texts: Am I obliged to obtain quotes for my builder's insurance company?

texts:
During re-roofing works at my house, rainwater caused extensive damage to a bedroom ceiling, so I have still not made the final payment to the roofing company. They admitted liability and proposed a method of repair. When the plasterers arrived to carry out the work, they decided that the method proposed wasn't practical because of the state of the ceiling and that a framework would be needed - so a slightly more expensive repair.

After some prodding on my part I received an email from the roofing company asking me to 'acquire costs to repair your bedroom ceiling' and forward to them. I asked another builder to quote and forwarded the quote yesterday. Then I got a reply asking when they could expect 'the other two.' I responded that they hadn't asked for three quotes and got the reply 'Sorry, but I’m sure you understand this would be the correct procedure.'

I now presume that three quotes are wanted to present to their insurance company. I work full time so getting builders to attend is a major inconvenience for me, plus it will obviously cause yet more delay.

So my main question is: Am I obliged to obtain more quotes to satisfy the roofing company's insurers?

Supplementary question: My preferred course of action would be to ask the company that already quoted to do the work and deduct the cost from the final payment, but can I do that legally?

Timeline if relevant:

 15/16 Sept - email exchanges about the problem
 18 Sept - roofing company inspect damage and propose repair
 7 Oct - plasterers arrive and decide proposed repair not workable
 13 Oct - roofing company ask for costs
 22 Oct - quote forwarded then 2 more quotes requested


texts: Is modifying a contract after purchase bait and switch?

texts:
I understand that bait and switch is a fraudulent marketing technique in which one 'bait' product is advertised at a certain price, then after the consumer is drawn in they are instead offered a similar product at a higher price. I'm wondering if the term 'bait and switch' also applies to switches made after purchase, or if there is a different term for it? I'm assuming it's just as illegal under consumer law, but if the law is different please clarify.

For example:

customer signs up for a 12 month tv contract offering channels X, Y and Z. Before the contract runs out, the contract is modified to only offer channels X and Y, for the same price. Channel Z can be purchased for an additional fee, but this is optional.
customer purchases a premium item within a game which offers some bonus. At some point after purchase the item is modified to give a smaller bonus. No partial refund or compensation is offered.

In both examples the consumer initially gets what they originally paid for, and it is only some time later that the product is modified to be something less than what they were originally offered, but they are not offered any kind of compensation or partial refund to account for the difference.

If the company includes a clause in their contract saying they reserve the right to make such changes without offering refund or compensation, would that make these tactics legal? What are the company's legal obligations in these examples?


texts: Are there any laws against adding a second lock to a bicycle that isn't yours?

texts:
Imagine placing your bike in a bicycle parking rack and using your own cable lock to protect it from being stolen.

What if someone came and added another cable lock that you don't own the key to or you don't have the password combination for? If you were to forcefully remove it yourself, you could be mistaken for a thief and, if you threw away the proof that you own the bike, I can't figure out a way out of this, unless there are surveillance cameras around.

Same story with a yard door or gate (like this one). If someone added another lock, you could have a hard time getting in/out your own property.

Are there any laws against such "pranks"?

Asking for two reasons:

Out of curiosity
In case I'm ever in such a situation, I'd like to know how respond in a legaly acceptable manner


texts: What are legal requirements for privacy policy for a website hosted in the US, used in Europe and with technical cookies only?

texts:
My website is hosted in the U.S. but I am using it for my professional services in Europe.

The website uses only technical cookies and anonymized analytics (Google Analytics).

What should I specify in my privacy policy, except that these technical cookies and anonymized analytics are used?


texts: EULA requiring app users to surrender rights to media they didn't upload?

texts:
This seems like a silly question to me, and only a hypothetical at the moment, but I needed to ask! It's specific to United States copyright law, just to be clear.
Let's say an app author builds a solution that's only to be used by a small, internal group of users. Is it legally possible for the app to have a EULA upon entering the experience that requires any viewer to surrender the rights they may have to any of the content inside the app, if that content is prospectively owned by the user themselves?
More specifically, I'll pose a scenario: let's say we're talking about a free app for a private audience, which includes training for the Praxis exam, but potentially also includes example questions taken from official Praxis training materials. Is it possible to have the user agree to a EULA that states they will not file a copyright claim around any content they may discover they actually own rights to, when using the app?
If this is indeed legally possible, this seems like a very sticky situation that could open a can of worms: how do you maintain copyright status against media that was stolen, if you can't verify ownership of that media without agreeing to a EULA that nullifies your claim to the rights of said media?


texts: Analyze a YouTube video, show products from video?

texts:
If I wanted to analyze a YouTube video and display some products from the video would it be illegal?

Is this fair use??


texts: Fraud litmus test for political fund raising?

texts:
Media has reported that the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Donald Trump have raised hundreds of millions on the basis of election fraud, which as I understand it has no basis in fact.
What contours or bright-lines must be crossed (litmus test) to identify fraud or running afoul of the law for fundraising based upon a false / unproven premise as cited in the media example?
IANAL and would like to keep the replies focused on law and avoid politics.  A dual-prong explanation is appreciated: a layman's explanation to be followed by legal jargon


texts: When was judicial attire first specified in England (or the United Kingdom)?

texts:
To many (if not most) of those not involved in legal matters, court dress may seem a bit absurd. Wigs, especially seem out of place in modern society. It is obvious that the judicial costume must date back quite some time. I've never quite understood when this happened.

When was court dress first standardized in England (or the United Kingdom, depending on the era)?


texts: Is it lawful for my old company to buy back all my shares today but pay me over the course of several years?

texts:
Brief context is that I quit a startup with some vested shares (not options) that I have already paid taxes for. Their attorney is arguing that the shareholder's agreement allows them to buy back all my shares. They've made me an offer but one that allows them to pay me annually over the course of several years.

I feel this is a bad deal for me. If the company makes it that many years, the shares will be worth a lot more than what they're offering now. If the company goes under, they don't have to pay me. So I bear all the risks but none of the upside.
However this is not about fairness, but rather what is legal.

Is the company allowed to take ownership of my shares without paying for all of it at once? I'd imagine if I sign a contract that states that, then it's legal. But I don't know if I an option not to sign the first deal they put in front of me.

Are there any laws or standards (in California) that mandates shares should be paid for within a timely fashion?


texts: Issuance of new deed on death of grantor

texts:
This question is about how deeds should be recorded on the death of the grantor.
If there is a quitclaim deed that lists a single person as the grantor and that grantor dies, then how (or if) is that deed changed to a new grantor who is the heir of the deceased grantor?
Obviously the will is probated first. So, assume that is done. What happens next? One possible answer is nothing. In other words the heir or heirs would transfer the property by quitclaim deed themselves at such time as they wished to convey the property to a third party. However, the drawback of doing this is that the dead person will still be listed as the grantor on the deed, so the buyer or receiver of the property would have to rely on an interpretation of the probate to assure themselves that they would have full rights to the property. Obviously it would be desirable to avoid buyer having to make a complex legal determination like this and it would be better if the grantor on the deed was alive and conveying the property. So, the question is whether this is possible and if so, how the new deed is created with a change of grantor from the deceased owner to the heir(s) of the deceased.


texts: Do I still have full custody of my child?

texts:
Before my girlfriend and I were married we had a child and then separated 1.5 years later due to reasons that are irrelevant to the question.

We went to court and I was granted full custody of our child.

2 years later we worked out our issues and ended up getting married. Fastforward 7 years and the marriage is now  irreconcilable, and headed towards Divore.

During our marriage I never changed the rights of my full custody.

Do I still have full custody, or will I have to dispute this during the divorce since we did in fact get married?


texts: Does a client have custody and control over lawyer's documents?

texts: A Plaintiff propounds a document request on a defendent who was a client of an attorney. Does this client have custody and control over his own attorney's documents?


texts: Can an ISP respond to a DMCA counter notice on behalf of a user?

texts:
We are an ISP, allowing our users to write reviews of their educational experience.  Normally the users' free speech rights are protected through the Communications Decency Act, Anti-SLAPP statutes, first amendment, etc. all that.

Lately though, a entity's CEO/Owner filed a DMCA request against us and a very negative review about him and his school in particular, claiming copyright ownership over it.  We can claim to be an ISP and gain those restrictions, but as the review is anonymous (we have the IP though), we have no way to contact the author.  Furthermore, the DMCA request is clearly false/perjurious -- for several reasons.

The CEO did not write such a scathing negative review of himself in the third person and then decide to submit it to us anonymously, only to request the takedown.  Clearly he is not the copyright owner.
The CEO has contacted (harassed) us many times (email and letters) concerning this and other reviews, claiming defamation, slander, trademark infringement, and anything else he could think of.  Clearly the review is not his.
We know his IP addresses and the IPs of his staff based upon the emails, of which other false (positive) reviews were submitted.
The review authors grant us copyright to use their reviews, via a disclaimer on the survey itself.

We normally have a process for the review authors to remove their own reviews, which other reviewers use.  We also have a process for entities to dispute the validity of reviews, which other entities use and have used successfully.  But we generally reserve the right to decide if a review is valid via process, and this DMCA takedown is putting us into the awkward position of forcing us to choose between being an "ISP" or a "content author/submitter".  If we choose not to play the ISP part in responding, then it seems that we open ourselves up to suit as a defamatory content author.

Basically, can we preserve our DMCA- ISP "immunity" and still respond on behalf of the review author?

