texts: If you paid $2.5 for a car that's worth $3 if of the age represented, why would you get (1) an award or (2) loss of bargain damages?

texts:
I don't grok the emboldened hypothetical. I simplified the math in the title; dividing prices by 1000 doesn't change factual pattern.

If car = 3K if of the age repesented, then Alex got a bargain of 500 = (3 – 2.5)K.

Thus why would Alex get "an award of £800 (£3,000 less the £2,200 value of the car received)"? Alex wouldn't get anything!
What's his "contractual loss of bargain"? Why give him it "rather than returning each party to their starting positions"?

Prof Richard Taylor, Damian Taylor. Contract Law Directions (6 edn, 2019). p 189. All sections refer to Misrepresentation Act 1967.

  Damages in lieu of rescission

  Alex buys a car from Phillippa for £2,500, but due to a misrepresentation about the car’s
  age, the car is only worth £2,200. If Alex rescinded, he would return to Phillippa the
  car worth £2,200 and get his £2,500 back from Phillippa. So he has his £2,500 back in
  his hands.

  If the court decides to award damages in lieu of rescission under s.2(2), such damages
  would have to achieve the same result. Since no rescission is being ordered, Alex keeps
  the car worth £2,200 so he needs another £300 to bring him up to the £2,500 he could
  have got under rescission. What these damages should not cover, however, is any other
  items of loss, for example suppose Alex has purchased £100 of accessories which only
  fit models of the year he thought he was purchasing and which are now useless to him.
  Such losses would have been left equally uncompensated if rescission plus indemnity
  had been awarded and they can only be recovered if Alex establishes some other right
  to damages, for example under s.2(1), which is considered later. [1.] Similarly, if the car
  would have been worth £3,000 if of the age represented, there should be no question
  of getting an award of £800 (£3,000 less the £2,200 value of the car received) since that
  would be to give him [2.]¸his contractual loss of bargain rather than returning each party to
  their starting positions. To gain such loss of bargain damages, Alex would have to prove
  that the age of the car was a term, not just a representation and that there was therefore
  a breach of contract.


texts: What do you do if you get bothersome local calls to an international number?

texts:
I've come to an issue that FCC.gov's DoNotCall.gov list does not accept Canadian area codes.

However, I kept getting unwanted calls from several American companies trying to scam me with their extended warranty for my US car, possibly not getting the memo that they're calling my Canadian number instead, even though I'm actually physically located in the US as they somehow did nonetheless expect.

I've repeatedly asked them to take me off their lists, and asked them where did they get the number from in the first place, and I also finally did add my number to DNCL.GC.Ca and it finally stopped somewhere thereafter, but I'm not too sure why.

Is there an exchange of the information between DoNotCall and DNCL?

Does each company has to respect both at the same time, if they don't have an area code filter in the first place?

Would I have to be filing complaints of DNCL violation with the Canadian authorities for my Canadian number, even though both me and the offender are located in the US, including at the time of call?


texts: Can a company use another brand's name when describing their product?

texts:
I'm working on a project and the best way I've found to sum it up, essentially my elevator pitch, is by saying:

  It's like X for Y.

Can I use the brand in this context as the tag line for my project?

To use a specific example, could the (now defunct) app Texture, which allowed users to access hundreds of magazines, have advertised itself with the tagline:

  Like Netflix for magazines.

From reading on the topic, it seems like there are four categories for using another brand in an ad:

Comparative
Tarnishment
Parody
Fair Use

Tarnishment & Parody: I think it's safe to say the example above is not tarnishment or parody.

Comparative: Comparative seems to center around doing some sort of actual comparison with a competitor, like comparing Coke to Pepsi.

Fair Use: It seems like the statement above would fall under fair use, but I'm unclear if it's acceptable fair use. I don't think anyone would mistake the statement as implying in any way that Netflix endorses Texture, but the comparison does make use of the value of the Netflix brand (namely, it being a comprehensive repository of an entertainment product).


texts: Can a young US Vice President follow in the line of succession?

texts: As far as I know, the VPOTUS (Vice President of the United States) has no age limitations. With that, could a 30 year-old VPOTUS serve as president under the line of succession in the event the POTUS is killed or incapacitated?


texts: Is my orchard property, particularly the house, able to become a restaurant?

texts: The house resides in the middle of an orchard. I'd like to retrofit my "empty nest" home into a restaurant similar to this one, but I believe there may be zoning laws that could prevent me from doing this. My question is, can this be done and what kind of resources should I be reading to get a better understanding as to how to pursue this professionally?


texts: May I write a novel based on another novel?

texts:
Like if I want to write a book series about Harry Potter character Rita Skeeter's life, may I do it? I always hear that this isn't allowed. But as far as I know some people have written a book about what happened after Potter won the war. And the series "män som hatar kvinnor" has a fourth book called "Det som inte dödar oss".

So is it allowed to write a book (and make money with it), if you base the plot and/or the characters on something written in another book?


texts: Would a one-way ticket to Mars be legal?

texts:
Would a ticket or employment contract involving a one-way trip to Mars, with the full knowledge that the astronaut will die on the Red Planet (if not before), be legal under US law?
Or would it run into the limits of contracts and issues around euthanasia, etc.?

Assume, if needed, that the organization on the other side of the contract is SpaceX, or Mars One.


texts:
If a user informs us that they no longer want to delete their data before we process the order deletion request, are we legally required to cancel it? Or can we modify, meaning delete the data regardless? (Though this is not preferred.) I basically want to ask whether we are forced to answer even if the user cancels the request?
example procedure:
A person requests deletion of data. An email is sent to them stating their data will be deleted in few days. The person replies that they never sent such a request and the other person was impersonating them. Can we then cancel the request and ask for compensation from impersonator?


texts: Can a landlord force all residents to use the landlord's in-house debit card accounts?

texts:
[asking regarding state law in Ohio, U.S.A. only]

Recently I have noticed landlords issuing their residents a debit card with attached bank account. This is typically implemented without prior notice and often with an additional fee attached. Typically the landlord will have a preexisting clause in the lease that says the landlord may choose to amend the lease at a later date. The landlord then amends the lease to insist that rent payments are only accepted in the form of deductions from a landlord-issued debit card. The landlord then will not accept payments using traditional methods such as a check.

Word of mouth seems to be that these policies are illegal, but I have had difficulty finding information on this topic that is not from the card-issuing entities.

Can a landlord in Ohio (U.S.A.) legally impose a mandate on their existing residents that a bank account be opened in their name and used for rent payment? If landlords can or cannot, what section of the law defines who can and cannot compel a citizen into banking against the citizen's will?


texts: What legal reasons preventing me for not providing VAT on registration form?

texts:
I wanted to register on-line on some site (which seems to be owned by GmbH) as customer using my UK's Limited company.

However it's required for UK to provide tax details:

  European sales tax-identification number (UID)

which I assume it's the same as EU VAT. However my company doesn't have VAT yet.

So when I'm trying to leave it blank, the error says:

  European sales tax-identification number (UID) can't be blank.

I've contacted the company and they replied that for legal reasons, all customers have to provide a VAT number in order to register and there is no way around this. Really?

Which legal reasons they refer which preventing me to register my company on the web site?


texts: What happens if a prosecutor refuses to file charges?

texts:
Inspired by the answer to a previous question I asked.
Let's say Alice assaults Bob, and Bob goes to the police. I gather from the answer to the linked question that what happens in principle is that the police would investigate, and the local prosecutor would file charges against Alice.
But suppose Alice is a billionaire and she bribes the local prosecutor to not prosecute. What happens next? Presumably, if Bob can show the prosecutor was bribed he can make a new accusation against the prosecutor, but what if the bribe was clandestine? Presumably the prosecutor would just fend off Bob saying something about limited resources, lack of evidence (even when the evidence is clear), etc.
This seems to say that Bob has no real recourse unless public pressure changes the prosecutor's mind (!?). Is that really the case? If so, it seems quite incredible—criminal accusations are for serious crimes, and it's surprising that the decision whether or not to press charges can rest on one, possibly biased, potentially influenced person.
If the country matters, assume the USA.


texts: What subject access rights exist when only some of the data relates to you?

texts:
If some data record exists where some of the data relates to person A (eg. telephone number) while other data does not (eg. name), what right of access does person A have to that record under the GDPR?
I received two unsolicited marketing contacts, and suspecting harassment I made subject access requests to both.  After providing my name to one of them, they said that was not the name on the record and declined to provide me any further information, but offered to delete the telephone number they held.  When contacting the other I refused to provide my name, and they provided the name on the record (not mine) and contact details for the company from which they bought the record.  This allowed me to make a subject access request to that company, and potentially get to the source of the incorrect data.  This is impossible with the first company.
What are my rights in this situation?  If I inform a company that is selling my telephone number that the name they are selling with it is incorrect, do I lose my right to find out who is selling it to whom?


texts: Do I have any legal recourse against trolls spamming my forum?

texts:
I run a forum for supporters of a sports club. I often get supporters from a rival club coming in, creating a user, and spamming my forum, most often after we lose a big game, particularly if against a team they support. I ban them, but they keep coming back with new accounts.

By "spamming", I mean that they keep posting random shit, like pictures and GIFs ridiculing our club. Also a lot of swearing and insults.

Is this illegal? Can the authorities be involved in any way? The forum is international but US-based.

