texts:
Windows 10 (pro, enterprise, any) that supposedly have never been activated so far are (re) sold online for 5$-20$. I assume that those are key that have initially been given out by microsoft in volumes or in countries with lower pricing (as the price is around 200$ when bought directly from microsoft).

Is it legal to resell Windows license keys? Are there any kinds of Windows 10 pro/enterprise keys for which it is forbidden to resell them?


texts: Which building regulations in Europe for industrial buildings should I read if I want build bus factory in Europe?

texts: I want to build a bus factory in Europe (for example in Austria). Which documents about building regulations should I read to construct correctly (I know that there are Eurocodes, but maybe there is some more documents with basic information)?


texts: Can a case get thrown out because of "jury nullification?

texts:
With regard to this question, a patent lawyer told me that if one of the other jurors tried to teach the others his view of patent law, and they followed him, rather than the judge, that would be a form of "jury nullification." He said that that's why lawyers would often challenge "expert" jurors. And there was a possibility that the case might be overturned.

Has a case ever been thrown out in the United States by a judge or on appeal because of "jury nullification?" If so, what were the circumstances?


texts: Deed creating the estate by the entirety - should I put $0 for the amount?

texts:
I am adding my wife to the house deed using "deed creating the estate by the entirety."
The document says I am giving her 50% ownership in exchange for:

$______
property:___________

and says "check one or both."
But in reality, it's in exchange for nothing.
The wording makes it sound like I should check one.
So I should check the $ box and just put 0 as the amount?
(I'm in Portland, OR, USA)


texts: If my mom refuses to take in my brother, is that abandonment?

texts:
My 15 year old brother is currently living with me in California.

I am planning on taking him to stay with my mother in the next several days (also in CA). She does not own a home; she stays with a friend. She has told me "he can't stay here," but I still plan on taking him.

My question is: if she refuses to take him in, is that abandonment? I don't see her recourse if I drop him off and drive away, but I'm curious what the laws are about this. She has not cared for him for over a year but still has legal guardianship.

Please do not respond with comments such as "you shouldn't take him." As many people know, family dynamics can be messy.


texts:
(I'm reposting this from workplace S.E. where I was advised to ask here; apologies in advance for any inconvenience)

tl;dr: in the USA, is copying the HTML code from a site (any site whose code is presumably copyrighted) and storing it, for a limited or unlimited amount of time a violation of copyright? Are there prior lawsuits related to this? I'm mostly interested in the particular case where the copy is not reproduced, but kept private.

I've recently learned that this is indeed the case. This came as a huge surprise to me since:

[First of all] most browsers retain a copy of the HTML (for the period of the visit or much longer, if caching is enabled)
Proxy servers often keep cached copies of these files
Web archives (like Google's) not only copy all assets of a site it find to keep historical versions of these pages but also make available to the general public these historical copies.
Programs that scrape external sites often have in their repositories copies of (likely copyrighted) HTML for testing purposes

Number (4) is the one that directly affects the company I work for, since we do web analysis and therefore write programs that visit other sites. For example, we make extensive use of vcrpy library to record external accesses and test our code against these "frozen" HTMLs.

Also, specifically in our case, we don't really copy the entirety of any site, since we are only concerned with a subset of its pages, but from what I've been informed, that doesn't seem to qualify as "fair use", such as quoting a passage of a book (where, in a sense, the book would be analogous to the entire site with all its public assets). We don't even copy assets like CSS files or images, so we can't reproduce the actual content in full.

After I was told that such copies are likely unlawful, we are not only being limited to explore more robust testing methodologies (which would likely make use of a large amount of HTML copied from the web in a local storage) but the current use of vcrpy library has become something that demanded analysis (as it's not clear if our use of it is unlawful).


texts: Can Huawei sue Google for refusing to offer its services like Google Map? Although Huawei was put on the entity list, Google not providing services to Huawei is very anti-competitive. Is there a legal avenue for Huawei outside of the U.S. and what about in the U.S.? What kind of legal challenge can Huawei launch against Google?


texts: Claiming Gift Aid on conference my non-profit is organising

texts:
My unincorporated, HMRC tax-exempt UK non-profit is working on organising a conference in the next year. For the conference, we are charging a fee for each attendee, but reinvesting all money from the tickets into the event, so there is no 'surplus benefit value', as is deemed by this guidance. The aforementioned link also provides the example of tickets to an event as a potential claim to Gift Aid, but in the example doesn't clarify whether the party providing the tickets is the one operating the event.

However, this seems to imply that Gift Aid cannot be claimed for 'charity events', without detailing what counts as such an event. This event, despite being organised by our charity and all funds collected by us, is nothing to do with our charity, nor will it have our donation boxes everywhere: we'll be inviting a lot of speakers to talk about our field (education) and booths, but nothing about non-profits/us.

Can we legally claim Gift Aid on the tickets? The above two pages seem to, in my interpretation, somewhat contradict each other, but since they are just guidance, reference to a specific law would help to clarify. Further, if it is legal under some structure, how is it best to describe the money on the Gift Aid claim?


texts: Are there any rules in California that govern what space can be counted as "living area" by agents when advertising property?

texts:
It seems that County Assessors under livable square footage use only legally permitted area. And Assessors use it to determine property taxes.
However, are there any laws in California that would require listing agents to advertise only the legal livable area as "livable area"? Or can listing agents also include space that is actually garage but is made to look like a bedroom under "livable area"?
In theory this misrepresentation could cause trouble for buyer because he may need to solve permit problem and also could be on hook for additional property taxes once county assessor discovers unpermitted area.


texts: Is there any legal obligation to banks to offer only one "purpose" field in online banking systems?

texts:
I have used numerous online banking interfaces in Germany for money transfer between accounts. While they can be quite different in terms of features such as auto-completion, storage of reusable transfer templates ("Überweisungsvorlagen"), etc., there appears to be one constant across all of them that keeps baffling me:

There is only one field for the "intended purpose of the transfer" ("Verwendungszweck") rather than one 'public' and one 'private' one.

This is baffling to me because the field evidently serves two conflicting purposes at a time:

Identifying the transfer to the recipient of the money. (Usually, this happens by means of a cryptic customer ID or bill number, and appending something intelligible after that number has the risk that it breaks the recipient's automated processing of the payment, which may thus not be registered correctly in time.)
Identifying the transfer to the sender of the money (e.g. when reviewing past transfers in bank statements). (Best done by a descriptive text that may include details the recipient of the money should not know about.)

The fact that none of the online banking systems I have used (or seen in use by close relatives and friends) featured such a distinction, though, makes me wonder: Is there a legal requirement in Germany that obliges banks to offer or store data from exactly one such purpose field, leaving no leeway for banks to let customers save "private notes" for each transaction?

(Of course, it is a possibility that my sample size of banks is too small in spite of everything.)


texts:
Is it legal or illegal to record my communication with my landlord in public parking area in Canada?

if I didn't tell my landlord that I am going to record.
if I tell my landlord I am recording but he didn't give me a clearly answer.

Please let me know if it is illegal. Thank you!


texts: What are the Powers of the office of the United States Vice President?

texts:
The Constitution lists the powers of the Vice President as President of the Senate and provides him or her a tie-breaking vote. Also the Vice President is granted powers under the 25th amendment to declare the President with the consent of the majority of the Cabinet as incapacitated.

However, the Vice Presidency is typically viewed as a position of little power.

Over time, various laws and executive orders have added to this position.
For example executive order 13526 permits the Vice-President to classify documents.

Are there other little-known powers of the Vice-Presidency?


texts: What are the rights a owner can do with an island?

texts:
Suppose, I have enough money to purchase a big island near Hawaii. After I purchased, I started to make some changes, such as:

Changing the name of the Island.
Build an airport.
Build some houses for some people I know.
Bring hospitals in my Island( for any case it happen)
To put security forces to guard my island.
To put a law that everyone shall clean the beach and no throwing miseries in the water.

Question: Am I allowed to do such things with my own Island if I were to have it?

What is in my mind?

I was thinking that an owner, has the right to do whatever he wants with his own things. So, I was thinking that, If I were to become officially an owner of an big Island, then I have the right to do whatever I like with it, because now it belongs to me.


texts: How should multiple copyright holders be credited using the MIT license?

texts:
Let's say three coders write a program and want to release it under the MIT license. How should the copyright notice look like? I have something like this in mind:

  Copyright (c) 2017 Alice, Bob, Cassandra

Or should it be more like this:

  Copyright (c) 2017 Alice

  Copyright (c) 2017 Bob

  Copyright (c) 2017 Cassandra

Or completely different?


texts: How the rights work about selling a program which works with other open source code?

texts:
I'm a little confused about the copyrights and etc. I'm working on an indie game by myself and I don't have the capacity to make everything myself, so I use open source libraries like LWJGL,dyn4j,nifty-gui. The license written in them says:

  Copyright (c) 2012, Jens Hohmuth

  All rights reserved.

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
  list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
  this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
  and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

I understand that I can use it in my program or even can sell it, but won't it mean others can use my program with it? Will my code become open source if I use these or is it separated? I want my own code to be copyrighted so others cant use it as they want. Like any other game out there. Is possible if I use the above listed other libraries?

It isn't really in my line, I don't know how these rights work if someone can explain this to me I would really appreciate it.


texts: Is there any law that prevents organizations from outsourcing?

texts: With the recent Covid-19 situation and everything, organizations have realized that remote jobs are indeed a viable option. So, hypothetically the organization could say let's just outsource everything that can be done remotely to a country where this can be done for cheap. So, is there anything that prevents them from doing so?


texts: Can I roam around the City at Midnight just to spend the time?

texts:
Do I have the rights to roam or drive my motorcycle around my city in India at midnight just to pass the time?