Edit: I guess basically I am asking a sidestep question.  What do we do when WE have the information that demonstrates that the content is non-infringing, and that the DMCA filer is plainly lying?  Apart from signing an affidavit (and releasing his/her identity), the original author has no way to prove that he/she is the original author either.  And it is really beside the point, since the entity is trying to get negative reviews removed, not protect a copyright of something they own.  I mean, it is clear abuse of the system.

Edit 2: Though my question is pointedly what I am dealing with, perhaps it should be revised to a more simple question.  For instance, what do you do if you are an ISP who receives a DMCA for content YOU own, and YOU produced, and YOU exclusively hold the copyright for.  Do you have to take down your own content until you send a counter notice, and record the counternotice to yourself?  So upstream ISPs have forwarded the DMCA to you to handle (because you own all of the servers and power and colocation facility).

There's this built-in assumption in the DMCA which is that the one filing the takedown is actually the copyright holder, and all they have to do is sign a BS lying affidavit, certifying that they believe it to be theirs, which carries very little consequence, and then at that point the onus is upon everyone else to either show they are not involved, or give up the personal information of the owner to a potentially litigiously malicious party.  For instance, the information that the DMCA counter notice demands, would otherwise not be provided without subpoena.


texts: Is it legal for me to violate traffic rules in a non-emergency situation if traffic flow is stopped?

texts:
The other day I was on a small-ish two lane road where traffic in the other lane was traveling in the other direction.  I came upon an unattended stopped car with it's emergency blinkers on blocking my current lane.  Since I could clearly see no traffic was coming in the other lane I moved around the stopped car, briefly crossing the solid yellow line so I was partially in the wrong lane, before returning back into my own lane and continuing on my way.  I was neither the first nor the last car on this road to do so.

I feel little regret for temporarily ignoring the solid line to pass the stopped vehicle, in fact I'm pretty sure I could have done it with a police officer right behind me without worry that I would get a ticket.  Still I did violate the rules by traveling in the wrong lane.  I was wondering rather this sort of 'common sense' violation of traffic laws to adjust for extenuating circumstances was technically illegal.

I know in an emergency situation I'm allowed to violate the usual rules if necessary to avoid a crash, for example to quickly swerve into the wrong lane to avoid a collision if someone cuts me off and there is no other way to not strike them.  However this wasn't an emergency situation.  I would likely have been stuck behind this vehicle for an extensive length of time if I had waited and abide by the usual driving laws, but no ones life was in danger.  Was I still authorized to adjust the usual rules to move around the obstacle?


texts: What is the penalty if the British Prime Minister does not seek an Article 50 extension?

texts:
The recently-passed European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 (a.k.a. the Benn Act or the Surrender Act, depending on one's politics) seems to be unprecedented in that it creates a legal obligation for a single Crown subject—the Prime Minister. Specifically, § 1(4) states that:

  The Prime Minister must seek to obtain from the European Council an
  extension of the period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European
  Union ending at 11.00pm on 31 October 2019 by sending to the President
  of the European Council a letter in the form set out in the Schedule
  to this Act requesting an extension of that period to 11.00pm on 31
  January 2020 in order to debate and pass a Bill to implement the
  agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union under
  Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union, including provisions
  reflecting the outcome of inter-party talks as announced by the Prime
  Minister on 21 May 2019, and in particular the need for the United
  Kingdom to secure changes to the political declaration to reflect the
  outcome of those inter-party talks.

However, usually legislation includes details of the punishment to be administered to those to break the law. For example, § 1 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 states that ‘Whosoever shall be convicted of Murder shall suffer Death as a Felon.’

This Act doesn't mention any punishment, however. What, then, happens to the Prime Minister if he refuses to seek an extension (which seems to be Johnson's plan) and thereby breaks the law? Is there some sort of ‘default’ punishment for lawbreaking in England & Wales that is used when no more-specific punishment is stated?


texts: Are Gutenberg books illegal to sell in Germany or any non-US countries?

texts:
I am building an eBook reading service (paid) and I aim to distribute free classics available on Gutenberg Project. (at least for the start)
I have gone through all Gutenberg terms which allows me to do almost anything, but Gutenberg being limited to the US, it doesn't say much beyond that.
I just came to know that Gutenberg is banned in Germany, because of a lawsuit arising out of the situation that copyright expiry differs between Germany and the US (where Gutenberg is located).
My questions are:
Does this mean I cannot sell any books in Germany? Are there exceptions? (By selling I do not mean to sell one book for €xx - it is rather unlimited books per month sort of, but it is no different from selling)

Is there a central place to know how many years old books could be safe to publish, in every country?

Is there another thing that I am completely overlooking (beyond number of years passed since published / author died)?

If there is a safer, more copyright-free + generic source than Gutenberg to find such books?

If at all infringement occurs, what sort of difficulties could arise for me?


texts: Reward for lost phone contractually binding?

texts:
I lost my phone and logged into the remote Android manager to have a message appear on the display:

  I will pay $50 to whoever returns this phone to me.

The next day, the stranger that found it returned the phone.

It's clearly bad form to not pay the promised $50, but am I legally obligated to pay it? I am in Utah.


texts: Marriage between two brothers and related situations

texts:
Incest (for example between a brother and sister) seems to be illegal in most countries. The main (and only?) argument for that is that there is a high probability that the children might be handicapped.

Question 1: In case this is really the only argument, isn't it a kind of bad argument since two people with some kind of severe disease have a high probability that their children will also have the same or similar disease (for example that the child of two people with Down syndrome will have it is even higher than the probability that the child of two healthy people who are brother and sister has a handicap)?

Question 2: Would it be legal for example for two brothers (or any two persons from the same family and closely related and not able to produce children together) to have a relationship and marry (since here there is no danger of getting children together)?

I am mostly interesting in the situation in the US and Germany.


texts: Can I charge a rental company for storage of their equipment if they leave it on my property after the contract has expired?

texts:
I recently entered into a rental contract with a company for an excavator.  The contract period expired and they were supposed to pick up the equipment, but they have not yet picked it up (it has been one week).  I contacted them during this period, but they never returned my call.

I know that when your car gets towed, often the towing company will not only bill you for the towing but will also bill you storage fees for each day you leave it on their premises; this seems to apply even though I never signed a contract to agree to those terms.  Can I do the same to the rental company?  I have their key, so they wouldn't be able to get their equipment back until I gave it to them.


texts: What are realistic time limits on contemporaneous note taking?

texts: In terms of contemporaneous, if an OHS Inspector is taking notes on an official investigation what is an acceptable time frame for s/he to adjust the notes to correct errors while at the scene i.e names, locations, job title.


texts: If one is the owner of an MIT licence, can that person relicense the software?

texts:
Suppose that someone (S) has  supervised a group of students for a school project to produce software. This software is licensed under the MIT License and the copyright notice caries the name of the supervisor (S) and no other name..
Can S use this code in S's personal project and discard the MIT License?


texts: Without going into too much detail, my partner has made accusations against me to the police for which I am currently on bail while they investigate. I feel frustrated that his accusations are bogus but I do not have a voice. I've sought advice from a solicitor and been advised to stay schtum. But I feel that the whole thing could be nipped in the bud sooner if only my side of events were heard. Is there anything I can do?


texts: Can a landlord enter common rooms, in a house that is leased individually room by room, without notice?

texts:
I live in a large house shared with several roommates. We each have our own lease with the landlord. The landlord has been letting himself into the house frequently with no explanation. I was under the impression this was illegal, but am not sure considering the landlord only enters common areas such as hallways and the kitchen (though these are still within the confines of the house).
I found the information here saying

A landlord may enter:

Any common areas that are shared with others like hallways, courtyards and laundry facilities – no notice is required

This seems to be talking more about apartment buildings with hallways anyone can walk through.
Without warning or reason, can the landlord knock on the door and be allowed in if whoever answers says it's okay?


texts: Why do criminal defendants routinely plead innocent?

texts:
When I read of criminal cases in the news, it seems like the defendants routinely plead innocent even when the evidence against them is overwhelming and conviction seems like a near certainty. Why do they do this?

The possible explanations I could think of:

(1) Judges like the attention so they give pretty much the same sentences no matter to encourage long trials that "justify" the judge's employment. In other judges are not rewarded for processing cases faster so they have no incentive to discourage pointless trials.

(2) Defense attorneys encourage defendants to plead innocent because the attorney will make more money from a trial than a guilty plea.

(3) Defense attorneys like the publicity they get from high-profile trials.

(4) Sentencing guidelines result in more or less the same sentences no matter what, so the defendant may as well plead innocent, since he has nothing to lose.

(5) Defendants plead innocent out of desparation.

(6) Defendants are always absurdly over-charged, so they are hoping to get found innocent of some of the crazier charges.

Obviously these are just some of the explanations. Anybody got insight on this?


texts: Are US states bound by the US constitution when it comes to gun rights?

texts: I am confused by a basic feature of US constitutional law.    Does the US constitution restrict state laws as well as federal ones? Specifically, can a state law (or even a city law) ban the possession of guns or, say, the sale of pornography?


texts: Should a lease letter state that it supersedes the lease itself?

texts:
I am signing a lease where there are various changes that are required to it, the landlord refuses to change the lease but instead has issued a latter with the changes on it. The letter make no mention that it supersedes the lease in any way and also states "This agreement does not constitute a variation of the terms of the Lease, which shall continue in full force and effect notwithstanding the terms of this agreement."

