texts: If I use my parents' address as my permanent address, can I get renters insurance at a different address?

texts:
Is it possible to have insurance at multiple locations?

I use my parents' address as my permanent address, because I move quite often (within state - close to home), and it's a pain to have to change my address all the time. Additionally, because there are several people listed at that address for car insurance, there's some kind of discount, and my bill is significantly lower than it would be if I re-registered my car every time I moved. In case of emergency, and logically, that is my truest "permanent address."

I rent a room at a house in a different city closeby. I would like to get renters' insurance, but I'm wondering if registering that would conflict with my permanent address, car insurance, etc. So far, I haven't had any issues with credit or getting into an apartment. I do almost all of my bills paperless. When I lived out-of-state, I registered everything myself at the address where I was, so this is kind of a new experience and I haven't had renter's insurance for the past 2 years.

State is California.


texts: How is a person residing abroad subject to US law?

texts:
I am reading this press release of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The attorney states that:

Mason Sheppard, aka “Chaewon,” 19, of Bognor Regis, in the United Kingdom, was charged in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer.

So the defendant appears to be located in the UK and is being charged in the US. As far as I know, UK people are bound by laws approved by the UK Parliament, and US people are bound by laws approved by the US Congress.

How would the guy be held responsible under a law that the legislature of the country in which he resides did not approve?

What if he is convicted in a US court, the US sends a formal request to UK to have him sent in the US to go to US jail, and the UK government answers "That's nice. We will not send him over"? What would happen then? Would the US police fly to the UK and take him? Will the US nuke the UK?

What if the US asks for him to be punished in the UK, and the UK answers "Sure. We will fine him 1$"?


texts: Social Media and CC Licensing on copyrighted names or images

texts:
I am wishing to make an app that targets a specific fan community for a game by Nintendo. I am trying my best to avoid copyright and trademark issues. Here are my questions:

1) Images I am using do resemble their characters, but it is coming from an art community (not Nintendo) that has a CC license on their art and openly allow people to use their art. Is this some form of inheritance that I am legally allowed to use those images resembling those Nintendo characters?

2) I wish to use a title for the icons that name the character. So, there will be text using the character's name alongside that image. Am I allowed to use their names in reference to the image? What if it has the little trademark or copyright symbol next to it?

3) Assuming any or both of the above does violate the use of their content, I am willing to just leave a text box and image attachment option for the user to add information in their posts. The post would most likely encourage the users to put a character's name and some kind of image from the gameplay (typically a screenshot of the game). The app would not use content itself, but would encourage users to upload their own screenshots and tagging a character's name.

These social media posts will be designed to disappear after a short time limit. The posts will also temporarily sit on a database that the app uses in order to share the information.

Lastly, I am hoping to place a banner ad on some pages. If this, with any of the options above will violate something, could I use a donation page safely to support further development?


texts: Is it legal for police to deny protection to an informant despite a known threat?

texts:
So, the second season of Daredevil came out today, and internet lowlife that I am I'm already a few episodes in.

A pivotal part of the plot involves a criminal who police are well aware would almost certainly be killed (by a maniac they're currently investigating), who is willing to testify against plenty of people to qualify for witness protection. However, they make his witness protection status conditional upon wearing a wire and being directly involved in a sting, which would expose him to further personal bodily risk.

Since that amounts to extortion, it doesn't feel like it should  be legal to do. They're forcing someone to put themselves in harm's way under threat of (almost certain) execution by a third party.

...However, I know that, for various reasons, the law often violently conflicts with what's ethically justifiable, so I'm curious whether that's actually something police can do.

Can police make their protection dependent upon direct involvement in a sting operation?
I recognize that there's a difference between witness protection and regular police protection, and am curious how the above applies in each case. Within the context of the show, it's implied that both witness protection and regular police protection would be denied if the witness were to decline to participate. In case it's relevant, the show takes place in New York state.

And yes, I know that TV represents law inaccurately all the time. Don't worry; this isn't the first of a long list of TV-related questions. In my defense, when this question occurred to me, it really was Friday in Iceland.


texts: Help regarding revenge site/cyberstalking/cybersquatting

texts:
I am a victim of cyberstalking and cybersquatting by an ex. After I terminated our very short 3 month relationship, this person contacted my significant other, my separated spouse (unwanted, and they both blocked them), then after receiving no success there, cybersquatted on my first and last name (firstlast.com) with a bunch of defamatory content and a one-sided story about our relationship. This person registered the website anonymously. They hyperlinked every social media profile I have to the site and freely admit to contacting the people in my life - all actions definition of cyberstalking as the statute is written. I have blocked this person from all social media so they would have had to Google my information under a different or anonymized identity. During our relationship, this person stated they would kill me if I ever left them or broke up with them.

I contacted a lawyer who sent them a cease/desist but it was ignored. A couple of months later, as I actually found my behavior changing to one of constant fear of what might happen next, I contacted the police and filed a report for cyberstalking (it is illegal in the state of Washington). Link to the statute is below:

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.61.260

I got a call from the Domestic Violence support center who said they would recommend the case to a prosecutor and recommend they prosecutor press charges. This was a week ago and I haven't heard anything back.

Here are my questions:

1) How do I get the site taken offline? (court order, ICANN, etc.)
2) I would really like to know more about how to dispute the site through ICANN and other internet governing bodies
3) How do I sue the person for defamation per se, libel, slander, and whatever else is possible
4) Is there anything I can do in addition to filing the police report to compel the prosecutor to prosecute the case

I just want to actually feel safe again.

My attorney wants to wait to file a civil restraining order because he wants to see what the prosecutor will do. The website is an embarrassment and people ask about it, I have to explain it constantly. I don't know what additional measures I can take - cybersquatting law is incredibly murky when it comes to personal names vs. commercial trademark infringement. I am really doing my best to be patient but I want to know if there are things I can do that I simply do not know about.

Any and all help would be immensely appreciated. Thanks in advance for your knowledge sharing and responses.


texts: We have a problem employee who we found out is recording phone conversations with other employees, including their manager, without knowledge or consent. The employee is in the US state of Georgia, while the people being recorded are in California. I have looked up some of the laws regarding recording in California, Georgia, and Federal, but its a bit confusing. My opinion is that consent is required with any one on one conversation, but am unsure of the legality of these actions?


texts: Delivery of oil bought through futures contracts

texts:
What happens if someone is forced to take physical possession of many barrels of oil that they bought on the open market, but they have no storage space left to put it?

ETA: In jeffronicus answer below, the buyer has options on how to accept the oil. This question aims to find out what happens if the buyer is out out of options. All space is full. The storage where the oil currently sits is contracted to someone else so they insist on delivering the physical possession of the oil.

Another clarification: The scenario is that the price of oil has crashed to the point where storing the oil is more expensive than the oil.


texts: If you are a foreigner (US citizen) living abroad in Germany to attend a school, what kinds of taxes are required if you are also involved in the following business: You receive your own/family money from a United States Bank to a German bank, in order to purchase bitcoin at a german bitcoin exchange, then cash out the bitcoin into american banks. It seems like since cashing out happens into american banks that USA taxes are required, but what German taxes are required for this? Thanks


texts: Do I need to offer a data processing agreement

texts:
I recently created a browser extension that allows you to pretty-format a web page and save it in various formats (Word, PDF, etc). I have made it publicly accessible through the browser extension gallery, so anyone can install and use it. The way this extension works is it uploads the content of the page you are viewing to my own server, the server processes it, and then lets you download the resulting file.
This all works fine, but I recently started getting questions from users concerned about the fact that their data (possibly private and sensitive) gets uploaded to the internet. They were asking me to provide a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement, so they can install it on their company's computers.
I do not have any kind of agreements, and in fact I do not even own a company at all. This browser extension, and the server that it uploads the data to is all my personal effort, and I never bothered to do any legal work around it.
In this case, am I legally obliged to create a company and have any data processing agreements in place? (not sure if it matters, but I live in the UK, and I rent my server in the USA)


texts: Does a no-compete apply to two companies owned by the same corporation?

texts: Can a no-compete clause be applied to two companies owned by the same trans-national conglomerate? If sister companies are under the same umbrella organization, does that have any bearing on whether or not a no-compete is enforced when moving from one company owned by the conglomerate to another company?


texts: Does the US have a rule about onerous contract terms in the fine print?

texts:
In the UK there is a legal precedent that unusual or onerous contract terms must be correspondingly prominent; you can't hide them in the fine print of a standard contract. If you try the other party can claim that they never knew about those terms and hence never agreed to them. This is based on the common law principle that a contract is a "meeting of minds", and in such a case there was no common understanding of what the contract contained.
The USA is a common law jurisdiction with the same basic theory of contracts. Does US contract law have a similar principle for unusual or onerous terms in a contract?


texts:
I just learned that scrapping the web is not always as legal as I thought it is. Apperantly a website can prohibit in its Terms Of Service the use of webscrappers for their website.

The translator deepl.com has a API which costs money. However, on Github one guy published a tool that allows everyone to implement the functionality of deepl.com in its own programms. He basically wrote a free API.