I am from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in India.


texts: Can a US citizen vote in a US federal election if they don't live there?

texts:
I am a dual citizen of Canada and the USA.  I have always lived in Canada, and I am interested in casting a vote for the next election in the United States.

Is it possible for me to vote? If not, why not? If it is, how can I do it?


texts: How much can a landlord charge for overnight guests?

texts:
Here's the part of the contract:

  The Premises are for the sole use as a residence by the
  above-mentioned Tenant(s)(Item 1) only,  not as physical exercising
  place or other business or political activity.  For occasional guest
  & visitor who stays overnight less than two days, it is limited
  according to RSB's rule.  Without Landlord's prior written consent,
  Tenant has no excuse to accommodate any consecutive staying and/or
  overnight for any guest & visitor. With temporary commendation,
  day-based, and additional 10% of rent each person is applied.

I had 2 guests over just to sleep 2 nights in a row. My rent is $1370. My landlord is charging me $180.65 for this. His math makes no sense since it doesn't even use the factor 10% anywhere and he's including utilities as part of my rent. What he has is ($1400/31) x 2 persons x 2 days = $180.65.

Does the contract say that I can have guests over 1 night without charge? If so does it only start charging on nights after the first? Is it supposed to be 10% of monthly rent $137 per guest per night? How is overnight defined? What if they came over at 9AM and slept in the day? What about 2AM?

I searched the RSB (rent stabilization board) and couldn't find any information on overnight guests.


texts: Can a trademark supersede or preempt a person from using their own name?

texts:
I remember reading a case years ago where a woman named Sharon Corr sold a product called "Corr's Ginseng Up." (Adolph) COORs (a beer company) sued for trademark infringement and lost.

The two names were similar but the woman WAS using her own name.

In another case, an investment firm called Haven Capital Management tried, and failed, to prevent a woman named Nancy Havens from naming her investment company after her own (maiden) name.

Under what circumstances might a company with an established brand prevent someone from using their own name?


texts:
If you frequent the internet for any greater amount of time, you may have seen Pepe the Frog around. You may have also seen a merger between Donald Trump and the meme frog

My question then is, are these variants similar enough that the creator of Pepe the Frog, Matt Furey, owns the rights to them/ do they count as infringement on his copyright for Pepe?

EDIT: At what point does the variant become its own separate character/intellectual property?


texts: Does the iconic WWII-end "Kiss" photo depict sexual assault?

texts:
One of the most famous images from the end of World War II was of a sailor kissing someone who looked like a nurse in Times Square, celebrating the victory.

As described in a featured article in Naval History Magazine, based on a book-length version, notes that "The two participants in the world’s most famous kiss didn’t even know each other, nor was their photograph staged."

He was drunk, and the photographer thought he'd done something similar with another woman before the picture (neither of whom were his new girlfriend, several steps behind).

  The liquor running through his veins transfixed his glassy stare. ...He focused on Greta, the “nurse.” She remained unaware of his advance. That served his purpose well. He sought no permission for what he was about to do. ...With background noises barely registering, he rushed toward her as if in a vacuum.

  Though George halted his steps just before running into Greta, his upper torso’s momentum swept over her. The motion’s force bent Greta backward and to her right. As he overtook Greta’s slender frame, his right hand cupped her slim waist. He pulled her inward toward his lean and muscular body. Her initial attempt to physically separate her person from the intruder proved a futile exertion against the dark-uniformed man’s strong hold. With her right arm pinned between their two bodies, she instinctively brought her left arm and clenched fist upward in defense. The effort was unnecessary. He never intended to hurt her.

  As their lips locked, his left arm supported her neck. His left hand, turned backward and away from her face, offered the singular gesture of restraint, caution or doubt. The struck pose created an oddly appealing mixture of brutish force, caring embrace, and awkward hesitation. He didn’t let go. As he continued to lean forward, she lowered her right arm and gave over to her pursuer—but only for three or four seconds. He tried to hold her closer, wanting the moment to last longer. And longer still. But they parted...He just had to kiss her. He didn’t know why.

The photo was taken August 14, 1945.  Though the participants didn't learn of it until 1980, this was "Life magazine’s most reproduced photograph, and one of history’s most popular." It very likely came to the attention of people who happened to be in the law enforcement system.

The sailor later died at age 95, having not faced negative consequences, and even sued the magazine seeking stronger recognition for being the guy in the photo.  The woman has also passed away.

The question here is, does that photograph depict sexual assault?  Why or why not?


texts: Can a country ban oversea biotechnology research out of an endemic plant that is only found in its territory?

texts:
This question was closed on biology.se and I was advised to ask it here.

For illustration, say there is a plant that is only found in the Amazon rainforest. New drugs can be potentially invented from it.
Now, can the Brazilian govt prohibit any kind of research outside its territory (i.e Europe, US,..) on that plant in order to have the monopoly on its research and derived products?


texts: Why the deal between IBM and RedHat needs approval from China?

texts: today I read cnbc magazine and they asked why shares are not 190$ when IBM is paying premium price of 190 but now are 170, one of the reason was that China has not still approve the deal. I am not sure why China has to approve this deal ?


texts:
I am renting a room in London to an agency, and we have a Licensor/Licensee relationship ("Licence to Occupy on Short Term Basis").
I had an initial 3 month contract, that I am renewing for 6 month.

There is a termination fee of £75, a renewal fee of £50 and an initial fee of £150.

However after asking them today if there is a fee for early termination, which I could not find on the agreement, I received this answer:

  As we don’t allow for early termination there is not anything
  contained in the agreement that refers to it.

  What we do allow is for you to find a replacement to takeover your
  term for at least the duration of your contract at the rent and
  deposit you agreed at. You are free to use any means necessary to find
  a replacement e.g. advertising on spare room etc. they must take the
  room at the rate you took it at. Once you find a suitable replacement
  then you pass their details on to us and we take it from there. Please
  be aware that you are liable for your room until a new contract is in
  place.

In practice, since this is not in the agreement, is this enforcable?
If yes, is it because our contract if between a Licensor/Licensee and not landlord/tenant?
Should I ask for a different contract if I plan to stay for a longer time (is there a legal meaning of "Short Term")?

Note: I am new to the UK, and never studied law


texts: Is equity in a company that owns property considered personal or real property?

texts:
An individual owns an LLC.  The LLC owns property.  The value of the property is essentially the entire value of the company.  Is the individual's ownership of the company considered "real property" or "personal property"? Or something else?

Edited for context

I'm named as executor in a will for a close relative who passed away suddenly.  The decedent was sole proprietor of two closely held companies. One was a small business ("INC") doing actual work, with customers, suppliers, revenue, phones, and all.  The other business ("LLC") owns the commercial building, in which the first business was one tenant, and just collects rents, and maintains the property.  The property was heavily mortgaged but self-sustaining.

One doc the probate attorney sent me says I will bind myself ("Bond of legal representative of surety") to discharge faithfully the duties as executor.   This bond amount is twice the market value of the property held by the LLC, ignoring mortgage and debt, so it's millions of dollars.  Um, yikes?!?

Per Google, the state says the bond must be 200% of the value of personal property, excluding real property.

Obviously, I'll get a real opinion from an attorney whom the estate pays, and who knows the details.

But in the meantime I'm curious -- if you own a company that's little but a shell around real property, is equity in the company itself real property or personal property? Or neither?


texts: How can a sole employee allege 1. 'not acting in the course of employment' and 2. 'acting without real or apparent authority'?

texts:
Source: Ontario Small Claims Court - A Practical Guide (2011).

I transcribed only the relevant of the entire Pleading (that I scanned).

p. 82 Bottom - 83 Top

  The plaintiff, Samivel Veller, is an individual residing in the City of Toronto.
  The defendant, Jonathan Trigg & co. Inc. ("Trigg & Co."), is a corporation, incorporated under the laws of Ontario and carrying on business in the City of Toronto.
  The defendant, Jonathan Trigg, is sole director, president, and sole shareholder of Trigg & Co.

p. 113 Middle.

  The defendants deny the existence of the conversation between Messrs.
  Veller and Trigg described in paragraph 18 of the Plaintiffs Claim, and,
  therefore, deny that Mr. Trigg committed any misrepresentation of fact. In
  the alternative, if such conversation and consequent misrepresentation did
  take place, Trigg & Co. would not be liable directly or vicariously as Mr.
  [11.1.] Trigg was not acting in the course of employment or [11.2.] was acting without real
  or apparent authority.

How are defenses 11.1 and 11.2 plausible?

11.1. Trigg was clearly working when he was interacting with Vellers?

11.2. Per 4, Trigg is the only employee of his corporation.


texts: Is it legal to create derivative works of character descriptions from a music album?

texts:
One of my favorite albums of all time is this album that tells a story. It is like a children's album with its story, but I like the characters in it. It is not particularly popular or well-known. I want to make websites and other non-music related communities based on settings from this album. I also want to use a graphical depiction of the main character in this album as my community mascot. Remember, this is all derived from a music album, but not other graphical depictions / there's a tremendous amount of original work here as well.

While there have been animated movies made that make use of the album's songs within them, I would not be using the album's songs for anything and would not be deriving any graphical depictions from that animated film.