Doesn't that mean whatever is in the letter means nothing?


texts: What can a network service disclose to law enforcement if they claim they don't keep any logs?

texts:
After reading this question I was wondering about the legal applications of the terms-of-service of Privateinternetaccess.com (PIA): a VPN provider. What's a VPN provider? If you have one, all your internet traffic goes through it.

One of the largest claims PIA makes is that it doesn't keep any logs so that theoretically even if a government issues a warrant they would be unable to disclose any information on the activities of its users.

According to this article PIA claims "We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind." Is it legal not to keep any logs? Did they just "pull a legal fast one" by saying VPN logs so if they were to hand over information about a user they would just say it was from a non-VPN log?

From the first linked page:

  Failure to comply with the present Terms of Service constitutes a
  material breach of the Agreement, and may result in one or more of
  these following actions:

  Issuance of a warning;
  Immediate, temporary, or permanent revocation of access to Privateinternetaccess.com with no refund;
  Legal actions against you for reimbursement of any costs incurred via indemnity resulting from a breach;
  Independent legal action by Privateinternetaccess.com as a result of a breach; or
  Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as deemed reasonably necessary.

When they say "Disclosure of such information," to what information could they refer? They claim they don't keep any information. Is the statement saying, "they will comply with the law, by showing their (empty) logs"?


texts: How can consideration be past when the offeror demanded a price, and all discussion of consideration precedes the contract signing?

texts:
How does the issue of past consideration arise at all? I'm relying on the paragraphs chronologically. Obviously P's acceptance (see bold below) precedes 'P and D signed a contract'. Then any consideration from D (for P's promise to sell the bicycle) must hail from the £50 that P's demanding. I.e. 'in consideration of the excellent work' can't form any part of consideration, because P's also demanding £50 from D.
Here's the problem question.

Plaintiff decided to sell his bicycle. He advertises as follows:

FOR SALE
Bicycle £49 (price negotiable)
Please call: 020 1234 5678 to accept this offer – first come, first served.

Defendant, a mechanic, had always looked after P’s bicycles. D wanted to buy this bicycle but the most he could scrape together was £25. He rang P to ask whether P would consider accepting £25 now and the balance over the next five years at £5 per year. P said ‘the price is £50, but in consideration of the excellent work you have always carried out on my bicycles, I accept your proposal’ [Call this P's Acceptance].
P and D signed a contract detailing the arrangement and D said D would collect the bicycle the following day. Later that day P changed his mind and contacted D to say that D couldn't have the bicycle unless D paid the full price immediately.
D believes he has the right to the bicycle in accordance with the signed agreement. But P argues that
1. there was not sufficient consideration for D's promise, and
2. even if there was sufficient consideration, the variation promise was not binding on P.

Here's the relevant part of my textbook's answer.

Was the consideration from D sufficient? P’s statement “in consideration of the excellent work you have always carried out on my bicycles, I accept your proposal” suggests that P would be using past consideration to support the price variation. P's statement looks like past consideration (Lampleigh, Pao On) and therefore not sufficient. So no contract to vary.


texts: Can the plaintiff in a civil case change the requested damages after the defendant has already been served the summons?

texts:
I have a very oddly specific situational question;

In a civil lawsuit where a plaintiff is attempting to gain a sum of money from the defending party, is the plaintiff and their counsel allowed to change the amount sought, after the defendant has been served a court summons (which has the damages sought stated on it). Or are damages ultimately decided by a judge/jury and the damages sought are somewhat irrelevant to a case? If this was in fact allowed, why wouldn't the plaintiff always change the requested damages after more evidence comes to light before a trial? It seems ridiculous that somebody could do that in the US justice system, I couldn't find any law or rule pertaining to this issue.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.


texts:
I purchased a drawing to be commissioned by a company who is mainly based in Asia and the Uk, but they have artists that work for them all over the world. This was on November 1st 2019, they sent me the first rough copy in drop box on November 17th 2019 to ether approve or decline. I requested for the picture to be edited and I've been ignored on both their FB and website platform since then. When i told them i wanted a refund they finally answered me and told me they could not do it from their FB account and to contact their support email. On their website it says;

Is there anything I'm able to do it has been two months since purchasing the service, searching the company name I've found multiple other people that have very similar stories as mine. I am wondering about the legal rights of an artist and product (picture) but also the partnership as a whole and their accountability as a business. I as a customer purchased a product and did not receive the product at all.

please help


texts: Can someone please interpret this and put in simpler terms?

texts: Where damage is caused to a visitor by a danger due to the faulty execution of any work of construction, maintenance or repair by an independent contractor, the occupier is not to be treated without more as answerable for the danger if in all the circumstances he had acted reasonably in entrusting the work to an independent contractor and had taken such steps, if any, as he reasonably ought in order to satisfy  himself that the contractor was competent and that the work had been properly done.


texts: Can I self-classify my app for mass market encryption if I let the user choose the encryption scheme?

texts:
I am trying to get a mobile app published in the App Store. The app makes use of several standard encryption schemes (such as AES, Twofish, Serpent) provided by statically-linked OpenSSL and Crypto++ libraries, and it lets the user choose a preferred scheme for the app to use.

Turns out this "freedom of choice" is complicating an otherwise simple process of self-classification under the mass market encryption category and getting my CCATS.
I am not a lawyer, so I followed this link.

However, the Letter of Explanation and Supplement No. 1 to Part 774 Note 3 Cryptography Responses template contains this

  b.  The cryptographic functionality cannot be easily changed by the user;

and then, the Technical Specification and Supplement No. 6 to part 742 Responses template contains this

  (10) State how the product is written to preclude user modification of the encryption algorithms, key management and key space.

and

  (11) License Exception ENC 'Restricted' commodities and software described by the criteria in §740.17(b)(2) require licenses to certain “government end-users.” Describe whether the product(s) meet any of the §740.17(b)(2) criteria.  Provide specific data for each of the parameters listed, as applicable (e.g., maximum aggregate encrypted user data  throughput, maximum number of concurrent encrypted channels, and operating range for wireless products). If the §740.17(b)(2) parameters are not applicable to the commodity or
  software, clearly explain why, (e.g., by providing specific data evaluated against the §740.17(b)(2) thresholds.)

  APPLICATION does not meet 740.17(b)(2) criteria because:
  It is not Network Infrastructure Software,
  It does not provide Encryption Source code,
  It has not been adapted for Government End Users
  It does not allow any customization of cryptographic function for specific end users or by end users themselves
  It does not provide cryptanalytic functionality
  It does not provide or use quantum cryptography

Does this mean I cannot use the Mass Market Encryption category when applying for CCATS? Just because I want to let users choose between AES and Twofish in the Settings?
Any suggestion on how to deal with this, or a small legal advice, would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
My wife and I are planning to write a will, or have one written for us. To me, it seems very simple. Our wishes are:

If either my wife or I dies, the other one gets everything.
If we both die before our child is 18, he goes to Bob. All our stuff goes to our child in a trust that he gets when he turns 18, to be managed by Bob until that time.

These wishes seem very simple and straightforward to me. I can't imagine them being genuinely misinterpreted.

In contrast, a basic online will template runs 10-20 pages. I can imagine this complexity being justified if I had a complex estate in the future, but for now it seems excessive.

Can anyone point towards specific cases where someone with a similar will has run into major problems because they wrote a simple will instead of the complex legalese one?


texts: I have a trademark that got issued recently. There is a domain name with that same name that appears in my trademark that I'd like to obtain. However, that domain is registered by someone but is not in use (no website shows up but it's privately registered for more than 10 years). Can I somehow use my trademark to force the registrar to hand over the ownership of that domain?


texts: If I sold my invention to a company, can I create a new version based on it?

texts:
Let's consider I have created a new robot it cleans the windows. A company gives me a tons! of money and I will sell it to the company and say goodbye and completely leave the project. Then after some months I have a good idea to improve the robot, or like to create a new robot based on it, or very similar to it, What do should I do? What the law is in this situation?

Can I do mass production of new version by myself?


texts: How should we document % ownership in our company?

texts:
My friend and I launched a web application.  We intend to make it a paid service by the end of the year.  He has 1/3 shares and I have 2/3 (per a verbal agreement).  We haven't yet established any LCC, Partnership or otherwise yet, but need to do so in order to get a bank account and get some other things setup.

After doing some research I came across a Limited Liability Limited Partnership and it seems like the right idea, but I'm not sure how to document our agreement on % ownership of the business.  If we setup an LLLP, how do we document who owns how much of the business?


texts: Do I have recourse against Air France if they refuse to refund/compensate after wrongful boarding denial?

texts:
I believe I was unfairly denied boarding by Air France and they are refusing to refund my ticket and compensate me for the incurred costs of missing the flight (e.g. missing my connecting flight, hotel accommodations). The problem is that I am a Turkish citizen and can't just go to France to file a small court claim. Do I have any recourse? Can I sue them from Turkey and/or remotely?

For some context:

I am a Turkish citizen with an ordinary passport.
My flight trajectory was the following:

Depart: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic via Air France
Transit: 3 hours transit via Charles de Gaulles, France airport (International zone).
Arrival: Istanbul, Turkey via Turkish airlines.