Do I assume correctlty that this guy makes himself liable to prosecution? Is it illegal aswell to use his tool (1) and publish free software using it on Github (2)?


texts: What are the limits of "implied consent" when obtaining a driver's license?

texts:
This question comes out of reading this New York Times article (quoted below), about a bill that would allow officers to use a "textalyzer" to digitally search phones for evidence that the  phones had been handled recently:

The technology could determine whether a driver had used the phone to text, email or do anything else that is forbidden under New York’s hands-free driving laws, which prohibit drivers from holding phones to their ear. Failure to hand over a phone could lead to the suspension of a driver’s license, similar to the consequences for refusing a Breathalyzer.

The intention is behavior change:

“We need something on the books where people’s behavior can change,” said [Félix W. Ortiz, a Democratic assemblyman who was a sponsor of the bipartisan Textalyzer bill], who pushed for the state’s 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, “people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cellphone.”

The US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that when somebody is arrested, their phone can't be searched without a warrant.

But the bill’s authors say they have based the Textalyzer concept on the same “implied consent” legal theory that allows the police to use the Breathalyzer: When drivers obtain a license, they are consenting in advance to a Breathalyzer, or else they will risk the suspension of their license.

(Emphasis added.)
The analogy to the Breathalyzer is based on comparability of dangers, too:

Deborah Hersman, the president of the nonprofit National Safety Council and a former chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, ... said the Textalyzer-Breathalyzer comparison was apt because looking at and using a phone can be as dangerous as driving drunk. “Why are we making a distinction between a substance you consume and one that consumes you?”

How far does this "implied consent" legal theory go?  Can it be extended to mean that drivers' license applicants give "implied consent" to have their cars, homes, or body cavities searched in detail, or give "implied consent" to physical control by police (to enforce any failures to comply with an instruction), etc., if police request that power and find a suitably sympathetic audience in the General Assembly?
It's an old argument that increasing police search powers increases safety, because it allows the police to search out and stamp out whatever behavior creates the danger to others.  Where's the line, if any, which limits the extent of how far that can go?  What do people really consent to when applying for a driver's license?
Can "implied consent" be retroactive, such that if I have a New York driver's license today, that means I've given "implied consent" to whatever permissions the General Assembly grants police a couple years after I've gotten that license?  If not, does a license renewal establish that "consent?"  There is some precedent in that having gotten a NY license a few years ago does indicate consent to be bound by traffic laws including updates and changes that occur during the period of license validity. Is "implied consent" to searches one of the topics covered by that?

This is tagged for New York, but as the article notes:

If it were to pass in New York,... it could well spread in the same way that the hands-free rules did after New York adopted them.

So feel free to answer for other jurisdictions, if they are a better fit for your expertise, and note that in your answer.


texts: Where are the duties of a sovereign stipulated in international law?

texts:
According to Emmerich de Vattel, in his The Law of Nations or The Principles of Natural Law, first published in 1758, he writes:

It is a much discussed question whether a sovereign must observe the ordinary laws of war in dealing with rebellious subjects who have openly taken up arms against him. A flatterer at court or a cruel tyrant will immediately answer that the laws of war is not made for rebels who deserve only death.

To which he replies:

In order to understand clearly what conduct a sovereign should observe we must first of all recall that the rights of the sovereign are derived wholly [and not in part] from the rights of the State itself or of civil society, from the duties entrusted to him, and from the obligation he is to watch over the welfare of the nation, to procure its greatest happiness and to maintain order, peace and justice in the country.

Q. Is this stipulated in any convention of International law in more or less this form?
I don't expect the exact wording to be followed, but a very similar sentiment and thought.


texts: Hypothetical question about value created using stolen money

texts: I was thinking about this scenario where a person steals some money and uses that to start a business and even becomes very successful and makes many times the initial money. I was wondering that if he gets caught, what would happen to the value he has created? I think that it is not fair to give all the created value back to the person the money is stolen from. I also think that the thief (here) has put some effort to make that business successful so he would not get anything back for his effort if all the value is taken away. What does the law say in this type of situation? (US-law)


texts: Is geocoding an IP address but not storing it considered processing under GDPR?

texts:
As a data controller who intends to be GDPR compliant, if someone visits my website a request is made to my server with their IP address.

If I geocode the IP address to get the visitor's country and city and then render something on my website based on this, is that considered data processing?
Note that in this case I wouldn't be storing the ip address, country or city. Once the request is complete these would all be lost.


texts: Why's it ironic for Big Law and law schools to compete in rankings, even if they disagree with the method or think it is detrimental to their mission?

texts:
Benjamin Barton JD magna magna cum laude, 1996, University of Michigan. Glass Half Full: The Decline and Rebirth of the Legal Profession (2015). p. 177 Bottom.

Please see the sentence pinpointed by the red arrow. What exactly is ironic?


texts: Could it make sense to add a non-used reason for firing someone in court?

texts:
Lets imagine there is a person called George that works for the dutch government to secure their ICT systems. The government body he worked for was not a secret agency or something like that. This George does this work for over 8 years. About 5 years ago, he made some sort of more or less innocent computer virus, that he might also spread.
This was all done during a holiday in another country. Now by some reason (unrelated to this computer virus or some similar event) he is fired by his boss. George became emotional, goes to a bar and drank too much alcohol. He became drunk and told someone in the bar that he got fired, while he actually has made (and possibly spread) a computer virus, which is (in this scenario, but probably also in reality) against his work-contract. However no one ever came to knew that. He became so mad, or emotional that he started to write that fact(the virus) as a small blogpost on his blog.
Now lets imagine that due to circumstances that next morning he more or less forgot about his blogpost(at least until the court meeting). His former employer, however came to know this post because he either likes reading that blog, or there was talked about in his government body.
George went to court because he finds his situation unfair(which it might or not might be). To him, he just wants to continue his job, so that is what his charge is about.
Now let's assume that his former employer knows about the post before he goes to the court-house. They all have to appear in court together. Would it make sense for George's boss to just talk about this blogpost, or not for he was fired for another reason? If this is the case, what are the most reasonable reasons not to disclose (the fact that he made a virus) to the judges?
This virus that George has made/spread had have was not targeted against nor had real big impact on his or other dutch government computer systems.


texts: What does the word "appropriate" mean in the American Service-Members' Protection Act?

texts:
The President is authorized to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any person described in subsection (b) who is being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.

This law seems to be generally understood as allowing the invasion of the Hague (hence the popular nickname, "Hague Invasion Act"), but that seems fundamentally at odds with the word "appropriate". What actions might the word "appropriate" disallow if not invasion?


texts: Purchasing an HMO for use as a family home

texts:
I am based in the UK and wish to purchase a house that is currently set up as an HMO (although I don't know what use class it's currently registered as - It was previously used as sheltered accommodation for the elderly.) There is now no-one living there.
Are there any legal processes or fees that I should be aware of, in order to purchase this home and use it as my family home; outside of the usual conveyancing costs? Do I need to apply for planning permission for change of use?


texts:
Alleged Facts

On this video (at time marker 5:32-5:36), Ben Shapiro alleges Zoey Tur committed the crime/s (and/or tort/s) of assault and/or battery against Shapiro.
(I believe) the incident occurred in California.
Shapiro filed a police report and criminal complaint against Tur.
After an investigation, the police and/or D.A. declined to prosecute Tur.

Questions

Did a crime (or tort) occur?

If so:

Does Shapiro have any recourse and/or mechanism to force enforcement of the criminal statutes?
If Shapiro sues Tur civilly, would/should he win?
If Shapiro wins a civil suit, how would damages be assessed / determined / calculated?


texts: Is there any legal way to stop specific websites from offering nulled versions of my software for free?

texts:
Last year I wrote a piece of software that functions as an accessory application for a large forum software suite.

Specifically, it is an "Application" for Invision Community.

You can find other similar applications for the same software here: https://invisioncommunity.com/files/

I'm unsure how these files are licensed, however I charge $30 + $15/6mo for my application. Recently, an unknown member who purchased it released it on a popular nulled software website where people upload paid software packages for free for others to download. Since then, my sales have dropped to nearly $0 for the package.

I'm curious if the licensing of Invision Community leaves much room for me to do anything, or even if it does, if there is really anything I can do about this.


texts: Can sexting as a minor be prosecuted as an adult?

texts:
I'm currently studying computer-related crimes/forensics, and have an interesting mock case that is posing some challenges for me.

The defendant is a 19 year-old who was involved with 'sexting' when they were 17, and at the time they had shared the indecent images of their 16 year-old partner with their friends.

Since the offence was committed two years ago when they were a child, I am unsure as to whether this could still be prosecuted:

The defendant was legally a child at the time (17)
The 6 month SoL has already passed, assuming that this would be dealt with as a summary offence by a magistrate's court

In the UK, Indecent and Prohibited Images of Children sets out either-way offences, so it would be possible for a Crown Court to take this on (so there would be no SoL).

Would this case be thrown out due to the SoL, or would the defendant still be prosecutable? Or is that not possible to determine based on the information here?

