or does it have elements that require a formal probate?

Based on @ohwillieke's answer, it appears that, an informal probate may be all that's needed, if that.


texts: Legality around demolishing a building without shutting off gas or electricity

texts: Is there any legality in Texas, or anywhere, around requiring a company or entity that is demolishing a building to have 1) The property's electricity provider properly shut off power to the property and/or 2) Having the property's gas provider properly shut off gas to the property. This seems like it would be at least be subject to a fine given the danger of preforming a demolition without these steps having take place.


texts: Using two last names after marriage to reduce document updates

texts:
If after marriage, I take both my and my spouses last names, would I need to update documents such as my passport and driver's license?

For example,

John Apple  ==> John Apple Pear
Jane Pear   ==> Jane Apple Pear

The goal would be to have matching last names to avoid problems with things like hospital visitations, child pickups, etc. where last names are often used to verify relationships.

But at the same time, having to reconfigure all our legal documents would be rather painful. Not to mention gaining access to old bank accounts and things.


texts: Joke Website / Funny Website repercussions

texts:
I have made a funny site not really trying to be serious, which may involve hitting your head on a wall. I state this is a joke, and not meant to be taken seriously. But I'm just trying to cover my bases, and make sure I'm not open to a law suit.
It's not currently available to the public, but I would like it to be.
I am located in California, if that helps.
The terms listed are as follows:

TERMS & CONDITIONS
Please note:
This is not medical advice.
This is not meant to be taken literally.
Any bodily harm that may come of this is at the sole discretion of the "idiot" taking this literally.
This is a joke.
Also may not relive stress, and instead cause head ache, or severe brain injury.

Am I susceptible to claims of damages if someone takes the gag/joke seriously and hurts themselves as a result? What can I do to mitigate this?


texts: Author rights and math exercises found on books

texts:
I'm building an education related product with some friends and we're planning on using exercises we find on various books for the guides.

Our question is if the math exercises belong to them and nobody else can use them (since every books states "Partial or complete reproduction of the book is illegal").

Research: I understand very little about laws, but for what I understand I believe "pure math" is not patentable, and a math exercise should be considered pure math. Am I right?

Looking forward to see what more savvy users have to say!

Thanks, S.


texts: What are the implications of a NASA Open Source Agreement version 1.3

texts:
There is this code released under NASA Open Source Agreement version 1.3.
I don't get the license. Can I use the code in a commercial product? Any limitation?


texts: How are online bidders held to their obligation to pay?

texts: Say I'm holding an online auction. How can I make sure that if somebody bids on my good/service, he or she is legally obligated to pay?


texts: Dealing With A Private Institution Policy To Inspect All Encryption-capable Devices Leaving The Country

texts:
I am a student recently admitted to the University of Cincinnati, and I noticed something very peculiar and frightening in section 3.11 of their technology code of conduct.

In light of clause 3.1, "When an Individual accesses university computing services and accepts any
university issued computing accounts, they agree to comply with this and all other
related policies," and pursuant to clause 3.11, "Exporting software, technical information, select research data, encryption software
or technology, to a location outside of the United States in violation of
international or regional export control laws, is illegal. The Export Controls Office
must be consulted prior to export of any material that is in question," the policy definitely asserts with no wiggle-room that, by using the resources at the University of Cincinnati, I have to confirm all devices with encryption software with the Export Controls Office. There is no clause in section 3 which limits the applicability to the campus, so this policy should in theory apply to anywhere I am. The problem is that almost every electronic device in existence has complex encryption software. For example, any device able to access the internet has powerful decryption software in order to decrypt SSL-encrypted streams. Hence, this broad policy seems to demand that I have to check through the Export Controls Office with every personal electronic device in my suitcase before I leave the country.

I understand the well-meaning original intentions of this policy and I fully intend to comply with the entire policy, but I am struggling to find a way around this unintended side-effect of the policy. What can I do to not have to submit my personal electronics from home for inspection every time I leave the country?

I would imagine that, reading up on US privacy laws, the broadness of this policy makes the policy partially inapplicable because the policy is not above the law. Could the inapplicability of this policy extend so far as to void the policy (for my purposes, of course)?

Thank you everyone! You are amazing!


texts: Is WhatsApp GDPR compliant as it allows backups for group chat?

texts:
Currently WhatsApp claims it uses end to end encryption.

However the app provisions users to switch on backups to Google Drive and other providers. So if I am in a group chat with a set of users and send out sensitive/personal information, I assume I can delete my chat at any time and make a request to WhatsApp to delete any information on me when I delete my account.

However if other users are backing up their chats to say Google Drive etc how can I ensure my data is deleted from everywhere?

I understand anyone can just screenshot or copy this data from their device and paste it somewhere. But the app itself provisions for these backups so does WhatsApp have a duty under Right to Erasure / GDPR to ensure they can also be deleted if a request is made for an individual?


texts: Can a football player be prosecuted for tackling a fan?

texts:
A hypothetical scenario:

An athletic event is being played in the U.S. (Let's say it's American football).
A fan runs onto the field and disrupts the game.
A player performs a rough, aggressive "football tackle" on the fan and holds the fan for security to arrive.

Click here for a video of similar circumstances. Although, my question is different than what's shown in the video. My fact pattern includes the player performing a rough / aggressive "football tackle" on the fan.

Question

  Did the player who tackled the fan commit a crime (or tort) of assault or battery against the fan?


texts:
I run a website, by which we develope website extensions. Last year, I thought I'd release a commercial extension simply to contribute towards the hosting and domain expenses.

Before doing so, I registered as a Sole Trader.

According to the GOV.UK website, You must register for VAT if your business turnover is over £82,000.

Now seeing as my site only turns over a couple of hundred pounds every few months, am I still required to notify HMRC of my revenue and pay VAT on it?

I only ask as I received a letter from HMRC saying I was required to pay £75.