I was denied boarding in Punta Cana. The reason given then was that "I had not arrived to Dominican Republic with Air France".
After contacting the Air France complaints department, I was told the actual reason for boarding denial was that I needed a valid transit visa since my onward flight to Istanbul was with another airline (Turkish Airline).
I contacted the French consulate which confirmed that I did not need a transit visa (they won't even issue one) since I was only stopping for 3 hours through the International zone and that the onward flight did not have to be through the same airline.


texts: Legality of HIV Positive Organ Transplantation in Oregon State of the United States

texts: Is HIV Positive Organ Transplantation in Oregon legal or banned? What are the names of the laws or policies controlling HIV Positive Organ Transplantation in Oregon? Where can I find information on the legality of HIV Positive Organ Transplantation in Oregon State of the United States?


texts: Could Laura Ashley Co. prevent me from giving that name to my fictitious heroine in the U.S.?

texts:
Laura Ashley is a UK furniture and fashion company named after its founder. But there probably are plenty of people named Laura Ashley.

Some years ago, I was considering giving the name "Laura Ashley" to one of my fictitious heroines because I liked the name. (Unlike my completed works, this one went for about three pages.) The heroine was an ambitious mid-level biotech executive trying to make it to the top. (The field is nothing like furniture.) A friend of mine told me to "expect to hear from Laura Ashley's lawyers" if I published the novel.

The answer to this question showed that a company cannot (normally) prevent someone from using their own real name in a different (non-confusing) line of business. Does this "protection" apply to my fictitious character as well? Or can the similarity of names somehow be held to damage the company's repuation? (My heroine acts "normally," and does nothing out of the ordinary.)


texts: How can one access a deceased parent's assets?

texts:
My mother passed away two months ago. I lived with her, because she had medical conditions, for pretty much my entire life.

I recently found out she and my father never divorced. She and he had been separated for 30 years because he was abusive, not that it probably applies.

She had no will. Is there any way I can obtain her funds? I haven't even had a memorial for her because I was unemployed. (She required nearly constant care.)

I'm in Alabama in the USA.


texts: Is a 10 hour workday in Germany 9AM until 7PM or 9AM until 7:45PM?

texts:
From what I found in the google-translate of (what I believe is) the relevant Ministry of Justice page,
it seems that lunch and breaks count towards the maximum of 10 hours per day in Germany.

  Pauses fixed in advance - such as the lunch break - do not count as breaks for working hours.

The google-translate version sounds weird, but if we take it at face value, it sounds as if the maximum working day is 9:15 hours working + 45 min required break.

I believe this is different from how most other countries treat lunch breaks...

Note: That may not be the MoJ page, I can't really tell


texts: Open source software license limitations

texts:
Software development often requires the usage of libraries, which are often open source and licensed to the user. While some of these licenses allow for free and unrestricted commercial use, like the MIT licence:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction...

Others, like the GPLv3, are a more restrictive

You are not allowed to claim patents or copyright on the software. Moreover, you are obligated to display a copyright notice, disclaimer of warranty, intact GPL notices, and a copy of the GPL.
You are not allowed to change the license or introduce additional terms and conditions.
You are under the reciprocity obligation, which means you are obligated to release the source code and all of the rights to modify and distribute the entire code.

My question is, is there a legal definition for the bounds of these types of agreements? A lot of the time, complex projects are broken into a series of sub-sections, or even sub applications. For instance, consider a use case where two separate devices are used in a general process:
Device 1:

load the data
process the data (contains a reference to a library licensed with GPLv3)
transmit the data

Device 2:

receive the data
display the data

would all of Device 1 fall under GPLv3? Just the portion which processes data? or would both Device 1 and Device 2 fall under GPLv3 because they are both part of a system?
A lot of the time executables on a computer can function like Device 1 and Device 2. If these, instead, are communicating applications on a single machine, and not separate devices, how far would libraries like GPLv3 reach then?


texts:
I own a 3-bedroom, ex-council flat in London (UK) which I'm renting out via an agency as I currently reside outside the country.

During all my communications with the agency, they always mention three tenants. In fact, there are three names in the contract and I have multiple emails/Whatsapp messages that prove so.

Last week I got to know that there are in fact four people living in the flat. The agency claims that this tenant has always been in the flat and in their systems, and that it was a 'typo'. This means they always knew they were four people and they never communicated that to me.

After having a conversation with my agent (who isn't the one who had the contract signed, but a different person in the same agency), he didn't give any reasons why the fourth tenant was never added to the contract. All I got were excuses and blaming the previous person that managed the contract.

My questions are, where does this put me legally and what are my options? If I decide to break my agreement with the agency, do I have grounds to do that? Also, if I want to keep the tenants, how should I proceed? And if I don't want to keep them, do I have that option?


texts: Restrictions of private tow companies in Arizona regarding holding the vehicle for payment

texts:
I live in Arizona, and around 5 years ago, my car was towed out of my parking spot in my apartment complex, because I forgot to put the registration sticker on the plate. I was able to research it on the internet and found out that unless the tow was ordered by a police officer, the private tow yard couldn't hold my property for payment, or demand any billing information to bill me later. All I had to show them was the cars registration and a valid ID with a name matching whats on the cars registration. The lady at the front desk gave me a hard time saying that wasn't true, but when her manager came over, I shoed him the statute I had printed out, and he instructed her to release my car without billing me. They eventually had to go after the apartment complex, since thats who they had the contract with, and the complex couldn't give them my billing information (or any other personal information). Eventually they just dropped it all together (and asked me very nicely to put my sticker on the plate.. lol)

A friend of mine is in a nearly identical situation, private tow company, he's the vehicle owner, the tow was not ordered by police, etc etc. I wanted to help him out and tell him what statute number to look up, but I can't seem to find it... I see all kinds of articles explaining this exact scenario, and the majority of them conclude with "they can hold it for money if it was towed by the cops. Otherwise, no", but no ARS #'s are referenced. And any ARS # that are referenced are more about impounding or DUI's, which isn't what this is about.

If this has been changed recently, then when? If not, where is it referenced? I searched for towing at www.AZLeg.gov, and there are quite a few results, but I haven't been able to find what I had before, and I remember it was a pain to find last time as well.

If anyone can provide some insight in regards to the rights of the tow company and the vehicle owner, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you!


texts: What's the most crucial issue when deciding Senator Cruz's citizenship?

texts:
Donald Trump is threatening to sue Senator Cruz for his citizenship issue. I understand Senator Cruz was born to an American mother and Cuban father in Canada .

I understand it would not be an issue if he had been born in the U.S. or its territory or if he had been born to both American citizens. But because he was born in Canada and his father was Cuban, there could be some legal issues.

I have searched for a clue and read the related article, but I don't fully understand what the real issue is. I mean, he must have a birth certificate as an American citizen, and ran for the Senate and lawfully elected senator. What is the real issue now?

Other related articles: A New Challenge to Cruz's Eligibility, Memorandum: Is Ted Cruz Eligible for the Presidency?

[Source: theAtlantic.com]


texts: Possibly a stupid question, but do insurance companies HAVE to have somebody as a customer?

texts:
Let's say Unlucky Joe is a very accident-prone young man. He keeps getting into costly accidents all the time, but it can never be proved that he does it by mistake, and it doesn't benefit him economically. However, his insurance company keeps having to pay the costs for his accidents.

So they increase his monthly cost. But can they do this infinitely, to the point where Unlucky Joe simply cannot afford being insured? Or is that against the law somehow? I mean, if he really does have such bad luck, he truly needs the insurance, but at the same time, the insurance company would never accept having a customer who literally costs them more than they get from him?

Are they obliged to keep him as a customer, with a reasonable maximum ceiling for the "premium" (I think that's what it's called)? Or will poor Joe find himself unable to get insured and thus get heavily into debt and lose his home?

PS: Unlucky Joe could also be Unfortunate Sue, who also has bad luck but in her case, she keeps getting costly diseases and basically lives in the hospital.


texts: Practical difference between physical custody and visitation?

texts:
Q: What is the ACTUAL or practical difference between Physical Custody and Visitation (or Parent Time)?

For divorcing couples in Utah who have children, Joint Legal and Physical Custody can be requested when both parents will have the children for a minimum of 111 nights.

However, in the case of Joint Legal and Sole Physical Custody, the custodial parent has the children at least 225 nights -- leaving up to 140 nights when the non-custodial parent could have the children.

So, clearly there is an overlap here where, in the case of either Joint or Sole Physical Custody, the would-be non-custodial parent could have the children between 111-140 nights. The only difference is that in the Sole Physical Custody case, the other parent obviously has "visitation" or "parent time" but NOT physical custody. But what does that really mean??

My wife and I are getting divorced and she believes that it is in the best interest of the children, due to their ages (3 and 5), to be with her the majority of the time. So, she wants to have Joint Legal and Sole Physical Custody. However, I'm an excellent father, and have a great relationship with my kids, and I firmly believe that our kids need more access to their dad than that.

Admittedly, I'm also very nervous (and broken-hearted) about this idea of completely giving up physical custody and only having "visitation" with my children! But, maybe I'm overreacting? Maybe it's just the label of "custody" that I'm scared to lose, and there's not really a practical difference??

So I need to know, aside from the distribution of nights the kids spend with each parent, what is the ACTUAL or practical difference between Physical Custody, and Visitation? If she has sole physical custody, I want to know what practical rights I am giving up that I would still have if we had joint physical custody?