In addition, would the defendant be prosecuted as a child (as the offence was committed while they were a child), or would they be prosecuted as an adult as the report was filed while they were an adult?


texts: How to block children under 13 to access my website and still comply with COPPA?

texts:
(This is a follow-up question from How to make sure my website complies with things like COPPA?)
COPPA stands for Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule.
In their FAQ they say "yes, you can block children under 13 from visiting your website if you choose to" (assuming the website is not directed to children - and for the sake of this question, indeed it is not). Great! But later on they say that I should ask their age in a certain manner that confuses me.
Quoting FTC's COPPA FAQ:

G.  GENERAL AUDIENCE, TEEN, AND MIXED-AUDIENCE SITES OR SERVICES
3.  Can I block children under 13 from my general audience website or online service?
Yes.  COPPA does not require you to permit children under age 13 to participate in your general audience website or online service, and you may block children from participating if you so choose.  By contrast, you may not block children from participating in a website or online service that is directed to children as defined by the Rule.  See FAQ D.2 above.
If you choose to block children under 13 on your general audience site or service, you should take care to design your age screen in a manner that does not encourage children to falsify their ages to gain access to your site or service.  Ask age information in a neutral manner at the point at which you invite visitors to provide personal information or to create a user ID.
In designing a neutral age-screening mechanism, you should consider:

Making sure the data entry point allows users to enter their age accurately.  An example of a neutral age-screen would be a system that allows a user freely to enter month, day, and year of birth.  A site that includes a drop-down menu that only permits users to enter birth years making them 13 or older, would not be considered a neutral age-screening mechanism since children cannot enter their correct ages on that site.

Avoiding encouraging children to falsify their age information, for example, by stating that visitors under 13 cannot participate or should ask their parents before participating. In addition, simply including a check box stating, “I am over 12 years old” would not be considered a neutral age-screening mechanism.

In addition, consistent with long standing Commission advice, FTC staff recommends using a cookie to prevent children from back-buttoning to enter a different age.  Note that if you ask participants to enter age information, and then you fail either to screen out children under age 13 or to obtain their parents’ consent to collecting these children’s personal information, you may be liable for violating COPPA.  See, e.g., the FTC’s COPPA cases against Path, Inc., Playdom, Inc. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

This is looking weird to me. So I can block children under 13, but I can't tell them that?
Please re-read this part:

In addition, consistent with long standing Commission advice, FTC staff recommends using a cookie to prevent children from back-buttoning to enter a different age.  Note that if you ask participants to enter age information, and then you fail either to screen out children under age 13 or to obtain their parents’ consent to collecting these children’s personal information, you may be liable for violating COPPA.

Their suggestion about using a cookie can be easily bypassed. For example: if a child tries to register and gets blocked for being too young, the child can use another computer and then claim to be older (this was just an example, there are thousands of ways to bypass that).
Then what is the correct way to block children under 13 to access my website and still comply with COPPA?
Note: I have read this question, and I think its answer might be incomplete, considering my question here.


texts: Will I be liable for injuries to someone else resulting from defending myself in a confrontation?

texts:
Let's say you are eating dinner with your family at a restaurant in Florida that has some outside seating. In the middle of your meal, a young man proceeds to try to sell you his mix tape. You politely decline, and go back to your meal. He is very persistent and borderline aggressive with his sales pitch. At which point you are slightly less polite and tell him to buzz off. He takes offense to the manner in which you responded and proceeds to take off his shirt and takes a very threatening stance. You believe that the safety of your family may be in danger.

As you get up from your seat, the young man takes a swing at you which you are able to dodge. And you proceed to give him a good one-two combination which subsequently knocks him down. He is clearly dazed. But gets up and wants to continue the fight. You aggressively pick him up, slam him to the ground, give him 2 good punches to the face, and he's knocked out. At which point you back off as you feel you have sufficiently neutralized the threat to your family.

Police arrive and start to question witnesses, request a copy of the security cam footage and question you. All of which match up showing that the confrontation was started by the young man walking up to you having dinner.

Did I have a legal right to defend myself and family?
Will I face criminal charges for injuring the young man?
If the individual sustains injuries, can I be liable for his medical expenses?
If during the fight, damage occurred to the restaurant or other private/public property. Could I be liable for those expenses?


texts:
I just have a quick question about image use. For some background, I'm starting a business, and as a placeholder (I am not currently making money, so I guess its personal use right now but that will change obviously) I'm using an image I found online.

My issue arises in that this image is everywhere - literally 16 pages worth of google results if you reverse search it. Some websites list it as personal use only, others list that the image under Creative Commons 0 (i.e. public domain). What do I trust? If all of these websites can use it without listing another source, can I?


texts: Can behaviour of a witness in a witness box affect the outcome of the proceedings?

texts:
I'm getting myself ready for the court hearing and I need to verify factual accuracy of the following statements.

The Judge takes account not just of what is said, but also of how it is said, of what is not said, and of the body language and demeanour of the witness in the witness box.
(...)
This type of evidence is opinion evidence, rather than factual evidence, although sometimes an expert will need to give evidence about what they have seen or observed as well as what their view is;

I admit that in my behaviour I was hyper-rational and put too much emphasis towards factual accuracy rather than feelings and emotions of another person.
Before I start investing time and energy into acting classes I would like to either confirm or debunk the body language part, as well as the other parts.


texts: Is a non-compete enforceable if it doesn't mention a geographical area?

texts:
I left a job in Phoenix Arizona and am currently in Houston, Texas.
The noncompete I signed at the previous job was detailed in the scope of a time period (2yrs) and that I couldn't own or manage a substantially similar business, and also had some specific details around not poaching any of their clients.
Anyways, the non compete doesn't reference a geographical scope / area for the non compete to be limited to in any way.
I read the below, which notes the limitations of a noncompete in texas, and it explicitly states that it's enforceable when limited to a geographical area...

In 1989, the Texas legislature enacted section 15.50 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code.  Section 15.50(a) states:
[A] covenant not to compete is enforceable if it is ancillary to or part of an otherwise enforceable agreement at the time the agreement is made to the extent that it contains limitations as to time, geographical area, and scope of activity to be restrained that are reasonable and do not impose a greater restraint than is necessary to protect the goodwill or other business interest of the promisee.

Would the absence of this limitation render the non-compete unenforceable?


texts: Can someone more wealthy than me bury me in legal fees?

texts:
USA Federal Law  -

I have a company worth about $6m. I got on the bad side of a person with a company worth well over $750m (with attorneys on staff). The CEO threatened to bury me in an endless sea of frivolous lawsuits, so that I'm essentially paralyzed having to defend myself in court day after day until my legal expenses drain my bank account and put me out of business.

Is this legal? Are there any countermeasures or defenses against it?


texts: Why register a logo as trademark if copyright protects it?

texts:
If everything I created is protected by the copyright; No one can use it without my permission. Why would I need to register it as a trademark to protect it?

If something is too simple to create, it cannot be registered as a trademark, it's the same as how copyright works.

Therefore, if my logo (not logotype)  can be registered as a trademark, then I have the copyright of my logo.

So, what's the point to make a logo as a trademark? Only because trademark can be owned by a company not just a person?


texts: Is listing an inapplicable warning illegal?

texts:
California Proposition 65 WARNING for exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) from canned and bottled foods and beverages, is supposed to be on products that contain BPA. What about products that do not contain BPA?

I realize there is an issue of liability, and that labeling isn't necessarily to eliminate consumer confusion regarding products with BPA.

Compare these 2 products from Target:
Lindt Chocolates which are wrapped in a plastic, which could contain BPA;
and M&Ms which are sold in a cardboard box, that AFAIK does not contain BPA.

Let's assume the M&Ms and its container do not contain BPA.

Is it unlawful to provide the warning for BPA in a consumable product that doesn't contain BPA?


texts: When do depositions require a court reporter?

texts:
I've looked at some rules of civil procedure that suggest that a deposition must always be attended by a court reporter.

But my impression (perhaps resulting from too much TV) was that depositions these days are normally just videotaped, and the tape shared with both parties.  Is that just fiction?  Or is it allowed – or even customary?


texts: What are the rights of an estate when a tenant dies in a rental unit?

texts:
My uncle died in January. He was renting an apartment month-to-month in Ohio.

We are in the process of cleaning out his belongings from his apartment. There will be an estate sale of the majority of his possessions at the end of February, the soonest we could get everything arranged. This will extend into the month of March by a week.

My uncle had sent the February rent check in early January, post-dated for February. When the landlord learned of his death, he deposited the check; he agrees that the apartment is paid through the end of February. However, he wants a new security deposit and a month's rent for the time we will use it in March, claiming that the sale process makes us new tenants.

What are the legal rights and legal obligations of an estate in a month-to-month rental situation? The estate is just starting the probate process, and I am unclear on whether the landlord is a "traditional" creditor or in a unique situation since the money he is owed for rent continues to accrue after death.

All parties agree that there will be a new, unrelated tenant starting April 1st. We're just trying to figure out what everybody's legal obligations are in this situation. The situational specifics are only important insofar as I don't know what paperwork I'm entitled to from the landlord, and whether I should be directing the landlord entirely to the probate court instead of trying to work things out with him.


texts: Getting one company to delete my personal information

texts:
As a customer of Resumeble.com's resume-writing service, I uploaded a copy of my MA diploma. Later, when I wrote to them and told them to delete all of my data containing information from documents I provided, a support specialist replied to convince me of the safety of my personal information.

But according to their Privacy Policy they can use my data, can't they?