Note that I am asking out of curiosity. I don't expect this to be a practical approach in any way, and I also realize a better method is to simply secure my site better against repeat-offenders.


texts: In 2-party consent states, do you need permission to record a conversation if the other party already has yours?

texts:
If one of the two parties to a conversation in a 2-party consent state has the permission of the other to record the conversation, does the other party need to obtain permission to do the same as well?
Or is everyone allowed to record without permission once a single party has permission to do so?


texts: Contractor bailed after getting paid in full

texts:
I live in South NJ.
I have a 25k contract with a building contractor.
However, they bailed once they got paid in full from the financial company.
Before I knew that they were playing games they kept giving me a whole run around every other day with a different excuse why they can't come.
In the winter they said the weather is too cold. now over the summer they started working but then one day they didn't show up. When I called they said it's cause of rain (where they're located but not where my house is)
Another day it was being delayed for a couple weeks. Then I was told it's the holidays, and one time they even said a workers family member passed away stalling an other couple weeks.
There were a lot of excuses and now they told me that they can't work until there is a straight week without rain.
We had plenty times beautiful days and weeks and they just keep ignoring my emails or phone calls asking when they're resuming work since we are having a nice forecast, but they sometimes pickup and give me a false promise for few days or some other excuse.
Then I contacted the financial company asking why they paid out in full without consulting with me if the job was completed.
They told me there was no need to, and something about that it says in the contract.
I don't see anywhere mentioning that.

I'm thinking of contacting a lawyer but I don't know what kind I'm looking for. Somebody told me that because they have a clause in the contract "if weather permitted” then that's why they could keep pushing this off this way.

I don't know how to go about this.
Should I first stop paying the financial company monthly untill this gets resolved?
Should I contact the contractor boss directly and tell him I'll make a lawsuit, before I contact a lawyer?
Or should I get a lawyer first before I do anything?

Are there clauses in the contract that getting a lawyer will just end up costing me instead of getting my money back?

Please help this has been dragging out for almost a year. I feel like such a fool being taken advantage of like this.


texts: Can my manager make me do unpaid training like this?

texts:
Context: I work at a restaurant in the UK. I am new and haven't yet completed the online training Program's I have been asked to complete. It's pretty much a zero hour contract (I think it's 12 hours) but I work about 40 a week.

The training mentioned below can be done any time anywhere. Including at home.

Situation: recently, whenever the restaurant gets less busy, my manager asks me to go upstairs and complete some more training without pay. They essentially keep me on site without pay incase they get busy. Today certain conditions led me to believe that it wasn't going to get busy for the rest of the day. They asked me to go do the training and I assumed I'd be upstairs until they were closing up, which takes about 40 minutes.

I wasn't about to sit upstairs for 3 hours unpaid, so I politely let the manager know that I'd like to get back on pay or go home. They sent me home.

Am I in the wrong here? Can I be fired for this?


texts: How are cryptocurrencies not illegal by the US Constitution?

texts:
The United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8 reads in part,

  The Congress shall have Power To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin.

From this passage, I understand that only Congress has the power to create and regulate currency (a means of payment and a store of value) in the United States. Congress may also delegate some or all parts of this power, which they have done in favor of the Federal Reserve. By that understanding, any instrument used as a means of payment and a store of value not produced by Congress or under Congressional mandate violates Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. A recent example of such a violation is the Liberty Dollar, a privately minted coinage distributed and redeemable within the United States and backed by precious metals.

Given that Congress has been explicitly given the power to coin and regulate the value of money in the United States, how  are cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Basis created, distributed, and redeemed such that they have not been found unconstitutional?

As a slight tangent, what laws allow for the creation and distribution of cryptocurrencies?


texts: Can a covert recording be used as evidence in UK civil court?

texts:
I have a court case against my landlord for disrepair. At the end of last year I had enough of waiting for him to respond to all the issues we have in the property, and I've sent him a letter of claim. After that he came to inspect the property (with his father posing as a building expert) and he was very arrogant, threatened me with eviction and skyrocketing rent if he does any repairs. He talked down to me and in general his visit was extremely unpleasant.
I recorded it all on my iPhone voice recorder and made a transcript of this conversation, but I didn't tell him that I'm recording it as I know that the only way to show his true colours is to do it without his knowledge (example: he phoned my solicitor after she contacted him to tell him, that we will commence legal proceedings against him and said to her, that he is an innocent victim here, that I was very happy with everything until 6 months ago and he didn't know about any problems in the property, which is a lie as I have tons of evidence to prove otherwise).
So my question is: can I ask for admission of this recording in a court, as I believe it is highly relevant and probative?


texts: Does Canada have a less litigious culture than the United States?

texts:
I have an anecdotal question about the legal culture in Canada that is based on a personal observation of mine and may not be answerable here definitively.  But here goes:

Last summer my family and I took a two week road trip all over western Canada, visiting Victoria, Edmonton, and lots of stops along the way.  I noticed during our trip that practically every hotel we stayed at had a pool with a water slide.  Some of these water slides were very high; being two and three stories tall even.

I've worked in the hospitality industry before, and I know that -- in America at least -- very few hotels have water slides because they are an insurance nightmare for the property.  If you own a hotel with a water slide in the US, you pay through the nose for insurance because it's practically a given that at some point, there will be an accident, someone will get hurt, and you will likely get sued over it regardless of whose fault it may have been.  That's why the few that do have water slides have limited hours and charge you extra to use it.  The slides always empty into a special pool or at least a roped-off area in the main pool that is off-limits to regular swimmers.  There is usually a lifeguard posted to shoo people toward the exit so that the pool is clear for the next rider.  There are also signs everywhere warning swimmers about how dangerous it can be.  This is just the kind of thing Americans expect to see at a water park.

What was peculiar to me is that the slides I encountered in Canada generally just emptied right into the main pool where other people are swimming.  There were no lifeguards, few warning signs, and they were free to use as long as the pool was open.  I used them a few times and you come out of them pretty fast.  Very fun, but I thought it was strange that it was entirely up to me and my wife to keep our kids away from the slide so they didn't get hit by people coming down (which I'm fine with by the way -- it's called parenting and I'm totally OK with that).

My point is that it's a common criticism in America that we are a sue-happy country where we just expect that there will be a lawsuit when somebody gets hurt, whereas in Canada I got the distinct impression that people are fully expected to take their own personal responsibility to not be stupid around the water slide.

Is this impression correct?  Are Canadians less litigious than Americans are?  If so, why?  Or am I just off-base in my observation?


texts: Do I need to be a non profit to accept donations on my website?

texts:
Suppose I have a website that run for a community. I do accept donations on it to pay for the web hosting and game servers.

Are there any requirements for a person operating such a website to apply for some kind of registration as a non profit to continue to accept these donations? If so, what?

I am not sure if it helps but I do provide ledgers of where the money goes to the public.

EDIT: I live in New York. All the servers in question are located in the US (Missouri, Seattle, New York) and one is in Montreal, Canada.


texts: Are you allowed to put a customer's email address in an internal business email?

texts:
Today at work I put a number of our customers' email addresses in an email that only people in the business were CCed on because we were dealing with a matter relating to these customers and their email addresses.

A work colleague told me that it was illegal (breach of privacy) to put our customers' email addresses in the email. Is this true?  The company operates in Australia.

Note that the email I sent was internal. No one outside the company should ever see it.


texts: can the location of a smart phone at the time of arrest negate a suspects protection against unreasonable search and seizures?

texts:
Incident Background Info:

1.
In 2015 A suspect is arrested, and is in possession of a Smart Phone which is locked, and needs a password to gain access.

2.
Suspect is pulled over for speeding, and a vehicle “frisk” is performed by the Officer, and during which a firearm is found underneath the driver seat of Suspects vehicle, registered in his name with no occupants.

3.
The Suspects Smart Phone is in the Suspects passenger seat of the Suspects vehicle at the time of the arrest. Since it’s not on the Suspects “persons” and is located in the Suspects vehicle, the Smart Phone doesn’t go with him to jail to be checked in as property. Instead, an Inventory Log is completed by the arresting officer of the Vehicles contents. When the Officer discovers the Phone in vehicle during the Inventory Log search; the phone is removed, unlocked, data is copied, and the phone is cloned by Officers at the sub-station where vehicle was taken for the Inventory Log to be completed, prior to being towed to impound. Once the Warrantless search and seizure of the Smart Phone is completed, the Phone is placed back in the Vehicle which is them towed to Impound.

4.
Suspect is charged, arrested and taken to jail for Possession of an Illegal Firearm.

5.
Texas Revised Statutory Code defines this as a State Jail Felony.

Question:

Has a search and seizure of the Suspects ”personal papers and effects” (as expand upon by the US Supreme Court to include Smart Phone and its Digital contents) illegally taken place?


texts: Paid in Bitcoin - Company can't deliver and wants to return money in other currency

texts:
For about one month I ordered something at a company and paid in bitcoin (0.015Ƀ). The value at that time was about 25$

The company confirmed that they received the payment.
Unfortunately they can't deliver the product (after I asked them when I can expect a delivery), thus they offered me to cancel the order or wait.

They want to do so with the old value of the coins, 25$ (0.01Ƀ).

While I understand that they don't want to have a loss I also have to admit that it kinda annoys me to lose money because they can't deliver. Buying bitcoins always costs you more for the fees and I would have an effective loss of 0.005Ƀ.