Since I might eventually make money off these websites through advertising revenue, I was wondering if it was legal to use derivative works of a music album as long as you're not actually copying its lyrics, singing its songs, or usingthe music directly. But if you're making it a derivative that someone could listen to the album and see the connection, does that violate copyright?

Is the best approach just to not publicize any connection to the album at all, but keep the overall theme so that people suspect it but it isn't in the face and profiting off it in a marketing way?


texts: Presidential pardon: What does "except in Cases of Impeachment" mean?

texts:
Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution establishes the presidential pardon power as follows.

  The President shall ... have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

This question is about the caveat "except in Cases of Impeachment".

Consider the following hypothetical sequence of events.

Vice president Smith commits a federal crime.
Smith is impeached and removed from office for this crime.
President Miller pardons Smith for his crime.
Miller leaves office at the end of his term.
Smith is charged in federal court over the crime he committed (event #1).

Now presumably Smith will argue that since he was pardoned, the charges should be thrown out. However, the prosecution can argue that the presidential pardon power does not apply in cases of impeachment and, since Smith was indeed impeached and removed from office because of this crime, it does not apply here.

My question: Would this argument succeed? That is, could Smith be convicted despite the pardon?

To be clear, the question is not whether Smith can remain vice president due to the pardon. It is only about whether he can face criminal consequences for the crime he was impeached and pardoned for.

Perhaps a less hypothetical version of the question would be "If Nixon had been impeached and removed from office (rather than resigned), would Ford's pardon still protect him from criminal prosecution?"

I don't expect that it is possible to definitively answer this question, since it is entirely hypothetical. However, I would like to know if there is any relevant precedent or legal analysis.


texts: Is it possible to go out of a supermarket with something you didn't pay for legally?

texts:
I popped in a supermarket today, and while walking around choosing what to buy for a snack an interesting question appeared in my mind.

Imagine you are doing some shopping in a supermarket. It's not a prime time, so there are not many people around you shopping. You enter the household chemicals aisle and this is where you find a product that in no way belongs in this aisle. Let's say, it is a pack of chips lying on the floor, small enough to fit in your pocket. It can be any other product that happened to be in the wrong aisle though.

Question 1: Would it be considered a theft if you picked up the product that shouldn't be there and take possession of it?

Now, what if it was a kind of product that you know for sure that the supermarket you're in doesn't retail?

Question 2: Can I get a hold of the abovementioned product without being considered a thief?

Question 3: Would I be a thief if it was a kind of product that the supermarket retails, but that wasn't there if it were not for an incident (e.g. somebody had dropped a box of matches before I appeared and I picked it up)?

Question 4: How do I prove I'm not guilty if I get caught "red-handed"?

Thanks in advance, and my apologies if my English was ungrammatical.


texts: What is the term for when a leader being responsible when they suggests something and someone acts on it?

texts:
I recall there was a term for a very specific thing that can happen when the person in charge - king, president, dictator, etc - suggests something be done and someone does it, that might make the leader responsible for it. Something like inciting violence, but more specific to them as a leader. It wouldn't apply to a random person making the same statement.
Sort of like in mob movies where the boss says somebody needs to "take care of that guy" it is understood they are asking their subordinates to kill someone.  I'm not sure if I'm recalling modern legal terminology or historical description of events, but is there a word for this?
The end result was the person in charge was effectively responsible for giving an order even though he or she was vague about it because by the nature of them being in charge, the suggestion was seen as an order to those under him.


texts: Joint liabilty for flat occupant and contracted rent

texts:
Three months ago my friend Bob moved into a flat paid for by Adam, an investor in the start-up company that Bob and others co-founded (long story). Adam signed a 6 month lease with the landlord.
Relations between Adam and Bob's company have now broken down. Adam is refusing to pay the remaining 3 months rent. Bob has been informally told by a friend's lawyer (another long story) that because he lives in the flat he is jointly liable for the remaining 3 months, even though he never signed anything. Is this true? I know Bob got this from a lawyer, but it seems strange so I thought I'd ask here.
Bob's company and Adam have no written agreement (yes, really), but the intention was for the rent to form part of Adam's investment in the company. Bob does have a shareholder's agreement with the other founders.
(I know this sounds weird. There is a culture clash behind it all, but its not relevant to the question).


texts: Does NJ law prohibit alcohol consumption in public parks?


texts: Transferring public domain material into a country where it is still in copyright

texts:
I've noticed that, in Australia, books created by authors who've died before 1955 are in the public domain.

For example, all of George Orwell's works are available from the University of Adelaide: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/

It mentions on the website that you must check the copyright laws in your country before downloading. However if one was to download it in Australia and transport it to a country where the copyright is in force (say, the UK), would it be illegal?

If this would not be illegal, where is the line drawn between importing something physically like this, and downloading it?


texts: Signing a contract before existence of Sole Proprietorship

texts:
I am currently developing an application for a client and I have set up a contract so that everything runs smooth for both parties. The only problem is, I just recently started the process of creating/registering the Sole Propietorship. The contract I set up mentions my (not yet founded) company and the client. The thing is, I cannot sign the contract, because if I were to sign it now I would be doing that in the name of a company that technically does not exist yet.

My client wants to see the product prototype and we agreed in the contract (which we cannot sign) on an upfront payment, so the contract would prevent anything shady from happening.

Is there any way I can still secure that contract and payment, while not breaking the law ?

I thought about setting up a private contract to bind the client to signing the actual collaboration contract (which would be added as an exhibit to the contract) as soon as my actual company exists, is that legally reasonable ?


texts: What are the implications of a company being "not in good standing?"

texts: I got a job offer from a company, and looked them up online at the registrar and their status is "not in good standing."  Should this be a factor in deciding whether to work for them?


texts: Legal precedent/history for the supposed charges against Julian Assange

texts:
It has been reported in the media (e.g. RT, BBC) that the US has requested the extradition of Julian Assange from the UK to stand trial for the charge of conspiracy to intrude into a computer system (I hope I'm getting the wording correctly here).

Now, regardless of other possible charges ("sealed indictments" etc.) - what is the history of journalists/publishers being charged with this offense or similar ones regarding their interaction with sources? Are there binding precedents at the national level? Have any courts considered the constitutionality of such charges in various situations? Or of the means in which the government obtains evidence about seemingly private conversations of journalists and their sources?

Note: This question is about the USA, not the UK.


texts:
I just read this article on USAToday.com.  To sum it up, a teacher fed a dying puppy to a snapping turtle and was charged with animal cruelty.
Personally, I would never feed a dog to a turtle, as I consider it morally wrong.  However, I started thinking, why is it illegal?
Pet shops sell live animals for the purpose of feeding other animals.
I have had many pets in my life and fed them live food.  I have fed live shrimp to fish.  I gave live fish to my snakes.  I fed live insects to lizards.  I gave rats and mice to my python. None of these are considered animal cruelty.
So what makes feeding a dying dog to a turtle less legal than feeding a perfectly healthy rat to a snake?  Both animals can be pets, so why is one animal cruelty and the other perfectly acceptable?  The only thing I can think of is that Americans consider dogs to be cuter than rodents.
Is this a law due to common morality?  Or is there some other legal reason?


texts: How long can an unmarked vehicle follow someone before discovering an infraction?

texts: How many miles is an unmarked vehicle allowed to follow closely behind a car on the interstate in order to find some reason or traffic violation (e.g. illegal lane change)? Isn't there some case law that states an unmarked vehicle can't follow for too long because some traffic infraction is bound to occur?


texts: Does Australia's News Media Bargaining Code prevent Australian news being displayed outside of Australia?

texts:
The Australian News Bargaining Code, if passed, will prevent companies like Google and Facebook from displaying images and snippets (and possibly even headlines) on their platforms unless they pay content creators for the right to do so.
In response, Facebook today removed all posts from all Australian media sites' facebook pages - a fairly drastic action - so as to prepare for and not fall foul of the new code, leaving media pages with millions of followers appearing to have no posts at all:

Under the code, presuming Google also do not agree to the code, Google will not be able to show Australian media articles to Australians in Google News, but will Google News be legally able to display Australian media articles to users outside of Australia? (e.g those whose IPs show them to be from other countries)


texts: Can you file for, or take, legal action against someone in a country where you're not a citizen?

texts:
Say I drive to Mexico and someone punches me in the face; I want to sue them for it.

Do I have the right to sue them under Mexican law, meaning I can begin legal action within that country not as a citizen? Would it have to settle differently?

Mexico is just an example. I'm sure there's a more general answer to this with regards to some kind of international laws, or perhaps a normal right.


texts: To what extent does an artwork copyright protect against real life 3D replicas of objects in a video game?

texts: I make and sell real life, 3D replicas of daggers from video games, TV, and movies. Currently I am using the original names of the daggers to sell my products (and I am aware that I am likely infringing on intellectual property). However, if I rename the weapons to more generic names to sell them under as opposed to their in game names, would this still be copyright infringement? My main concern is that the appearance is still the same as it is in the game. Is it likely to get me into legal trouble?


texts: Is Running an Amplified DNS Attack on a Consenting Person Legal?

texts:
I wasn't sure whether to put this in the legal or security stack exchange because this will take someone with considerable computer knowledge to answer.

Amyways, I want to try out an amplified DDOS attack using either an NTP server (which I think is public) or public DNS server. I know that running a DDOS attack on someone who is okay with it is legal, but this is using a public server to amplify the attack. The attack doesn't do any damage to the public server and only uses it as a middleman, but it doesn't use the server for what it's designed to do.