"Transfer of Data
Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction.
If you are located outside Hong Kong and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to Hong Kong and process it there.
Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.
TrendSpotting Ventures LTD d/b/a/ Resumeble will take all the steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organisation or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information."


texts: Does a university have rights to an invention of product which was created during one's active enrollment?

texts:
lets say I have a product which I am the sole creator, and I intend to make a business out of this product.
The idea / creation of this product came to fruition during undergraduate enrollment at X university.
I used my lab access from a course I was enrolled in, to do verification tests on this product. They can confirm when and how long I've accessed the lab's as it is key card access which logs traffic data.

Will the university have partial rights or ownership to the product/ business related to the product under this circumstances ? Given I used the facilities provided by the university ?


texts: Do my wife and I need to update our marriage certificate if she changed her name 3 years after we married?

texts: My wife recently legally changed her name after becoming a U.S. citizen. We've been married for 3 years already. How can we update our old marriage certificate from a different state? I'm assuming there might be some point in the future where we need to present a marriage certificate for something, but we don't urgently need it.


texts:
What does it mean when, for a consumer such as myself, purchasing say a Xiaomi phone without a warranty from Amazon? If it states returnable/refundable?
Why should it be a concern?


texts: I am interested in the law surrounding jurors. During juror selection (voir dire) a potential jurors can be asked questions to determine their suitability to serve on the jury. Is it ever legal for a juror to refuse to answer any question? Could one, for example, "plead the fifth"?


texts: What rights does a trademark actually give?

texts:
There is a mobile game that has TM written behind its name.

It is built for iOS and has not been updated for years. I would like to create a new and better version of it, for all operating systems, also maybe commercialize it and make free and premium version.

Does the TM symbol mean that I cannot use the name, or the idea, or something else?


texts: If a defendant was threatened with grievous bodily harm unless he caused grievous bodily harm to another, why can't he rely on necessity?

texts:
Kindly see the embolded sentence. Why can't such a defendant rely on Necessity, but can rely on Duress of Circumstances?

2.5 Duress of Circumstances

In some cases where the defendant does the lesser of two evils he or she will be able to rely on
the defence of duress of circumstances. For example, in Pipe v DPP86 a man was driving his ill
son to hospital and broke the speed limit. Owen J held that the jury should have been allowed
to consider whether he could rely on duress of circumstances (or necessity as he called it). As
will be discussed in Section 5 of this chapter, duress provides a defence where the defendant
reasonably believes that the circumstances are such that unless he or she commits a crime he
or she or another will suffer death or serious injury and that a reasonable person in the same
situation would have committed the crime. This defence clearly overlaps to some extent with
necessity. Being faced with the threat of death which the defendant avoids by driving through
a red light would fall under the defence of duress of circumstances; it would also be said to
be the lesser of two evils. However, duress of circumstances is in some sense narrower and in
some sense wider than necessity. It is narrower in that duress of circumstances is not available
in order to avoid a threat less than death or grievous bodily harm [abbreviated GBH]. However, where it is
available necessity may provide a defence even where the harm threatened is less than serious
harm. Duress of circumstances is wider than a necessity defence would be, in that it covers
the situation where the defendant reasonably believed there to be a threat of death or serious
injury, even if there was in fact no such threat. A necessity defence would not cover such a
situation.87 Further, if the defendant was threatened with grievous bodily harm unless he or
she caused grievous bodily harm, although the two kinds of harm may be the same and so he
or she may not be able to rely on necessity, he or she may be able to rely on duress of circumstances
and argue that a reasonable person would have given in to the threat.

86 [2012] EWHC 1821 (Admin).

Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (2020 9 ed). p 670.


texts: Can the original price mentioned in a discount be anything?

texts:
I wonder whether when a business advertises a sale or discount, the displayed original price can be anything, or it has to be the actual price when there is no discount.

Example on Groupon:

or Amazon:

I am mostly interested in the following locations:

California, United States
Massachusetts, United States
Paris, France
Seoul, South Korea


texts:
If a jury disagrees with a law, it's allowed to exercise a right known as jury nullification.

However, what about civil cases (e.g., in a Superior Court in California) that are presided by a judge alone, with neither plaintiff nor defendant selecting a jury trial?

Is the judge allowed to nullify laws?

For example, I recall that in unlawful detainer cases in California that arise out of defects in the premises, if a jury gives a verdict that defects are substantiated, the landlord basically loses the whole case entirely (I think it has to do with defendants being judgement-proof and simply not paying the rent), even though the defects might be rather minor compared to the overall issues at stake.  However, the jury is specifically prohibited from being instructed about such stakes!  However, knowing what he knows, can the judge still be objective, or would he have to recuse himself out of fear of showing prejudice?  Can he require the litigants to have a proper jury, including the associated fees, even though the case is supposedly eligible for a judge-only trial, too?  How would it affect a potential appeal?

Likewise, California statutes require that a 3-day notice preceding the UD has to specify the exact amount of rent (e.g., cannot include random fees).  Is the judge allowed to show prejudice against mistakes in said amount?


texts:
I have a paid shared server and figured out that a php reverse shell is possible. I moved up a few directories from my home directory and have seen some folders named like domain-names. At this time I stopped. I want to tell my hosting company, but I am scared now if they can do something to me. But my data and also the data of other users of them is in danger to get compromised. Did I go too far and should I tell them? Or should I tell them anonymously?

I'm located in Austria.


texts:
I'm making an android app and I don't want to bother the user with a EULA popup when they first start the app.
Would it be enough to make a link to the EULA (in an easy to find place in the app) and on the description page of the google play store?


texts: Legal ramifications if transgender identity was recognized as a religious belief?

texts: Transgenderism is a sincerely held personal belief, relating to how one conducts oneself.  What would be the legal ramifications (US) if transgender identity was legally recognized as a religious belief?


texts:
I am looking at a document about a criminal case, that is published here. Knowing from the document it was created in 1992, I suppose the line saying 'Age at time of offense' is wrong saying 21, because DOB is 1960 and 'Date of offence' is 1991.

I wouldn't care much if it were not a local authority document, I'd just boldly assume it was a typo. But as it's issued by Texas Department of Criminal Justice, I am concerned about my understanding of English terms, though they seem to be quite obvious to be understood correctly.

Is a mistake like that likely to happen in serious cases like death penalty sentencing processes?


texts: Is a FBI background investigation for a DoD clearance any different than that of a Supreme Court Justice?

texts: My experience includes being interviewed for a colleague's DoD clearance.  They do want to know about adverse information such as DUI / alcohol abuse.  As I understand it, the recent background investigation interviews for Judge Kavanaugh are not available to the public.  Is at least one purpose of the judge's background investigation to determine if there is a drinking issue (that would be in-scope any DoD investigation)?


texts: How legal is offering abandonware for download?

texts:
A quick background to my project (it's essential to the question, as you'll see later): My project offers a multiplayer server platform for server listings for a game (Crysis Wars), allowing players to connect to these servers (note that it's not a gameserver); the online platform (called GameSpy) went bankrupt and closed down in 2014, leaving the game (and many others) without any multiplayer capability.

The project has a fair few users, and now I'm looking to expand. I am considering advertising on a well-known gaming website, and offer a copy of the game for download from the project's website to enable people who don't have the game to play.

I'm questioning the legality of this since the game can still be purchased from online retailers (but not from the publisher's own store), however it should be noted that the game is abandoned:

No updates in almost six years;
Not possible to verify whether a copy is genuine or not (no way to verify the serial keys);
I'm pretty certain that almost 100% of copies using my system are pirated/non-genuine (I can't verify this of course, but as 44.8% of users are Russian this is probably the case)

If I do offer a copy of the game (clean, no modifications) for download on the project's website, how legal is this? Should I obtain written permission from the game's developer first?

I acknowledge that I could potentially be sued by the game developer/publisher for 'financial loss', however this is questionable since the game is abandoned (I'll be surprised if they've made any money from it in the past two years!).

If it matters, I'm located in Guernsey with the service (and the project's website) running from Ireland.


texts: Are text messages and social media posts enough to charge someone with a crime?

texts: A person vandalized a ups type work van by opening the brake bleeder valves , causing the owner of van to nearly crash when leaving for work . Despite there being no hard evidence , just a police report , are suspects texts and posts claiming responsibility enough for a charge and or prosecution ?


texts: Is an electronic signature legally binding if one of the parties is hosting the contract?

texts: When is an electronic signature (IP address, timestamp, and checkbox or PNG of the signature) on a contract legally binding? Can a contract be legally binding if it is hosted by one of the parties and said party can modify its contents at any time?


texts: Working on code with uncertain licensing at another company's behest

texts:
so the situation I want to ask you about is as follows:

The Client Company has a project that is made of three parts:

A front-end web app
A back-office
An API (back-end)

The front/back parts were developed by a contracted company, we can call them Bad Contractor, and the API was developed by a few contracted IT students.
The result for the Client is a late, non-functional, mess of spaghetti code with severe security problems.

This is where we come in: Client wants us to quickly hack a few fixes/functionalities on the existing codebase, the bare minimum that they could continue working with, after which we will redo their project cleanly from scratch.

The front/back parts have NO license mentions, the API part has a license mention that specifies that the code belongs to the authors until Client has paid the authors in full - which has been done, so there shouldn't be an issue with that part of the codebase.

