texts: Does this image with a subject containing graffiti in the background infringe on the graffiti artist's copyright?

texts:
Here's the image in question:

Basically, the subject in the foreground is showcasing a company's product for an advertisement. The graffiti holder has argued that the image infringes on their copyright. My guess would be that this image does not infringe on the copyright, because it is novel and the graffiti is not the subject matter in the photo.

The applicable jurisdiction here would be the state of California.

EDIT

The building that the art was placed on has been abandoned for many years, therefore giving me the impression that the art was illegally placed. A recent google street view image has identified that the building has been condemned and is the future location of a Boys & Girls Club SF:

(you can still see the top of the artwork in question in the link below, if you look closely above the retaining wall to the south east).

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7833553,-122.4099403,3a,75y,115.75h,91.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAF1QipP6ITMX-YKQ0z4JaGpbcEliZmC0KahDOcDdo6CQ!2e10!7i11000!8i5500


texts: What sort of circumstances would allow a company or lab to put a positive pre-employment drug test on your background or send it to a consumer report agency? I'm curious about the consequences of failing such a drug test - specifically in Minnesota.


texts: Is there some well known or established principle for this situation? Unfair jurisdictions and un-equal parties

texts:
Imagine a situation where an employer offers an employee a contract that stipulates that all disputes should be resolved by some arbitration panel in a tax haven. I don't know about America but I am pretty sure that most/all Western European courts would ignore such a clause and apply the local labour laws in case of a dispute because it would be considered unreasonable that a strong part (the employer) could force a weak part (the employee) to enter a contract that favoured the strong part (it is usually very expensive and difficult to engage a arbitration panel in a foreign country).
Another similar situation would be that a big company, like Apple or Google, in their terms and conditions for a consumer service prescribed that all disputes should be resolved as in the previous example. Again, I think most courts would ignore such a clause and instead apply the local consumer laws for the same reasons as in the previous example.
A third example could be parents and their minor children. I have some difficulties coming up with a good example but say that a grandparent willed a large amount of money to a minor grand child and that in the current jurisdiction A, the parent's aren't allowed to access this money. The parents therefore decide to move to another country B that allows them free access to their children's money (and waste it while the child still is a minor).
Finally the child returns to A and seeks compensation. I reckon a court in A would apply A's laws to the situation and conclude that the move to B benefited the parents in an extremely one-sided and unfair way since the child had no means to object to the decision to move, and as a consequnce was robbed on her/his money.
If the situation had been a married couple (or soon-to-be married couple) where one party X had a lot of money that the other party Y had no access to in A but free access to in B and the couple voluntarily and consensually moved from A to B, I doubt that X could seek compensation from Y for spending the money because they are both adults with full legal rights and responsibilities and if they decide to marry and live in B rather than A, X can't afterwards return to A and demand that the courts in A should overrule the laws in B.
The third example(s) is quite artificial so no need to nitpick on details...
But back to the question. If I generalize the examples above there is one strong party and one weak party. The strong party, more or less, forces the weak party to enter an agreement that heavily benefits the strong party. Such a contract would in many cases not be upheld by a court because it is considered unfair. Is this "principle" called something?
I am interested in answers that go all the way back to the Roman legal system and up to current "Western" legal systems.


texts: What level of support is legally required for off-the-shelf software?

texts:
When writing and selling off-the-shelf software, there can be warranty requirements for security updates and functional bugfixes. But are there legal requirements to offer support that goes beyond that – especially help desk style support¹? Is it O.K. to only offer paid support?

What are the differences between the markets in EU, US and others?

¹ To minimize the need for individual support, good documentation and a user friendly interface of course help a lot. But that might not always be sufficient for all clients and all use cases.


texts: How to have a refund after buying on internet

texts:
I was victim of a scam on the website "leboncoin"(in France similar to ebay), I wanted to buy a second hand phone.

After several SMS and a phone call, the seller seemed quite correct but after making the bank transfer, I never got an answer and I never received my phone of course.

I have her bank account identification details(for the transfer) but her account informations corresponds to a "Nickel" account produced by the "Financière des paiements électronique" (see the opinions on google) I was only aware of this kind of scam after having made the transfer of course.

The other information (name, city of residence) that she had communicated to me must be false or usurped also I presume.

My bank covers me only on online payments with the credit card but on transfers my bank cannot refund me (I am not covered). The website le bon coin declines any responsibility about this case.

My question: I spent 410€ on a mobile phone I never received and the seller could never be contacted again. Is there any way I can get this amount back? If so, to whom should I turn for refund? and what steps should I take to obtain a refund?

Thank you for your help


texts: How does Google and other websites avoid infringing on 3rd party copyrights for displaying images for 'commercial' purposes?

texts:
I really hope someone would be able to clear things up, because this question has been bugging me for a long time now.
Google Images (and frequently Google Search as well) shows images associated with your search (kinda the point of an image search engine). Yet, the Google platform is a commercial product and is there to make money by displaying ads. Even non-profit websites like Wikipedia or CC search which ask for donations (i.e. money making albeit not for profit),  thereby using images in a 'commercial' (money making) context.
In the UK, commercial use of images may require a licence (a written permission). The licence must be obtained from the author (the photographer) and sometimes the landowner (I believe this is a branch of what is collectively known as 'third-party' rights, property rights in this instance, assuming the author didn't obtain such permissions).
One example could be the UK's famous Durdle Door which requires a licence, if photographs are to be used for commercial purposes. It appears to be a very similar story for sites belonging to National Trust and English Heritage. Yet, there is no shortage of images used in a commercial context without obtaining such licences (apparently) e.g. CC Search, Pixabay, Trip Advisor, Google and many others.
I appreciate this is a branch of the civil law and requires a 3rd party to actually raise it as an issue. I highly doubt any of the websites showing images in a commercial context request a permission from landowners around the UK - an unmanageable task. Yet, it feels like Google (or other websites) would not risk a lawsuit to show images unless they had solid basis they are allowed to do so.
Question: given that photos of many landmarks in the UK require a written permission (i.e. a licence) to be used for a commercial use, how exactly do websites (e.g. Google, TripAdvisor, Wikipedia and others) operate without infringing on 3rd party copyrights?

Clarification: I am less concerned with the author's copyright claims (like those in Perfect 10, Inc. vs Amazon.com, Inc) and more with the 3rd party claims. The UK's government website is pretty clear on that (emphasis mine):

What people cannot do on your land
The CROW Act has a list of general restrictions that limit what people using their open access rights may do, unless you give them permission to do something on the list, or the right to do something already exists.
They cannot:
[..]
run commercial activities on the land such as:

trade or sell
charge other visitors for things they do on your land
film, photograph or make maps

[..]


texts: How to prove that someone forged my signature on a contract that I was not aware of?

texts:
I found this similar question that already has an accepted answer. However, I don't fully like that answer because it says that "signed contract would not be binding if you can prove that it is fraud". Basically answer to the question contains original question because "faked signature" is fraud.

So I will ask again - in disputes how is it proved that signature was faked by another person on legal documents?

In the answer, I want something among the lines:

The judge looks at your authentic signatures from the past of various documents and on the one that has allegedly faked signature. Of course this method is not reliable alone.
The judge looks for other discrepancies in the situation as a whole (e.g. time when contract was signed). And then if you have alibi that you weren't physically in the place where contract allegedly was signed it is considered that signature is not authentic.
Someone launches investigation against the person who is accused of faking signatures to see if other people have suffered from the same issue. If considerable amount of people are saying the same thing then that serves as proof.

The reason I am asking this is because today we received copies of Application and Termination forms signed by my friend regarding the case I have discussed here. According to my friend at the time of signing there was only one page and that was Application Form. However, now they sent us 3 pages where second page talks about this $840 fee and Application form does not explicitly mention that there was more than one page. Also, signature on other pages is forged - it looks different. I think that either the sales person, a young girl, was interested to get more customers because she probably receives commission from each deal and decided to forge my friend's signature on the other two pages. Or the customer representative realized that sales person did not give my friend to sign the other two pages and they forged my friends signature before sending it to us so that they would have "legal" rights to keep $840 that they charged. Of course there is a chance that the company as a whole is doing fraud, but I think that would be way too blatant move. Note, that there are other people complaining that this companies' sales persons promise no early termination fees, however, when customers ask for a copy of documents to dispute these fees they receive 3 pages that actually state ETF. So potential victims feel guilty that they signed something that they did not get a chance to read in the first place.

Is it even possible to prove fraud in a case where con-artist adds another page and forges signature? If yes, then how?


texts: Am I allowed to use another company’s Software License?

texts:
Say I work on a software project where I want to publish the source code (for example on GitHub) solely for review (= access, analyse, test and otherwise review the code as a reference). Now, I asked here because I am aware that software like that is not considered "open source". Some companies have licenses for that.

Microsoft has the MS-RSL License

Mega, for instance, has the "MEGA LIMITED CODE REVIEW LICENCE"

Now my question is, am I allowed to use one of those licenses as well and change the content to fit my project? Or are those licenses licensed exclusively to the company which issued them?

I haven't found a license yet, which explicitly allows me to use it. Other than Common Clause and simply No License, that is.


texts: Do I have to demand copyright rights from a friend?

texts:
Long story short. I've been a developing a game for a ~2 years now and release is coming. In the middle of the development I was helped by my friend (she is a designer). She helped me to create most of game's UI and some of the arts. This is about 70% of all game's artwork. Everything else is on me.