To be totally clear, this is for educational and not malicious purposes only.


texts: Do officers need to go to court to obtain a warrant?

texts:
I'm interested in learning about the logistical process of obtaining a warrant. So far, what I keep reading is that in order to obtain a warrant, officers need to convince a judge or magistrate that they have enough probable cause for the warrant to be issued. A step by step process, involving every logistical aspect would be greatly appreciated. Here are some guiding questions that interest me:

Do officers/prosecutors do this by having a hearing in front of the judge and presenting their affidavit?
Or, do officers/prosecutors instead have a system to submit their documents into a "pool" that eventually gets to a judge?
How is the judge chosen? Is it random? Whoever is available to look over the case?
How fast are warrants typically approved by a judge? (from the moment the request is made until it is approved)
Are warrants given on a first-come-first-served basis? (e.g., an officer submits a request to have a hearing and his request is put in a queue until a judge gets to it)

I'm interested in the United States. I wish to get a "general" overview of the process (if it's not standardized). If no such thing exists because it varies too much, then I'd love to see a few different examples across the board. Particularly, I'm interested to see the use of technology (e.g., one state that has the process more streamlined using technology vs. one that doesn't) to improve the efficiency of the process.


texts: Is there a way to open source license my music?

texts: I own all components of the songs- beat, samples, vocals. I want anyone to be able to use it for any reason without my permission (I have my reasons).


texts: Claiming *forum non conveniens* after extended "shadow litigation"

texts:
Can someone claim that a particular forum is inconvenient after challenging service through a proxy (the recipient), thus essentially "shadow litigating" intensively for an extended period of time?
In other words: is there a common law rule that bars invocating forum non conveniens after effective participation in the litigation?
The example would be: an agent was served and contested service, but it was the principal who called the shots and paid the legal bills for the drawn out litigation on that point - effectively "shadow litigation." Would the principal then be barred from the claiming that the forum was inconvenient for litigation on the merits?


texts: My phone carrier advertises "Unlimited" yet I get limited

texts: Every month I received a message on my phone that says I have reached my maximum limit and I could have some limitations or experience slower service until I renew my bill is this false advertising? Or is it legal because they put it in their disclosure and find print but not in the advertising.


texts: If I, knowingly, break a site's terms of use (in a way like copying its material, when it explicitly states it's forbidden) as part of my job (I have written proof that my boss assigned me this task, he being fully aware of the liabilities), am I liable in any way? How would that change if I wasn't aware of the possible damages? I'm interested in both US or Brazil-specific answers.


texts: Are You Allowed to Buy Groceries While in Self Quarantine? [Canada]

texts: Canadians returning to Canada must self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Does this mean that these people must stay in their homes, and are not allowed to leave to buy groceries? The government website is very unclear and lacks detail, and so do all of the news sites that have covered it.


texts: Has anyone been prosecuted for making/using malware?

texts: Has anyone been prosecuted under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 Section 3A for using or making malware in the UK? I have found example in the US, but none for the UK.


texts: Is it possible to be released on parole only after serving 1/3 of jail time without admitting the crime and the prejudice not being recovered?

texts:
I am interesting if penal codes in US or UK allows a convicted person to obtain release on parole after only one third of jail time, although the person never admitted the crime nor most of the prejudice is not recovered.

My question stems from a real case in Romania where an important businessman and politician was convicted to 10 years for "money laundering and prejudices to the state of 60 million Euros in the case of ICA privatization" (more details here).

However, he was released only after one third of jail time, in spite of never regretting what he did and also in spite of the fact that most of the prejudice is not recovered:

  “Voiculescu had no deserving behavior, but a normal one typical to any
  convicted person. The defendant has not paid the prejudice in the file
  and not even the judiciary expenses to the Romanian state,” the
  prosecutor pointed out.

Question: does the law within US or UK allow parole so soon for a person in a similar context (no regrets, major prejudice).


texts:
I bought an Amazon gift card, and I would like to sell it to my friend.
However Amazon Gift Card Terms and Conditions §2 states:

  Gift Cards cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value or
  redeemed for cash, except to the extent required by law.

Is there a a law that will allow me to resell my gift card? Or would I be violating the terms that I agreed to when I purchased it?


texts: When do Georgia State Election Board rules become effective?

texts:
A recent article in the Georgia Star (a Trump-leaning venue) claims that some emergency rules regarding Georgia's election had expired by Nov 3, because they were voted on in a July 1 meeting and that Georgia law limits the validity of such rules to 120 days.
On the other hand, two lawsuits from Trump-related organizations claim[ed] that those rules became effective on August 10 or 11, which is a bit odd, because if Georgia Star is correct, then they missed another basis on which to attack these rules (the lawsuits attacked the rules on their substance.)
What can be easily established from SEB's summaries is that the board voted on the rules on July 1 (following a public discussion), but then voted on the minutes of the previous meeting on August 10 (which was a "webinar meeting"). The latter meeting seemingly had no votes on individual rules of any kind (although some new rules were presented apparently owing to the notice requirements in Georgia law).
So, the question is then when do Georgia's SEB rules become effective (for the purpose of the 120-day limit). Is it on the day they are voted on individually by the SEB? Or when the minutes of the meeting are voted on (which seems to always happen at the next board meeting)? Or is there a journal of record, the publication wherein establishing the date (as it's usually the case for laws)? It's not clear to me what that journal would be for SEB rules.


texts: Why didn't Carbolic Smoke Ball Co dispute Ms Carlill's alleged proper use of their smoke ball?

texts:
In the first-instance judgment [1892] 2 Q.B. 484, Hawkins J wrote "The facts not being in dispute." But how could've Carbolic Smoke Ball Co trusted Ms Carlill's proper use? Perhaps  she misused it, or lied about using it at all after buying it!

Mindy Chen-Wishart. Contract Law (2018 6 edn). p. 60.

  An advertisement may also, exceptionally, be treated as an offer rather than an
  invitation to treat. In Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1893), the manufacturer
  advertised the ‘carbolic smoke ball’ and offered to pay £100 to anyone catching
  influenza after using it in the specified manner, adding that £1,000 had been
  deposited in the bank to show their ‘sincerity in the matter’. C successfully sued
  for £100 when she caught influenza after proper use of the smoke ball. The court
  rejected the manufacturer’s claim that the advertisement was too vague and not
  seriously made. The Court held that: (i) the advertisement was an offer to the
  whole world; and (ii) a unilateral contract (see 2.3.6) was made with those who
  met the condition ‘on the faith of the advertisement’.

Ewan McKendrick. Contract Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (2018 8 ed). p 55.

  The defendants advertised their medicinal product, the now infamous ‘carbolic smoke ball’,
  in various newspapers in the following terms:

    ‘100l. reward will be paid by the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company to any person who contracts the
    increasing epidemic influenza, colds, or any disease caused by taking cold, after having used the
    ball three times daily for two weeks according to the printed directions supplied with each ball.
    1000l. is deposited with the Alliance Bank, Regent Street, shewing our sincerity in the matter.
    During the last epidemic of influenza many thousand carbolic smoke balls were sold as
    preventives against this disease, and in no ascertained case was the disease contracted by
    those using the carbolic smoke ball.
    One carbolic smoke ball will last a family several months, making it the cheapest remedy in
    the world at the price, 10s., post free. The ball can be refilled at a cost of 5s. Address, Carbolic
    Smoke Ball Company, 27, Princes Street, Hanover Square, London.’

  The plaintiff, in reliance upon this advertisement, purchased and used the product as directed
  but subsequently caught influenza. She sued for payment of the £100 and succeeded before
  Hawkins J. The defendants appealed to the Court of Appeal but the appeal was dismissed. It
  was held that the terms of the advertisement constituted an offer, the terms of which were
  accepted by the plaintiff with the result that she was entitled to recover the promised £100.

  Bowen LJ [I skip the judgment extract.]

  ...


texts: (How) Can a state be accountable for murder?

texts:
Premise:

  The fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi has said the world has failed to hold Saudi Arabia to account

There are quite a lot of cases when agents of a state can kill (with or without sanction) an individual: a spy, an "undesirable" person, a terrorist in a third country.

Using this case as an example, can SA be held accountable for killing the journalist (in 'having a tribunal' sense)?

Can a state be prosecuted for killing a foreign spy? What if a country sends a task force to eliminate a terrorist in a 3rd country?


texts:
I have a work agreement and there is a point:

The gross monthly salary shall also discharge any extra work or overtime.

What does it mean? Does it mean that I get extra pay for overtime or it means that I do not get extra pay?


texts: Is there a state where ignorance of law is an excuse?

texts:
I don't understand End User License Agreements and many kids and teenagers don't either when they install games in whichs' EULAs it says various bad things about privacy that is not understandable by a regular person who isn't in law school.

Not understanding the terms means that the player can be punished for violating them and there's no excuse for not understanding. I'm planning to move to a state where such ignorance of law is an excuse. Is there such a state?


texts: White label demonstration with famous brands, is it illegal?

texts:
I sell a white-label product, can I publish on my sales page how famous brands would look like using my product if I state on the page that these brands have no connection with me and the images are merely illustrative?

If not, would they sue me for millions or just ask me to remove?


texts: Is the Code of Conduct of an institution legally binding in the UK?

texts:
Suppose there is a public institution (i.e. funded by the government using tax payers' money) in England that was set up through a Royal Charter. The institution has a Code of Conduct for a specific type of activity being carried out by this institution, as well as a second document that prescribes the Procedure for Investigation in case a violation of the Code of Conduct comes to light.