All the fees for Bad Contractor were paid in full as well - however their relationship ended on bad terms because of the quality of their work (they wanted to keep 'maintaining' their mess), and to our knowledge, the source code probably still belongs to them (in France, AFAIK, if there is no explicit mention of giving away source code, a license is only for use).

So my questions are: who is liable if Bad Contractor learns of this reuse of their code? Is our Client liable for giving us the code and telling us to work on it? Are we liable for accepting to work on code the client gave us? Or both?

Heck, can I be made personally liable if it can be proven that I worked on it with this knowledge, even just as an employee?


texts: Can cropping a sprite invalidate copyright?

texts:
US Law — Can cropping (sub-sampling) a copyrighted work in some cases be considered an original work that I can copyright?

In general, I understand I can't use art from a copyrighted video game for my own commercial purposes. On the top left, I mark the Mario artwork with an X to mark that the work is copyright of Nintendo. — Cropping the image to a 3-color 6x6 block is still recognizably Mario, so I believe the small block in the bottom left is still under their copyright.

In the top center, I mark that color changes have no impact on the copyright status. Nintendo owns copyright over the patterns themselves. — I even assume the cropped one-bit image of 4x5 pixels showing part of a color-swapped Mario's face as under Nintendo copyright because it is arguably still recognizably Mario.

For the third example, I assume that Nintendo still has at least some rights over a derivative work heavily influenced by Mario. The derived 'mario' is wearing a jersey instead of overalls and facing forward. — In this case, however, I don't believe Nintendo has any grounds for a copyright claim over the derived and cropped one-bit 4x5 image of a face. This little face, while it shares some pixels with the original Mario- is no longer recognizably Mario, so I mark it with a green check mark.

Finally, to the question- is there a point where cropping without derivation is sufficient grounds to be considered my own copyrightable work?

Look at the three business cards on the very right of the image. They all crop elements directly from the color-swapped Mario Sprite, but I've been told they are not recognizably Mario. Would Nintendo have grounds to sue me were I to begin to profit off plumbing, insurance, or my own racing team based on the three fictional companies on the far right?

What are the standards by which these decisions are made? I'm going off the assumption it's recognizability. What else could it be?

Also- I very much welcome answers that:

Suggest a change to any red X or green Check above
Correct a fundamental mistake in my understanding
Answer the specific question of these businesses
Answer the general question of cropping artwork


texts: Is there a general EULA I can use that will gurantee my conditions?

texts:
Is there a general EULA that companies starting out can include with there software? I need it to guarantee the following,

License Requirements:

The code remains my intellectual property
They have the right to edit for their use, but not to distribute any
code freely or commercially
They do not own the software, only the ability to use it
I can void the license if I need to
I am not responsible for any damages

I'm mainly just worried that they'll get upset if the see me licensing similar software to other businesses. I want to guarantee my right to continue to sell and modify my software that I develop, regardless of if they pay for it.

I see a lot of free licenses for open-source projects, does anything exist for proprietary software?


texts: If elected, could Jo Jorgensen practically/theoretically pardon everybody convicted of victimless crime?

texts:
Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party candidate for US president in 2020, has said that if elected, she would pardon anyone convicted of a victimless crime.
Ignoring the fact that Congress would impeach her, that she might be lying, and that her chances of getting elected are less than 0.1%,

Could Jo Jorgensen theoretically/practically pardon hundreds of thousands of people?
Is there some kind of theoretical/practical limit on how many people president can pardon at once or per day?


texts: Marrying a family member so they can become a British Citizen

texts:
I have a family member currently studying in the UK, who is not a British Citizen (Non-EU Citizen). They were going to become a British citizen through more conventional methods, however there has been a surprise in that it seems those conventional methods are no longer available. I am told that those methods have vanished due to tightening immigration laws.

In order to circumvent this, some of my other family members are requesting me to marry this family member. They would marry me, gaining a 1-year visa, and they would stay married to me until they acquired an indefinite visa, after 1 year of marriage, then divorce me.

The marriage would be totally superficial. We would not be living together. The only thing we would share would be a bank account. I do know this family member fairly well and we have holidayed together from time to time.

What I want to know:

How legal is this?
What do I need to be wary of?
How could this ruin my life, if something goes wrong?

Additional details:

I am a full British citizen, from birth.
Our blood-root family member is a grandparent (Non-EU).


texts:
I just saw this BBC news article.
Canada election: Charities warned against climate change ads

Canada's election watchdog has warned environmentalists that saying climate change is real could break the law.
The issue arose because one party running in October's election denies climate change is a threat.
That has led Elections Canada to warn groups that running paid advertisements about climate change could be considered partisan activity.

So what happens if an atheist runs for office?
Are paid advertisements about God/Religion banned, during the election?


texts: If a neighbors tree that is shading a solar power system that was installed many years ago (2009 homes were built in 2004) in CA (tree might have been existing in a shorter form and the trees grow very quickly), what are the legal obligations of the neighbor to trim the tree?


texts: Question about rent and whether this is a contract

texts:
This is in California I read another one that said California is an outlier. and to be clear, my intent is NOT to pursue legal action I'm merely trying to establish there was a contract and there was a breach of contract more for my own interest than anything.

We were planning on moving from one city to another and as part of that were going to rent a 1 bedroom apartment for 2 people. Family members contacted us and indicated they were coming home to the city we were moving to, had nowhere to come home to, and wondered if they could live with us when they got home. We discussed it several times by facetime and Facebook messenger. It was agreed that instead of an apartment we would rent a house so that when they got home, there was room for them. We'd all live in the house together, they'd start paying rent as soon as they got settled, found jobs etc, and then at some point in the future, probably after the lease expired, we'd go our separate ways.

We started renting the house in Sep 2017, they got delayed and didn't get home until Jan. We were perfectly fine with that we actually moved early for our own reasons. They lived with us for 2 months, didn't pay a penny of rent, and you guessed it they bailed on us, with no notice, and got their own apartment. While I assume the reason they left is irrelevant, we don't know, they didn't give us a reason, in fact there has been no communication in the 2 months since they left. 2 weeks prior to them leaving they asked me to give them a list of the costs of the house as they were about to start working(one of them) and be able to contribute and they wanted to get an idea what it cost. So I typed out on a computer the numbers and gave it to them. That's the only written confirmation beyond the messages on FB messenger, of an agreement. The only other "proof" that I can come up with is that they did change of address forms and still have mail coming to the house which proves they fully intended to move in and live there.

Again I have no intent of actually filing, they're family and I'm chalking it up to a lesson learned(for us, clearly not them) but my take is there was a clear contract, they breached it, and under the law they're legally bound to be paying us "part" of the rent, and even though they left, they continue to be bound to pay until the lease expires, in Sept 2018.

Am I correct or incorrect that there was a contract and it was breached?


texts: Does Power of Attorney extend to voting in an election?

texts:
Let's say that a citizen of the United States is in declining mental health and is not of sound mind or body to care for their own affairs, so the family sought Power of Attorney and received it.  Let's also say that before an election and before deteriorating health, they had applied for an option to have a mail in ballot for the general election in November.
If the individual with Power of Attorney receives the mail in ballot, would they be participating in a type of voter fraud by filling out the ballot on behalf of the person, then presenting the ballot to the person for their signature, assuming that person is capable of physically providing their signature, however incapable of mentally comprehending the voting decision?
I know that the individual with Power of Attorney has the right to sign for legal documents on behalf of the person as they should be doing this with their best interest at heart, however is there an explicit exclusion for election ballots?  If not then how could one account or check for election fraud?


texts: Can I use a Public Domain work commercially, if I extracted data from a Non-Commercial use digital copy

texts:
There is a number of digital libraries such as Europeana, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Kramerius, Polona and so forth. Each offers a large colletion of digitized books. Many of these books are available in Public Domain, meaning I can do almost anything with them.
But while some libraries allow unrestricted use of their Public Domain content, others do not and limit the use of their copies to Non-Commercial use. It is my understanding that NC only applies to the digital copy, not the work itself.
Now, the copy o a book is a collection of images. Let's say I want to use these publicly available NC images to restore the original value of the PD work (i.e. use OCR to obtain text of a book), and then use that extracted data (i.e. PD text) commercially, for instance I want to sell my clean text copies as ebooks. What I would end up in the end is my textual reproduction of a Public Domain work, which I can use. But it would be derived from a Non-Commercial copy.
Is that breach of NC licence, if I am profiting from a reproduction of PD text I extracted myself, but using NC digital copy (scanned images) of that book to retrieve it?
I personally considered the following line of reasoning in favor of an individual being able to use the end result commercially, i.e. for selling ebooks of Public Domain works:

The photographer has copyright in the photograph itself, not in the items photographed.
A “slavish copy” of a work would not qualify for protection if there is no creativity involved.
Copyright protects literary and artistic expression, not facts.

I am interested in how this works globally, but mostly within the EU.


texts: Can a data controller change their privacy policy without explicit consent?

texts:
While I read one of the updated privacy policies (PP) this week, the following section of a privacy policy seemed… off:

  We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time, and all changes will be effective at the time we post them. If we believe there is a significant change to this Privacy Policy or our data collection and use practices, we will indicate on our websites that our Privacy Policy has changed prior to the change becoming effective.

While the website indication is probably enough if I'm an active user, this service stores account information, and I might not visit it for a long time and therefore miss the indication on the website. If the new PP now contains a section that allows third parties to use my data I might notice that too late.