We never agreed in writing or verbally on any reward and it was a friendship team up. She wanted to gain some experience and I needed a designer.

Right now she is not in the team for a personal reasons. We worked around 3 months in total.

All assets done under my tight control. The game is set to be released on Apple AppStore. It will not be free. Plus I own all the source files as she gave it to me.

The question is: do I have to retrieve any copyrights from her? If yes then how? What is the process of retrieving rights if there is a demand for one?

I wish I could use all the assets exclusively and I want to be safe from just-in-case situations. The thing is overcomplicated with that she is in the other country right now.


texts: Can I use Creative-Commons Share-alike software in a commercial server application?

texts:
I'd like to write a computer program that runs on a server.
This program leverages the popular Express.js library which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 USA license.
Usage is subject to the following term:

If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

Does this mean that any project or program using Express.js must also be licensed as CC BY-SA 3.0?
What are the implications of closed-source, commercial works that use Express.js? Are they legal?


texts: Redacted emails from public records request

texts:
Recently I did a Massachusetts Public Records request on a public school district for an employees email to and from a domain (ex: all emails from example.com and to example.com). For convenience, I even provided a gmail filter to find the emails "from:example.com OR to:example.com". I was personally included in some of the emails, and I did test my own filter where I was simply CC'd, they all showed up. The district replied to my public records request, and it was lengthy, but there were definitely emails missing. All (pretty sure) emails between example.com and the employee in question where I was included was not included even though my records request restricted only a date range and a domain (from and to). I thought maybe emails that had a CC weren't included (because maybe some exception?), however, I found several emails included that had different CC'd persons. I'm not sure how to reply, and my biggest concern is that the district will brush it off as a "mistake" like "oops my bad my mistake!" and send ONLY the emails that weren't included back to me.

What do you think?


texts: Following the Public Defender of Missouri assigning Governor Jay Nixon to a case, what are his options?


texts: Do You Have to Identify Yourself to Police if Suspected of Underage Drinking? [MA, U.S.]

texts:
I was doing some reading on the laws relating to this, and I can't seem to get a clear answer. According to this source https://www.mattmlaw.com/blog/2013/04/underage-drinking-convictions-can-be-avoided.shtml (although it deals with PA laws, not sure if it's the same in MA), you need to show your ID if you have it with you, but they seem to imply that you don't need to identify yourself if you don't have your card with you, although they don't say that outright so I am not completely sure. This source says you don't need to provide an ID at all, but that's NC https://wileynickel.com/raleigh-defense-lawyer-blog/2014/3/16/do-you-need-to-show-your-id-on-demand-if-you-are-suspected-o.html. I couldn't find
anything specific to MA. This is all assuming you are not driving.

I've been wondering about these laws because at my university, a lot of students get arrested for underage drinking, such as in their dorms or at house parties that get shut down. It seems to me that if there are no laws requiring you to provide your identification to the police, there's no way they can actually arrest you for underage drinking, since they need evidence to arrest you for the crime and the only way they can get evidence is by figuring out your age, otherwise all they've caught you doing is drinking, which based off of the information they have is not a crime since they have no reason to suspect you're under 21 (assuming you are close in age such as 18, 19, or 20). This is all assuming you're in a private area such as a house, apartment, or dorm, so that you can't be charged with public intoxication. I am unsure about this, however, due to the lack of information I can find on the topic, and that I would have thought that a majority of people would have figured it out by now if it is as simple as leaving your ID at home and invoking your fifth amendment and not telling the officers your age to get out of almost any underage drinking charge, but I suppose it's maybe not that simple.


texts:
From my understanding, all calls to 911 in the United States are recorded. How does 911 legally record calls in states where consent to record is required?

From Reporter's Recording Guide:

I know that some states where consent of all parties simply requires a recorder warning tone, such as the State of California:

Air Transport Association of America v. Public Utilities Commission of the State of California, Defendants, 833 F.2d 200 (9th Cir. 1987)

  G.O. 107-B defines disapproved monitoring of telephone calls as the use of equipment which allows a third person to overhear or record a telephone conversation without any indication to the conversant parties that they are being overheard, or without allowing the conversant parties to communicate with the third person. A person wishing to listen in on a conversation without violating the regulation can provide notice by using a beep-tone warning device audible to all parties to the conversation or by announcing to the parties that the conversation is being monitored. The order requires utilities to file tariffs prohibiting monitoring unless notice is given to the parties to the conversation, or their consent is obtained. If a telephone company learns that a customer is monitoring conversations in violation of the tariff, the order requires the utility to discontinue service if the customer does not refrain from such monitoring within five days after notice from the utilities. The customer can file a complaint with the CPUC if discontinuance is threatened, and the customer's service will not be discontinued pending resolution of the complaint.

but how the other states where consent is required and a beep isn't enough?

E.g. from laws on recording conversations in all 50 states:

  Maryland All Parties Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-402 (a): The Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act holds that it is unlawful to take or record a communication without the consent of all parties.


texts: If a company silently shuts down, what happens to their assets and legal status?

texts:
Edit: By assets, I mean actual game assets, like art and music, not legal assets
I’m working on a fan game / remaster of a dead game called “Deepworld” that was developed by a... well... also dead company “Bytebin” (I don’t know if they went into bankruptcy or not, they just lost their contact information, developers all shutdown social media, company websites are mostly down, the company phone number doesn’t work. However, they were running out of money (hence the reason they had to shutdown Deepworld’s servers, so bankruptcy is the most likely reason the company went dark))
I want to know, if a company just silently shuts down, and it’s disbanded / bankrupted, what happens to the game they developed, and the assets they created? What is the legal status of those assets
I ask this because I want to recreate the game using the original assets, and I would rather not get into legal trouble over it


texts: GPL-3.0's "Open-Sourceness", Images and Image Formats

texts:
I took an SVG image from a set which is distributed under GPL-3.0 and used it as (a large) part of an icon I made to a software of mine, which is also distributed under GPL-3.0. So far, everything is fine, I suppose. I am, however, intending to distribute this icon I made (together with my whole software) as a PNG image, for it is smaller and I'm not used to Create SVG images. Is redistributing this altered version of the SVG image as a PNG an infringement of the following GPL-3.0's excerpt:

  if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
  gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same
  freedoms that you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive
  or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they
  know their rights.`

given that an SVG, like a script, comes with the "source code", as it IS the very source code itself, while a PNG "hides" this, being binary non-readable data?


texts: Have "objection to" vs. "acceptance of" a treaty reservation ever had different effects?

texts:
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties has provisions with regards to action a state may take in response to a reservation to a treaty. Assume that Article 20 (1-3) do not apply.

Article 21:

  A reservation established with regard to another party in accordance with articles 19, 20 and 23:

  (a) modifies for the reserving State in its relations with that other party the provisions of the treaty to which the reservation relates to the extent of the reservation; and

  (b) modifies those provisions to the same extent for that other party in its relations with the reserving State.
  The reservation does not modify the provisions of the treaty for the other parties to the treaty inter se.
  When a State objecting to a reservation has not opposed the entry into force of the treaty between itself and the reserving State, the provisions to which the reservation relates do not apply as between the two States to the extent of the reservation.


texts: What crime is hiring someone to kill you and then killing the hitman?

texts:
Suppose that yesterday I was suicidal and decided to hire a hitman on the internet to kill me.
Today, when they turn up, I have changed my mind and defend myself by killing the hitman.
What crime(s) have I committed?  This is completely hypothetical, so any jurisdiction would be interesting.


texts: What considerations determine copyright infringement?

texts:
In copyright case law, what roles do process versus output play in determining infringement via creation of a similar work.  By process I mean, "How much access did the creator of the new work have to the putative base work?"  By output I mean, "How similar, textually, is the new work to the older work?"

I am primarily curious about the USA.


texts:
I flew with Finnair from Moscow to Montreal. My luggage got delayed by 3 days. As per Montreal Convention, I can spend up to 1,131 SDR on necessities as my luggage is missing and the airline is supposed to compensate me within 30 days. Finnair says that their policy states that they don't compensate me if I traveled to my home country - which is my case. Their policy goes against the Montreal Convention.

In case Finnair refuses to compensate me, what leverage do I have in this situation? It is usually advised to complain to CTA and then take the case to Small Claims Court. However I can't seem to find a Finnair representative in Canada. They do have any legal entity here, but no office.

Business Number (BN): 841340763
Registry ID: BC0770721
Registered Office Location: -
Status: Active
Status Notes: -
Business Type: BC Company
Created: 2006-10-03

What would be my options if they refuse to cover?

Note: I posted a similar question in travel community, but was redirected here.


texts: What kind of legal action could be brought against Hogwarts staff?

texts:
Our stepson, Harry Potter, only received love and respect from both my family and myself during his time at home. Nevertheless, we felt it was prudent to sent him to the best boarding school in the country to further his talents. He spent a total of six years at Hogwarts. Unbeknownst to us, the educational staff at said facility neglected their duty to protect their pupils from physical and emotional harm at several occasions. As a result he was forced to abort his education during his senior year. He required half a year of rehabilitation camping with two other students of his year.
As such we want to make sure that no other child has to suffer the same way. Would you mind listing legal actions the staff or affiliates of said school have to fear? Jurisdiction is either England or Scotland, I can't seem to find the castle on a map. It goes without saying that muggle law supersedes any of the "weird people" law.


texts: How can you tell if you have to follow a police officer's instructions?

texts:
If a police officer gives me an order, how can I tell whether or not I'm legally obligated to follow that order? If I ask the officer, is he/she required by law to answer truthfully?