My question is: are these documents legally binding on this public institution? In other words, if powerful officials within this institution ignore this Code of Conduct and refuse to follow the prescribed Procedure for investigating any reported misconduct, can they be held to account by the law in England?

I have heard that in several other countries, an institution's own Code of Conduct automatically becomes legally binding on that institution. Is this the case in the UK too? If yes, which specific laws apply here?

If it is not legally binding, does it mean top officials in the institution can implement the Code of Conduct at their own will and fancy - penalising certain individuals when it suits them and looking the other way if that's what suits them?


texts:
About 5 minutes after I came home tonight two neighbors were shot and murdered in front of their apartment. My unit is close enough that it's within the evidence zone.

My heart goes out to the families who must now deal with their loss.  However I don't want to stay here anymore. I live in the state of Florida and would like to know if I can break my lease without penalty.


texts: Is it illegal to access regional locked content via VPN in Germany?

texts:
I'm living in a Germany and I'm a huge fan of tv shows. When I watch some tv shows on ABC, CW, Hulu, Netflix I'm using a VPN to pretend I reside in USA, sometimes I use virtual prepaid card to mimic USA residency.
Why I'm not using local German streaming services? Lots of reasons:

Content is not available in english language (only german)
Content is not available at all
Content is drasctically overpriced. For example Good Doctor now is available on Hulu, but in Germany only choice is to buy it on Amazon, which takes 20 Euro for a season, which is not acceptable at all.
German services software is notorious for being buggy as hell, and in my experience it doesn't work well most of the time. SkyTicket for example, it just doesn't work with my Chromecast no matter what.

My question: is it illegal to overpass content region locks using VPN and other technical tools? On one hand, it's not a clear piracy, because I'm still paying for content to right holders, just in another country. On the other hand, I'm getting content, which I have no legal execuse to get, and it could look like violating of copyright laws, which quite strict in Germany.


texts: Is Plummer v State still valid under contemporary law?

texts:
Apparently, in Plummer v State back in 1893, the court ruled an individual may act in self-defense against a police officer provided there is unlawful use of force. Note, this does not mean self-defense is acceptable against an unlawful arrest.

So, can this still be used as precedent today? Because what I learned from my Criminal Justice education was that a person can only act in self defense if they did not know the officer was an officer or if the officer turned out to be someone impersonating an officer. Unlawful arrest or even misuse of force can only be legally remedied by civil suits not self-defense.


texts: Do aggregated personal data fall under GDPR personal data rules?

texts: If I have statistics on users location data (i.e. city, country, etc.) aggregated from hundreds or thousands of users, are there any restrictions on storing and using these data under GDPR? I plan to store it in plain text and make it publicly available, with the users' consent of course. E.g. 1540 users from country X have an average statistics of Y. Of course if one user's data is deleted, it will still remain a part of the aggregate statistics. Will this be legal under GDPR?


texts: In BC is there an automatic probation period for new employees?

texts:
If an employee works less than 3 months are they entitled to any notice before being fired without cause? Does it matter if they're given some kind of warning or explanation?
I was reading this website but IMHO it gives contradictory information:

The BC Employment Standards Act requires employers to provide a
minimum amount of notice to employees in the event of their
termination without cause specifically no notice if termination
occurs within the first 3 months of employment

but then it also cites the case where an employee being fired after 2 months with no notice was found to be illegal.
For the purpose of this question assume nothing was explicitly agreed to in writing i.e. a probation period was not included in the employment contract. As an aside, I heard that employees performing a federal service automatically have a 6 month probationary period, though I can't find a reference to this. Assume this is not a government job.


texts: Arizona law requires you to admit to carrying a firearm. Would that be admissible evidence?

texts:
This question describes an Arizona law which requires a person stopped by the police to answer honestly when asked if they have a concealed deadly weapon.
Suppose that someone in Arizona is carrying an illegal concealed weapon. They are stopped by the police and asked this question. They answer truthfully.

How does this square with the right not to self-incriminate? Or is asking the question considered to be a search?

Can the state prosecute this person for carrying the illegal weapon?

Suppose that next to the weapon a stash of illegal drugs is discovered, which was only found due to the action taken to secure the weapon. Can the state prosecute for that?


texts: If my app is published in multiple countries, which jurisdiction does it fall under?

texts:
If I submit my app to Korean Appstore, but if it's also published in other countries' appstores as well (US, Japan, Mexico, etc), which country's jurisdiction does my app fall under? If it falls under all of the respective countries in which it is published, do I need to abide by the different Intellectual property licensing rules of all the different countries?
Hello, I'm making an app that teaches Korean language with Korean music lyrics. My company is registered and located in South Korea, and I'm publishing my app from South Korea as well. However, the app will be published to 173 other countries' app stores simultaneously.
The thing is, these countries have different IP licensing rules. That is to say, even if I get the adequate licensing in the South Korean jurisdiction through Korean Music Copyright Association, that would still be insufficient in the eyes of the US government because the US copyright law requires individual publishers' approval when it comes to print licensing.
For example, let's say that there's a song titled [DNA] by the artist called [BTS]. The original music publisher of this song is [Bighit Labels] in South Korea and the copyright is managed by / delegated to the Korean Music Copyright Association in Korea (KOMCA).
But in US, [Sony ATV] is in charge of the distribution/publishing of the same song in affiliation to the [Bighit Labels]. In this case, the licensing that I obtain from KOMCA states that I'm covered from displaying the lyrics of the song [DNA] only within the South Korean jurisdiction.
So here's the question. If my app is published in South Korean appstore, but if it is also accessible in US appstore through "localization" that Apple provides, is it considered a South Korean product that is merely sold in the US appstore?
In other words, if a US appstore user downloads the app and accesses the lyrics of the song [DNA], is the license from KOMCA sufficient as my app is a "South Korean App Service" merely accessed by a foreign user? or do I have to get additional licensing from [Sony ATV] and all the other related affiliated publishers in all of the 174 countries? Is it okay for me to just get approval from the original publisher [Bighit Labels]? or do I have to get licensing from both [Bighit Labels] and [Sony ATV]?
If I get licensing from [KOMCA] or [Bighit Labels], is it possible for [Sony ATV] to sue me in the US civil court for lack of print licensing from them, or send me a cease and desist letter in the US appstore?
Thank you very much for reading!


texts: Can employer claim ownership of intellectual property made while not at work?

texts:
I've heard in job contracts there can be clauses saying that all intellectual property created by the employee during their employment, belongs to the company, regardless if it's done during hours they are not working.

So for example if a computer programmer works Monday to Friday but on the weekend he develops an app (without using company resources) the company can claim ownership of it. Would such a clause be enforceable? Would it make a difference if it's related to the job or not, for example if the programmer made a painting that became famous, could the company still claim ownership?

What is the name of such clauses?


texts: Is it worth going to a top law school today?

texts:
I am looking to finish a B.S. in mathematics next year, and I am at a fork in the road in terms of career options, as I am deciding whether to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics or go to law school.  I have worked very hard in school and have a strong research background with many published math papers, so it is looking like I will be able to get into a top 10/20 math Ph.D. program.  On the other hand, I recently took a practice LSAT test "for fun" as I am also interested in law, and I got a 170, so if I studied I could probably do better.
From what I have read, with an LSAT score in the 170s, a decent GPA, and a background in rigorous high-level research, I should have a decent shot at some of the top law schools.  That said, I have heard in some circles that it is hard to get a job as a lawyer (I am most interested in corporate law), and if I decide to go to law school instead of a math Ph.D., I want to be sure that it is not a dead-end career choice where I would be relegated to doing horrible work with poor pay until my 50's when I get promoted to a more senior role.
I am wondering if anyone here could say if it is worth going into law, particularly when coming from a good law school (and assuming I have a real interest in the subject and enjoy research, etc.).  Is it true that the profession is contracting, and that it could be hard to find a decent job?  Is there decent upward mobility in the profession, or should one expect a sub-60-70k salary for many many years after school?  Is there anyone here that thinks not going into law (ie pursing a Ph.D. instead) is a better choice?


texts: Can I include messenger messages between myself and organizations volunteers/employees in my book, even if it may come across negative, but factual!

texts:
I want to write a book about the struggles of being a parent of a child who has severe anaphylaxis allergies to nuts. Over the years, I have experienced struggles with certain organizations or public establishments. Some places comply and have plans in place regarding allergies and children, some I have educated and inspired to add and include addendums and rules, and some have made us feel excluded and discrimanted against.

I have messages from individuals associated with certain organizations that defend non compliance, even though a child's life is at risk, and refer to outdated guidelines, that do not even cover every aspect of the organizations activities. I want to share the array of reactions that parents may face.  How can I do that without possible defamation?


texts: Albanian Citizenship by Naturalization: Defining Economic or Scientific Interest

texts:
I was looking into Albanian citizenship via naturalization and was wondering what the exact meaning of:

  Foreigners who are 18 years old, may acquire the Albanian citizenship even if they do not comply with the requirements of this Law,( with the exception of alinea 6) if the Republic of Albania has a scientific, economic, cultural or national interest.

Who would this apply to? Would starting a business be there be of economic interest? Would holding a science degree(either undergrad or graduate) be of scientific or economic interest? Any examples?


texts: Can I name my app using the name of a long defunct company?

texts: I am working on an app and want to name it Vidmark. Apparently, this name is the name of a long-defunct company (since 2001). Could I get into trouble using this name?


texts:
Imagining this scenario:

I buy a miniature Intel computing product, that comes with a pre-installed Windows operating system for personal usage.