For simplicity, this question concerns data that was already stored when a privacy policy changed, not newly acquired data afterwards.

Is a change of a privacy policy without explicit consent valid under the GDPR? If I understand Article 6 (1) a) correctly, the PP must not add change the purposes a data subject has given consent to, unless at least one of Article 6 (1) b)-f) holds.

(This is related to terms-of-service changes without notice, which, at least in Germany, are only allowed if the possible causes where explicitly listed, as far as I know).


texts: Apartment Complex REQUIRES you to Friend Them on Facebook

texts:
This one caught my eye today and I thought it would be a good topic for a question.  Click here for the full story.

Summary

City Park Apartments in Salt Lake City, Utah put a lease addendum on everyone's door ordering them to

Friend them on Facebook or be in violation of the lease
Agree that they and their guests agree to be photographed
Agree not to post negative information about City Park

Questions

I am highly suspect that this is enforceable after the fact; meaning there's already a signed lease agreement there's not much they can do.  But what about renewal time?

What could City Park do if I didn't have a Facebook account (I don't).
Would the agreement to be photographed be limited to outside or could they theoretically take pictures of tenants and guests inside the apartment (hidden cameras?)
How enforceable would this gag order be?

Disclaimer:  I am not, nor have I ever been a tenant at City Park in SLC or any of their other properties.  In fact, I am more than 4,000 miles away.  This is purely academic in nature


texts: How does a lawyer help when taking someone to court for money owed?

texts:
I had a landlord who I believe owes me money for several things. The two biggest would be prorated rent and the return of damage deposit. Since I shared a kitchen with this landlord, it is out of the scope of the RTA. This means I would have to take the case to small claims or Civil Resolution Tribunal (because my claim will not exceed $5000).

It is my understanding that such courts are designed to be easily accessible and not intended for lawyers. Several things happened during my tenancy that may make me entitled for damages, but I'm not sure and not sure how much.  Therefore I am thinking hiring a lawyer may be a good idea? Some examples of how I think the landlord broke the law in a way I may be entitled damages to:

he entered my private room without notice (admittedly because a repair man needed to see a pipe though he knew the repair man was coming)
he wanted me to move out with only 1 weeks notice and threatened to physically remove my belongings and change the locks if I don't
rented out a shared storage space to an extra tenant who he made a profit from

Is this something a lawyer would help win damages for? Are these even called damages? Unfortunately I didn't have a formal lease, but did have a single email exchange outlining all expectations.  It never specified things like like how much notice was needed for landlord to terminate tenancy (though 1 week is just ridiculous).

Part of why I ask this question, do lawyers every say you probably wouldn't be able to win? This would seem bad for their business because they want you to hire them beyond their initial consultation.


texts: How Justice of the High Court of Australia officially abbreviated?

texts: JSC singular, JSCC plural can officially abbreviate Justice of UK Supreme Court But what for Australia High Court? JHC? HCJ?


texts:
Just doing some reading on human rights law, particularly article 9 and the case of R(on the application of Playfoot) v Millais School Governing Body (2007).

I wanted to know if a specific manifestation of one's faith has to be 'intimately linked' (playfoot) to their beliefs so as to be protected by Article 9, OR should the extent of this linkage be dealt with at the stage of proportionality of any interference with that right?

Any relevant thoughts are welcome. Thank you


texts: Is there an open source license which makes the licensee inform the licenser about the derivative product/project?

texts:
I did some research about the popular open source software licenses and none of them explicitly solve a particular point I'd like to have:

I don't mind at all to allow for free use and distribution of the source, nor do
I want to force people to contribute with their mods nor anything containing their IP.

The following 2 things I'd like to have:

A notice which states clearly that I develop the original source(the apache license has this in the form of a NOTICE file as far as I know).
If a person ends up distributing a commercial or open source project based partially or entirely on mine, he/she lets me know about the existence of such product/project, nothing more, nothing less.

Do you happen to know if something that specific happens to exist out there or maybe I can just make a small mod to a popular license?


texts: Examples of listing common software IP assignment agreements exhibits

texts: I'm wondering if there are any examples of listing common forms of software assets for Exhibit A's in assignment agreements (like when purchasing or selling assets). For example, GitHub repositories, domain names, published packages on common distribution platforms (like npm or apt), databases and the data they contain, etc. If I were writing a paper, I could easily Google how to "cite" a GitHub repository, but I have yet to find the appropriate way to reference a GitHub account and associated repositories (and the technologies they may contain), in a listing of assets. I'm left just kind of trying to describe these things myself and not knowing whether the language is appropriate (does "repository" need a definition? etc.)


texts: (San Francisco, CA) Can a landlord keep a security deposit if my apartment rental application is approved, but I back out of signing the lease?

texts: I went to go see an apartment in San Francisco, CA and the said that they require a security deposit of 1.5x monthly rent just to apply for the unit. They claimed they would give the security deposit back if my application was declined. However, if my application is accepted, they are claiming that the security deposit is theirs to keep, regardless of wether or not I sign the lease and move in. i.e., if I'm approved but decline the lease, they're saying my security deposit is forfeit. That can't be legal, right?


texts: How to encourage landlord to fix retaining wall

texts:
I am located in Colorado, USA.

We own a house that has a rented home behind it.  There is a retaining wall between the two properties.  We have checked on the county assessor's website and the retaining wall is entirely on their side of the property line, and the neighboring property is lower and was excavated to be level, creating the need for the retaining wall.  Based on all of that, it is my current understanding that it is the responsibility of the neighbor to maintain the retaining wall, which is over 30 years old, wood, and crumbling to the point that there are large sections of exposed dirt currently being held up by nothing.

The problem is, despite the tenant in the house telling us that about a year before we bought the property the landlord had an estimator out to look at it, and more recently she told us they said that they'd have another estimate done over a month ago, nothing has happened.  I have had to brace the fence to keep it from falling over as the dirt around the fence posts erodes away.  The property management company / owner are very unresponsive and do not seem very keen on repairs based on the visible condition of the property (rotting window frames) and the tenant telling us about other repairs she has requested not being done.

I had even contacted a few companies to see about doing the repairs myself but they declined as they could not get the permits as the work would not be on my property.  I have set aside some money to cover probably the entire cost of the work, and definitely half, but as this is a rental and therefore the owner is profiting from it, I would only want to help pay for their maintenance as a last resort if they ask for it.  There are other repairs to our own home we could use that money for as well as we bought this as a bit of a fixer upper.

What options do I have legally to get them to actually repair this retaining wall before it falls?


texts: How to obtain Contact info for a business that declared bankruptcy?

texts:
Suppose a person made a batch of beer at a small brewery chain here in Boston and was scheduled to pick it up, when they find out the brewery has closed due to bankruptcy.
The person wants to file a claim in small claims court, as the brewery still has their $250 keg of beer. Is there a way to get ahold of the owner/rep to inform them of the case?


texts: Is the (Indian) Divorce Act, 1869 applicable for all religions, or is it applicable only to Christians?

texts:
As you can see in the preliminary of this (Indian) Divorce Act of 1869 here, it talks about the extent of Act in point 2 of preliminary. I understand that according to that point, the Court can grant any relief as per this act only if at least one of petitioner/respondent is Christian. However, does it also require one of them to be Christian, for the Court to have the power to make decrees of dissolution using this Act?
So in short, is this entire act applicable only to Christians, or it can be used by people of other religion as well?
A specific question is, suppose a Muslim husband in India is deserted by his Muslim wife for more than 2 years, can he use the section 10 of The Divorce Act 1869 to apply for divorce? If he can't use this Act, is there any other Law/Act in India that he can use in this situation?


texts: Would I violate copyright by making transcriptions of copyrighted music and posting them online if I don't make money off of it?

texts: If I were to make transcriptions of copyrighted music and make them available on sites such as MuseScore or post the audio on YouTube and I did not make any kind of advertising revenue or any money selling the transcriptions, would I face any kinds of legal problems?


texts: Do websites that re-sell preowned game discs face any copyright problems?

texts:
I read on a game CD that

  Unauthorised copying, adaptation, rental, lending, distribution, re-sale, etc. are prohibited

So how can websites like Gamestop legally re-sell preowned game discs?


texts: H&R Block gave me someone else's personal info by mistake. What do I do?

texts:
I needed to amend my 2013 tax return so I went to H&R Block, my first mistake. A few weeks later I went back to the H&R block office to pick up my amended return and other supporting documents. It seems like all my information is present and correct but I haven't verified this. However, I noticed a 1099 form that looked unfamiliar. Upon closer inspection, it was the 1099 of a different H&R Block customer that included the person's name, address, social security number, and other tax related info. I looked up the person's full name on Facebook and based on the info in his profile I'm 99% certain I found the right guy. So far I have escalated the issue with H&R Block but it will take 7-10 business days for them to email me back. I can't go back to the physical location since it's closed for over a week. I'm keeping the form safe in my apartment for now. I live in San Francisco, CA.