If the police get to order citizens to do whatever they want, under whatever circumstances that they want, then go ahead and post that as an answer.


texts: Securities Law: Schedule 13G pursuant to Rule 13d-1(d) under Section 13(d)(6)(B)

texts:
Schedule 13G/Rule 13d-1(d)/Section 13(d)(6)(B) May an officer and director continue to file a Schedule 13G pursuant to Rule 13d-1(d), instead of a Schedule 13D, if (i) it has been more than 12 months since the effective date of the Form 10 (for example 3 years from the effective date) and (ii) since the effective date, such officer and director has not acquired securities, together with all other acquisitions in any 12 month period, that exceeds 2% of the class?

Said another way, for the purposes of filing a Schedule 13G pursuant to Rule 13d-1(d), is the exemption under Section 13(d)(6)(B) available to an officer and director indefinitely so long as the officer and director does not acquire securities, together with all other acquisitions in any 12 month period, that exceeds 2% of the class?

Thank you!


texts: Does attourney client privilege protect communication with an employee?

texts: I will be starting a new job in the US soon.  If I tell the company's immigration attorney a professionally embarrassing immigration issue I may face, are they likely to share this information with my new employer?


texts: Working more than the yearly limit as a foreign student in Germany

texts:
As a foreign student in Germany, one has a 120-full-days or 240-part-days work limit during the year.
I have also noticed that different laws about foreigners not only depend on one's city but are moreover even open to interpretation by the foreigner's office, that is one can observe different behaviors for equal/similar cases.
After an inquiry I was told that the main point behind this law was for the student to focus on his studies and the important bit was that the student made progress in his studies.
My question now is, assuming the study process doesn't get harmed, would there be any consequences if one exceeded this limit? For instance if you surpass it to 130-full-days, what would happen?


texts: Does the father have the rights to keep the baby that the mother wants adopted?

texts:
So, I was watching an "E.R." episode, and they had this bit of dialog between a doctor who's pregnant and trying to have the child adopted when born; and adoption agency person (being "ER", the jurisdiction is obviously Chicago, IL) :

  AAP: ... and what about the father? Is he prepared to sign away his parental rights?
  AAP: ... Does he know you're pregnant?
  Doctor: shakes her head "no"
  AAP: Well, he may want to keep the baby.
  Doctor But what if I don't want him to?
  AAP: He's the father. He has rights

Is that dialog legally accurate? What are the rights that the father have?


texts: What expenses can I claim in a small claim court?

texts:
Ontario/Canada. I want to file a small claim against my previous roommate who I met online and with whom I signed a year contract for a two bedroom apartment. After I sublet my room for the last four month of my contract to another tenant, he refused to pay his half of the bills of the last month we were living together. He refused to pay only after I moved out. In addition to another small amount resulted from difference between first and last month rent and our agreement on how much each pay. I can prove he owes me that amount. The claim all together is small ($230) but at this point it is more personal than actually seeking the money.

I'm planing to claim these expenses:

The amount owed ($230)
Cost of filing a claim ($95)
Cost of mailing the claim to plaintiff ($15)
General expenses ($200) that I will incur (travel expenses, half day vacation from work)

Since I'm new to this, what else can I claim? What of the above I cannot claim?


texts: What is the minimum and maximum penalty for Murder in the US?

texts:
What is the minimum and maximum penalty for premeditated murder in the US?
does it differ state by state?


texts: Why do some US States have a different age of consent for each gender?

texts: Utah and 8 other US States have different ages of consent for each gender. Why is this?


texts: What happens when a subtenant becomes the landlord in California?

texts:
In a situation where someone is subleasing part of a residential property from a master tenant , but finds themselves in the position to purchase the property from the landlord.

In other words, what if a roommate buys the house you are living in?

How might this be viewed from the conflict of tenant rights of both the master tenant and the previously-subtenant, in California?

If there are ongoing disputes with the sublandlord and subtenant.
If the sublease has not terminated when ownership is transferred
If the sublease is co-tenancy (both tenant and subtenant - now landlord occupy the property)

I guess in commercial property world it is not unheard of someone subleasing back space from their own lessee.


texts: How is trademark infringement in online ads regulated internationally?

texts:
I am currently studying intellectual property law in Norway and I am looking for some help with an assignment. I am wondering about online infringement of trademarks.

Here is an example:

An online ad for replica "Ray Ban" glasses might infringe on Ray Ban's
trademark(s).

Does anyone here have some input on how this would be regulated internationally?


texts: Ohio Dissolution Paperwork Language about Bankruptcy

texts:
I am  filling out the dissolution paperwork for Ohio and I see the following two options:

"The court will retain jurisdiction to enforce payment of debt obligations, in the event a party files bankruptcy, including, but not limited to, the ability to determine the debt assigned is in the nature of Maintenance, necessity or support and is therefore non dischargeable in bankruptcy, and/or making a future spousal support order, regardless of the spousal support order set forth below under FOURTH: SPOUSAL SUPPORT."
"Nothing in this order shall prevent the plaintiff and defendant from being fully discharged from the debts allocated in this order in a bankruptcy proceeding except for any orders expressly for spousal support ann the following debts."

What do these two options mean? What are the pros and cons of each?


texts: Besides politics, is there a reason that William Barr has not faced any disciplinary action?

texts:
For reference, my background is a professional engineer and within this field we're beholden to a code of ethics that obligates certain duties paramount regardless of the law. Periodically, the ethical obligation runs contrary to the law and we're professionally obligated to navigate through the situation carefully. In that regard, more often than not, a non-engineer is usually not the best person to judge whether an engineer's actions in the performance of their professional duties was or was not ethical because they lack the requisite experience to do so. As a result, the majority of our licensing and disciplinary boards are staffed by other professional engineers, not judges or lawyers and definitely not a jury of laypersons.
To that end, my understanding is that attorneys are also held to a high ethical standard whereby they're expected to act in an ethical manner pursuant to their profession and their clients. Per this article, there are a litany of ethical allegations against Barr in his tenure as Attorney General jointly filed by multiple members of the DC Bar. The theme of the allegations are professional misconduct in failing to advocate for Barr's client, the United States; the specific allegations are:

In absolving the president of criminal liability for obstructing justice upon receiving the Mueller Report last year, Mr. Barr repeatedly engaged in dishonest and deceitful conduct. His Senate defense of his determination of insufficient evidence to prove Mr. Trump’s obstruction was transparently untenable, as 1000 prosecu-tors publicly stated.
In abandoning all precedent by attacking an inspector general’s report, Mr. Barr acted in alignment with the president’s narrative that the FBI’s investigation into his campaign was illegitimate. Mr. Barr rested his "beyond unusual" attack on half-truth, mischaracterization and deceptive concealment of facts.
Asked in a televised interview about any FBI misconduct during the investigation of the Trump campaign, Mr. Barr abandoned the rules of his Department and of professional responsibility by publicly maligning the conduct of FBI personnel who are the subject of a criminal investigation; Mr. Barr thereby undermined the fairness of future criminal proceedings involving those individuals. He did so us-ing language that no ethical prosecutor would use in public comments about indi-viduals under investigation.
In overseeing and ordering the unconstitutional attack on citizens peacefully protesting in Lafayette Square, the attorney general violated his lawyer’s oath. With the whole world watching, he demonstrated the starkest, anti-constitutional harm that a conflict of interest can cause.

The original article cites this report on US Bars' efficacy and it's not very promising. However, given that Barr's actions undermine the legal profession in a very public manner and much of the investigative work is already done, why wouldn't the DC Bar pursue disciplinary actions against William Barr?


texts: Can owner of stolen goods found for sale subpoena seller to disclose the source?

texts:
Someone steals Bob's bike in 2010.
In 2020 Bob finds it for sale. It's too late to prosecute for theft, so the police wouldn't bother.
Of course Bob doesn't know if the seller was the thief. The bike could have changed many hands in 10 years. But Bob wants to find the thief and get compensated via a civil claim and/or publicly name/shame them.
Bob may not care about the bike now anymore (it can be in horrible condition). But he wants to track down the thief and sue them for damages (depriving of using the bike which was almost new when stolen).
Can Bob get the court to subpoena the seller to reveal where the bike came from, and then subpoena all revealed previous owners too?


texts: What does this indemnification clause mean?

texts:
New law student trying to understand what this paragraph is ultimately trying to establish:

  Promptly after receipt by a person entitled to indemnification pursuant to the foregoing Section 9.1 or 9.2 (the "Indemnified Party") of notice of the commencement of any action, the Indemnified Party will, if a claim in respect thereof is to be or has been made against a party who has agreed to provide indemnification under Section 9.1 or 9.2 (an "Indemnifying Party"), promptly notify in writing the Indemnifying Party of the commencement thereof; but the omission to so notify the Indemnifying Party will not relieve it from any liability which it may have to the Indemnified Party except to the extent the Indemnifying Party is prejudiced by the delay or failure to notify it. In case any such action is brought against an Indemnified Party, and it notifies the Indemnifying Party of the commencement thereof, the Indemnifying Party will be entitled to participate in, and, to the extent that it may wish, jointly with any other Indemnifying Party similarly notified, to assume the defense thereof, subject to the provisions herein stated, with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Indemnified Party, and after notice from the Indemnifying Party to the Indemnified Party of its election to so assume the defense thereof, the Indemnifying Party will not be liable to the Indemnified Party under this Section 9 for any legal or other expenses subsequently incurred by the Indemnified Party in connection with the defense thereof other than reasonable costs of investigation. The Indemnified Party shall have the right to employ separate counsel in any such action and to participate in the defense thereof, but the fees and expenses of such counsel shall not be at the expense of the Indemnifying Party if the Indemnifying Party has assumed the defense of the action with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Indemnified Party; provided that the fees and expenses of such counsel shall be at the expense of the Indemnifying Party if (i) the employment of such counsel has been specifically authorized in writing by the Indemnifying Party or (ii) the named parties to any such action (including any impleaded parties) include both the Indemnified Party or parties and the Indemnifying Party and, in the judgement of counsel for the Indemnified Party, it is advisable for the Indemnified Party or parties to be represented by separate counsel (in which case the Indemnifying Party shall not have the right to assume the defense of such action on behalf of the Indemnified Party or parties, it being understood, however, that the Indemnifying Party shall not, in connection with any one such action or separate but substantially similar or related actions in the same jurisdiction arising out of the same general allegations or circumstances, be liable for the reasonable fees and expenses of more than one separate firm of attorneys for the Indemnified Party or parties. No settlement of any action against an Indemnified Part shall be made without the consent of the Indemnifying Party and no Indemnifying Party, in the defense of any such claim or action, shall, except with the consent of the Indemnified Party, consent to entry of any judgment or enter into any settlement which does not include as an unconditional term thereof the giving by the claimant or plaintiff to such Indemnified Party of a release from all liability in respect to such claim or litigation. If the Indemnified Party fails to execute a release or other settlement agreement under circumstances where all of the conditions of the preceding sentence have been met, the Indemnifying Party shall have no further obligation to the Indemnified Party pursuant to this Agreement or otherwise.


texts: StackOverflow logo change vs. user contributions and CC BY-SA 3.0

texts:
After the temporary LoveOverflow logo change, there has been a whole lot of fuss about SO and political matters, including a question on MSO claiming that displaying such a logo on a page with user contributions implies a connection between the contributing users and support for same-sex marriages, thus violating the terms of the CC BY-SA 3.0 license under which all user contributions are submitted.

Whether or not this is true is heavily debated in the comments of the linked question, but (unsurprisingly) no-one on StackOverflow seems to be a lawyer, so I'm turning to you to ask:

Does the recent StackOverflow logo change violate the terms of CC BY-SA 3.0 or not?
Or could it be considered a borderline case?

And if it does violate the license, would it be enough to include an additional footer notice along the lines of

  Contributing users are in no way connected to any political view of stack exchange inc or its staff.

in order to comply with it?


texts:
Assume a person licences a work to the world as of the terms of a licence O . Basically anyone can use the work but must obey terms O . A person takes it and licences it to third person under the terms L which being violate O .
Now this other person uses this work commercially without knowing it was actually infringing the actual copyright holder's copyright . Which of the two is liable for infringement and will this another be forced to follow terms of O even if it causes huge loss ? For example someone licences LGPL-licenced work to another person under MIT licence who makes a billion dollar closed source software out of it . Will he be forced to follow LGPL and release source code or refund all sales ?


texts: Picture credits -> must the page of inclusion be named?

texts:
we're currently developing a website. For this we use pictures for which we need to place an attribution on the legal notice page.

Now we're wondering if it's enough to place the following information there:

file name
path
image content (i.e. the visual image itself)
the copyright (maybe including link)

Is this enough or do we need to include also the urls of the sub pages where we place the image?

Thanks in advance!

Bye The_Unknown


texts:
I see that United Airlines publicly display the first few characters of the last name of their passengers taking a given flight.

Example from https://www.united.com/en/us/flightstatus/details/855/2020-01-14/LIM/IAH/UA (mirror):

Are airlines allowed to publicly display the first few characters of the last name of their passengers taking a given flight?


texts: Is this request for formal resignation right/fair?

texts:
I'm in a more-than-two-year fixed-contract job in the UK, ending in a few months (employee/employer type of contract). I just received an email stating:

For the record, I need to advise that there would have been opportunity to extend your contract so this would be a resignation rather than redundancy matter.
On that basis, please can you submit your formal resignation to ...

Regarding the "there would have been opportunity to extend your contract", all I can say is that my boss offered me the possibility of extending the contract "for some time" (less than a year), but for personal reasons I need to move to a different town. In any case, I never received a formal extension offer. Perhaps more importantly, because I rejected the "extension offer", my employeer will hire a replacement.
Now, is this an unfair request, perhaps asking for myself to renounce redundancy (or other) rights? The official information in the UK government website about fixed-term contracts states:

Anyone who’s worked continually for the same employer for 2 years or more has the same redundancy rights as a permanent employee.

Further on, regarding ending a fixed-contract, it says:

If a contract isn’t renewed
This is considered to be a dismissal, and if the employee has 2 years’ service the employer needs to show that there’s a ‘fair’ reason for not renewing the contract (eg, if they were planning to stop doing the work the contract was for). ...
They may be entitled to statutory redundancy payments after 2 years’ service if the reason for non-renewal is redundancy. [emphasis mine]

So, there seems to be a difference between dismisal and redundancy. In fact, the official UK government website regarding redundancies states:

Redundancy is a form of dismissal from your job. It happens when employers need to reduce their workforce.

So, it seems ending of fixed-contract is not per se reason for redundancy, specially given that the employer will hire someone for my position.
My questions now:

is my analysis correct? This is, am I not entitled to redundancy rights?
should I send a resignation message for a fixed-term contract, if it is evident the contract is to finish anyway?
if not, why would I be asked to do so?


texts: Interpretation of "When Children Are Present" specifically on California speed limit signs

texts:
The question What do, "X speed limit while children are present", street signs mean, specifically? has an upvoted answer indicating that the "When children are present" speed limit varies by jurisdiction.
This question, in response, is specifically for one jurisdiction: California.  What is the meaning of "when children are present" on speed limit signs (non-flashing)?  Does it refer to only tehe periods where children are visibly present? Or school hours? Or when there is an after-school football game? How is one to ascertain the presence or absence of children from the school under Californian law?


texts: Distribute Licensed library with stripped code

texts:
I am currently having a bit of a struggle. I wrote a software that uses some methods from Mojangs Minecraft Server Software.

The project is open source and I want to compile, test, etc. my project using a CI software. To build the project the CI needs the Minecraft Server Software as a library.

Mojang does not allow to distribute the decompiled Server code. Now I am wondering if I could just remove the code from all the method bodies and just upload the library without the actual code (just the classes' interfaces with method declarations, variables, etc.) and then be on the legal side.


texts: GDPR Requirements for restricted use corporate webapp

texts:
The GDPR is very complicated, and while its requirements may be crystal clear to those who are intimately familiar with it, it is not at all clear to most as to what the exact requirements are in all circumstances.

My company has a web based product where access is granted only to individuals who are allowed to use the app, by our company, or other companies that have contracted for the use of our product by their own users.  I.e. a user can not simply go to our webpage and create an account for themselves, we have to do it for them.

We currently require and store only information required for business purposes, such as name, phone #, email address, company, etc.  This information is stored in an encrypted database.

We don't "process" this personal information in any way, shape or form, beyond using it to validate users at login time, to contact users when issues arise, to identify current users of specific resources, etc.

The user data is stored in a database, with a UUID.  Any other database field that references the user specifically, contains only the UUID.

There may be other information, for example messages "posted" to an internal memo board, which might contain any sort of information the user, or someone else, might add, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.

Additionally, we log information that is strictly used for debug purposes when problems occur, such as IP addresses.  I do believe, though, that all collected IP addresses are for machines that are part of product, and not specific IP addresses of user machines, although I could be mistaken on that point.

The only cookies we store on the users browser are session based, and are not persistent.

We currently believe that our requirements for GDPR should be fairly simple:

The responsibility we have for removing a users personal data is limited to deleting, or simply overwriting the data in the user record in the database.
Arbitrary personal information contained in memo board posts doesn't need to be removed, as it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find such information.  For example, the user may be named Peter Rabbit, but might be referred to in a memo as simply Peter, or Pete, or Pete Rabbit.
We may be required to scan the memo board posts for exact names, email addresses and phone numbers, and remove them from the memos.
On first login, and every subsequent 12 months, we will issue an opt-in message to the user asking permission to store his/her information, etc.
There will be a mechanism for the user to request removal of their personal information.
As the personal information is required for business purposes, if a user opts-out, or requests removal of their information, we will delete their account and remove/overwrite their user record the database, after possibly scanning the memo board posts for exact matches to the fields in the user record.  Of course there will be appropriate safeguards to avoid someone else maliciously trying to delete another users account.