Is a company required to return you the amount of money you paid in either the currency you used (approved by them) or return you the value of the currency in another currency, or are they allowed to switch currencies to maximize their profits?


texts: Do obviously spurious claims of trademark infringement help in cases of genuine infringement?

texts:
Several times when discussing obviously spurious claims of trademark infringement I've seen an argument that companies, in order to keep their trademarks, must threaten to file suit over trademark infringement even when it's blatantly obvious that there is no infringement.  The argument goes like this:

If a company waits until their trademark is genuinely infringed to issue threats over trademark infringement, then they'll have no evidence that they put any effort into policing their trademark, and hence lose their trademark.  However, if they issue infringement threats to anyone who ever gives a funny look to their trademark, then when their trademark is actually and genuinely infringed they'll be able to point to mountains of spurious threats they've sent as evidence that they do police their trademark.

Is there any validity to this argument?


texts: Can I be contractually bound by terms accompanying an unsolicited document?

texts:
This is just a contract question, and I am not concerned with the intellectual property implications at this point.

I'm in the US.

The scenario: Suppose I was given an unsolicited document, so at no point did I agree to receive it or any terms attached to it. The document expressly states, however, that I may not electronically reproduce or even print the document without the owner's prior consent. Although I did not agree to these terms on receipt, so there is no mutual assent there, is there any legal theory under which I could be bound by those restraints?  E.g., if I print or email the document without the owner's consent could I be liable under the document's terms (similar to a click-wrap or browse-wrap)?


texts: Why does Dubai (and other countries) imprison women who report being raped?

texts:
Most of us have heard the grotesque stories about rape victims in Dubai (and probably other countries as well), who have been imprisoned for pre-marital sex after reporting being raped to the local authorities.

A woman can be imprisoned for admitting to pre-marital sex, because proving that a rape happened is next to impossible in Dubai, where four male Muslim witnesses are required. If a woman admits to being raped, and the rape cannot be proven by the legal system, the man or men walks free.

But why is there no burden of proof for imprisoning the woman? If sex has happened, by Dubai law, one of the parties is guilty of breaking the law. But not being able to prove that the accused is guilty doesn't mean that the accuser is guilty, by any standard of the law, as I know it. Does innocent until proven guilty not exist here?

Surely it is not illegal to be raped, and that is the only thing these women are admitting to? On what grounds are they imprisoned?

UPDATE:

As a comparison, I'd like to explore the following. A victim of consuming illegal drugs against their will, reports the crime at a police station/ hospital in the USA. Health workers perform a drug test, and find evidence of illegal substances. An investigation is started, but due to lack of evidence, no one is charged or convicted of drugging this victim. Could this now result in a criminal case charge against the one reporting being drugged, because the drugs are illegal to consume, and no evidence is found that this was done against their will?


texts: Legality of product photos for my online retail store

texts: I own an online retail grocery store and I have taken quality photos of the goods I'm selling. I'm wondering if I'm violating any copyright laws for taking the photos of copyrighted/trademarked products (e.g. Cheetos, Doritos, etc)? Thank you!


texts: I'm a music arranger, and I am preparing a series of string quartet pieces. I want to use an "Inspired by the Netflix series 'Bridgerton'" phrase (or some such phrasing) on the packaging and search strings. Is this legal?


texts: How blatant the circumvention of the Constitution has to be for SCOTUS to act?

texts:
Consider the 3rd Amendment:

  No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Suppose now that the US Congress were to pass this law:

  Any soldier can at any time commandeer any dwelling for himself or any other soldier regardless of the objections of the owner.

Does this contradict the 3rd?

After all, the amendment says "in a manner to be prescribed by law" and the law does prescribe the manner.

PS. The relevant part is not "State" vs "Federal", but whether a law that makes a constitutional clause effectively null and void would be ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS.

PPS. I am not a lawyer, and English is not my native language, so I am at a double jeopardy trying to communicate my question. Please be patient.


texts: Would a prisoner be allowed to practice law and represent other inmates in court?

texts:
Would a prisoner be allowed to practice law and represent other inmates in court, and shown in For Life (2020)?
According to the story, when he got to prison, he went to work for the paralegal association, representing inmates in the internal cases, inside prison. That got him unlimited access to the library. From there, college and law degrees online. Then he took the vermont bar, which is the only state where you can sit for the bar exam with a degree from a non-accredited law school. Then, he applied to have his license accepted reciprocally in new-york. Some bigwig sponsored him for the bar.


texts: Do I forfeit my own copyright if I incorporate CC ShareAlike sources within my original artwork?

texts:
I'm an illustrator and I've created an original work for commercial publication/sale that incorporates part of a photograph I sourced from Wikicommons. The photo in question has a “Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International” license.

(For context: The image is a photograph of a starry night sky, which I’ve composited into my original illustration as a background texture.)

Does the ShareAlike license mean that my new, original work would have to give up its copyrighted status to agree with the CC license of the incorporated image? And that my original work cannot now be copyright because of the rights mismatch?

I'm a bit confused by the terms of ShareAlike: do I understand correctly that it requires subsequent creators/remixers to license those derived/remixed works with a ShareAlike license?

I’m very happy to co-credit the photographer, but if using part of the image means I’d forfeit the copyright of my work, then I’d rather remove/replace the element.


texts: What to do with tenant applications once a lease is signed. I'm talking about the applications of the people who not selected

texts: Let's say a non professional landlord has a property that they rent out. Every couple of years the tenants move out and an ad is put on Craigslist looking for new tenants. 10 or 15 people submit applications and one is chosen. The non-selected applications have SSN, drivers license, and some banking info. Should those just be shredded or is there a legal reason to keep them?


texts: How to obtain the legal basis for the processing of personal data from the controller?

texts: If someone has not kept the information recieved under Article 13 or 14, then referring to which article he or she can obtain information about the legal basis for processing of personal data? I do not find such possibility under Article 15.


texts: Can I publish a book and source code in the book under different licenses?

texts:
Can I publish a book and the source code in the book under two different licenses?
Eg. Publish a book under the GNU FDL license, but license the source code examples in this book under the Apache license?


texts: Does the "general public" include business entities?

texts:
Specifically regarding securities laws in the United States, there is often terminology that says:

  ... must not be marketed to the general public...

The definition of "marketed" I understand and believe it has more to do with financial security markets as opposed to brochures and other common-parlance examples of "marketing" as a part of communication.

But specifically I would like to know if "general public" is limited to individuals, or if there is legal precedent to expand the definition to corporations, partnerships, etc.


texts: Can law enforcement/military shoot to kill for merely making a phone call that is deemed treasonous?

texts:
Warning: This question contains spoilers to the film Arrival (2016).  If that bothers you, move on now.

In the 2016 film Arrival, humanity confronts a crisis with the arrival of a dozen alien spaceships.  The US military brings linguist Louise Banks out to the one in Wisconsin, where she leads a team at a nearby temporary military installation and figures out how to communicate with the aliens.

Near the end of the film, higher-ups in the military decide to close and evacuate the installation.  As they are preparing to close the communication links, a soldier notices that his superior's phone is being used for a satellite call to China, presumably a call to the site of another alien ship there.  After a brief search, Louise is found to be the one making the call, and confronted in a small space that used to serve as the decontamination chamber, along with lead scientist Ian Donnelly who tries to get her a few more seconds for the call.  The supervisor and two armed guards are pointing guns at the pair.  The supervisor asserts that the call is treason, and that if she doesn't drop it now they will shoot.  Just before shots are actually fired, she finishes the call and surrenders.  Neither of the two had firearms nor did either pose an immediate physical threat to the others on the base, though the superior was clearly concerned about what the full consequences of that call could be.

Had either or both of them been shot dead, would the killing have been ruled justified after the fact?  If not, what if any consequences would likely apply to the shooter(s)?

Note: I am not sure if military or civilian law would apply, but even if the correct answer is military law, it'd be nice to know the equivalent answer if these characters were facing civil authorities (e.g., local law enforcement), as could be the consequence for e.g., unauthorized international cooperation in the face of an epidemic or similar crisis.

Answers to any other factual questions/assumptions about the situation would be taken from the film.


texts: Why YTS owner not jailed for illegal digital distribution, even police caught him?

texts:
The guy behind YTS must be thanking his lucky stars.

On 21 October, 2015 MPAA team shut down YTS site.

Mega Upload owner was jailed for decades, even after he is running legal site,
But YTS is not a legal site, but here torrentfreak site claims that he (referring to YTS owner) saved his own skin.

So why one get jailed & another doesn't?


texts: Does uploading music to a site imply responsibility for copyright infringement?

texts:
In a game called ROBLOX, users can monetize their games through a program called DevEx. Many users who use this program what seems to be obvious copyright infringement issues in their game to a certain degree at least.

I understand that this isn't ROBLOX's liability based on their Terms of Service, but I'm unsure of how to determine user liability.

Users may upload music for a virtual currency fee to the site and often upload a plethora of popular songs, and game developers can use those uploads for free in their own game. If the owner of a copyright files a complaint, does it fall under the responsibility of the user that uploaded it originally or the game creator?


texts: Federal Rules of Procedure - Multi-jurisdictional local rules

texts: Has anyone anyone ever come across a full set of the complete Federal Rules that also contains an indexed version of every jurisdiction's local rules? I looked last year and I know the big 2 didn't offer this as they'd prefer you buy each state individually, but  it occurred to me that maybe something else might be out there I haven't heard of. I have found that in some states the local rules are so different that it would be impossible to navigate a federal case without having become quite familiar with the local rules, and I do not like to rely on my co-counsel for adherence; especially if they are not involved on a material level (knowing the requirement that local counsel must co-counsel a federal action if one is not licensed in that jurisdiction and appearing pro hoc vice). I am aware this is available online but do not want to print and need/want a hard copy.


texts: Is any attempt to access restricted information on the web considered an attack?

texts:
This article reports that a person who "gained access to the admin portal by simply altering the website’s URL" is now under investigation by FBI for "exploiting personal information".