Bear in mind that we are still agreed on having Joint Legal Custody.


texts: Implied Acceptance of Contract by Paying Invoice

texts:
I rented a boat slip at a marina for a month in Maryland.  I was sent a QuickBooks invoice via email (with integrated payment button), and attached to the email were two documents - an invoice and a contract.  I paid online with a credit card.
The email and the invoice both had the line "Payment of the invoice means acceptance of the terms of the attached contract."  Question #1: is this legally binding upon payment?
The contract is written in a way that raises more questions.  It is a PDF with all my info all ready filled in by their office staff.  Two issues caught my eye.  The following text is part of the contract: "This agreement is not cancellable or refundable unless written permission from XXX is given. Initial____"  I never signed this document, electronically or on paper, and therefore, my initials are not filled in.  Question #2: Is this clause binding since my initials are clearly desired but not present?
Further, there is a standard signature & date block at the end of the contract.  My name was typed in by their office staff, and the date is blank.  Question #3: Is the cancellation clause above, and the contract as a whole, legally binding, or am I free to cancel at any time?


texts: What means 'higher democracy' in the Constitution?

texts:
Source: Richard A. Posner, How Judges Think (2008). p 332 Middle.

    The problem is not that he is asking the court to weigh impondera.
  bles. For while "weighing imponderables" sounds like an oxymoron
  ("imponderable" is from the Latin ponderare, meaning "to weigh"), it
  isn't quite. Often a judge can know, even without quantification, that
  one interest at stake in a case is weightier than another. In a negligence
  case neither the burden of precautions nor the probability and magni-
  tude of the accident that will occur if the precautions are not taken may
  be quantified or even quantifiable, yet it may be apparent that there isa
  grave risk of a serious accident that could easily be averted (negligence),
  or that the cost of the precautions would be disproportionate to the
  slight risk of a minor accident (no negligence). That is the "tolerable
  windows" approach that I advocated in chapter 9. But the key terms in
  Breyers test, such as "impact upon the publicS confidence in, and ability
  to communicate through, the electoral process" and the "importance" of
  a challenged law's "electoral and speech-related benefits," are so nebu-
  Ious that they cannot be weighed against each other at all. High-level ab-
  stractions such as "democracy" and "active liberty" can be arrayed with
  equal plausibility on either side of constitutional questions. They are
  makeweights. A decision invalidating a statute on constitutional grounds
  may seem undemocratic, but even if it is not a democracy-enhancing de-
  cision (as reapportionment decisions are widely thought to be) it can be
  defended as an application of the "higher democracy" embodied in the
  Constitution. So originalists are democrats along with loose construc-
  uonjsts. Likewise federalists. who want to honor the democratic choices
  made at the state and local levels, and nationalists who want to honor
  the democratic chojces made at the federal level.

Googling yields nothing.


texts: How to parse 'notwithstanding ... forfeiture is avoided otherwise than by relief'?

texts:
[Source:] The landlord argued that the tenant must pay the administration costs based on the covenant[,] given by the tenant in the lease which read as follows:
“To pay all expenses (including Landlord’s solicitors’ costs and surveyors fees)
incurred by the Landlord [,and] incidental to the preparation and service of notice under Section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925
notwithstanding that forfeiture is avoided otherwise than by relief granted by the court.”

What does the bolded mean? I wish to understand it in terms of the bolded sentence as written; so please don't just paraphrase it. For example, I'm confused by the combined use of notwithstanding (preposition), otherwise (adverb), and than (conjunction).
Footnote: The quote concerns UK law, but similar diction is found in other juridsdictions.


texts:
I am going to create open-source project for Linux, and i would like to ask you, how is it with licenses and law.

For example i will make a project with GPL license and:

Must i have company, or can i make it as individual?
Must i have sign any agreement with/out lawyer?
Is it enough to post my project into github with source code and just write that is GPL license?
And is 3. is true that let's say that some man (bad man) make open-source with GPL license and if project will be successful that he just change license or close github repository. Is possible to sue that man?

Thank you


texts: What is the point of the disclaimer in Narcos?

texts: Each episode of Narcos opens with a disclaimer that "Any similarity to name, character, history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional". Why do they have this disclaimer, when the show is explicitly about real events, and in fact occasionally uses historical footage?


texts: Is there a better way to say "Save as provided in this Constitution..."

texts:
I'm working on a NFP organisation constitution with a group of fellow members - we're very small.

There is a line "Save as provided in this Constitution...". And I'm thinking that whoever wrote that must have had 10 coffees or something, because it's woefully pretentious.

Any suggestions for simpler opening? Perhaps there is a legal reason for such language and it should stay?


texts: Is it legal to use scenes from famous TV show FRIENDS to create pop up museum in New York city?

texts:
Could someone create a museum based on a TV show without violating copyright law? Imagine, for instance, The Museum of Friends, including replicas of the following parts:

Full-scale set of Monica's apartment.
A full scale set of Joey and Chandler's apartment.
The Central Perk sofa and a bunch of original props.
“Smelly Cat” scene.
The iconic fountain with umbrellas.
“Couch pivot” scene.
“Monica has a turkey on her head” scene.

Would that be legal, or would the museum have to request copyright permission?


texts: Is there something legally stronger than a pardon that does not constitute an admission of guilt?

texts:
According to the Wikipedia page on pardons:

  In some jurisdictions, accepting such a pardon implicitly constitutes an admission of guilt (see Burdick v. United States in the United States), so in some cases the offer is refused.

A modern example of this is the UK's January 2017 passage of the "Policing and Crime Act 2017", informally known as the "Alan Turing law", which pardoned men convicted under various laws against homosexuality. George Montague was one man convicted under these laws who said he would not accept the pardon.

  "To accept a pardon means you accept that you were guilty. I was not guilty of anything. I was only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," he told BBC Newsnight.

Montague said that he would accept an apology (which I presume would just be a public admission of the government's regret and would not carry any legal weight), but I'm wondering if there is anything legally stronger than a pardon that would not constitute an admission of guilt?


texts: Impact on visitations after license is revoked due to failure to pay child support

texts:
The background (United States):

Wife took four children and left husband due to abuse
After a very contentious separation, husband was awarded partial custody (every other weekend, one evening a week)
Husband was ordered to pay child support
Because it was very difficult for the parents to come to agreement, and because of the history of abuse from the husband, the details of child exchange were determined by court order.  The children have to be exchanged at the same (public) location in all cases, at the pre-determined days/times without exception.
The now-ex-husband is frequently behind on child support
Ex-husband was recently given 30 days by the state to get caught up on child support or have his drivers license and registration suspended.
There is a good chance that ex-husband will not get caught up in time.

Main Question: if the child exchange time and locations are fixed, and the husband can no longer legally drive, does this effectively nullify his visitation rights? (presuming he insists on picking up the children himself in his own car with a suspended license/registration)

The drop off location is near her house, not his, and even if public transportation were an option he would not be the type to use it.  He's more the type that would ignore the suspension of his license and go pick up the kids in his car anyway.  He is also the kind to  try to attempt to manipulate the wife into doing what he wants regardless of what a court order says.  Emotional abuse and manipulation were a big part of his game, but fortunately she has gotten much better at ignoring it.

Follow up questions:

If he has his license revoked and attempts to pick up the children as always, are there any potential legal repercussions for her if she allows him to pick up the kids?
Would there be any potential legal repercussions for her if she refuses to allow him to pick up the children himself with a suspended license/registration?
If he attempts to convince her to drop the kids off somewhere else (presumably at his house) due to the suspension of his license, are there any potential legal repercussions for her if she refuses?


texts: Copyright holder and license of the output files produced by a libre software

texts: Consider for example the libre software LAMMPS, which uses GNU General Public License. The user writes an input file. Then the software performs some calculations based on the instructions in the input file and produces an output file in simple text format. Now I would like to know what determines the license of the output file and who is the copyright holder of it.


texts: Can a State in the U.S. require candidates to release taxes to be on the ballot for national office?

texts: We have learned that many important constraints on elected officials are norms rather than rules. In an effort to turn some norms effectively into rules, can states add to their requirements for a person to be on the ballot? For example, 5 years of tax returns must be released to the public?


texts:
We have a database containing a list of addresses and want to start performing some analysis based on those addresses.
It feels important to note we aren't selling or making our service public (or its results), it is for internal use within the company only.
Having done some investigation into the different geocoding services a lot of them say "dont store the results" which is a no go in this case as we have too many to geocode every request.
This lead me to discover you can self host Nominatim a service that can be used geocode addresses. My understanding of Nominatim is that the database and the data in the database are covered by two similar licenses. (odbl and dbcl)
Given that we want to take our addresses, geocode them & store the lat/long pairs back to our own database I'm concerned we are creating a derivative database that has to be published.
So would we be creating a derivative database that has to be published? Or is the fact the intended use case is not for "public consumption" enough to cover us from such an situation?
Other things that may be important

Based in the UK.
We have no intention of modifying the underlying Nominatim database or adding data to it, just extracting & storing lat/long pairs for our own analysis later.
We won't use our own API for geocoding, just for searching the lat/long pairs
I have read openstreetmap Legal FAQ about data transformations but it still feels somewhat unclear to me
I have also read openstreetmap Use Cases page, while it does explicitly say the following I am still uncomfortable for some reason!