Questions

Do we need to scrub logfiles of user names and IP addresses that might be attached in some way to users, even when those logfiles might be scattered across hundreds of different machines on the internet?  How would we even be able to discern the connection between a user an an IP address?
Given the stated constraints on the use of personal data in our app, does this strategy seem sound and complete, or are there other considerations that we have missed?


texts: Must an American company comply with Australian surveillance law?

texts:
So there is a law called Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 that was recently made law in Australia. From what I have heard about it, it allows the government to demand that you break security if requested.

So what if your company provides end to end encryption (e.g. Whatsapp), is based in America, and just ignores the Australian court order? What can Australia do to you if you keep your money outside of Australia?


texts: Will Alimony Payments be Tax Deductible if a Support Agreement is Signed in 2018 but not Actually Ordered by the Court until 2019?

texts: I know that starting in 2019, alimony payments are no longer tax deductible, but that agreements entered into before 2019 are grandfathered in. What counts as entering into an agreement for this purpose? Is it enough that the parties sign a settlement agreement providing for spousal support, or does it need to he ordered by a judge in order to be official?


texts:
I have seen the phrase 'reasonable conditions' used quite often in legal texts, and I always get nervous, as I don't know how to interpret it.
Imagine a Confidentiality and Assignment Agreement with the following phrase:

  I also declare that I will assign any and all intellectual property rights generated by me and based on the Proposer’s intellectual property rights or Confidential Information to the Proposer on fair and reasonable conditions, which in case of disputes shall be the same as [...]

How would I go about interpreting this part? And how would the legal ramifications be different if the "reasonable conditions were dropped"? I.e:

  I also declare that I will assign any and all intellectual property rights generated by me and based on the Proposer’s intellectual property rights or Confidential Information to the Proposer, which in case of disputes shall be the same as [...]


texts: Where can I find the progression of litigation?

texts:
I'll read a news article on a controversial arrest such as https://www.mtpr.org/post/montana-women-detained-speaking-spanish-sue-border-protection. But then I can't find the follow up.

Sometimes a simple Google search and then checking "news" turns up the answer; usually, it doesn't.

Any way to find an update?


texts:
Alice marries Bob under the community of property ("communauté de biens") regime.
Alice brings in 100k€, Bob 50k€. Or it can be a joint possessed ("indivision") 150 k€ house, 100k€ of which belongs to Alice, 50k€ to Bob. I assume it makes no difference.
They break up. Due to the community of property, they should both get 75k€. Does it have to be 50/50 in any case or is it more like a "default" split and people may share differently if they agree or if lawyers/judge say so?
Case 1 - Friendly break-up: They agree on a 100k - 50k share. Is this feasible? Or is it considered a gift ("donation") of 25k€ from Bob to Alice, and taxed as such.
Case 2 - Unfriendly break-up: Bob want 75k€ - 75k€. Alice wants to get back her 100 k€. Does it have to be 50/50, or can Alice's lawyer argue that she brought in 100 k€ and should get them back? Does it matter how long between the marriage and the break-up? I imagine a break-up after a few months could be considered bad faith from Bob, for instance.


texts: Does Norway's new "LGBTQ+ Hate Speech" outlaw reading parts of religious texts in churches / mosques?

texts:
Recently I read a National Review article titled Norway’s ‘LGBTQ+ Hate Speech’ Law. It quotes from a Reuters article Norway outlaws hate speech against trans and bisexual people. That article is saying:

People found guilty of hate speech face a fine or up to a year in jail
for private remarks, and a maximum of three years in jail for public
comments, according to the penal code.

Given that, for example the bible contains passages like Leviticus 20:13:

If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with
a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be
put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.

I am fairly sure the quran has equally despicable passages. Does that mean that these are not allowed to be read publicly (ie in a church/mosque), or am I misunderstanding the NR / Reuters reference?


texts: How to preserve resources while trying to solidify a shaky marriage

texts:
My wife and I have been married for a few years and have a prenup which essentially states that all inherited property and previously declared property is "personal" and "community property" is defined as whatever we buy with our incomes (including a home, 401k, etc) as long as this is not paid for with inherited or gifted money from family.

We are not entirely sure how our marriage will play out, but until we get on a good steady path, I don't want to buy a home because I don't want to grant tens of thousands of dollars in "community property" to someone who may not stay married to me or may be too different to stay married to.

My lawyer mentioned a "quit-claim deed" can help flag a home purchase as separate property if we both sign it (comments about this are welcome), but I am also curious about how to manage personal resources in other ways before committing to buy a house. Instead of saving cash for a down payment on a house, can I save cash and either "gamble" with it or give it as gifts to my family? Then once it is time to buy, have my family bequeath the money to me when I'm ready, so this money (or gold/silver, etc) is then considered personal property?

My folks still have a few decades left in them, so I'd like to have some way to safely proceed deeper into this marriage without giving up too much capital, at least until we can work things out. We want to keep the marriage together for our child, but I don't want to end up losing too hard if this ends up not working out. Thanks.


texts: Requirement to carry driver's license and registration in Massachusetts

texts: I was reading Chapter 90 in the Massachusetts General Laws and I could not find any provision requiring an operator to carry a driver's license and registration documents in the vehicle while operating it. Is it illegal in Massachusetts to operate a vehicle while not carrying a license and/or registration?


texts:
I'm from Austria, which is a german speaking country.

In the german language, in jurisprudence, we have lots of latin terms / expressions, because latin expressions seem to be more exact.

Is this also the case in the english speaking world?

Thanks alot.


texts: I'm being hacked, stalked and gossiped about. Do I have a chance at suing for slander, character assasination?

texts:
I am a member of a laid back, everyone's equal, religious organization. Several years ago, a new parson was hired. He is a power seeker, a liar, and a narcissist. He aligned himself with a low but narcissistic staff person. The two of them have taken over the organization, running it like a business, not a religion.

The female staff person harassed me for several years until I asked for mediation.  During that meeting, she replied to every comment with "I don't remember". After that meeting, she had the parson continue to make the allegations for her.

Little by little, the staff person began telling other congregants horrible gossip about me. Each person whom I have spoken to so far, has told me the identical story. They believe her gossip at my expense. Why, I cannot imagine.

The staff person, has said that I am mentally ill. That during the last year and a half, I have done all sorts of wrong-doings, that I am a liar, that I have claimed that my computer has been hacked (it has, and the person has begun stalking me)but that I have not been hacked, that I have behaved badly.

The truth is that I left the church exactly a year and a half ago out of fear of more retaliation from her. I  have a serious illness which gets worse with stress. I have literally been in my home this entire time. And, coincidentally, I got hacked as soon as I left the organization.

Various congregants have told me basically the same thing. Some have added that "I am not the center of the universe", "Nobody cares about you if you are sick or not", "We don't believe you are sick", "You can't be trusted".

Lastly, like a good mystery movie, guess who the hacker is? The pastor.

I have the proof. I have given it go the authorities. They don't seem to be in any rush. It sounds fantastically unbelievable.

These two people have set themselves up to rule this organization by lying, skimming off the top of the financial donations and more. People in the congregation experience cognitive dissonance. They can't imagine that what I say is true
It is a holy nightmare for me.I have gone to every authority for help, including Domestic Violence Shelters.

Now, with this horrific gossip, I am losing whatever support I have. There are 400 people in this organization. Do I have a shot at a court case or is that not worth my time? These people have maliciously made my life a living hell. I am still being hacked, every day.


texts: What is the legal status of refusing to hire or work with gay employees in the workplace?

texts:
Let us say you found out somehow that an employee is gay. Maybe he mentioned his husband, the way many men talk about their wives. ("Any plans this weekend?" "I'm going to see my husband's family." This is not a graphic description of any bedroom activities and should not be conflated with such.)

Or in the case of a candidate, let us say you (as the hiring manager) did a social media search and found pictures of his wedding, in which he married another man.

Oops! You didn't know - and you didn't want to know - but now you do.

As a manager, are you legally allowed to let this affect your hiring decision?

As an employee, are you legally allowed to refuse to work with a gay employee?

My understanding, as someone born and raised in a Christian family, is that most Christians oppose homosexual sexual acts and by extension, homosexual marriage. But I have never heard of a religious justification to oppose working with a gay employee or hiring a gay candidate. As such, I don't think it's a question of religious freedom, but IANAL.


texts: Can a witness answer a yes/no question with "Sure"?

texts: When a witness is presented with a yes or no question on cross-examination, is answering "sure" an equivalent answer to "yes"? Specifically, could it be viewed by a jury that a witness answering "sure" is not as strong of an affirmative answer to the question as "yes" would be?


texts: Is it legal to enter a shared room you haven't been given permission to in a shared home?

texts: In a shared house (one with roommates) is it breaking the law if one enters the bedroom another without his permission? What if the door is closed? This is not taking any lease into consideration.


texts: Is it illegal to state facts I got from othere sources and get paid for it?

texts: I'm making a video project based off the beta of a certain video game for You Tube. I got some history from a website and I want to get paid for my video with ads. Am I allowed to do this if I got my info from another site, even if I credit them?


texts: Could a school legally prevent two children from talking during the pledge of allegence?

texts:
It's already been settled that schools can not legally require a child to recite the pledge of allegiance in the United States of America, in fact they can't even require a child to stand up for it, per a separate case.