Since I'm now in possession of this person's personal info do I have to take any special action to avoid any legal trouble?
Does this person have grounds to sue H&R Block since they compromised his info?
Is reaching out to this guy on Facebook so we can talk in-person the right thing to do? If he wants to sue H&R Block I want to help him do that. I could ask him for his address to verify that it's actually him.
Should I shred this person's 1099 form immediately or hold on to it incase he wants to sue H&R Block?
Do I have grounds to sue H&R Block? For all I know our info was swapped and this guy now has my 1099 form.
Am I legally allowed to take photographs of this person's 1099 form as proof that H&R Block put it in my possession?


texts: Publishing code for redesigning web sites on Github

texts:
I've been learning web designing for a while now, and I hope to achieve an internship in this field sometime soon. I've noticed that most prospective employers ask for samples of work while looking at resumes. Since I don't have any real world experience in web design, it's important for me to show some relevant skills at least upfront. While a portfolio is always a given, I have been redesigning some random websites from time to time. Is it legal for me to put up the source code for these websites that I've redesigned on Github? The idea is that since Github repositories are publicly visible, I would be able to show my work through Github to prospective employers. This, I feel, is always better than just claiming - "I have skills in XYZ area".

I'm a graduate student in the US. Will I face legal issues according to US laws if I do this? Should I include some copyright notice in all my Github source folders, something like - "The content designed in the websites is not mine, and I'm just recreating them"?  Some of the websites I have re-designed include company logo pictures, which I had to just save (to my computer) and re-use.


texts: Is it legal to ask an unknown person to buy something for me abroad, and then buy it back?

texts:
I assume of course that laws will differ by country, and I'm interested in those differences, though there should be some common aspects.

There are several layers to my question.

We agree that your friend can bring you a gift from his homeland, as long as it complies with custom rules.

Now can your friend legally sell it back to you at the price he bought it ?

This product may sometimes be available in your country, but at higher price, does it change anything ?

Can your friend legally sell it back to you at a higher price, making some pocket money out of it ?

Now what if he's not a friend, but a stranger, or someone you got acquainted with online, is it considered contraband? (assuming everything is ok with customs at the airport).

Does it change anything if it's done between European Union countries?

Does it change anything if it's recurrent ? e.g. say this guys comes every month from Russia to France for unrelated business, each time he fills up his luggage with the maximum allowed amount of goods that comply with custom laws, and I buy them, giving him 15% of margin, is that OK?


texts: Can someone be bound to a contract to which they are not a party?

texts:
I am reviewing a contract, to which I am a party, drawn up by the other party. There is a section that mandates the actions of an individual who is not a party to this contract; the contract does not require that individual's signature. If I sign this, is that individual bound to this contract?

Note that it does not mandate that I, a party, ensure that the unrelated individual behaves according to the contract.


texts: Is it legal to send animals for near spaceflight research?

texts: For research purposes, is it legal to use animals as flight test subjects?  Like using crickets and mouse as subjects to be sent near space (Upper Stratosphere) High Altitude Balloon


texts: Is it ok to open source translated closed source code?

texts:
I received a library to use in a school project, which is closed source.

However, the project itself was programmed in a different language, so I had to translate the original library. Now I want to open source the project. Can I do so without consent from the creator of the original library?

Something to note is that the library in question is trivial in its nature: the given library is just another interface, consisting of one simple class, for a graphical library (Java Swing in this case).

This question is related to Is it legal to rewrite a Java (OpenJDK) library into another programming language under GPL? but I feel that that answer is inapplicable in this case.


texts:
Quite a few websites started showing european visitors "You cannot use this site because of GDPR", probably based on GeoIP information.

I see two possible legal problems:

GDPR forbids coupling of acceptance and the possibility to use. I am not sure if the GDPR wall is illegal or not as there is neither acceptance required on the page nor a possiblity to use the site.
The GDPR walls themself often miss a privacy policy (but most seem not to use tracking)
European citizens accessing the site when they are visiting non-european countries or via a (possibly anonymous) proxy probably have the same rights, but can access the site and will be tracked (or whatever the site does what does not comply with GDPR)

Are these walls a legal solution for these sites?

Here is an example from the Washington Post. You need to agree to tracking to continue to the site or you need to pay to avoid tracking.

Washington Post

Step 1:

Step 2 (after clicking Free):

Slate

Slate's implementation only offers an "agree" button, which leads you to their site, which probably uses tracking.

From their privacy policy:

Slate tracks when EU readers grant consent for Slate to collect and process data through the use of an identifying cookie on your browser.


texts: UK: If brother acts as guarantor on mortgage, is he no longer classed as first time buyer?

texts: If my brother acts as guarantor for my mortgage, but does not put his name on the house deeds, would he no longer be classed as a first-time-buyer? This is important because it makes a difference to whether or not he pays stamp duty when he buys his own house.


texts: Is it unethical for a prosecutor not to try his hardest to get an indictment?

texts:
A Grand Jury failed to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Michael Brown, which led to riots in Ferguson, MO.  This my have been due in part to the fact that the prosecutor presented the Grand Jury with all the evidence rather than just presenting the evidence that bolsters his case for indictment.  In this article, Megan Mcardle argues that the prosecutor was in a no-win situation, since he was under political pressure to convene a grand jury, and yet he didn't think that a conviction would be likely.  So he intentionally tried not to get an indictment in order to avoid the case going to trial.

But my question is, is it unethical for a prosecutor not to try his hardest to get an indictment after he's convened a Grand Jury?  Could a prosecutor be disbarred if it's found that he presented evidence which he knew would undermine his case for an indictment?  Would such behavior run afoul of government rules of conduct for prosecutors?


texts:
Can my school force me to use applications or a school-issued computer if I do not agree with the terms of use for that application? I do not trust most of the applications that my school requires me to use because of the way that they handle my data, so I am wondering if they are allowed to force me to use those applications or if they are required supply me with ways to do the assignments in the ways that I agree with (paper and pencil or applications that do not share my data).

Legal Residence: Pennsylvania, United States of America
Age and Grade: 8th Grade (I am 13 years old so I believe that COPPA does not apply to me anymore. )


texts: Writing a story. A criminal is on the border of a state with different drug possession laws

texts:
The character is leaning his head across state lines and getting high of an unknown substance, which isn't federally scheduled, and is legal in one state, but illegal in another. In the illegal state, a DUI is a citation, while in the legal state, a DUI is a gross misdemeanor.

The character is on his motorcycle with the rest of his body sitting sidesaddle on a motorcycle that is parked and turned off in the illegal state, but is consuming and possessing the drug in the illegal state.

When he's done, he throws the cigarette in a nearby puddle in the legal state and gives the officer the middle finger in the legal state, turns on his engine, rides away into a nearby shed and lets the drug take him over.

The cops in the illegal state don't write tickets for DUIs unless they're generally in big vehicles, and he was on a motorcycle, which they don't ever charge people with DUIs for...

So did my character find a loophole and outsmarted the police in both states?


texts: What is difference between CC0 and Creative Commons Public Domain?

texts:
I was going through this wikipedia article and I could not understand the real difference between the CC0 license and the CC Public Domain license.

Basically if I am releasing my creation into public domain, would it not be enough if I just use CC Public Domain license?

Why would anyone use CC0? What is their difference?


texts: What happens when court orders issued by different countries contradict each other?

texts:
Two recent examples have prompted me to wonder about this:

In the Equustek case a Canadian company has gained an injunction in the Canadian courts ordering Google to remove certain material worldwide. Google now has an injunction in the US blocking the enforcement of this injunction in the US.
In the Microsoft case the US government is seeking a warrant forcing Microsoft to hand over some emails related to a drug investigation. The emails happen to be stored in Ireland, and Irish law (following the EU) prohibits the release of private information to a third party. The Irish law is likely to be even more stringent with the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

So what happens when a company is legally required to do something by one country when it is also legally prevented from doing it by another? Are there any general principles here, or is the company just going to have to decide which country to be held in contempt in?

Does this legal hazard also apply to individual employees? Might we see Microsoft executives having to choose between US and European arrest warrants for contempt?

I realise that the Microsoft case is still pending appeal to the US Supreme Court, but if the Court rules in the government's favour then this is going to be a real question.


texts: How do I determine if my injury is work-related? Next steps?

texts:
I live and work in Texas. I have had increasing neck and back issues since starting my job, and I recently visited a doctor to try and diagnose the issues.

The doctor said that the injury is most likely caused by repetitive strain, and from what I gather the strain is related to movements I perform at work.

I feel like this is not considered a "work-related" injury because the injury did not happen at work, and I was not required to file an injury report with my employer.

What should my next steps be to protect myself if this injury puts me out of work, either in the short-term or long-term?


texts: Does Executive Privilege override 5 U.S.C. App. §8H (c)?

texts:
With respect to the testimony of Acting Director of National Intelligence McGuire before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives on September 26, 2019, that as a member of the Executive Branch, Executive Privilege prevented him from sending the now infamous "Whistle-blower complaint to the Congressional Intelligence Committee's.  By what legal theory does Executive Privilege override the plain wording of statute that:

"(c) Upon receipt of a transmittal from the Inspector General under subsection (b), the head of the establishment shall, within 7 calendar days of such receipt, forward such transmittal to the intelligence committees, together with any comments the head of the establishment considers appropriate."