Case 1: I want to use OSM data in a purely internal application
ODbL only places restrictions on "public" use. If you are a company, and the map or app will only be visible to/usable by employees, this is allowed and you don't have to do anything.


texts:
I own a condo that was rented out and had a fire.  The condo association's master policy covers repairs from "sheetrock out".  I'm out of state, but the best I've heard, the fire mainly damaged the inside, no studs or structural items (bricks) were impacted.

Since the condo association is the one insured, should they handle the hiring of contractors to gut existing sheetrock, and put up new sheetrock?
If fire was primarily in one bedroom, but smoke damage effected whole unit, does that call for removing/replacing of all sheetrock?
Would the condo or the owner be responsible for removing damaged furniture, wet carpet, etc...


texts: Are there laws against International student in UK doxxing others in other country

texts:
A Chinese international student in the UK doxxing a netizen on Twitter because the netizen have an opposite political standard (don't support PRC) against him. He is going to report this netizen to the Chinese government and may cause that netizens have judicial trouble.

Is it illegal or Violate some rules in the UK?


texts: What happens if a person is thought to be dead and their estate is administered, and then they turn up alive?

texts:
Suppose a person disappears and is thought to have died (e.g. massive fireball plane crash, 'nobody could have survived that') and so their estate was administered.

And then, after their property has gone to some beneficiaries and maybe on-sold or distributed to the beneficiaries of the estates of beneficiaries who have died, etc, the person turns up alive, e.g. parachuted at the last minute while everyone was distracted by something else.

What happens to the property that was dealt with through the person's estate? Is it all clawed back?

The jurisdiction is Victoria, Australia.


texts: Holding or selling a laptop due to unpaid repairs

texts:
In the UK are the any laws which stipulate what can be done when a repair is carried out on an item but not paid for?

I have been told that you can hold on to the item until payment is received but I don't know the law behind that.

Also, at any point, can you sell the item to reclaim costs?

The items I am interested in are laptops,  Pcs, and other related electronic devices.


texts: Can law enforcement officer solicit complaints? Can you cite case/code?

texts: Living in a Home Owners Association for fifteen years. Not a good experience. I was cited for dog at large and a complaint was signed by a neighbor. Police note states "I will have day shift patrol contact the RP, and see how they would like to continue." Can those officers go back and solicit complaints?


texts: In what countries can you *not* disclaim copyright?

texts:
I'm interested in some of the legal issues around software licensing, but my question could apply to other copyrightable works too.
Most free and open source software is copyrighted but distributed under some license that grants others the right to use it.
Other authors instead opt to disclaim copyright entirely and dedicate their work to the public domain.
There is some debate about whether this is a good thing to do or not, see for example this article from the open source initiative.
In that article and others, I've seen a statement made that "Disclaiming copyright is only possible in some countries."

In what countries can you disclaim copyright? In what countries can you not disclaim copyright? For example, this page seems to say that, under German law, copyright cannot be transferred from one person to another except by inheritance. Does that mean the dedicating a copyrighted work to the public domain is a meaningless statement in Germany?


texts: Can a ® so small as to be reduced to a dot confer any legal protection?

texts:
The Bank of America iPhone app's icon has a very small ® next to the logo (shown below). The ®, barely visible in the blown-up picture below, is reduced to a small, vaguely pinkish dot on any device where the app may be found running, making its interior "R" practically indiscernible.
I am wondering whether the implied presence of this symbol is still capable of carrying any legal force considering that the symbol itself cannot be made out.


texts:
Does a company own my company's product if I use their open source code?

I am reading through the SDK License agreement of a company's code and it reads:

  ========================================

  2.  Intellectual Property

  (a) [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code.  All right, title and interest in and to the intellectual property embodied in the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code, including any improvements, enhancements or other modifications thereto made by [corp name], is owned by, and shall remain the property of [corp name], including, without limitation, any associated patents, copyrights, trademarks and logos. [corp name] is free to use, implement and incorporate in the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code any suggestions, ideas, recommendations or feedback of Licensee, without payment of additional consideration to Licensee. Licensee acknowledges that the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code shall remain the sole and exclusive property of [corp name], notwithstanding such use, implementation or incorporation.

  ========================================

  (b)       Licensee Products.  All right, title and interest in and to the intellectual property embodied in the Licensee Products, including any improvements, enhancements or other modifications thereto made by Licensee, is owned by, and shall remain the property of Licensee, including, without limitation, any associated patents, copyrights, trademarks and logos, subject to [corp name]’s ownership of the [corp name] Code and [corp name] SDK.

  ========================================

Can they sue me and/or take my profits if I use their code? What if I only look at their product and reverse engineer it? What is the extent of legal power they have in this situation?


texts: What is the legality of implementing an unrevealed killswitch in software?

texts:
In this hypothetical, the poster describes the following:

during employment with his/her employer, the poster invents and patents a method (in his/her free time) that it turns out, is useful for his/her employer
he/she presents the invention to his employer, and after receiving a $10000 bonus he/she implemented it for the company
there was no signed agreement giving permission for the company to use the application and source code
the invention, patent, and implementation included a kill-switch that would cause the program to self-delete along with all of its output if the program's author did not check in every month
the employer is unaware that there is a kill-switch in the software
the author was laid off, and now expects the kill-switch to engage, causing financial loss to the employer

In the hypothetical, the software author claims:

the employer "has no legal ownership claim to the application or code or their use"
the employer assumes all liability for damages since it did no third party testing

Are these two claims true? Is this hypothetical, is the program author free from liability?


texts: MMA Fighter knowingly slays their opponent with a legal hit, is it manslaughter

texts:
In an american MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) sanctioned match, one fighter executes a newly created technique, we'll call it the "five-point palm exploding heart technique" upon their opponent.  Said opponent suffers the hit, takes a few steps, and drops dead immediately.

In this case, it is purposeful.  The fighter said they were going to do this prior to the match, describing their plan in great detail, and stated they knew it would result in certain death.  The skill difference is absolute, the round lasts 2 seconds.  He or she could've easily won any other way and they admit their actions were cruel and unnecessary.  Not only that but they take great pride in what they've done, bragging to the press and mocking the deceased.

For the purposes of MMA, the hit abides by all rules and no presiding officials intervened.

Is the surviving fighter protected from criminal and/or civil liability?


texts:
What recourse do I have if, as a juror, I am intimidated with threats of physical violence or other misfortunes by other jurors to reach a conclusion they want?

If the answer is to talk to the judge, what do I do if the judge simply ignores my problem and says to get back in there with the other jurors and stay there until a verdict is reached?


texts: How much can I see, of a dissolution of marriage filed in Alameda County, California?

texts:
I live far away from California, but want to know more about this divorce.

Can I request a copy of all documents in this case online?

If so, can I request the documents to be emailed to me? If not, can I request snail mail?

If so, what can I see and what can't I see? How much can I see?

Note the two red arrows below. What does "Order for Destruction of Exhibits Filed" mean? Are the exhibits destroyed already? Am I too late?


texts: Do governors have veto power over the appointment of the electors by state legislature?

texts:
I believe governors in all 50 states have veto power when normal laws are passed in their states.
However, if a state legislature chose (or was directed to by the courts) to appoint the electors in a presidential election directly, would the governor still have veto power then?
Or does Article 2 prohibit vetoes by the executive branch? Article 2 states:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of
Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the
Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an
Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed
an Elector.


texts: What happens to forensic evidence about innocent people?

texts:
I was watching a Dateline story in which forensic genealogy suggested 160 suspects in a murder case in the US.  DNA samples were taken from these people.  Ultimately one was proven, in part thanks to this DNA, to be the murderer.  In general, what happens to the DNA samples from the 159 innocent people?  It seems like a violation of their privacy to keep those samples on file.
I don't remember the specific jurisdiction this was in, I'm just looking for a general overview.


texts: UK tenant no contract wants to leave early

texts:
A family member and her husband are renting a house from a friend, the landlord, and have only been living there about a month. There was no contract written up at all. They've become unhappy with the landlord and the house and wish to leave. The landlord is threatening legal action and claims there was a verbal agreement. He has said he will sue them for outstanding rent despite there being no terms - as there is no contract.

He has sent them the following:

"You have an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. The fact that there isn't a written contract doesn't change this as a verbal agreement is legally binding. Payment of rent constitutes acceptance of these terms. The tenancy can only be terminated early from the permission of the landlord. If you leave early this is legally abandonment and you are still responsible for paying rent for the duration of the tenancy ... if you do leave next month I'll consider you in rent arrears and pursue payment through legal means"

To me it seems the landlord has very little legal backing if they were to just leave. Can anyone with experience with UK renting shed any light on the legal reality of the situation?

EDIT

For futher information, I was mistaken in stating they had lived in the property for only a month, it has actually been just over 6 months. There were no witnesses to any verbal agreement, although there will most likely be a considerable number of text messages between the two parties, considering they are long time friends.


texts: My company has contract work with another company - Do I need a 1099 or other tax form?

texts:
My small business has a contract with another business to perform services as independent contractors.