I want to understand where exactly an interaction with the site stops being usage and becomes exploiting. I understand that simply entering a reasonable URL I expect to have access to (such as example.com/auth?name=user) is legal, while intentionally trying to get access to someone else's account (such as example.com/auth?name=admin&id={stolen auth token} is not. I also assume that making a honest mistake (such as making a typo in my username or using a name I have on a different site) cannot be held against me, even if that results in accessing someone else's account unintentionally.

Is having the intention to access restricted information all that matters? E.g. is simply typing someone else's username in a login page together with an empty password enough to be considered an attack? If not, then there is the line?


texts: Are there statutes that prohibit an individual from texting another individual if the receiver request cease and desist with communications?


texts: What law in involved in restaurant orders? If I go into a restaurant and order hundreds of dollars of food, then leave before it arrives, I would imagine there is some recourse that the proprietor could take. However, if I order a single item and it doesn't show up for over an hour, despite me inquiring about it's status, would I be compelled to pay?


texts: Is right of survivorship the same as tenants in common?

texts:
What are the practical differences between opening a joint bank account with one's spouse in these ways:

Joint tenants
Tenants in common
Joint tenants with right of survivorship?

I am concerned with the implications if one spouse dies.  Does this differ by bank or by state?  (I am in NY.)


texts: GDPR - website with no cookies, no analytics, no private data collection

texts:
I'm building a website right now and I'm little bit concerned about GDPR and I hope you can help me out.

So, the website will be a blog with posts, product reviews and some affiliate links, I plan to receive some income from it, so you could say it will be a commercial website.

The thing is, I would like to avoid showing my real name on the website. Everything is legit, but it's connected to the adult industry so I would like to keep my real name private.

If I would use analytics or first/third-party cookies, I know I would have to disclose my name in the privacy policy as I would be Data Controller so I decided not to use any analytics or cookies on the website.

I would still have privacy policy where I would state that I'm not processing any personal data and I'm not sending it to some other website. There would also be an email so if someone wants to contact me with some questions, they can do that.

Would that make me compliant with the GDPR legislation?


texts: Under California residential lease agreement are tenants considered as a single person?

texts:
I live in a rental property in Pasadena CA, with two other roommates.

When moving into the premise we signed a "residential lease or month-to- month agreement" (C.A.R. form LR, Revisited 12/15) in which our names all appear into one line at the end of which we are identified as ("Tenant") for the rest of the contract. Also, at the end of every page in the "Tenant's Initials" section we all put our initials separately.

Does this mean that we are considered as a single person in terms of the contract? Do we share responsibilities of respecting the lease as one or three separate entities?

I'm asking this because one of us wants to move out before the natural expiration of the lease agreement and I'd like to know if he has the right to find a replacement without our consent, since the Landlord seems to be ok with it.

NOTE: The lease states a few things about subletting:

subletting is not allowed without Landlord's prior written consent.
If approved, the assignee shall sign a separate written agreement with Landlord and Tenant.

But does this tenant refer to all three of us or just the person leaving?


texts: Can “being a woman” be grounds for a valid asylum claim?

texts:
In many cultures around the world, women and girls are still completely subservient to men, to the point where forced marriage and pregnancy are still highly prevalent, and women can be divorced or killed on the mere word of a man.
Can a woman from one of these cultures successfully claim asylum in a western (EU, US et al) nation on that basis?


texts: Can someone legally require me to return a gift they gave me?

texts:
So a "friend" in Canada sent me a tablet ( I think it was worth $400 U.S. currency) to replace the one I had that I could barely do anything on. I never asked for one, and I remember repeatedly that I told him not to get it for me, but he did.
   Now that I'm no longer in his life, he wants me to send back everything he sent me, and he says he will report the tablet as stolen if I don't return it. I know about conditional gifts, but I never made any promises tied to the tablet, so I'm not sure if it counts as a conditional gift.


texts: Can communication companies simply decline to record communication data?

texts:
I understand that companies that involve digital communications can, at least in the US, be forced to hand over communication data in specific contexts.

But storing so much data must be highly expensive for larger communication networks, and I doubt the government pays for this storage. Are companies forced to store communication data?

If I made an app that handled messaging, would I be required to store the data? Or for example, could Verizon give customers the option to not have their text messages and phone records stored?


texts: Force neighbor to resolve property line encroachment before selling house

texts:
My neighbor built a fence that crosses our property line.  I had a surveyor come mark the boundary to be sure. (It has only been a few years so no adverse possession possibilities.)

This neighbor is now selling the house, and I'd like to force them to fix the fence before they sell so that I'll have good relations with the new neighbor.

Is there a way for us to prevent the sale of the house until they have moved the fence?  For example, it seems that filing suit against the current owners doesn't necessarily prevent the sale, and that the suit would be pointless after the sale is complete.


texts:
I would have thought this would've been asked already, but I searched this site and the Internet, and I couldn't find anything. Apologies if this is a duplicate.

As computers become increasingly autonomous, there have already been a handful of incidents where computers have done things that would be criminal for a person to do. For example, a self-driving car killed a pedestrian, and a Twitter bot made a death threat. Moreover, both of these computers were essentially operating under their own decision-making processes and were not directly controlled by any human.

Could it be possible for prosecutors to file criminal charges against a computer? Is there some standard of sentience that the computer would have to achieve in order to indict it?
(United States)


texts: What are the legal consequences of disputing a legal credit card transaction?

texts:
Purely hypothetical question. Recently I rented a car from a company, let's call them Thrifty, the total cost for the trip was ~$150. Days later I got a bill for ~$70 in administrative charges for having them pay ~$7 in tolls. They will automatically collect this money from the card used to pay for the rest of the rental. I'm sure this was specified in the contract and is completely legal(something like a $15 per toll they had to pay).

In addition to never using their services again, I was wondering if there would be any serious repercussions to marking the transaction as fraudulent on the credit card and making them justify the transaction to the credit card company to get payment. Obviously this would be unlikely to get me my money back, but I like the idea of spitefully causing them to have to do more work, since I feel taken advantage of.

This is in the United States.

If I take this action, am I breaking any law? If I am, am I likely to be prosecuted for the breaking of said law? Am I likely to have my credit score decreased (perhaps not on topic)?


texts: Can a landlord sell their rental income from a tenant to a third party?

texts:
I am thinking about a new business venture, my idea is to create a professional vetting service which helps landlord vet their potential tenants, if a tenant passes the vetting process, I will offer the landlord 80% of 12 month of rent payments up front, and the tenant will subsequently pay me 100% of the rent as agreed in the tenancy agreement over a period of 12 months. So if the lease states $1500 per month for 12 month ($18,000), my company will pay the landlord $18,000 x 80% = $14,400 dollars up front, and the tenant will pay me $1500 per month, in the end if the tenant fully pays 12 month rent, I will make 18,000 - 14,400 = $3600 in profit. If the tenant stops paying, then I lose out, so I take on the risk of non-payment.
However, the problem I am running into is how to structure the agreeement(s) between my company, the landlord, and the tenant.
How would the lease agreement work in this example?
Would my company sign an agreement with the landlord, stating that my company has the right to lease the property, to collect payment, and evict the tenant if there is non-payment?
And would my company then sign a lease agreement with the tenant? So that the tenant will pay me the monthly rent amount.


texts: Who is Liable for the Satisfaction of the Mortgage Debt Pursuant to Deed of Gift when Grantor Dies - Estate of Grantor or Beneficiary?

texts:
In a situation where:

John takes out a mortgage on a house at 55 Main Street by himself (i.e., only John appears on the mortgage).
John puts Mike (one of his grandchildren) on a Deed of Gift for the house so that it transfers to him upon death.
John dies while still owing 80% of the mortgage.

Does the estate of John have an obligation to pay off the mortgage on 55 Main Street and give the house to Mike?


texts: 'a bar' means 'prohibiting completely' or 'the possibility of prohibiting'?

texts:
Failure to provide the information required under sub-section (1) of this section is a bar to a claim for compensation under this Act, unless the Board is satisfied that the -

In the sentence above, I wonder whether the word 'a bar' means 'prohibiting someone completely' or 'the possibility of prohibiting someone'. (Frankly speaking, I'm not convinced that the usage of the verb 'prohibit' is correct but I just want to know whether it is sort of possibility or not.


texts:
If I have body smell and get bullying in workplace, so it made me have depression, can I sue?

Location: California

Time: Bully period over 2 years

Current status: fried by the company said under performance 10 days ago.

History: Talked to HR about the bully situation but did not mention of my depression. Since California law does not allow tape recording without all parties consent, so HR said that there was no evidence to support. I have medical record to prove that my depression pill was assigned by doctor and keep taking since I was in that company

My feeling: I was bullied and kept my mouth close because of the job, I believed that I was under performance also because of them. Now I am no longer with the company, so I want to sue those people.

Restriction: I have no money, can lawyer get paid if they win?

Questions:

What I should do?
Can I sue the specific people who make me have depression?
My company have an benefit department who asked me to sign that they could provide support to me after I first met with them. I signed that and had a complaint to a couple people. However, the HR said no evidence to take action to those people. After that the bully was worst.
I think that Depression is a type of disable. Can I sue them make me disable?


texts: What power does an employer have over gratuities/tips?

texts:
First, what is the difference between tips and a gift? Can an employer legally order employees not to accept either? Can an employer order an employee to share it? For example in restaurants many have a system where tips that are given to the servers are shared with the kitchen staff. Can a server refuse to go with the system and keep her tips for herself?
This is under the law of British Columbia.


texts: Company has transferred team to another company, does this count as breaking contact?

texts:
Suppose a UK employee who works for company A, where Company A is owned by company B, and parent company B has created a new company, company C. Company A is now transferring all assets about the company, employees included, to company C. The whole chain of command, boss, CEO, CTO, etc will change, processes will no doubt change. Such a change was dictated rather than discussed and agreed with the employees of company A.