This question is limited to the Directors responsibility to Executive Privilege and not other legal reasons opined by the Office of Legal Counsel in DoJ. Thanx


texts: How can an "unofficial" book avoid copyright issues?

texts:
I was in a bookstore today and I saw a coloring book called "Tolkien's World" which was based on characters from The Lord of the Rings and other works by JRR Tolkien. On the back cover, it said:

  This book is unofficial and is not authorised by the Tolkien Estate or HarperCollins Publishers.

How can the author and his/her publisher get away with that? Surely the publication of the work is going to infringe on the copyright of the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins? I would have expected publication of the work to have drawn a lawsuit, but it's clearly been in print for a couple of years.

Disclaimer - I have no background in law.


texts:
I registered a domain name with a large domain registrar.

The domain is very unique.

The transaction went through. My credit card was billed. I received an invoice.

I set up the domain with my website. I used CloudFlare for DNS and still have the domain listed in Cloudflare.

Google has cached copies of the website pages on the domain. I verified the domain on Google search console and it is still listed under my properties.

Four days after the registration I received an email from the registrar saying that there had been an error.

They said the domain is a premium domain and the actual price for the domain is $1,000,000. They took my domain down and removed the whois information.

They refunded me with in-store credit plus $25 "for any inconvenience". My credit card was never refunded it's all in-store credit. I never agreed to the refund.

I have all the bank invoices and other documents.

I want my domain back.
What are my options?


texts: Certificate that person is living with a dead man, is there any analogue in US?

texts:
There is a certificate in the Russian bureaucratic system that is literally called:

  Certificate that a person is currently living with a dead man

The reason for that is that a dead man is still registered in that place (referring to Russian resident registration). So it  really looks like a dead man is living with those who are alive "according to documents".

Is there any analogue in US? Or is the bureaucratic system built so that  you do not need to certify you are living with the dead?


texts: When a contract is being analyzed in court, is it the understanding of the parties or the written contract that is to be established?

texts:
This is a difficult question to phrase so bare with me. From reading questions on this site, I understand that a written contract (e.g. a lease) is only a written record of the actual contract, that is to say the understood "abstract" contract takes precedence. So someone can't argue something silly like "the contract said I must pay them $100 but never specified the currency". But in complex situations, different parties may have different interpretations of the contract, even after signing it in writing. Just because something is in writing doesn't mean it's clear.

My question is, isn't it wrong to think that in court the judge and jury are trying to establish the actual understood contract? It is very well possible that the parties were not on the same page when the contract was formed. If this were the case, then what is the job of the judge/jury?

For example if Bob and Joe are going to court because Bob believes Joe owes him $100 in accordance with a contract they both signed, but Joe believes he doesn't, if the contract really is ambiguous and both Joe and Bob really do believe they are in the right, what is the job of the Judge and Jury? You can't really say it's to find out who was right because there was a misunderstanding when the contract was formed - but I don't think that invalidates the contract because businesses do this all the time to rip people off for money :P

Is it possible the a judge/jury actually decides who wins the case based on the judge's/jury's own interpretation of the contract and not the plantiff's or defendant's?

UPDATE: sorry for the confusing question, I think what I was trying to get at is what happens when a party finds an "alternative" interpretation to a clause before agreeing to it, so they can find a loophole if/when a dispute arises. I think large corporations do this a lot.


texts:
Now I don't fully understand what has happened to me. Yes I know what sex is. I know what rape is it's when a man forces a woman to have sex with him.

But the other night I was at a friend's house with my two best friends. When one of them had to temporarily leave to go help a relative, my other friend was still at the house with me and we were the only two there. Out of nowhere she started kissing me. I pushed her back and asked her what she was doing; she said she loved me but it didn't come off loving when she threw me down and ripped my clothes off against my will and stuck something in me and I don't even know what it was also she touched my breast and I said stop.

My family wants to call it rape but since we're both female how is that possible?


texts: What is a "Reserved" clause in a contract? (letter of engagement)

texts:
I'm being asked to sign a letter of engagement with an attorney.

One of the numbered paragraphs is blank and just says "Reserved". What is the reason for it, can the attorney just insert whatever terms they want later? Clearly not, but it must have some purpose.

This letter is being presented on an online signing service if that matters.


texts:
Let’s say, for instance, that a person is renting a home from someone who has died. However, the alleged landlord is the son of the deceased owner of the home.
Only problem is that this son has never had the estate of his father opened. Now the bank has gotten involved because the landlord (son) has not made a mortgage payment. In a couple hundred days.
House is going into foreclosure, now the tenant (T) has stopped paying the landlord (son)rent for that home started paying the actual bank; however, T has received an eviction notice. On the day of court, T shows up with the death certificate of the homeowner, also the “deed” that shows whose name is on the house.
Current bank statements showing the number of days and amount the mortgage is passed due. Along with statements showing, that you have been faithfully paying the rent over the past year or so.
Can someone legally be evicted from that home, if they have stopped paying the landlord rent and started sending the monthly amount straight to the bank that holds the mortgage.
Remind you, that the tenant has an agreement with the bank. That he/she will pay the monthly mortgage payment.
Does that tenant have any legal rights?


texts:
Okay so I created a Typographic image.

(an image that forms the shape of something only using text/fonts)

Now i want to submit this as a piece of work for a university project 'create a typographic image' ....

What are my rights on this?  Seen as university's could take this as plagiarism?

This is an example of one :
http://seaningsblog.com/post/105092941920/darth-vader-typographic-design-buy


texts: Are charges subject to Double jeopardy if they have been pleaded out of?

texts:
Person C was charged with crimes A and B.
Person C pled guilty to crime A, as part of a plea bargain with prosecution, in exchange for dropping charges on crime B.
Executive branch (state or federal, as appropriate) pardoned/commuted the sentence of person C for crime A.

Can prosecution decide to prosecute person C for crime B now, without it being thrown out as Double Jeopardy?

Why it's unclear to me: Wikipedia says Double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges and on the same facts, following a valid acquittal or conviction, which seems to exclude the situation where the charge was pleaded out of - which is neither acquittal nor a conviction.


texts: Paying to leave without notice in at-will employment state

texts:
Checking up here on a question that appeared on workplace.stackexchange.com: Someone signed a contract saying "If you leave the assignment without giving 15 days prior notice you will be liable to pay these days.". This is in the USA in an at-will employment state, which means the employer can fire the employee at any time without notice, and without these terms the employee could quit at any time without notice.

So the question is: In a US state with at-will employment, are contract terms enforceable that say the employee has to pay the employer if they leave without giving notice? (Extra question: Would it be enforceable if the contract just says that the employee has to give 14 days notice, and would it be enforceable if both employer and employee agreed that 14 days notice are required for each side?) Or does the state law that anyone can cancel an employment contract at any time without reason override this?

(Probably should have mentioned: In this case the OP posting on workplace had just started a low-paid job, figured out that for medical reasons she couldn't do it, wanted to quit, and then found this term in the contract. So Inaki's answer is very useful in general, while user662852's answer is most helpful in this particular case).


texts: Recourse if heir (assuming to be only heir) gives away items intended for other heir before the content of the will is known?

texts:
Please note that this matter was settled to my satisfaction.
I have no intention whatsoever to make an issue out of it.
I’m asking the question mainly to satisfy my curiosity about what might have happened.
TL;DR below.
The full story:
In the spring of 2019 my close friend Peter, went out on a Friday night to get fish & chips, was run over by a drunk driver and he died on the spot.
His only next of kin was his mother Carla. She assumed she was the only heir.
Peter was an avid collector of SciFi and Fantasy books (same as me) and had approx. 6000 books in his apartment in Edinburgh.
Not knowing what to do with that enormous amount of books Carla called a local charity that runs thrift shops and offered them the books as donation.
They send a guy over and he took away about 500 books. He promised to come back a week later with a larger van and more people to carry.
I flew to Scotland for the funeral (I live in The Netherlands) and to assist Carla in dealing with the situation.
That is when I learned she had given away those books. I explained to her that those particular books were not very valuable and giving them away was probably the best thing to do, but I knew that the entire collection was insured for £ 100.000 and that was most likely under valued.
Give it all away seemed silly. She agreed and we notified the charity to put the collection on hold.
Two days later Peters will was read. Turned out he was far wealthier than Carla or I knew.
(We expected a few 100.000, but well over 10 million is a whole different game.)
He bequeathed a substantial amount to a few charities and had made sure that Carla would never have to worry about money for the rest of her live.
And he granted me his entire book collection plus an amount of money to cover my expenses for travel and dealing with the books (storage and shipping).
Carla was very upset she had given "my" books away.
I re-assured her that I didn’t mind at all.
I would have given them away myself as that made far more sense for these books than shipping them to my home in The Netherlands.
Over the following months I flew back and forth several times to further assist Carla and to deal with the books.
Eventually I shipped about 2000 books home and integrated them into my own collection.
About 2000 where sold to a trader in second hand books and the remaining 1500 were donated to charity as Carla had done with the first batch of 500.
The proceeds of the sale and the remainder of Peters financial grant to me I donated in his name to the same charities that Peter had named in his will.
TL;DR:
An heir, assuming to be the only heir of the deceased, gives away part of his possessions prior to the content of the will being known.
What recourse does the other heir, to who those items were granted in the will, have if this can not be amicably settled?
Jurisdiction is UK, Scotland in case that matters.
Financial value of the items approx £200 to £250.
Presume that the items themselves can’t be retrieved anymore.