Here's the legal part of the contract spelling out the relationship between my company and the client:

  The parties are independent Contractors and nothing herein shall be
  deemed to create an agency, joint venture, employer-employee or
  partnership between them or with any of their personnel. [My company]
  will not be eligible to participate in any vacation, group medical or
  life insurance, disability, profit sharing or retirement benefits or
  any other fringe benefits or benefit plans offered by the Client to
  its employees, and the Client will not be responsible for withholding
  or paying any income, payroll, Social Security or other federal, state
  or local taxes, making any insurance contributions, including
  unemployment or disability, or obtaining worker's compensation
  insurance on [My company's] behalf. [My company] shall be responsible for,
  and shall indemnify the Client against, all such taxes or
  contributions, including penalties and interest

I met with a "Client Relationship Manager" at a CPA firm for a free consultation, and she mentioned that I may need to get a 1099 from them. This struck me as odd, and I call out the person's title because they are not a CPA, just a manager who knows stuff about accounting (apparently at this firm, CPA's are too important for free consultations -sarcasm )

I was under the assumption that my company would just be invoicing the client the agreed upon amount at an agreed upon interval, and I would simply withhold taxes/benefits/etc, and that's the end of the story.

However, that manager's comment got me thinking about corp-to-corp forms, and 1099's. Do I need to worry about getting a 1099 or a corp-to-corp from my client? Are there other tax forms that are typical to get from a client?

Note: I'm in the process of finding a CPA, but until then I'd like some insight on this matter.


texts: Does Tesla or Nikola have grounds to sue the other for trademark infringement?

texts: Tesla and Nikola are both companies that produce electric vehicles, and both companies are named after the inventor Nikola Tesla. It seems to me that this could cause confusion. Does either company have grounds to sue the other for trademark infringement?


texts: How can the Nevada State Athletic Commission enforce the fines they give?

texts: How can the Nevada State Athletic Commission enforce the fines they sometimes give to athletes? I.e., if an athlete refuses to pay their fine (example), what can the Nevada State Athletic Commission do, aside from revoking their license to compete in Nevada?


texts: Would it be legal to forbid Superman from participating in college sports?

texts:
Suppose Kal-El, son of Jor-El, living under the assume identity Clark Kent, decides to spend some time as a professional athlete.
Suppose he reveals his true identity.  Obviously most professional athletes protest that this is unfair and actually mostly pointless because he can outperform entire teams of athletes to amazing fits and set new unbeatable records.
Clark Kent, however, does not relent.  He insists that he should have the same right to participate in sports and (for example) earn a college scholarship if he wants to play on a sport team for his college team.
Is there anything in the current law which would allow a college to deny him the right to make a certain sport essentially irrelevant by playing it?
While I am asking the question in jest, I also ask that you, please, support your answers with links (or at least quotes) of the relevant rules, laws and regulations.
For the purposes of this question, let's assume that the question of Kal-El's citizenship has been legally settled based on the fact that his adopted parents adopted him legally.  Let's assume the courts have settled this issue, at least for this one individual.


texts: Online purchase of a digital product locked away, are they legally required to provide the items?

texts:
I (European based) purchased multiple digital objects for an online game (US based) in 2014. In 2015, the account these objects were on was 'frozen'. (Reason stated at the time was cheating.) I quit the game because of this and in 2017 started playing again.

I tried to re-open the account, trying to prove I did not cheat. I have proof my account was hacked and closed because of the behaviour of this person. They did not accept this proof but couldn't prove I cheated either. It was a 'we have no records but computer says no' kind of situation. They suggested I created a new account to play on.

So I did this, but I wonder, are they required to give the purchased digital items back to me? Is there anything I can do to fight this? They have allowed me to continue playing, so what about my purchases?

I still have the records of all of these purchases I made.


texts: In Indonesia, do I have to remain silent if I am caught?

texts:
Like in US?

Do they have 5th amendment?

Does Indonesia have 5th amendment kind of thing?

Do I have a right to remain silent? And if I have, should I?


texts:
I am a minor in a UK public school. I was told I had to write a statement about a rule I broke in school and sign it. I missed out a piece of information, and they told me I had to write about that part, too.  Is this legal?

They made me write about something which I'm arguing isn't actually true, and they can and (I'm guessing will) use it against me.


texts: Does the right to privacy extend to property purchases?

texts:
Currently, in USA, if you purchase property (land/house), the municipality makes that transaction public (and internet scraping company make it Googleable).

Does the right to privacy extend to that information? Can a municipality be requested to keep PII of the transaction private, e.g. censor the name out of the public records?


texts: How do sexting laws work in the Netherlands?

texts:
I've noticed that in some countries the definition of child pornography varies. For example, in Canada, where if a conversation is private between people of a very small age gap and there is never any sharing of the material, then it is considered less severe than malicious possession and distribution.
How does it work in the Netherlands? Is it still looked at as a severe crime even in situations of consent, no further sharing and a minimal age gap (17/19, 16/18, 17/18)?


texts: Can a claim be litigated after a arbitration?

texts:
Consider this scenario:

Consumer signs a mandatory arbitration clause with a creditor that does not require Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) claims to be arbitrated
Creditor reports inaccurate information about consumer to a credit reporting agency (CRA) in violation of FCRA
Consumer chooses to proceed with arbitration instead of litigation, on the basis of FCRA violation claim
Consumer loses in arbitration

Can the consumer then sue creditor in court on the basis of that claim? Or would that violate the 5th amendment (double jeopardy)?
(Note: this question is related to Can a consumer bring an FCRA claim twice concerning the same inaccuracy?)


texts: Can public schools require emergency-use vaccines?

texts:
In many parts of the US, students must be vaccinated against certain illnesses to attend public K-12 schools. Some states allow medical, religious or philosophical exemptions; some may not.
Vaccines against Covid-19 have received emergency-use authorization from the FDA. They have not yet been FDA-approved as safe and effective.
Does the law allow public K-12 schools in the US to require students receive such an EUA vaccine, in order to attend classes in-person and without face coverings?
If not, are students required to apply for an available exemption to the general requirement to vaccinate, or would students not have to qualify for a specific exemption to the general requirement?
If this is state-specific, perhaps compare the situation in New York State with the situation in Mississippi.


texts: Immunity as a limit on the 5th amendment

texts:
I was reading over this answer, and it occurred to me that, when offering immunity, the prosecutor does not have foreknowledge of what the defendant will ultimately reveal.  (After all, if the prosecutor knew the information, there would be no need for the immunity itself.)

So, if someone is investigated for crime A, and is offered immunity for cooperation, could the defendant then also admit to some additional, only marginally-related crime?  Or something altogether unrelated?  In practice, are strict limits on what the immunity would entail communicated prior to any admission of guilt?


texts: Can software legally collect information on it's users without disclosing that it is doing so?

texts:
I am a software engineer and I am currently working with a little bit of software security related research.

The project I am working with touches the subject of Computer Game Cheating Software (hereon referred to as "GCS").

Our company is trying to form ideas on how to bring the future of Anti-Cheat systems closer to the present time to enhance the gaming experience for millions of people around the world.

We do so by disassembling, decompiling and analyzing GCS , as well as analyzing network traffic that is sent and received by the GCS.

We were banned from a specific GCS site because of the following reason:

  Attempting to sniff network traffic / disassembling / decompile / debug GCS

The software itself notified us with the following message (or similar) upon login:

  Your attempt has been logged

What we did next was to create a new account and purchase the GCS again.

I could not get it to work so I contacted their live support, upon which they were very rude and played mental games with me because they noticed that I was the same person trying to get their software up and running again.

Obviously they assumed that we was going to try to sniff the network traffic again, which of course we will, and they can't do anything about it and they don't like that.

I was also threatened with legal actions for trying to reverse engineer their software, which does not make any sense, because they have done the same thing themselves in order to create the GCS.

We've discovered that their software has been monitoring the activity on our computer without letting us know about it.

Their software does not contain any EULA which states what information it collects, sends or receives.

They are obviously operating as a company, generating profit, running customer support etc.

We know what we are doing and we also know that their software collecting information illegally.

What can we as a company do about this in terms of legal issues?


texts: Discriminatory practices for tobacco use?

texts:
This is kind of a tricky question, or situation rather. (TLDR-skip to bold)

I am a clerk at a retail establishment that sales cigarettes, as well as food and home products. My main job duty is cashier. In between customers I also stock and do other retail related tasks.

The cigarettes are in a cabinet that requires a key to open. When I first started working there a few months ago the key for the cabinet was on a set of keys which had other keys for retail displays like cell phones as well. Since then there has been a change in management. And one of the changes was that only key-holders and managers can open the cigarette cabinet.

This change has been very inconvenient for customers and the store has lost many sales over people not wanting to wait for a key holder to come open the cabinet. It's very frustrating for me to stand there and wait for them to come up especially since customers generally ask for cigarettes after I have scanned the items so it's all wait time. I have to page them on the in store phone and wait for them to finish what they are doing in the back of the store and come up and then the customer has to repeat what they wanted again.

I've continually complained about the change to the assistant manager and lead key holder but they always kind of change the subject. I asked the assistant manager one day if the change was because of missing cigarettes and he said that wasn't it and alluded to knowing what it was but wouldn't say. At that point I began to realize it was probably because I am a cigarette smoker. I wasn't sure though. Then a few days later talking to another employee and I found out that he and I are the only regular clerks without any key-holder status and he also smokes and came to the same conclusion as me independently.

I've never stolen cigarettes or had any mishaps with cigarettes or lost any cigarettes or anything at this job or any other. Now unless the other guy has had some shadiness with the cigarettes or something in his past and they are just using this general rule to keep him from using it but it's affecting me then I could kind of understand but nobody has told me anything along the lines that it's because of the other employee. I think I need to talk to that guy a little bit more.

Is it discrimination if they have revoked me of a responsibility because I smoke?