Can I repurpose it by installing a customized Linux OS and sell it for profit as part of a bigger industrial/retail solution?


texts:
I thought my insurance was paying for my pt.  but then after i stopped going for a few weeks i got a huge bill in the mail.
is it legal for them to not send a bill (delay billing) for a couple months (waiting till i was absent for a number of weeks)?

Oregon, USA


texts: please somebody tell me the origin of the words, prosecutor

texts: Please somebody tell me the origin of the words, prosecutor, prosecution and other relevant similar words please.


texts: Brother and Sister both own house. Sister moved out, should brother buy her half?

texts:
This is in Georgia, USA

So a father bought a house, all paid for, then transferred it to his son and daughter, taking his name off completely. They all three lived in house. The sister gets married and moves out of state. Few years later, the father dies. The brother is still living there.

The question is, since she is still technically half owner, and the brother has no intentions of moving out, shouldn't he pay the sister something? Can he be sued if he refuses?


texts:
I got an offer from a company(US Based) that seems like a wonderful opportunity. However, there's some wording in it that I've never seen in an offer letter before, so I'm looking for some clarification.

This sounds like, if employment is terminated, I will be paid the remainder of my annual salary upon my next payday. Is that an accurate interpretation?


texts:
This question made me think of a situation:

Alice asks Bob to crawl web site realestate.example.com and return results of the regular expression "Price:([0-9]*).*Size:([0-9]*)"
Bob points a major open source web crawler that implements googles robots.txt reading implementation (and it therefore fully consistent with industry standard practices) at realestate.example.com, greps the result, sends data to Alice.  He never visits the site manually, he spent about 2 minutes of human time on the whole job and had no need to.
realestate.example.com has a robots.txt that says "Take everything" and a sitemap.xml describing the pages of interest because they care about SEO.  It has a human readable TOS that says "Scraping is not allowed".

Has Bob done anything wrong?


texts: Looking for recommendation for legislations in the tech sector

texts:
I am new to the law field. Currently I am a Software Engineer, who is interested in new legislation in the tech sector. I am primary interested in topics concerning the EU and US, as this are the markets my company is working on. Is there some place where I can find most of the new laws and legislations for the tech sector? Let's say like https://thehackernews.com/ for security. I am interested in things like this: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/visa-new-subscription-rules-flier.pdf

I have searched to no avail. I failed to find some good source of legal tech news. Do such place even exist? If this question is not for here, let me know and I will delete it.

EDIT:
TO answer @Iñaki Viggers. I am pretty much interested in anything concerning the tech sector TBH, from Apple getting sued for slowing down IPhones to the new Visa requirements, to let's say even Art 13. It does not have to be a single "all-you-need-to-know compilation". It could be let's say 10 different sources, that I need to check daily or something like this. To rephrase my question in one sentence, if you want to look for any legal changes or news in the Tech Sector, where would you look?


texts: What happens if you are pulled over for speeding but not given a ticket?

texts:
This is probably a duplicate question, but I'm very freaked out about what happened. I apologize if it is.

I'm a teenager who just got pulled over for the first time (unbeknownst to be, the on-ramp for a local interstate had a speed limit of 45, not 65 as I thought. I was going 71). The cop put on his lights and I pulled over. I gave him my license and he took it to his car and gave it back to me. He then went back to his car and let me go. He didn't give me any papers or anything, but I'm really scared. Did I get a ticket?


texts: Revocation or cancellation of declared divided

texts: Can dividend once declared be revoked or cancelled?and  tell me some cases if any.


texts: GoDaddy hoarding domains. What is my legal recourse?

texts:
I want to purchase a domain: curion.com
It is unavailable because it is held by godaddy (as shown on whois.net)
Question is, Can a web hosting company hoard a domain name to itself. Is it even allowed? The domain doesnt function either.
How do I legally pursue this matter? What is the law?

Whois details:

Domain Name: CURION.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS1.JACKSONNATIONAL.COM
Name Server: NS2.JACKSONNATIONAL.COM
Name Server: NS3.JACKSONNATIONAL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 11-feb-2013
Creation Date: 11-jul-2002
Expiration Date: 11-jul-2018


texts: Do I need to protect myself against liability (loss of data caused by my app)?

texts:
I originally asked this question in Open Source, but was redirected here :)

I've written my first app, to process images (user photos) on the phone. It writes to the jpegs on the phone, and maybe I'll add functionality to delete selected images.

Do I need to protect myself somehow against any liability, if someone experiences unintentional loss of data, say due to some software bug/error?

As I understand it (from the Open Source site), a software licence only deals with the source code per se, and not potential damage incurred by the binary (application itself). Is some form of waiver/disclaimer sufficient "protection"? Now, I am aware that this is perhaps taking things way too serious, but I still think it's an interesting and important question.

Seems everybody's putting apps on Google Play and the App Store... Is everybody taking all this into consideration, or is this really only a concern/worry if the app is a serious, full-time endeavor?


texts: Do I have the right to get a copy of the source code I wrote during an internship? (Germany)

texts:
I did an internship in a small software company in Germany and wrote mainly two programs, one which is just an example to learn the language which has no monetary value and another one which could be sold by the company if they finish a few remaining parts.

Now the internship is over and I asked my boss for a copy of the source code I personally wrote myself so that I can look up what I learned and have an example for this programming language.

I have no intent to republish the code in any way, including making it open source or selling the code itself or a product made from it. It's just the first stuff I wrote in this language and I would like to keep it as template and example.

He declined my request and said that they never give away their source code.

A quick online research taught me that if a program was written at the employer's disposition, they have the exclusive and full market rights. In my opinion, this sounds like they have the power to decide what I may do with it (e.g. prohibit selling or publishing), but it does not really say anything about the right to own a copy for personal educational purposes.

Other sources also said that the author always holds the inalienable (except through descent) copyright, so I as non-lawyer would interpret this in a way that grants me at least the right to own a copy, even if I may not republish it in any way.

My internship contract did not say anything about ownership and usage rights of the code I write.

I'm not going to fight for this, but I'm interested in my theoretical rights as employed (or internship) programmer. Do I have the right to obtain a copy of all source codes I purely wrote myself? What rules are there concerning this situation?


texts: Can The Owner Change A Github Repository From Public To Private At Any Time?

texts:
I'm building a browser game. Eventually I want to put ads on it, sell in-game currency, build a private company around it, etc.

I want to save my code in a Github repository. As far as Github controls go it seems like you can begin a repository as public and then switch it to private at any time (that is if you have a premium account or it's your first private repo for a free account). It seems a bit weird to me that someone could say something is open-source, totally free, have a bunch of random people work on it, and then all of the sudden that one person runs off with the finished game. What are the legal things to consider here, and do I need to begin my repo as private?

I normally use GNU GPL-3.0 license for open source projects, but I'm also curious if the answer would be different for other popular licenses like Apache 2.0 or MIT. I'm locally in the New York City, USA area. Thanks.


texts: Do drivers have a right to remain in their vehicle?

texts:
If stopped by a police officer, do drivers have a right to remain in their vehicle? I’m unable to find any specific RCW regulation for Washington state.

I feel that a person, not the subject of arrest, should be protected by the 4th amendment if they choose to remain in their vehicle, even if “ordered” to exit the vehicle by an officer.

I’m most interested to know:

How would a driver (1) Politely (2) determine if a given instruction to exit the vehicle must be complied with, and (3) decline the instruction without giving the officer “cause” or otherwise damaging a potential case?


texts: Does this section of my NDA state that my company could take legal action against me if I were compelled to testify against them?

texts:
My companies NDA has this line

  Individuals shall not, directly or indirectly, disseminate, make
  available, disclose, or use any reason other than performance of their
  job with the Company, any confidential information or proprietary data
  of the Company, unless and only to the extent such release or
  disclosure is required by any court or administrative agency (and then
  only after prompt notice to the Company to permit the Company to seek
  a protective order).

I can't help but think what that part in parenthesis means. If I were to for whatever reason be in court as a witness testifying against my employer, based on the NDA it sounds like any time a lawyer asked a question I'd have to defer to the my company to object to the question per the wording of the NDA. Similarly if I were subpoenaed for information regarding my company, I'd have to bring my employers lawyer along.

Is this a correct interpretation?

(It should be noted, this scenarios are theoretical, I don't know of anything I might get subpoenaed about)


texts: Can someone take a image under copyright by a third party and legally use it as a Trademark without permission?

texts:
I am wondering how this kind of situation is typically handled.
I know that if you fail to protect your trademark, others can use it,
but the same cannot be said for a copyrighted image. I am sure location also plays a part in the copyright owners rights, but just how exactly does the law handle this in most cases?

Please provide legal precedents (preferably recent and at the highest judicial level you can reference.)


texts: California financial document verbiage: 3 months instead of 90 days?

texts:
Is there a law in California about the verbiage used in financial transaction language regarding the need to use the language "3 months" instead of "90 days"?

I was told that this is the case, but I cannot find can't reference to it.


texts: Involved in a hit and run where I didn't know there was a hit and left the scene. What now?

texts:
I was involved in an accident, but I didn't know it happened. Another driver merged into the lane I was in aggressively and made contact with my car, but between me honking, yelling(as most probably would in this situation), focusing on turning to avoid, and music I did not hear or feel any contact being made.

Shortly after, at the stoplight. The Driver got out of his car and took a picture of my plate. Did not attempt to wave me down or get my attention to pull over. I saw this as a threatening road rage move(why would someone take a picture of my plate and not notify me?)