So lets say that two students in a classroom, who sit next to each other, have chosen not to stand or participate in the pledge of allegiance.  During the pledge of allegiance the two students continue an unrelated whispered conversation while the rest of the kids are reciting the pledge of allegiance.

Can the school prevent these students from having this conversation?

On the one hand forcing students to maintain a respectful silence feels similar to forcing a child to stand during the pledge as an indirect method of supporting the pledge.  However, schools have the right to prevent talking and disorderly conduct from children in general.

If the children in question were speaking quietly, not loud enough to be overly disruptive to those participating in the pledge, would these theoretical students have a right spend the time talking, since they refuse to support the pledge, or would the school be legally justified and forcing them to stay silent during it?


texts: Are there limits on unreasonable claims by an attorney?

texts:
Attorneys often write letters to third parties, in order to get something for their client. E.g. if A trespasses against B, B's attorney may write a letter to A stating that the trespass must be remedied, lest the matter end up in court. I will refer to the situation where an attorney implies that there may be legal action against a person as a "lawyer threat". The crucial thing about a lawyer threat is that it is simply an implication of possible legal action communicated to a third party, and it is distinct from to actually taking an action (filing a lawsuit, for instance). What, if any, are the enforceable limits on lawyer threats? By "enforceable", I mean that appropriate law boards in a state have the power to penalize (including officially reprimand) an attorney for violation of rules. I don't want to limit this to just formal demand letters (unless there's a rule against communication with third parties not via formal demand).

I presume that if a claim has legal merit, the attorney can represent to the third party that a lawsuit may arise if the situation is not remedied. My interest is the situation where this is not true, and I am specifically interested in established legal principles. ABA Model Rule 3.1 is related:

  A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or
  controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact
  for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith
  argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law. A
  lawyer for the defendant in a criminal proceeding, or the respondent
  in a proceeding that could result in incarceration, may nevertheless
  so defend the proceeding as to require that every element of the case
  be established

Here is a hypothetical example. A sells widget X; B has some belief of a property interest in widget X (by patent, contract, or whatever); B's attorney "knows" that B's claimed interest is not going to succeed in court, because (if the basis is a contract) there is actually no contract between A and B. The attorney might run into legal problems if he files a meritless suit against A, but could sanctions be imposed for simply implying in a letter that the client may pursue a (meritless) lawsuit?

One part of the rule (which isn't clearly applicable to letters, anyhow) is where it says "includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law". This strikes me as a large escape clause allowing attorneys to contradict established law, if they think they can make a case for the contradiction.


texts: Legal issues regarding a recent Amazon purchase

texts:
I have purchased a book on Amazon and it was shipped to me. On the front page of the book, it clearly stated:

  Circulation of this edition outside the Indian subcontinent is
  UNAUTHORIZED.

I live in the US and this book is clearly shipped out of the Indian subcontinent. The book condition is not new but used (like new). Am not sure if this purchase is illegal and what I should do about it.


texts: Re-posting a screenshot on Stack Exchange or Quora

texts: Can Bob legally post a screenshot of a program in a Stack Exchange or Quora post, and if so does he need to add any form of credit along with the screenshot? Bob didn't take the screenshot himself, he found it somewhere on Internet (e.g. on the software editor's website). The screenshot hasn't been modified at all: it's simply an image showing the program.


texts: How would a court decide damages when it comes to art?

texts:
Recently, there was a man who ate a banana that was part of an art exposition in New York.
The piece of art in question featured a banana taped to a wall and was priced at 120,000$.
As far as I know, the artist never pressed charges and he is not suing either for vandalism.

However, it got me fairly curious as to how a judge would decide damages if this were to go to court. When it comes to art, the valuation, at least in my opinion, often seems to be extraordinary. I think any reasonable person would come to the conclusion that a banana taped to a wall wouldn't be worth 120,000$ but I also understand that some people with extraordinary means can afford to pay these sums. I also believe the reason the man ate the banana was to send a similar message : it's just a banana taped to a wall.

Now there are some pieces of art that I think would justify it's costs such as paintings from Rembrandt or Vermeer that dates from hundreds of years ago. But when it comes to such simple artwork, could a man really be forced to pay anything close to it's valuation as damages if he were to damage the artwork? In this case the banana could even be replaced. But what about cases when it's not easily replaceable? Is it more valuable because a famous person taped the banana to a wall?


texts: Is this fraud? Selling something technically true but most customer wouldn't have bought it?

texts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Comisar#cite_note-4
Steve Comisar sold solar powered clothes drier. He then sent ropes.
I wonder how the US government would handle this? Is this fraud? Technically a rope can indeed be used to dry clothes, namely by hanging it.


texts: Is hosting copyrighted for personal backup purposes illegal

texts:
Suppose that there is a website that allows users to upload game ROMs. These are copyrighted material. Users can only access files that they have uploaded. Is this illegal? Would having the files encrypted with a key that only the user knows before the site stores them change the legality of it?
Edit- Would this be considered fair use?


texts: What is the definition of a "Public Space" for photography?

texts:
I have been researching street photography rights in the US, specifically Portland Oregon, and from what I have learned, it seems to be that if it's not a place where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy, photography of people is okay.  Examples given on Wikimedia Commons were  rooms inside someone's house, or even just a tent on the beach.

What officially, is the definition of which places are okay for photography in the United States?


texts: Is it legal for Microsoft to install software without user approval?

texts:
On several occasions, Microsoft had misled their users to forcefully install updates or unwanted programs (like Windows 10 on Windows 7 here, here, here, and here), it also has forcefully installed the new Edge chromium web browser on W10 computers, and now is forcefully installing office webapps.
Is this legal?


texts: Is it breaking the law if I break into on my own postbox without damaging it?

texts:
I'm new to this stack and need some advice.

I'll explain my situation as best I can. I live in an apartment building, My S/O has the keys to our postbox(which resides inside the building  near the entrance). I need to get some forms that may or may not be there that are urgent and need to be dealt with asap. Both our names are on the lease and I have my drivers licence with my address on it as proof that I live in the building.

Here's the question;

if I were to break into our postbox (without damaging it) could there be any legal repercussions?


texts: Are olympiad problems and standardized exams copyrighted?

texts: If they are, can anyone change the wording of the exercises and use them? Also could that person be in another country and translate the exercises to another language?


texts: Does my company need an escrow license if we are a marketplace website?

texts:
We have a marketplace website that allows buyers to purchase content from sellers. We then pay out the seller's balance after 30 days. Our payment processor is requiring us to have an escrow license since we hold funds. We are in California and on the website on how to apply for a license

http://www.dbo.ca.gov/Licensees/Escrow_Law/FAQS.asp#HowToApply

it mentions that license is only for corporations whose main purpose is providing escrow services. However, I feel like this doesn't apply to us since our main purpose is being a marketplace + community. Do we really need an escrow license for our situation?


texts: Lease Terminated, Tenant Has Not Moved Out Yet and Cannot Pay Rent

texts: The lease between me and my tenant expired yesterday and the tenant doesn't want to renew/sign the new lease for another yearly term. The tenant didn't tell me that she was going to move out and not renew her lease til yesterday. There was no 30 days notice or anything till I asked. However, the tenants plans to continue to live in the apartment till she finds a new apartment, which she anticipates to be the beginning of next month or the middle of next month. For this month's rent, the tenant wants to use her security deposit as a form of her payment for rent. I told her that I cannot accept that. It was stated in the expired lease that the security deposit cannot be used as rent. I know that the lease expired but I want her to pay this month's rent and still have her security deposit just in case there are damages found after she vacates the apartment. She gave me the excuse that finding a new apartment is expensive and she can't afford to pay this month's rent. I told her that I can give her an extension but she would still have to pay this month's rent. If she doesn't pay this month's rent, is there any way that I can file a small claim against her in a housing court? We're located in NY.


texts: Could the former publisher of the LA Times have been charged with extortion for using a damaging audio recording against his former employer?

texts:
Story here: https://www.npr.org/2018/12/12/675961765/tribune-tronc-and-beyond-a-slur-a-secret-payout-and-a-looming-sale

In summary, after being fired from the LAT, Davan Maharaj threatened to sue the owner Tronc for wrongful termination, and then played part of a damaging recording to a mediator. He then received a significant payout.

So, assuming Maharaj didn't explicitly threaten to release the recording unless he received X amount of money(e.g. suppose he just said "My boss was so awful to work, just listen to this recording!"), would it have been possible to charge Maharaj with extortion just for disclosing that he had the recording? Could it be considered an implied threat to just to show off the recording in the manner he did?

I'm not asking whether Tronc or a DA would want to file charges(or whether the case would be winnable), just whether they could. On that note, wouldn't it be impossible for Tronc to suppress the contents of the recording if there was a criminal trial?


texts: What kind of ownership do I have over articles I wrote?

texts: So, a few months ago I was working for a big blog and then I resigned because I didn't want to write any more articles for them. Some of the articles were original and a few were translations by me from other articles. Do I have any claim to ownership if the articles? I had no contract with them governing what I can do with the material I wrote, so would it be possible for me to ask the owner of the blog to take them down? Is there any law on this issue? In case you need to know I live in Greece, and the blog is based in Greece.


texts: Is it legal to put a CCTV camera on a residential property covering a path with an easement?

texts:
What are the legal implications of a house owner putting a camera on their house which points at a path with an easement on it, such that someone else has a right of way on that path? I.e. it's not a public right of way and nor is it completely private property.
The aim is for the owner of the house to have evidence if the person with the easement does anything to the owner's property, but not at the expense of incriminating themselves if this is not technically legal.
This is in England.


texts: Can an HOA block an unescorted guest at the gate?

texts:
I have a friend whose HOA has threated to block their guests unless she personally escorts them in. They are doing this as an anti-renting strategy, but of course they have no way of knowing whether a guest is her sister, a renter or what.