There is nothing specific about such a situation in the employment contract, so hopefully there can be some presumption about "standard employment law", whatever that may entail to a layman such as myself. How might this affect a contract? If a person wanted to get out of a contract after such changes were made, would this be sufficient to be a break in existing contract and thus allow the employee to get out without serving notice?


texts: What does "shall not dismiss … merely" mean in Arizona?

texts:
Legislatures of most states consider "expired registration" violation to be "fix-it" tickets, where promptly renewing the registration after the issuance of the citation is grounds for complete withdrawal of the complaint, or, at most, a fine that is rather trivial in amount.  E.g., California falls under this category.
In Arizona, however, the issue is covered by ARS 28-2532, which, as per the interpretation of the courts, may appear to impose a minimum civil penalty of 50 dollars, which, after accounting for the "Fund: Court Enhancement" and the other surcharges, results in a "reduced" fee of about 200 dollars, which is often higher than what the registration fee itself is, and doesn't look that "reduced" at all.

28-2532. Registration; violation; civil penalties
A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, a person who is the resident or nonresident owner or operator of a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer that is required by law to be registered in this state and that is not registered or does not display license plates assigned by the department for the current registration year and who operates or knowingly permits the vehicle to be operated on a highway is subject to a civil penalty of three hundred dollars notwithstanding section 28-1598.
B. On proper presentation of evidence of current registration, a person who is charged with a violation of subsection A of this section is subject to a civil penalty of fifty dollars.
C. A court shall not dismiss an action brought under this section merely because the defendant has obtained the appropriate license plates or registration after violating this section. A court may decide not to impose a civil penalty against a defendant for a violation of this section if the defendant was an operator but was not the owner of the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer.

(Emphasis mine.)  What does "merely" above mean?  Every state has their own requirements, what if you visit Arizona from out-of-state, and receive a citation on your first day, and have a reasonable excuse and valid proof of having performed reasonable attempts at renewing the registration, only to be thwarted by the inadequacy of your own state — in California, for example, the DMV officially advises on their site to "allow 3 to 6 weeks to process" the documents that are sent via mail, and, likewise, the phone hold times on the order of an hour is business-as-usual.
As such, if the status of your registration is not the result of your own wilful ignorance, but more of an inaction of your out-of-state DMV when you yourself have been on the road through multiple states and away from your home state, and online renewal was not possible through no fault of your own, does the Arizona's "reduced" fine still apply, or does the "merely" allow for such an excuse to have the citation be dismissed in the similar circumstances as above?
This may especially be unfair when you try to combine the rules of multiple states — in California, the fines for expired registration are already higher than what such are in Arizona, hence, wouldn't paying both the late fees in California and the expired registration fees in Arizona amount to something akin double jeopardy?
(Arizona also offers car registrations that are valid for 5 years, whereas in California, you have to renew yearly, which, again, is further proof of the unfairness of imposing the penalty from one state when the benefits of such state were unavailable to the respondent.)


texts: Is it true that there's no advantage in filing patents to each major patent office rather than filing it through the PCT system? PCT applications is used as a figure for innovation, but it seems that there are companies that forgo using the PCT system to apply for patents in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Are there advantages in doing so, or no advantage in filing patents in each patent office individually?


texts:
Can the Secretary of State exempt people over 75 requiring a TV licence under section 363 of the UK's Communications Act 2003?
I don't have any legal background but below is an extract from Communications Act 2003 at section 363 (the link has more readable formatting).
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/363

Communcitaion act 2003
363 Licence required for use of TV receiver
(1)A television receiver must not be installed or used unless the installation and use of the receiver is authorised by a licence under this Part.
(2)A person who installs or uses a television receiver in contravention of subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.
(3)A person with a television receiver in his possession or under his control who—
(a)intends to install or use it in contravention of subsection (1), or
(b)knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing, that another person intends to install or use it in contravention of that subsection,
is guilty of an offence.
(4)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(5)Subsection (1) is not contravened by anything done in the course of the business of a dealer in television receivers solely for one or more of the following purposes—
(a)installing a television receiver on delivery;
(b)demonstrating, testing or repairing a television receiver.
(6)The Secretary of State may by regulations exempt from the requirement of a licence under subsection (1) the installation or use of television receivers—
(a)of such descriptions,
(b)by such persons,
(c)in such circumstances, and
(d)for such purposes,
as may be provided for in the regulations.
(7)Regulations under subsection (6) may make any exemption for which such regulations provide subject to compliance with such conditions as may be specified in the regulations.


texts:
If I download a copyrighted photograph of prominent person (e.g. a politician or celebrity) and hire an artist to make a portrait of that person, using the photo as a guide, is that legal?

I'm thinking of the famous Obama "HOPE" poster. If I remember correctly, the person who made it was sued because it was based on a copyrighted picture. However, I'm guessing it was illegal because he essentially modified a copyrighted image, rather than making a "free style" rendition.

To put it another way, if I opened a copyrighted image in Photoshop and used some filters to alter it, I would be pirating a copyrighted item - even if my work didn't look like the original. But if I use a pen (or a computer graphics program) to draw someone's portrait while using an actual photo as a guide, would that be legal?

This kind of begs another question: If you hire an artist to create a portrait - either realistic or a caricature - how can you tell if they created the final product free style or by simply modifying the original image?

But I guess that's a question for a graphics forum.


texts: Why do non-lawyers refer you to lawyers even when they know the answer?

texts:
We've all seen it: you ask a law question (a classic being "Am I violating X's copyright by doing Y?"), but they refuse to respond and instead tell you that you should be asking a lawyer, not them.

I have seen this happen all the time: even when the other party is confident in their judgment, they often refuse to give you any and instead direct you to a lawyer.

Obviously, this is beneficial for the other party... it means less liability, time, and energy for them.
But that doesn't explain why this seems to pop up so often for legal questions and less for others, and I don't understand  why that's something that would be beneficial for me.
So my question is: on my end, why would I ever find it beneficial to go get a lawyer when asking a question if I suspect that some non-lawyer might be able to answer it as well?

Here are the answers I've ruled out:

...because other people might not know the answer.
Well yes, but that's not the question. I'm asking about those cases where people do know the answer, but still tell you to go get a lawyer.
...because they don't want me to sue them for giving wrong legal advice.
Except that when this is the case, people do try to help, but with a disclaimer such as "I am not a laywer", "this is not legal advice", etc.
...because it will give me some kind of legal protection in the case of wrong advice.
But does it? Can't a lawyer give me a wrong legal opinion too? What legal recourse do I have when that happens? How is it any better than a random person giving me their opinion?
...some other reason I can't think of.
What might it be?


texts: Is it legal to use pictures of trademarks?

texts:
My question is a little confusing; let me explain.

The famous logo "I(heart)NY" is legally protected. You can't legally use it without permission.

Yet I've found several pictures of public domain images that use it, such as this one -- https://pixabay.com/en/postcard-new-york-statue-of-liberty-1038515/

Would it be legal to use this particular image in a commercial work (a book), or should one assume the image is in fact NOT in the public domain?


texts: Could a derived work of CC-NC data be licensed allowing commercial use?

texts:
We are creating a dataset that is supposed to be free for researchers/academia, but we would like to monetize it for business.

We intend to publish it under CC BY-NC 4.0 license, but as for my understanding, it prevents it to be used in derived works licensed under less restrictive CC licenses allowing commercial use.

How to circumvent this problem, allowing non-profit projects to freely use it, while keeping a window for monetization?


texts: Legal Ramifications of failure to obtain consent to publish White House memoirs

texts:
What are the consequences to John Bolton or his publisher if they fail to get pre-publication approval of Bolton's upcoming book (and publish anyway)?

In that same vein, if the White House were to disapprove of certain passages, is the White House obligated to provide a rationale for that censorship?

Can Bolton or his publisher contest that rationale , perhaps by publishing (those passages) without approval. Then what happens?


texts: Social Security Number SSN for Non Americans

texts: I live in India, but few universities are demanding SSN,Can SSN be given to those people also who are trying to go to study in USA? I have never travelled to USA so far.


texts: Is it correct that foreign debts declared in a US bankruptcy are still enforceable in their country of origin, but can't be collected in the US?

texts:
I know that all debts, including foreign debts, have to be declared when filing for bankruptcy in the US.
I am wondering what effect this has on foreign debts. My thinking is that it doesn't 'cancel' them, and they will still be valid in the country of origin, but they won't be able to be sued for or collected in the US.
Is this correct?


texts: Is it legal in the US to update my website copyright automatically?

texts:
If I release my website in Dec 2015, the copyright date should definitely say "© 2015".  Once Jan 1st comes around, if I automatically (with Javascript or some server side code) change it to "© 2016" is that legal?    No code has changed, so there is nothing that is really copyright 2016.

I tried searching for an answer, but everything I found was about how to change automatically, not if it was OK to do so.


texts: Is it necessary to state in a contract that if one part is found unenforceable, the rest still is?

texts:
I've seen in some contracts clauses stating something like

  If a term or condition is found to be unenforceable, the rest of the contract still remains in affect.