Then as we continued travel, he followed me and flashed his beams at me, again I only saw this as threatening/taunting. In no way did I get the sense of there being 'trouble' in the sense of an accident.

Somehow he was able to flag a travelling officer and pulled me over to the side. At this point I still did not know any contact was made and was pulling me over for speeding or something minor like that, but I was thankful for that because I would tell the officer about the threatening other driver.

It wasn't until the officer told me (first thing, before I could say what I wanted to), that there was an accident and I ran. I got out of my car and to my surprise there was minor scratches on my quarter panel. So I received a citation for hit and run, but the other driver was at fault. (this was explained to me to be the case)

So, in short, I received a hit and run without any knowledge of there being a hit. I have not received a court date yet(this all happened yesterday morning), but I am very anxious and frankly, scared. What can I do now?

extra info: I am in the state of Florida and both vehicles are insured.


texts: Could New Jersey Really Ban Pennsylvania Drivers?

texts:
The official NJ governor account posted a tweet saying that PA drivers were banned from NJ.
The tweet was an April Fools joke, but that made me wonder, could NJ really pass a law banning PA drivers? I know that seems ridiculous, but I don’t think state of origin is a protected class, so I can’t come up with a reason why they couldn’t.


texts: How exactly does civil asset forfeiture work in the United States?

texts:
Civil asset forfeiture is a concept that frequently crops up in the news, e.g. the recent Washington Post article "Drug cops took a college kid’s savings and now 13 police departments want a cut".

Usually, the laws underlying the process are not described in detail, but the above cited article makes it sound as if police can just make up any somewhat reasonable claim they like regarding a possibly illegal source of the assets and then seize them without judicial oversight. I'm having a hard time believing that this is actually how it works.

What is the legal framework for civil asset forfeiture? What recourse is there for people being subjected to it?


texts: Are pre-employment drug screening results not obtainable by the patient?

texts: Can an individual require access to his pre-employment drug screening results in the United States? I am mostly interested in California and Massachusetts.


texts: GDPR - What exactly should I do to prevent revenue loss?

texts:
I've seen many sites blocking cookies right away and expecting users to click the "Accept cookies" button to activate them. But then I came to stack exchange to ask this question and there's a note on the footer

"This site uses cookies to deliver our services and to show you relevant ads and job listings. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service. Your use of Stack Overflow’s Products and Services, including the Stack Overflow Network, is subject to these policies and terms."

There's no button whatsoever to agree with the cookies or not, so that means that by default the cookies are enable here and if the user is using the site, it means they're already agreeing with the cookies policy?

Can I do the same to my website?

If not, can I block the whole page then, leaving a notice in the middle of the screen telling the user something like "This site uses cookies to...." With the following options: ( ) Agree and proceed. ( ) Don't agree. Take me out of this site.

So it basically means that if they don't agree with the cookies policy, they won't have access to the content either (Fair enough) and will be recommended to leave.


texts: Why is Supreme Court seeking brief from Attorney General?

texts:
It's a well-known concept that federal law preempts state law.

Apparently, as per LA Times
Op-Ed
The case against Colorado's pot law, Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado to invalidate Colorado's recreational marijuana law, since the border cities of some border states have already collected far too many visitors from Colorado in their lock-up facilities.  (Some towns/sheriffs even go as far as to claim that Colorado must share Colorado's revenues to allow the neighbouring states to prosecute such Colorado visitors!)

The Op-Ed states that the situation is rather clear -- however outdated or incorrect it may be, federal Controlled Substances Act does preempt Colorado Amendment 64 (as well as the similar law of many other states where cannabis is not illegal), even if the previous attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., didn't feel like prosecuting anyone (but the office now has a new AG).

But why is the Supreme Court asking the Attorney General for a brief?  Isn't the law clear enough as it is?

Can Colorado use the well-known evidence that the federal law is simply outdated and was never really correct to start with, contradicting medical advice since the start?

Likewise, if some states do feel that prosecuting their own citizens who visit Colorado is a worthy pastime for their border cities, why don't they simply put their money where their mouth is, by raising the taxes on their own residents, to make sure their border cities have adequate lock-up facilities?

Is the Supreme Court at all allowed to do something like the Jury Nullification here, to declare that the justice would not be served if the outdated federal law was to preempt the realities of the many states?


texts: Why was the adjective "special" embraced for "special damages"?

texts:
Source: A Brief Introduction to Law in Canada (Mar. 2017). p. 173 Middle.

  As in tort law, the most important remedy in contract law is damages. Contract damages
  classified differently, though. three main categories in contract law are: (1) expect-
  damages, (2) reliance damages, and (3) restitution damages. Punitive damages may also be available, but only in usual cases.
    Expectation damages attempt to place the innocent party in the position she would have
  been in if the contract had been performed as promised and all the contractual representa-tions were true. This method of assessing damages is the standard method used to calculate
  damages in contract disputes. Expectation damages typically claimed include out-of-pocket
  expenses to correct defective performance (for example, where construction work is shoddy
  and has to be fixed) and loss of profits (for example, where a commodity was not delivered
  and the purchaser was unable to resell for a profit as planned).
    Expectation damages sometimes have alternate names depending on what they represent
  or how they are calculated. For instance, out-of-pocket expenses can also be called special
  damages because they have already been incurred and are certain. The term general damages
  can be used to describe the value of a lost expectation that is not specifically quantifiable,
  such as the enjoyment the plaintiff hoped to experience on a vacation (where a vacation
  planner failed to deliver as promised). Liquidated damages, which are another type of ex-pectation claim, refer to damages that the parties have calculated in advance. They can only
  be claimed, however, where the parties have put a clause in the contract setting out what the
  damages are to be, and where the amount represents a genuine pre-estimate of the loss ex-pected to be suffered in the event of breach. Liquidated damages clauses can save the par-ties the trouble of arguing about what the damages are if the contract is broken.

The use of "special" for "special damages" appears outlandish and unfit to me. What exactly is special about such damages, when they are predictable and calculable?


texts: Are DBA / "trading as" names always different than legal names?

texts:
In many jurisdictions, any "trading as", DBA ("doing business as") or similar "ficitonal" or "pseudonymous" names of a company or other legal entity have to be registered.

The assumption e.g. on Wikipedia would seem to be that the DBA name "differs from the registered, legal name of the business" (seems common sense).

Are there any prominent counter-examples that suggest that this assumption ("DBA / "trading as" names always different than legal names") doesn't hold for 100% of entities in 100% of jurisdictions?

The question is, to put it more simply, "Are there any examples of 'X doing business as X' or any examples of rules that disallow 'X trading as X' explicitly?"

As in the reference and the first paragraph, the question is about duly registered "trading as" names and not any colloquialisms.

Related:

In Houston, Texas, do you need a DBA if you only conduct business in the LLC's name?


texts: Do I have a right to get my son vaccinated against his mother's wishes?

texts:
I am in NY state. My partner and I are not married. I am not listed on our son's birth certificate, but he has my last name.

My partner is an anti-vaxxer (or whatever non-loaded term is preferred). I believe firmly in the benefits of vaccination and the lack of evidence for harmful effects on an epidemiological scale.

I agreed to delay vaccination at first, and my partner agreed to vaccinate after our son turned 2.5 yrs old.

Our son is now 4.5 and has still not received vaccination. Any time I bring up the issue of vaccinations she blows up and basically says she'll kick me out of the house if I were to vaccinate him.

I struggle with the relationship (which isn't good) repercussions, but I am only asking about the legality of my taking my son to get him vaccinated against his mother's wishes.


texts:
I am in the process of building a web-based framework to implement a search engine based on Facial Recognition, it will feature a paid service and a members only area, to protect not only the users, but also the ones who have been searched through the crawler. I have a 2 part question and was hoping it could be answered here.

First question being, the image of the subject in mind will be uploaded to the search engine, and it will compress that image down to the face, and hash that image. Once that image is hashed and discarded, it will use that hash to verify the identity of that person, using websites that are commonly used such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, once identity is confirmed it will crawl known and common dating websites. My question is, Is this first part of data collection against any type of law, because the crawler will also extract not only the person's identity, but also if they are married, and to whom they are married to.

Which leads me to my second question, in the event that no laws are broken, what should the Terms of Service and legal disclaimer cover, to keep any type of legal recourse from coming back onto me as the owner/webmaster of the site.


texts: Obergefell and its implications on other family rights

texts:
Now that same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, I was wondering what the impact of this decision would be on laws that limit the abilities of same-sex couples to adopt children and other benefits.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court did not set out the level of scrutiny to be used in determining discrimination against same-sex couples. How would the courts determine the level of scrutiny when deciding cases where same-sex couples are discriminated against? (e.g. the wedding cake issues?)


texts: Is it legal to create a fake google certificate and distribute it en masse?

texts: The question is exactly what the title says. I am a student attending a rather large high school in South Carolina. In order to block to youtube, proxies, games, etc., the school has disabled SSL and TLS (secure socket protocol for web security). These are standards for all web browsers (I get a warning on my MAC that there may be an attack on my computer if I even get on their wifi and open Safari), and what is even more scary (and angering) to me is that they have a fake google certificate which they do not inform people of in any way or agreement. I understand that I am a minor and am resigned that I can do nothing about it, but this must illegal. I cannot imagine what the consequences would be if I did the on a private server. The vulnerability is further irresponsible because it leaves people's private data being transferred over the school network (such as private e-mail, logins) unsecured and open to packet sniffing.


texts: U.S. Technology - Is it legal to scrape freely accessible data then charge to be able to filter that data?

texts:
Would it be legal for me to sell a service that scrapes and filters the freely accessible data from sites and also provides a link back to them?