Assuming the owner notifies the gate that the guest is authorized to enter their property, can the gate nevertheless refuse entry to the person?

I assume this would an actionable tort for denying the home owner the full enjoyment of their property. Am I correct?

My understanding is that if an HOA thinks an occupant of a house is there in violation of a covenant, then they have to go to court to get a remedy for that; they can't just block them at the security gate.

UPDATE

Further research indicates a couple of things: a renter who is denied access by a gate guard could apparently make a claim against the HOA for tort of nuisance and free enjoyment of the property to which they are entitled.

A visitor, however, could not make such a claim, so in that instance what recourse does the property owner have? In other words, if a party prevents a visitor invited onto their property from entering the property, does the property owner have a claim against the person blocking access?


texts:
Ex daughter in law forged mine and my husbands signature on a title to a camper.  (Valued at 4500.00.)  This was done a week after my husband passed away.  She was working as a Police Dispatcher and used her notary stamp.

the treasurer stated she needed someone other than herself to notarize it.  she went back to work and used a co workers who was unaware.  She also forged her signature.

A court hearing was filed and she received 3 months probation.  I was upset to hear of this but, more upset that i wasn't even notified it had already gone to court.

First, she did all this while wearing her uniform at work.  She also forged and used another dispatchers notary stamp.  Does that make it a Federal crime as well? Second, does the courts have to let one know a date for any hearing?  (I had called once to see if it had been scheduled.)

This is in Wyoming.


texts: Getting courts to reconsider judgment when new evidence crops up

texts:
Say a District Court in New Zealand considers a proposed private prosecution and makes a ruling R that it will not go ahead because of insufficient evidence under s26(3)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

In the meantime, a new witness comes forward with a very strong evidence. In fact, ruling R is based on the lack of this particular evidence that the new witness now provides.

What would be the right way to get the court (or the next level court) to give the prosecution a go, i.e. accept the charging document for filing and issue summons to the defendant? Does it need to be:

An application to the first level court to review ruling R based
on the new evidence? This seems to be the most sensible, but it does not seem to be provided by the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (UPDATE: this has now been rejected by the court which said that ruling R stands as the new evidence was not available when the charges were proposed); OR
A new charging document, even though exactly the same as attempted before but now accompanied by the new evidence? Seems perfectly possible, though rather nonsensical as the charges, evidence and exhibits are all the same but plus just one witness; OR
An appeal to the next level court against ruling R? But this kind of pre-trial decision is not on the list of ones allowed to appeal against. Also, this option would only seem to be suitable if R was seen incorrect in isolation — without the new evidence; OR
A Judicial Review of the refusal to take the new evidence in account and review ruling R?; OR
Something else?


texts: Why haven't jurists corrected the ambiguity of 'civil law'?

texts:
Source: A Brief Introduction to Law in Canada (Mar. 2017). p. 39 Bottom. Box 2.3.

"Common Law" and "Civil Law": Alternate Meanings
As we have seen, some legal expressions have different meanings in different contexts. It addition
to referring to legal systems, the phrases "common law" and "civil law" can have other meanings, too.
  The phrase civil law is sometimes used as a synonym for private law—in other words, laws governing the relationship between persons (as opposed to public law, which deals with the legal relationship between a state and its individual members). Private and public law are generally
recognized distinctions in both common law and civil law systems (except perhaps in some so-cialist countries). Therefore, somewhat confusingly, there could be a reference to civil law (where
the context means private law) and its application in a common law jurisdiction. Adding to the
confusion is the fact that in many civil law countries, their civil codes are primarily concert*d with
private, or civil, law matters as opposed to public law ones. Criminal law and other areas of public law are frequently dealt with in other "non-code" statutes. However, the key features of civil law
systems—such as the inquisitorial approach of judges and the lack of precedent—usually apply
to these legislated areas as well.
  The phrase common law, apart from its reference to the legal system that originated in England.
can also refer to decisions by courts exercising their "common law" jurisdiction (used in contradistinction to decisions by courts exercising their "equitable" jurisdiction), and to case law generally
(used in contradistinction to legislation, or enacted laws).

This polysemy of 'civil law' (e.g. our "civil-law" tag) can be easily untangled, if 'civil law' is restricted to mean only private law OR only continental law, or if 'civil law' is abandoned and overriden with the latter two terms.
So why haven't jurists (lawyers and judges) done so?


texts: Property rights: the power of testimonial disposition

texts:
Property is a bundle of rights or legally protected interests, including:

Right of possession, enjoyment, and use
Unrestricted right of disposition
Right to exclude others
power of testimonial disposition

A property owner may hold all or just some of these rights.

Please explain what is meant by "power of testimonial disposition". What exactly is testimonial disposition? And what does it have to do with property rights?


texts: Can a work copyrighted in the USA enter the public domain sooner in another country?

texts:
The duration of copyright in the US is the lifetime of the author plus 60 years. But in Uruguay it is life plus 50 years.

Does that mean the work is in the public domain in Uruguay after 50 years?

There are several other countries with copyright duration lesser than the US.


texts: Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and taking payments without customer present

texts:
On September 14, 2019, a new regulation for authentication will be introduced in Europe. Known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), this regulation will apply to online payments within the European Economic Area (EEA) where the cardholder’s bank and the business’s payment provider are both in the EEA. Some businesses outside of Europe may also be impacted depending on how European issuers implement the new authentication rules.
SCA requires that businesses use two independent authentication elements to verify payments. Transactions that don’t meet these new authentication requirements or qualify for any exemption may be declined starting September 14, 2019. 3D Secure 2—the new version of 3D Secure rolling out in 2019—will be the primary authentication method used to meet SCA requirements for card payments.

Source
These new regulations mean that for certain purchases 3D secure (or equivalent) will be required when purchasing online.
My question is how will this affect purchases where the customer is not present, eg. over the phone. I would assume the customer would not be expected to give their verified by visa password over the phone. I have not been able to find information on this specifically.


texts: According to GDPR, do I need a contract for processing on behalf with my e-mail provider?

texts:
It seems already sufficiently established that a contract for processing on behalf according to GDPR Art. 28 is necessary with one's web hoster.

Now, I am wondering whether the same is true for the e-mail provider that provides the e-mail address that serves as the official contact address for a website. Do I need a contract for processing on behalf with my e-mail provider, if they host the address that might receive inquiries from strangers who have visited my website?

My straightforward guess would be that my e-mail inbox can contain more personal data about people who visited my website by orders of magnitude than a server log that just stores IP addresses ever will.

On the other hand, I notice that at least e-mail providers here in Germany do not seem to offer any templates for such contracts (unlike various local web hosters). Furthermore, the only really explicit statement on the matter that I could find appears to come from one such e-mail provider, GMX, saying:

  Bei GMX-TopMail handelt es sich um einen Telekommunikationsdienst. Die Erhebung, Verarbeitung und Speicherung von personenbezogenen Daten und anfallenden Verkehrsdaten regelt das Telekommunikationsgesetz (TKG).

  Ein gesonderter Auftragsdatenverarbeitungsvertrag ist bei solchen Telekommunikationsdiensten vom Gesetzgeber nicht vorgesehen.

In English:

  GMX TopMail is a telecommunication service. Retrieval, processing, and storing of personal data and any mail detail records are regulated by the telecommunication law (TKG).

  The legislator does not assume any separate contract for processing on behalf for such telecommunication services.

It should be noted that this statement refers explicitly to the paid variant of their e-mail service, and that I understand the statement to say "separate contract" (separate from, or in addition to what?).


texts:
They claim to provide photos for universal use under a perpetual no-royalty no-attribution license.
From https://unsplash.com/license

All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.
More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.

Does this constitute a valid license ?
How, if challenged, can I use it to prove that I'm using a given photo downloaded from unsplash under license if the photo was later removed or the service was shut down ?


texts: Has anyone been convicted of perjury for false DMCA takedown notices?

texts:
When a copyright holder demands that infringing material be taken down, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) paragraph 3A(vi) requires:

  A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly in-fringed.

A common complaint about DMCA is that in practice there are no consequences for false or negligently erroneous DMCA takedown demands. This, combined with the serious legal consequences of failing to respond to a takedown demand leads to "over-removal".