Is this necessary? Unless specified otherwise, if part of the contract is found unenforceable then would the entire contract be nullified?

For example if a contract states "employees must remain in the building when there is a fire" and it is found this part of unenforceable, would this be grounds for terminating the employee (anyways) because that means the entire employment contract was invalid?


texts: Can the federal government class action an Eminent Domain lawsuit?

texts: The only way for President Trump to build the wall will be to get private land on the border. Some will undoubtedly refuse sale. Will the Department of Justice have to sue them one by one or can they class action the eminent domain lawsuit?


texts: Can an 18 year old with just a permit drive alone in Colorado?

texts:
If you are under 18 [with a permit], Colorado driving laws prohibit you to drive alone. You must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, a driver’s education instructor, or a licensed driver at least 21 years old whenever you go out for a drive.
What if you are over 18? I haven't found any sources that seem to indicate one way or another whether an 18 year old with permit but not licence can drive alone.


texts: Is it fraudulent for an extension like adblock to still count as an ad impression for content creators

texts:
tl;dr:

A Programmer writes a web browser Extension to download ads but not display them.
The effect is that Sites accessed through this extension get to charge Advertisers for the ad being served, even though it will not be seen.
The Sites don't know whether the extension is being used.
The Extension User may not know that the Extension is resulting in the Advertiser being charged for undisplayed ads.

Who, if anyone, is committing fraud?

I asked this question in the webmasters stack exchange.  But perhaps I was premature in asking "can I?" before asking "should I?" as I got negative feedback.

Basic question: Is it fraudulent to download ads but hide them before the user can see them, and still allow the content-creator to receive money from the ad server?

Personal thoughts

My research on an existing extension called AdBlock suggests it is legal basically because nobody controls how you view files you've downloaded onto your computer. In addition, there is no contract between content-creators and users that to access the content you must also consume ads.
It is legal for you to watch TV, and when an ad comes on, you leave to go get a snack. The TV channel still receives ad revenue, and they can't coerce you to audibly/visibly experience the ad. Your TV set still receives it from your cable company or whatever, but you don't have to watch it.
From observation #2: Since advertisers cannot control how you consume their ads, and there is no contract binding content and ads, blocking ads and passing them off as read or downloaded should be legal.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've read that just because someone is losing money does not mean a law is being broken.

Counterpoints

Advertising impressions are not technically made, therefore content-creators are unfairly receiving money.
Users of such an extension are stepping out of AdBlock's safety zone since sending back a read-receipt is like multiple clicking on ads to increase your own impression rate.

I'm primarily asking for the US, but interested in other jurisdictions.


texts: Why aren't churches registered more massively?

texts:
When reading an article in the Huffington Post about how easy it is to register a church (as shown by John Oliver) I was wondering why the practice is not more widespread.
The American IRS does not take a position on religions so a minimal effort to check the marks would easily allow for tax benefits. I would guess that the more money is on the table, the more "organized" the organization could be (I am not talking about the philosophical aspect but the formal one, that is having all the processes in place so that an audit comes clean)).
I am from Europe where the financing of churches is more around taxing the believers, rather than having the church exempted from paying taxes so the usefulness of having a church is smaller (this is visible through the small number of recent churches, and when these arise it is rather a matter of dogma)). It seems however than in the US it is different.


texts: What is the difference between applicable law and governing law?

texts:
there:
I have a question about what the difference is between applicable law and governing law. Are they the same (one) concept or different?
In addition, what is choice of law? Does it mean the plaintiff or defendant can choose the governing law or applicable law?
I am not a law student. Could you give me a brief explanation or some examples about it?
Thank you.


texts: Do all estoppable promises have to be estopped?

texts:
Or is there, in other words broad leeway for when a judge or a court can decide based on all of the other materical circunstances, when or when not he should enforce an otherwise unenforcable promise?

I don't have access to my college business law textbook for reference, so I can't check.  What I remember is this: the affected party has to have reasonably relied on that promise and have incurred some sort of economic loss or damage from that RELIANCE.

It is obvious that not all promises are contracts.  but what raises questions to me is, the distinction between estoppable and unenforcable promises seems to be so narrow that you could argue the only party bringing a claim to court of a broken promise would almost definately be those who have suffered damages.

but admitting there are matter of factly unenforceable promises and limiting my question only to those others, what basis does the judge or court have in determinging their enforcability.  taking into consideration that what I have already said that most people probably could claim they have a remedy at law (including those who friviously went out and incurred the economic loss (or whatever) with the sole purpose of fitting this narrow definition).  To me the distinction beween enforcable contract and estoppable promise seems to be so vague that the only real difference it would make is if the judge was granted broad discretion, i.e. the decision to actually issue the order to estopp the promise was soley his perrogitive....)

This is something that has always been at the back of my head.... but since i don't recall the textbook delving into this level I wanted to ask to be sure


texts: How copyright laws apply for commonly public things?

texts:
I'm developing a website that displays quotes, similar to brainyquote.com

All the quotes (around 10,000) are also displayed on different websites.

So how do copyright laws affect me in this situation?


texts: Can a non US citizen work remotely for a US company and be under their payroll?

texts:
Some context: I've been in the US for almost 5 years under a F1 visa. In the last year I've worked under OPT for a company in the US. I have a SSN but my card says "valid for work only with DHS authorization". I'm a software developer.

I'm planning on permanently moving back to my home country (Ecuador), and keep working with my current employer in the US. They want to hire me as a subcontractor, but I'd prefer to stay under they payroll if possible.

I've heard of people working remotely for a US company without needing a work visa, work permit, but only using an ITIN. They pay taxes in the US although they are not citizens, or residents in the US.

Could I use my SSN, or apply for an ITIN to do something similar?


texts: Is controlled burning of wooden buildings a legal demolition method in the USA?

texts:
An article on the BBC News website about the "Disaster Girl" meme claims that this photograph of a burning building was taken in 2005 in North Carolina at a "controlled burn", which the BBC explains is "a fire intentionally started to clear a property".
I was quite stunned by this information. Was/is this a legal way to demolish wooden buildings in the USA? Is this method used often?
(I suppose it's quicker than taking a building apart bit by bit, but the debris becomes unusable, I guess you have to pay the fire department to keep an eye on things, you probably need insurance... I can't imagine it being much cheaper than hiring a bulldozer.)

Disaster Girl meme, photograph by Dave Roth


texts: Legally withold payment for services rendered beyond a weekly limit? - Canada

texts:
If a contract specifies that work be rendered for services between 8 and 16 hours per week, and the month averages to 16 hours per week but certain weeks are in excess of 16 hours, is it legal to withhold payment for those hours?
E.g.:

Week 1: 16 hours
Week 2: 24 hours
Week 3: 8 hours
Week 4: 16 hours

Is it legal to not pay for the the 8 hours in excess of 16 on week 2 if the contract specifies 8 to 16 hour work weeks? Given that the contractor monitors their own work and did not request a weekly overage agreement.

To me it seems legal, but unfair, since that the hours average to 16/week in the end.

Due to the difficulty in answering, I will provide the specific clause:

  The Contractor shall work on an estimated 16 - 24 hours per week or as
  requested by the Company. All extended hours to be rendered by the
  Contractor shall be pre-approved by the company, in writing.


texts: What to expect when getting (free) legal aid?

texts:
I want to sue my old landlord. The amount wouldn't be too much so I could do it in small claims court.

I had searched the internet and found some free legal advice from the Legal Service Society. I booked a meeting with them and got a bad feeling and abruptly told them I wasn't interested and left. I don't mean to sound prejudice but the girl in the meeting was very young (early 20s) and emphasized how she couldn't give me legal advice so I was a bit confused as to why I was there. I think her job was to collect information and then give it to the actual lawyer. Is this normal?

Also she had me sign something saying I expressly waive any right to legal action I may have against the people advising me and their organization. Is this normal?

She had asked me if I wanted to communicate through mail or e-mail and I thought that was and I had been under the impression this was a one time visit. I'm having trouble finding the right words, but how can I find out what to expect from working with them?

I feel really bad as I basically told the girl I didn't want to work with her and she almost started crying. Did I over react?


texts: How to protect my idea in another country?

texts:
I have an idea about possible creation of a product that in my opinion would be on demand among smartphone users. I have found a potential company In Switzerland and I think about offering them my idea.

I am planning to patent my project before presenting it to them, however it seems like it would cost me a lot of money to apply for a patent in Switzerland  due to my financial capabilities and considering that I am from a different country it is impossible for me to apply for a patent, but I really need to somehow protect my project before showing it!

Do you know another way to do it? I would be glad to hear your opinion about this issue!


texts:
I'm trying to reuse some old source code in what is going to be a commercial web application. This old code was made using jQuery 1.2.1, which is dual licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses.

I've seen that recently, jQuery has got rid of the GPL licence and now it's only MIT. I rather not use newer versions since I'd have to test the code again to make sure no bugs were added.

So, Does this change of licence affect old versions of jQuery? I mean, if jQuery 1.12 is MIT only, does that remove GPL from jQuery 1.2.1?