I essentially want to create a scraper that collects data from multiple sites (on demand from the user) like an aggregator but sell the service that allows the user to filter certain terms out of the data titles.

My app would scrape on request, filter, then return the results.
The data would touch my server for filtering but wouldn't be stored.

e.g. Lists of recipes from something like recipe.com, serious eats, etc but the user wants to find all recipes from every site available on the service that have marmalade in the title, but exclude all that say lemon, pineapple, and orange.

If they want to know more details about the data or the recipe, they'll have to follow the link to the site.


texts: In the UK, what is the difference between the Job Retention Scheme and furloughing?

texts:
I live in the UK, and work on weekends for probably the UK's biggest fashion retailer. I recently got an email from them asking me to consent to the terms of a new contract. In it, I noticed this section, which does not apply to me but I found interesting anyway:

  If you commenced employment with [our company] after (and were not, therefore, on our payroll on) 28 February 2020, please read this
  section:

  As you started employment with [our company] after 28 February 2020, we
  cannot include you in the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme.
  However, I am pleased to confirm that we will furlough you under the
  same terms.

  You will move into a period of furlough backdated to 24 March 2020 and
  until 31 May 2020 unless notice is given in writing by [our company] as set
  out below.

I'm confused as to the distinction between the Job Retention Scheme and furloughing. Does this mean that the government will not be paying for these workers, so the company will be paying for them instead, or does it mean something else that I'm missing here?


texts: Is obtaining MAC addresses from customers legal?

texts: Can a retailer or restaurant in the United States legally collect user's data (user's profile or frequency, etc.) through obtaining their MAC address?


texts: Defendant retains solicitors a long way away and asks for hearing near them

texts:
I'm pursuing a claim for about £100 against a company in the UK courts. Both sides agree that this should be allocated to the Small Claims track.

I'm on the south coast, the defendant is based in London, and the defendant's agent who actually overcharged me is based in Luton (near London). However the defendant has retained a solicitor in Liverpool, in the north of England, and has asked for the hearing to be held up there.

The train fare alone is likely to exceed the amount in question, and depending on the times I may have to stay overnight. The same is likely to apply if the hearing is down south and their solicitor has to travel from Liverpool to attend.

Is the hearing likely to be up in Liverpool merely on the strength of their chosen solicitor?

Conversely, if the hearing is allocated to my local court, or a London one, is other side going to be able to claim the cost of time and travel for a solicitor to come all the way down from Liverpool, given that they chose to hire a solicitor from so far away?

Edit, in response to comments:

I'm doing this as a test case for a large group of people who have all been overcharged in the same way. Hence I'm prepared to go to all this trouble over a comparatively small amount for me individually because it adds up to several thousand over the group.
The claim has been filed on-line with the Northampton County Court Business Centre, from where it will be allocated to a local court. I've asked for my local one and the solicitors in Liverpool have asked for their local one.


texts: does the phrase below mean a 'No Comment' notification must be received?

texts: Project Co shall implement the plan submitted in accordance with Section 4.6(a)(iii) upon receipt of a NO COMMENT notification from Contracting Authority, in accordance with Schedule 10 - Review Procedure.


texts: Hastening execution in response to actions by third parties

texts:
This year Jordan hastened the execution of terrorists in retaliation to daesh killing Jordanian hostage Moaz al-Kaseasbeh, having threatened to do so. That is, Jordan treated its own prisoners as hostages in some respects.

Apart from the application of the death penalty, and potential issues relating to the fairness of trials, are there any theoretical and/or legal human rights, either in Jordan or internationally, that could be violated as a result of this action, since the timing of the executions weren't in response to actions by the prisoners themselves? For example, would it be seen as collective punishment?


texts: Is it legal to let overseas family member use my address for a bank account (US)?

texts:
I have a family member who is a US Citizen, but currently lives overseas. They want to open a US bank account and are asking me if I would be ok for them to use my home address for the account. In principle, I would be happy to do them a favor, but just want to check whether this could potentially get me into any legal trouble?

If it isn't legal, then I'm curious as to what law it would be breaking.


texts: Is an auto-submitting form GDPR/DPA-compliant?

texts:
TL;DR is a form that automatically submits itself, even after the user has closed the window, GDPR-compliant?

An organisation I am part of has an online form on their intranet for reporting incidents and near misses.

The other day I was going to use this form to submit a tech. incident report. I opened up the form, but then realised it was not the correct place to submit the report and closed the window.

Later that day I received an automated email with a reference number for the report thanking me for ‘sending it in’ and nothing that ‘the form was only partially completed.’

I raised this with somebody, who raised it to the national HQ. They forwarded me the reply they received, where the NHQ confirmed that the behaviour was intentional and was ‘a failsafe as such in case of a loss of network connection’.

I have never seen this used elsewhere—it almost seems like a well-intentioned use of the privacy zuckering dark pattern. There was no indication prior to accesing the form, or on the form itself, that it would autosubmit after interaction regardless of whether the 'Submit' button was clicked or not.

Is this legal under the GDPR/Data Protection Act 2018 (as it is a UK organisation)?

Recital 32 of the preamble to the GDPR states that:

  Consent should be given by a clear affirmative act establishing a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her, such as by a written statement, including by electronic means, or an oral statement.

..which seems to pretty clearly exclude an automatic submission.

That said, perhaps there is an Art. 6, para. 1(c) or (d) exemption at play here, as workplace incident reporting is a statuatory duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.


texts: Requirement that members of the US Electoral College vote for candidates from two different states

texts: In Art. II, Sec. 1 of the US Constitution, what is the reasoning for the requirement that the Electors vote for two persons, "of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves."


texts: Jurisdiction for international contracts where it is unspecified in a contract clause

texts:
Assuming a contract doesn't have a clause specifying jurisdiction how is jurisdiction decided. I am talking about international contracts and which country's laws would govern the contract.

So to rephrase the question: A (from USA) and B (from UK) enter into a contract without explicitly specifying in it the applicable country for jurisdiction.

A year later B wants to file suit against A. Can he do it in USA or UK as per his will? Can he do it in some third country also?


texts: Appeal rights loss if refuse to be served?

texts: If a defendant refuses to be served, can the plaintiff file a motion (?) so that the defendant loses their rights to make an appeal of the judgment?


texts: Are "refunds if the Astros win" gambling in Texas?

texts: An NPR article on 10-27-2020 covers a Texas furniture salesman - "Matress Mack" - who promised refunds on matresses if the Astros won the World Series.  Is there some loophole in the Texas gambling statutes that I'm missing here?  This seems to just be gambling on a baseball game for the chance to win a matress...


texts: Can I be subjected to physical punishment by the police in the US as long as it is outside criminal proceeding?

texts:
In Ingraham v. Wright, the US Federal Supreme Court ruled that it had "limited the application of the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual language to criminal punishment".
Can I be subjected to a "cruel and unusual" punishment by the police, as long as it is done outside of a criminal proceeding?
For example, suppose I jaywalk. A police officer catches me.

Suppose the punishment is a result of a bargain. Suppose that me and the police officer agrees that the police officer will give me a slap in the hand, and in return the police officer will not press charges against me. Can we make out such a bargain?

If yes to (1), suppose that after that I change my mind and sue the officer on Eight Amendment grounds. Can the officer defend himself/herself by saying that the punishment doesn't violate the Eight Amendment because this amendment only applies to "criminal punishment" (Ingraham v. Wright) and this was not a "criminal punishment", because it was outside of a criminal proceeding? After all, charges were never pressed and so I was not convicted of any crime

How does the answer to number (1) change if the punishment is imposed against my will?


texts: When google.com was available to be bought after a clerical error, did they lose their right to own it?

texts:
When the domain google.com became available to be bought after a clerical error, it was bought by a man for $12 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34504319).

I'm curious to know, because Google allowed their ownership of the domain to expire, why do they still have the rights to it even when it was bought by another individual. I'm aware it could have been disputed at court due to trademark infringement etc. but why were they able to refund the transaction and reclaim the domain without going through that process.

Would the individual who bought the domain be able to claim any right to it at all after he paid for it?


texts: Is my client free from obligation to pay an unpaid invoice under contract?

texts: I created a contract between myself and a client. The contract states that I will provide service A to the client. I provided service A. A third party is blocking the use of the end product of service A to be used for my client. My client no longer returns my emails or texts and has failed to respond to my invoices (sent certified mail and with return receipt).


texts: President's commission report as a legal source?

texts:
The Supreme Court's opinion in Bartnicki v Vopper quotes the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice for the statement:

  In a democratic society privacy of communication is essential if citizens are to think and act creatively and constructively. Fear or suspicion that one's speech is being monitored by a stranger, even without the reality of such activity, can have a seriously inhibiting effect upon the willingness to voice critical and constructive ideas.

I have two questions about this citation:

Is it clear whether the report is being used as a legal or factual source? To me it sounds legal, though I see how it could be read as factual.
Are President's commissions' reports usually considered legal sources?


texts: Can US student loans be inherited by children or parents?

texts: Just curious if there are conditions where student loans can be inherited by family members that did not co-sign on the loan?


texts: AGPL Licensed Software use without linking

texts:
Going over the AGPL license, it is very unclear to me what "linked" software means.
When proprietary software displays an AGPL GUI inside of it, are they linked?
i.e. There is a website that includes an AGPL image editor displayed as a separate entity - but visually within it (an IFRAME) - does that count as linking? as derivative work?