Does the perjury clause apply to all the information in the notification, or only the statement that the complaining party is authorised to act etc. ?
Has anyone ever actually been convicted of perjury as a result of sending a DMCA notice that lied about the "good faith belief" in the infringing nature of the target material?


texts: What does it take to get an "advisory opinion" out of my public access ombudsman?

texts:
According to statute, my state has a public access ombudsman who is to oversee the state's freedom of access laws.  (Kind of like the FOIA at the federal level.)  According to statute the ombudsman:

http://legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/5/title5sec200-I.html

  Duties.   The ombudsman shall: ...
  D. Furnish, upon request, advisory opinions regarding the interpretation of and compliance with
  the State's freedom of access laws to any person or public agency or
  official in an expeditious manner. The ombudsman may not issue an
  advisory opinion concerning a specific matter with respect to which a
  lawsuit has been filed under Title 1, chapter 13. Advisory opinions
  must be publicly available after distribution to the requestor and the
  parties involved; [2013, c. 229, §1 (AMD).]

To date, since the first ombudsman's appointment, the ombudsman has never once furnished an official advisory opinion.

http://www.pressherald.com/2013/03/10/after-first-6-months-public-access-chief-gets-mixed-reviews_2013-03-10/

According to that article, some guy once asked for an advisory opinion and didn't get one.  The spokesman for the ombudsman said the reason was because:

  Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said
  Simpson’s case was not the kind of case that Kielty could resolve with
  an advisory opinion.

  “This was a situation that required an interpretation beyond the scope
  of the FOAA law,” said Feeley, who responded at Kielty’s request.

I have asked for advisory opinions in a number of different instances now.  In every case, I have been met with silence.  I once asked for an advisory opinion with respect to this question I asked on the stack exchange.  I once asked for an advisory opinion with respect to a FOAA request I made directly to her that she denied (with silence) asking for all advisory opinions she has ever created, including ones to me.  And now I want to ask for an advisory opinion with respect to a meeting event that went unrecorded. (Meeting records are under her chapter.)  My guess is that request will go unheeded as well.

She does respond to other requests that don't have to do with "advisory opinions."

My question is, what does it take to get an advisory opinion out of her?


texts: Does the 5th Amendment only apply to federal government

texts:
The 5th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says

  No person shall be held to answer for a... crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury..., nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...

First of all, most sources* seem to indicate that this only applies to federal government and that this particular law doesn't forbid citizens from committing murder (though other laws obviously do).  Why is that?  The Amendment doesn't say that it's only talking about federal government.  In fact, the way its worded implies that it applies to anyone.  It says that no person shall be held to answer for a... crime period.  It doesn't say that no person shall be held to answer of a... crime by federal government.  Why doesn't this amendment apply to citizens instead of only federal government?

Second of all, if it does only apply to federal government, does that mean that government can declare it legal for citizens to kill a particular person?  If not, how does the Fifth Amendment make that illegal if it only applies to federal government?  Or if the Fifth Amendment is not the law that forbids government from doing as I described, what law does (if any)?  In other words, what law makes it illegal for government to declare it legal for citizens to kill a certain person without that person being sentenced to death under the "due process of he law"?  If it is the Fifth Amendment, how does it forbid government from so doing if the law applies to federal government only?

*
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fifth_amendment

https://system.uslegal.com/u-s-constitution/amendment-v/background/applicability-of-the-fifth-amendment-to-the-states/


texts: Can I use game name in domain of satiric blog

texts:
I wanted to start a satiric blog with funny articles, fake level up guides and ranting on updates for a popular French game. Can I register a domain name with the game name and a different TLD without breaking copyright?

For example: https://leagueoflegends.com is the official website for a game

Could I register something like: https://leagueoflegends.online and have my blog hosted there? I know in Europe blogs are protected by freedom of speech however the domain name does contain the game name.


texts: What law makes watching pirated movies illegal?

texts:
I understand that distribution of copyrighted content is illegal, but have always thought that receiving that content was legal. However, I recently read a news article stating that people streaming pirated movies were being sued.

What law prevents you from watching these illegal movies?

What if the movie is being illegally aired on TV (and I was aware of this)? Would I have to immediately change the channel?

What if a professor distributed photocopies of a book without the author's permission? Would I have to avoid looking at those pages and throw them away as soon as I had a chance?


texts: How much from the trial is won/lost by the contract itself?

texts:
A while ago I heard in a YouTube clip (I think it was from Legal Eagle channel) something like "95% of the contract disputes are won/lost directly by the contract itself"; unfortunately I cannot find it again.
Does anyone knows anything about the validity of such a statement? Are there studies? Or, is it like an obvious thing?


texts: Why it's legal to tip waiter and not a doctor?

texts:
Waiters and a wide range of other services industry employees are often tipped for their good work and as a sign of gratitude.

Why when a teacher or a doctor is being tipped, it counts as bribery and is therefore illegal?


texts: Could a prosecutor agree to allow a defendant to plead guilty to a crime they knew they had not committed, per this "Law and Order: SVU" episode?

texts:
In the 9th episode of series 15 of "Law and Order: SVU", a serial rapist offers to plead guilty to a rape which he did not commit, while refusing to plead guilty to a series of rapes which he actually did commit (the reasons for this are complex and irrelevant to the question).
The prosecutor and police seriously consider accepting his offer, even though they know he didn't commit the crime he wants to confess to, because they don't think they can prove the crimes he actually did commit.  This doesn't sound to me like something which would be legal.  Could a prosecutor really agree to a plea bargain deal which would involve the defendant confessing to something which the prosecutor knows they didn't do?
I know it's TV, but "Law and Order" has a reputation for being realistic TV.


texts: In Australia, is it a general rule that the losing side of a legal challenge pays the winners legal costs?

texts:
Watching a recent news broadcast a guest referred to a constitutional law expert said; "if you lose a court case, even on a technicality, the usual practice, the usual rule is that you have to pay the other sides costs".
This is something that I've just generally accepted as true without question, which has impacted my behaviour several times where I've considered contesting something, but wasn't sure I'd win, and the costs of just paying what was asked were low, a couple examples off the top of my head from personal experience are:

not having contested a parking ticket where there was no sign (I later found the sign in the bushes) with a time limit ($50)
paying late a late fee to a company where I paid the day before the new payment period ($10)

How common is it for someone bringing about legal challenge in Australia to be penalised with paying the legal costs of the defendant - is it just when the case is frivolous, or is it common when the case was genuinely ambiguous, but still went in favour of the defendant?


texts: Licensing software opensource but keeping reputation as the creator

texts:
I am building a web application for a client of mine.  I will likely wish to use the software with other clients.  My client has no expectations that they will have exclusive rights to the software, but also doesn't want to be stranded if I get out of the business and licencing prevents them from being able to modify the source code.  I am strongly involved in creating the application, but am paying someone to write much of the script.  I wish to be seen as the main contributor of this software as it will help me from a marketing standpoint.

My thoughts are to do the following:

Licence the software opensource.  Probably GNU General Public License (GPL), GNU Library or "Lesser" General Public License (LGPL), or MIT license, but I am not sure which one.  Maybe more than one?
Add to the HTML of each page of the application "Created by MyCompany under the XYZ opensource licence".

Is this an applicable approach?  Which opensource license might be most applicable?  If the individual I am paying to write much of the script is okay with me putting my name as the author, is this okay?  What else should I be doing?


texts: What legal reason is there to publicize Michael Cohen's client list?

texts:
As a lay person I'm a little shocked at the proceedings with the Michael Cohen raid, as it clearly has some issues with attorney client privilege.

While it may have bearing on the court case, and I'm not positive it does, I'm curious why a client list or more specifically Sean Hannity's name would be made public when the details could be handled in private. This feels like a political hit job carried out by the courts rather than the wheels of justice doing their thing. Maybe we will find out more details that will make it more relevant. So far it seems like none little of the evidence has actually been reviewed.

Help me understand the public/private nature of courtroom findings, requests as it pertains to this case.


texts: Is the right to engage in scientific inquiry a fundamental right?

texts: I am curious as to whether there is any precedent in the U.S. regarding the level of scrutiny applied to 14th amendment claims against statutes that hinder a person's ability to engage in scientific research. In particular, whether the courts have deemed the right to engage in science as "inherent in the concept of ordered liberty" or "deeply rooted in our country's history and tradition." It seems plausible to me that a case could be made for this, which would raise the level of scrutiny above rational basis.


texts: 'payable in like kind'? 'non-electing' shares?

texts:
each share of Series B Preferred Stock shall, by virtue of such
  transaction and on the same terms as apply to the holders of Common
  Stock, be converted into or exchanged for the aggregate amount of
  shares, securities, cash or other property (payable in like kind)
  receivable by a holder of the number of shares of Common Stock into
  which such shares of Series B Preferred Stock could have been
  converted immediately prior to such transaction if such holder of
  Common Stock failed to exercise any rights of election as to the kind
  or amount of shares, securities, cash or other property receivable
  upon such transaction (provided that, if the kind or amount of shares,
  securities, cash or other property receivable upon such transaction is
  not the same for each non-electing share, then the kind and amount of
  shares, securities, cash or other property receivable upon such
  transaction for each non-electing share shall be the kind and amount
  so receivable per share by a plurality of non-electing shares).

Kindly explain the terms in Bold&Italic.


texts: How does the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings address cooperation between between EU and non-EU insolvency courts?

texts: In particular, I am curious how the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings addresses issues with cross-border corporate groups. The UNCITRAL Model Law contains provisions on the cooperation of insolvency courts in international proceedings. Have similar provisions been translated into the EC Regulation? And if not, has the European Union entered into any cross-border protocols or other arrangements to coordinate proceedings with courts in other countries?