Most importantly, does this put my code under GPL? Do I have to update old jQuery Libraries to prevent my source code from being GPL?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Is a power of attorney (in my parent's hands) enough to unfreeze a frozen US bank account?

texts:
If somebody has to move to Europe from the US, and cannot return, and then has his US bank accounts frozen:

Can he give a power of attorney to his parents (European citizens, only European passport, but no US IDs) to fly to the US and unfreeze the accounts?
Will the US banks accept that to unfreeze?
Is there a specific form of power of attorney to do that, anyone could share?


texts: Is forceless groping illegal in Germany?

texts:
Is groping punishable in Germany? Assuming that no force is used, and all people involved are adults.
Hypothetical case: Bob enters a bus and sits down next to Chuck. Both are adults, and they don’t know each other. Suddenly Chuck makes Bob a compliment and gropes Bob’s crotch. This inflicts no physical pain on Bob, and Chuck is in no way holding Bob down.
What I found out so far, as a layman (please correct me!):

§ 174 StGB (and § 174a, § 174b, § 174c), § 176 StGB (and § 176a, § 176b), § 179 StGB and § 182 StGB define sexual abuse.
Bob is 18+ years old, and there does not exist any kind of power gap, so I think § 174/176/179/182 do not apply.

§ 177 StGB and § 178 StGB define sexual assault (Sexuelle Nötigung) and rape (Vergewaltigung). § 177 (1) makes clear that it has to involve force/violence (Gewalt), a threat (Drohung), or exploiting of a defenseless position (Ausnutzung einer Lage …).
Chuck is not using violence, nor is he threatening, nor is Bob defenseless, so I think § 177/178 do not apply.

Most of the other paragraphs from the 13. section seem to be about prostitution, pornography, and exhibitionism; these obviously don’t apply.

I read that sometimes § 185 StGB (insult) can be relevant, but this would require the intent to insult (e.g., making snide remarks while groping), so this does not seem to apply in the hypothetical case (Chuck even compliments Bob!).

§ 223 (bodily harm) does not seem to apply (the groping doesn’t even hurt).

Bonus question: Would anything change if Bob says to Chuck that he should stop it, but Chuck does it again?


texts: Legal consequences of not tipping in the US

texts:
In the US, there is an expectation of almost always tipping certain service providers like waiters and bartenders. Generally, it is expected that customers tip 15% for ordinary service, 20% or more for great service (or when in a large group), and even poor service is supposed to merit 10%. Tipping nothing is considered appropriate only for extremely bad behavior from the service provider.

Whenever the topic comes up, many people are enraged at the suggestion of not tipping. It's not unheard of for service providers to harass the customer or even throw them out for refusing to tip, and it is easy to find people claiming that they go further and sabotage the customer by spitting in their food, deliberately serving them very poorly, trashing their car, etc.

My question is 2 part:

Is there any legal obligation whatsoever for the customer to tip? I know some businesses have a mandatory minimum tip or service charge which is clearly shown in writing, I am excluding these from my question.
Is it legal for the employee to retaliate against a bad tipper? Even if the customer tipped nothing, they still paid the price of the service, part of which covers the employee's paycheck as well. What minimum level of service is a customer reasonably entitled to expect, legally speaking, even if they do not tip?


texts: Has the Alien Property Custodian Office been abolished?

texts: I'm doing research into Japanese internment, and I was reading about executive order 9095. This order created the Office of Alien Property Custodian (APC) as authorized by the Trading with the Enemy Act. I read that the APC was abolished by LBJ in 1966. But was this a permanent abolition of the ability to create the office, or does the Trading with the Enemy Act still allow the president to create this office?


texts:
Assume the mob kidnaps the sheriff of a county of Colorado (18 USC 351 does not apply to the Sheriff, right?) and they never cross the state border. During the kidnapping, the mob's enforcers wound a deputy of the sheriff, but he survives (so 28 USC 540 doesn't apply, right?).
Who is responsible for investigating this: FBI, Colorado State Police, or the Sheriff's department?


texts: Can multiple states demand income tax from an LLC?

texts:
We are a Utah LLC providing SAAS (software as service) on cloud available to all US market.

Wisconsin Dept of Rev. has assessed our LLC for partnership income tax, because they claim our company has nexus for income tax based on fact that our company provides service that is used by or benefits a Wisconsin-based company and (that is considered "doing business in their state".)

Tax 2.82(4)(b)

Regularly performing services outside Wisconsin for which the benefits are received in Wisconsin.
Regularly engaging in transactions with customers in Wisconsin that involve intangible property and result in receipts flowing to the corporation from within Wisconsin.

In our defense, we responded that we are not doing business in their state (WI) but rather conducting business on the cloud (in UT) and Wisconsin customers are purchasing from us here in Utah.

Our appeal was denied simply because of:
Tax 2.82(4)(b)2. 2. Regularly selling products or services of any kind or nature to customers in Wisconsin that receive the product or service in Wisconsin.

(Just because we are on the cloud does that mean we are subject to income tax in every state that our customers use our services? That seems absurd but I am not a tax attorney).

Has anyone in this forum encountered such a far reaching statute?
Do you have any suggestions as to what to state in our appeal to the WI Commission?


texts: Waiving my right to not be evicted in a San Francisco lease

texts:
I am seeking for a new place in San Francisco. After chatting with a home owner who liked me as a potential tenant, we disagreed on the price, and his reasoning is that since this is a unit under the San Francisco rent control laws, if he leases it for a "low" price then he might be stuck with this price for many years without any power to increase it substantially.

My intention is to not stay in this house for more than two years, and I am happy to revoke my right to the rent control benefits in order to find a midway between his position and my proposed price, which he would be keen to accept for the first year. Can I sign a document where I agree to waive this right, or this would hold no validity in court?


texts: I was looking for higher education in Europe, I got to know that I need to legalize my documents by doing apostille. I'm from India, what is the process of getting such attestation?


texts: Is it possible to be married without anyone knowing besides the spouses?

texts:
I was thinking about how a living will can be found after the fact to declare someones intent to do with the money.

Can something similar exist for weddings?

Like if there is video of someone getting married could they in fact be married under religious law but not legal law?

I'm asking this partly because in Hinduism marriage is defined by someone just agreeing to love each other.  You don't have to even have binding paper work.  I found it awkward and weird that the government is defining marriage based its on its belief about the correct religion.  Religions and the governments definition of marriage should be separated entirely.


texts: Is it possible to renounce all responsibility for files on a web server? (Sweden)

texts:
I'm going to build a Web server that allow users themselves to upload files, video clips and so on. This will only be available in Sweden. Then my question is:

  Is it possible to renounce all responsibility for files on a web
  server or file server and put it on the User?

Do you have any tips or have this be done by a professional?


texts: What part of the U.S. code requires Donald Trump to vacate the White House if he loses in November?

texts:
President Trump has made some... remarkable and entertaining... remarks about his willingness to leave the White House if he should loose the POTUS election in November.  This got me thinking. I'm not a lawyer or a politician, but I have been trained all my life to simply "know" that the White House is where the POTUS lives. Period. The idea that somebody might not leave it is... well... it's unique.
Is there a portion of the U.S. code requires a past-president to vacate the White House? I suspect it's technically owned by the United States Government and, as landlord, said government has the right to evict whomever it wants ... but even the image of The Donald hanging on by his fingernails while sunglass-laden G-men holding, not a warrant, not a subpoena, but an eviction notice drag him out.  It would make a good play. But I digress.
Is there a law that states the building must be vacated? (As a bonus question, is it possible to invoke squatter's rights for the White House?)
Please note that my question is, I believe, a duplicate of this question, except that the answers don't address the legality that the question implies. If I need to abandon this question for that one, I'm happy to, but I don't have enough rep to bounty that question and point out that no answer describes any law enforcing anything.


texts: How to form a company in the US while keeping founder information private?

texts: Suppose that I want to form a company in the US while keeping my information and that of my co-founders private. How could I go about doing it?


texts: Can I use my drawing of a photo someone took for commercial purpose

texts: A certain wildlife photographer puts up photos of bears online. To use those for any purpose you are supposed to ask for permission and most likely to pay for it. The question is, what if I copy the photo by drawing it (it'd be accurate, but looking obviously like a drawing, not a photo.) Can I use it for my purposes then? Or does it depend on how good of a drawing it'd be?


texts: Is it assault to squirt someone with a spray bottle?

texts: Is it considered assault to squirt someone with water from a spray bottle in New York?  Can it depend on the outcome?


texts: Do I need permission to publish a FOI response in a blog post or open letter?

texts:
I recently submitted a FOI request to my local council, and had a response.

Part of the response stated the following:

  You are free to use this information for your own use, including for non-commercial research
  purposes. It may also be used for the purposes of news reporting. Any other type of re-use, for
  example publishing the information, issuing copies to the public or marketing, will require our
  permission as copyright holder. If you intend to re-use this information in this manner you must apply
  to us.

I was hoping to use the information in the response as part of a petition to the local authorities to make a change. I was planning to do this by writing an open letter on my blog. Would I need to ask them for permission, or would it be covered under one of "own use", "non-commercial research" or "news reporting"?


texts: Which parts of classical enactments division do the laws of Gortyna contain?

texts:
According to the classical scheme, modern enactments include 3 parts: hypothesis, disposition, and sanction. Is this scheme applicable to archaic laws of 7-5 BCe?
For example: "if you rape a free woman, you have to pay 10 staters". Is the part: "if you rape a free woman" a hypothesis or a disposition? To me it looks like the hypothesis because it contains conditions.
And is the next one: "you have to pay 10 staters" a disposition or a sanction? It looks to me as the disposition part, because there's no information about what will happen if you don't pay.


texts: Can the violation of multiple rights be held to a higher standard than the violation of one alone?

texts: Suppose, for example, we had a statute that 1) restricted speech 2) about keeping and bearing arms.  Or suppose there was a statute the restricted using guns for the purpose of laying them out to form certain words on the ground.  Or suppose there was a statute against saying certain things while holding a gun.  Would that statute be held to a higher level of scrutiny than a statute which only violated one right?  Do rights combine?


texts:
I know in some contracts it specifically states "this contract can only be modified in writing by an addendum". I've read this is redundant as it's always true. I've also seen explicit terms in addenda saying things like "this addendum takes precedence, supersedes or prevails over any conflicts, contradictions or inconsistencies with the contract". Is this necessary? Isn't this type of statement redundant too as that's the whole point of an addendum?