If that is the reason for the change it doesn't make any sense to me. They sell all kinds of things that I use. I'm more addicted to food than cigarettes. Why do they let me stock food?

I'm nearly 30, I'm an adult, I'm a serious man. Why would they regard me as a thief. I've never felt so demoralized and I was previously a dishwasher. What's odd about this whole situation is I rarely interact with the manager that has been making these changes. So it's like these invisible webs pulling at me from a distance.


texts: Does 7 USC 136j(a)(2)(G) ban the use of a pesticide labeled for use against a pest not mentioned on the label?

texts:
In one of the answers to the recent question, Is it illegal to kill honeybees in Oregon or in the USA?, 7 USC 136j (a)(2)(G) was cited, which says:

  It shall be unlawful for any person... to use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling

The argument was then made that, if the label does not specifically allow use against honeybees, then the use of pesticide against them is a violation of the this law, as it would be using the registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.

Is this a correct interpretation of this law? Is it really illegal under 7 USC 136j(a)(2)(G) to intentionally use a pesticide against a pest that the label does not mention?

(Note that this question is not concerned with the ultimate answer to the cited question, so whether any other law may exist that limits or bans pesticide use against honeybees is not of concern for this question, though it might make an interesting answer to the cited question.)


texts: Can I sell a computer game that is based on a real board game?

texts:
As a group of friends we started coding a computer game based on a board game called A (insert a board game, like monopoly). There are already digital forms of the game around made by the original owners (like hasbro). Are we legally allowed to sell (or giveaway, since we don't know if we actually want to sell it or release it as a free game) copies of our game which basically has the same rules/mechanics of the board game it is based on. If we can, what do we need to look out for when releasing the game?
I heard names are subject to copyright/trademark, that means if we name our game A the Digital Version we'll get in trouble. We want to know what not to do when releasing our implementation of the game.
Why we are asking if this is copyright infringement is because we are only "copying" the rules/mechanics of the game, while all the art/music/code are done by us. Does this count as transformative? Is this allowed? If simply "copying" the mechanics do not count as transformative, is adding or removing to/from the said mechanics count?


texts: Is internet tracking "public info" for insider trading purposes?

texts: Suppose I own a search engine. I look at my server logs and see that the query "how to fix exploding engine" is very popular in the area around Tesla headquarters. Would it be legal to act on this information and short Tesla? What if I had purchased this info from a public data broker instead?


texts: What are the benefits of creating a corporation in Delaware?

texts: More than half of public and Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. What are the legal benefits of creating a corporation in Delaware over any other state?


texts: Which law prevented the extradition of this Nazi war criminal?

texts:
I just watched with the greatest anger the following video about an unrepentant Nazi war criminal who has become the subject of considerable Neo Nazi worship. YouTube Link

As explained therein, the Germans can not prosecute him, because he can not be convicted twice for the same crime. He was convicted in France in 1949, but could not be extradited. The crime has since come under the statute of limitations in French law. The video says extradition was unstatthaft.

I want to know, as precisely as possible, on what law this inability to extradite was based and when the law was in force. I did some googling for „Auslieferung unstatthaft“, but found nothing.

Edit: The answers below explain very well, why he cannot be extradited now (this is my fault because in the comments I tried to argue there should be a provision for those cases) but I have not yet understood why he wasn’t extradited in 1949 („Auslieferung unstatthaft“).

[TLDR/tangent: the argument I am trying to make in the comments, but which doesn’t change the facts here is that non-extradition in 1949 creates the prerequisite for the french verdict to expire. Current law then uses the French verdict as an (understandable) reason for not extraditing, but overlooks the fact that the verdict was rendered moot by non-extradition. This strikes me as a completely predictable loop hole, easy to close by something like this: extradition can not be denied based upon a verdict that was rendered moot by non-extradition...]


texts: Can the court order my retired father, who is a single father, to make more money (Canadian Law) (revised to anonymous)

texts:
(I'm sorry about deleting and re-posting the question, there are family details and the site was attaching my real name. I'm reposting using an email address that isn't linked to me.)

My father was married to his wife for over 20 years and she recently started a divorce.

He retired after many years in a higher paying job, as he had always planned to do, to focus on his acreage and business. The pension is quite decent, more than most people get. However she pressured him to make more money anyway, and since their rural area has few good jobs, so he tried working away from home, which he hated. But he explained to me that he had to work, or she might leave him.

Suddenly she divorced him. So he stopped working a second job, which he only did to make her happy. Now she is using his one particular past income statement to "prove" to the judge that he CAN make more money, just because he worked a lot that year.

Furthermore, he's the primary caretaker of their daughter because the mom left without saying goodbye, and the mother is not pursuing custody in any way.

The judge has ordered him to pay half his entire income to the mom.

That means each of my dad and my sibling have a quarter of the income to take care of them, while the mom gets half. This seems wrong to me.

The mom is also doing things like hiring expensive lawyers, which he is unwilling to do because it's whittling away at their savings, so she might win.

The full court arguments will be in months. In the meantime the court ordered a huge payment (50% of all income monthly).

The judge ordered him to "get a job," because "everyone else does," but that seems wrong to me for a retired single parent.

1) What happens if my dad just can't, realistically, pay the huge interim amount that was awarded to the wife? (50% of his income) Also he can't really get loans because of a lien

2) Is my dad going to be forced to work in the long run? Should he just "accept it" and start taking loans for a lifetime of huge payments to his ex-wife who doesn't even look after the daughter?

3) Does the court care that his ex-wife was pressuring him to make more money and it made him miserable? If she divorced him literally because they couldn't agree about his work, it seems unfair for her to use the courts to get her way.


texts:
I'm asking on behalf of my friend.

She has a full-time job at a university, and she worked for a month during summer at another company in a form of an at-will employment.

There was no formal contract, although she signed a certain document specifying the conditions of employment, which states in itself that it is not a contract.

After she stopped working at the new company and came back to the university, she realized that the signed document stated the condition that she should not receive salary from her original employer (the university) while working at the company. Since she was unaware of this condition, the university had already paid her salary, which potentially brings a dual employment issue.

Since she never singed a contract, it's technically not a breach of contract, but she did sign a document which stated the condition of at-will employment.

She seems to have inquired both the university and the company whether she can return her salary for the period or change her status from employment to 'visiting'(company) or 'break'(university), but seems to have been rejected.

Looking from the company's side (since the university is abroad), could this be a legal problem?


texts: Will the equal rights amendment actually have an effect on any existing statute?

texts: Was watching John Oliver last night and he had a whole feature on the Equal Rights Amendment. What is the point? Are there any current statutes that could be affect by this amendment, anywhere? We have seen what has happened in the past, like with that stupid right to bear arms, and how that has been misapplied.


texts: #SOreadytohelp - international giveaway without terms and conditions?

texts:
Currently StackOverflow is celebrating their 10 millionth question. They are randomly distributing a total of 400 t-shirts among participants, over a period of one month. Participation is done by either tweeting under a certain hashtag, or putting the corresponding hashtag on your SO user page.

I looked all over the announcement page and didn't see any mention of terms and conditions, and this got me wondering. As a non-US citizen, I'm used to seeing online contests from US-based companies excluding non-US participants from being eligible winners because of the various localized rulings on what constitutes a legal lottery.

Which legal issues should you be expecting, when organizing a giveaway like this one without terms and conditions?


texts: How available is SC voter information to political parties?

texts:
I moved to South Carolina about three years ago, and voted in the 2014 midterm election. I don't remember exactly who I voted for, but between the big-ticket races and the local ones I'm certain I chose both Democrats and Republicans, and I think some minor-party candidates too.

A volunteer for a presidential candidate's campaign knocked on my door last week and asked for me by name. Out of idle curiosity I asked how he got my information. His answer was that in South Carolina, when a voter casts a ballot, the political party of the candidate(s) voted for receive the voter's contact information.

This seems highly suspicious to me. I know that voter registration records are public information to a degree, but I was under the impression that what goes on at the actual ballot box is entirely private.

Was the volunteer just misinformed? If not, what law authorizes this, what info does it release and who can access it?


texts: Are there any generalised concenpts of "fair treatment" in UK law?

texts:
I have a complaint about the way I've been treated by a charitable body. In the fallout from some problems, they have chosen to respond to the financial concerns of a majority customer group, while ignoring a smaller group with the same concerns.

Essentially the situation is this: they were selling tickets for a two-day event, which they have had to change significantly. Those who have one-day tickets are being offered refunds or the option of a free upgrade to a two-day ticket. Those who bought two-day tickets are being ignored.

In terms of contract law, they are watertight: they did not need to respond to any of these concerns. Instead, they've chosen only to look after those in a particular situation. A cynic might conclude this is a purposeful attempt at damage limitation to save money. It is also manifestly unfair - the sums involved run to the hundreds of pounds.

Either way, splitting their customer base like that is manifestly unfair. I am curious to know if there are any further legal principles I could use to take a complaint forward?


texts: Can I legally create and use similar icons to ones exist in another software

texts:
I would like to create a similar icon to one used in another software (e.g. the "Share" icon on iOS, or the "Crop" tool in Photoshop).

My icons are not going to be pixel-wise identical to the reference icons, but they may appear very similar to users.

Is it legal to do so?

Please note that there is no intention to copy the general look of another software, and there is even no intention make the entire icon set in my software similar to a reference software.