Is there a natural limit to an addendum, for example is a new contract ever required? For example say the initial contract says "Joe will pay Sam $100 each month" but then the addendum says "Joe will pay Robert $200 bi-monthly". Is this the point of having the clause about supersede/precedents?

Basically what I'm asking is, are there any rules for addenda, for example can they both add to, remove from and modify the original contract?


texts: Where can I get example injunctions for inclusion in a pleading?

texts:
In legal guide books on making civil pleadings, they give example forms for the pleading itself, but they just say that the attorney should "include a sample injunction", but they don't give any examples of this.

I assume the court has its own templates for making injunctions, so I don't need to do this. Should I however, provide an example text which the court can then insert into their injunction? Where can I find example text I can use? Can I just go to the court and ask to see all their injunctions and read through them?

In my case the ideal text will be something like "The court orders the XYZ Corporation of 123 Main Street to make available to Joseph Plaintiff any all their financial records from 2015 through 2017 and to return a sworn statement to the court that this has been done by June 1, 2017." Is there standard text for such injunctions?


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

texts:
TL;DR: You could also jump to the last paragraph.

I was interviewed and selected by a software startup in India. Saturday was not a working day for them, but yet their tech VP, product manager and CEO came on Saturday at their new office and interviewed me. The interview process was very mature, they were very polite and even after the interview when I did a background check of the company and didn't find proof of registration of the company on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, they offered me proof of registration of the company, including the Corporate Identification Number. The company was called X Pvt.Ltd. (this is the company that is registered). They were later called Y and now they are named Z.

They are funded by a reputed company named G, and G's website shows that they are funding company Y. My offer letter mentions the company name as Z (*) and at the bottom of the letter, is the explanation of the asterisk, which goes like X Pvt.Ltd. d/b/a Z. The d/b/a, I understand is "Doing Business As". I also verified the registrations on this website.

The bottom of the offer letter mentions the CEO's name and the letter (pdf format) has been emailed to me by the tech VP via the company Z's email domain name. The offer letter says "Therefore, please confirm your acceptance of terms contained herein by signing and returning a duplicate copy of this letter", so when I spoke to the VP on phone about signatures, he said I was welcome to come to their office on Monday and he'd keep a copy of the letter signed by the CEO, ready for me. He also mentioned that they usually don't follow the procedure of having signatures on the offer letter for new joinee's, and assured me that they trust me and they would honour the offer letter even if it was not signed. Considering that the current company I work for (a very reputed one), had also sent me an offer letter by email when I was a campus recruit, and they had not even expected me to reply with a "yes", and instead just wanted me to send across the document proof they required, can I assume it is safe to just send an email to the startup saying that I accept the offer letter, and then resign from my current job? The notice period is 1.5 months. Is it safe and legally binding to do this via email?


texts: What is the difference between liquidation and receivership of a company?

texts: What are the legal differences between a company that is in "liquidation" as opposed to "receivership" under Australian law?


texts: As a startup, Should we avoid using React (reflecting on the BSD + patents license)

texts:
Recently, i read the following article :

If you’re a startup, you should not use React (reflecting on the BSD + patents license).

The example in this article :

  Fridgebook Inc.

  For the sake of illustration, say you’re a fridge company “Fridgebook
  Inc.” who markets intelligent fridges. Your fridges have a screen that
  runs your proprietary application, and you use React for the UI.

  Overnight, you hear that Facebook decides to move into the fridge
  industry, and they’ve announced the worldwide launch of their new
  product: “FBfridge”, in just 1 week.

  In the hypothetical case that Facebook blatantly infringes some of
  your patents with ‘FBfridge’, what can you do?

  Well, you cannot sue them immediately. You’re using React on the
  customer-facing app, remember?

  If you sue them before migrating to something else (like vue.js), you
  will immediately lose the license grant for React, and suddenly you’re
  in breach yourself, fighting against a potential lawsuit for illegal
  use of software, from an almost-$500-billion company, all by yourself.

  And obviously, you don’t want to interrupt customer service.

  So if you want to sue them, or at least hold any leverage for doing
  so, you will need to find a solution to migrate away from React in
  record time.

My question:

Is the claim in that article accurate, and we have to go away from React to avoid Facebook laws ?


texts:
Let's imagine the case I offer to see a 3D sportscar (Ferrari or any sportscar brand), and you can explore it in my own programed VR/AR web-visor. The customer is not buying the product (the 3D model is not downloadable, I do not offer any files to download, so it's no digital goods). The customer buys access to the web-visor to see that sportscar in VR/AR.

Since I do not offer any digital/tangible goods and I offer my own 3D web-visor to display products like these, and it's not a videogame, nothing downloadable, just a 3D visor.


texts: Used Farm Equipment Contract Performance / Fraud Suites

texts:
This question is in regard to a would-be purchaser's  ability to sue for contract performance and/or damages when purchasing equipment and the dealership sells something they don't have the ability to sell, don't physically own or otherwise fail to provide due to negligent/fraudulent business practice.
A large national equipment dealership sells a purchaser a piece of farm equipment which was stated to be on consignment. The purchaser signed a simple one-page contract. The dealer accepted the offer and a deposit of earnest money. The contract was as follows:

Contains full agreed on price and agreement to purchase as is, no odometer reading stated
Contains pickup location and states that the purchaser will arrange shipping, no dates given
Contains a standard (to the dealer) used equipment warranty
Specifically states they are obligated to provide the equipment, but are released from liability where supply, shipping or manufacturing difficulties occur.
Has no arbitration or attorney fee clause

The purchaser  also received odometer picture same day implying I am buying equipment with x hours on it (the purchaser  specifically requested this).
State of dealership: Minnesota
6 weeks goes by. The equipment is not ready to ship yet. The reason  given by the dealer: The old owner consigning this does not want to let it go until he receives a new unit from South Korea and it is taking longer than expected due to covid! Furthermore, the purchaser discovers the equipment is back at the original owner's farm though, they "claim" they are not using it.  Dealership informed the purchaser of an option to back out.
Ther season is now into the spring and it's impossible to get anything at all till fall. Ther purchaser  will incur approximately $15k-$20k in rental fees for the summer + many hours lost dealing with this dealership and has not been searching for another similar equipment due to already being under written contract on this one.
Furthermore, what would be a logical (to a judge) judgement? Simply the amount of rental fees + the earnest money? Time and cost additional to dealing with a rental and taking them to court + attorney fees? Difference in price for something that is readily available / similar equipment?


texts:
Let's assume I'm thinking about ___ [1] - am I liable to prosecution?

I assume that having thoughts of any kind is not illegal and therefore cannot be prosecuted. We are not in "Minority Report" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/ - situation just yet.

What happens if I express verbally or on Facebook or on my personal blog:

I had thoughts about ___
I was thinking about ___

Do these statements put me in a prosecutable position?

[1] Related question would be - how do I express my thoughts without fear of being prosecuted?

If I engage in a discussion with a doctor, a psychologist or a lawyer - privileged information kicks in - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_(evidence) - however in certain circumstances they are obliged by law to take action.

Is talking about crossing the line crossing the line?

(just like spammers sending a message asking me is it OK to send the actual spam)

Do I have to make a formal agreement with a chartered professional before privileged information applies? (as opposed to an informal conversation during the research phase)

I would like to operate my language in a manner that would not put me vulnerable to misquotations and misinterpretations. Maybe there is a magic formula such as:

  I'm a young, healthy, reasonable individual who wants to discuss sensitive manner - I want to remind you about privileged information - I do not constitute a threat and you should rest assured.

Deep in my heart I would like to be able to communicate in public.

I don't want to use public WiFi, VPN, virtual machine, TOR some darknet forums and fake identity if I could only say what I really think. I hope that this will happen but first I need to establish some fundamentals.

Can a person be prosecuted for their thoughts?

Related:

If I live in the US can I be prosecuted for answers describing illegal activities?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions


texts: Can I refuse a 2nd drug test after "failing" The first from a doctor writing my medication

texts: I live in Virginia and I recently took a urine drug test my psychiatrist wanted because he was prescribing Valium. Came back that I had a different Benzodiazepine in my system that I have never been prescribed or ever taken. I do not use any illegal drugs or anything not prescribed to me. I searched for possible false positives in other medications that I'm taking but didn't find any. He said I will have to take a second random drug test in the near future.  Can I refuse the second test? What's the consequences of saying NO?


texts: License for an Internet radio with User feedback

texts:
I'd like to start an internet radio station app. The station will collect feedback, like thumbs-up and thumbs-down, from listeners in order to select the best songs to play next. The algorithm will be complex and will play a great diversity of songs and artists -- users arent directly picking songs, rather it's partly random and partly based on feedback.

BMI, ASCAP, and SoundExchange all include clauses saying that a user is not allowed to select the next song. I've also read that radio stations arent allowed to take feedback at all -- that communication should be one way. But some radio stations take in calls from users for song requests? And they must receive feedback somehow to know if they're giving users what they want?

Would this type of feedback be allowed under these licenses?