texts: Is it possible to seek a declaratory judgment without having a dispute / opposing sides?

texts:
Specifics: I am a board member of a condominium association in Florida, U.S. Our governing documents (articles of incorporation, declaration of condominium, by-laws) are completely silent on the ownership and/or responsibility for maintenance, repair, or replacement of windows and exterior doors. Additionally, no other meeting minutes, board-adopted rules/regulations, etc., provide any guidance on the subject of windows.

We have been plagued with arguments and differing opinions regarding the responsibility of the doors and windows. There are merits to the differing opinions, many of them specific to our situation (wholesale replacement of all windows and doors 14 years ago due to near-catastrophic hurricane damage; the need to maintain the windows to hurricane-impact standards for both code and insurance reasons; the inability of owners to obtain insurance on windows; etc.). I am not seeking to argue or resolve those specific issues.

The problem I'm trying to solve is that we are unable to amend our documents to be definitive, one way or the other, on the window & door responsibility. Amending the governing documents requires a supermajority of the owners to approve the change. In the past I organized the required number of owners, but when I petitioned the board to bring amendments before the owners, I lost a few votes to opposing arguments. So we're stuck in a null state, with the responsibility undefined, but unable to modify the documents to define the responsibility.

In Florida, condominium complaints can be referred to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes. In years past, the DBPR made many rulings interpreting association documents on a case-by-base basis. However, for the last 15-20 years, the DBPR has specifically rejected any interpretation of condo docs, instead only ruling on statutory infractions such as board election irregularities, providing access to official records, etc. So the DBPR can't provide a solution here.

Can I seek a declaratory judgment, so that until we modify our docs, the position of a court is that the responsibility is "X"?


texts: Is texting landlord about lease renewal legally binding?

texts:
I live in Ohio and was on a one-year lease. The lease expired in May, but my landlord allowed me to go month-to-month after that. In July, I texted her asking if I could renew the lease. She replied that I could and that she would put together some documents to sign. This never happened.

For various reasons, I now need to move and was wondering if my text messages stating my intent to renew are legally binding.


texts: Am I allowed to reverse engineer/decompile a computer program?

texts:
I would like to gather information about how something works from a computer program and use it in my own. However, there is a software licence that forbids it.

  Except as and only to the extent expressly permitted in this License or by applicable law, you may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the [blanked out] or any part thereof.

According to Section 50B of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/50B)

  Decompilation.

  (1)It is not an infringement of copyright for a lawful user of a copy of a computer program expressed in a low level language—

  (a)to convert it into a version expressed in a higher level language, or

  (b)incidentally in the course of so converting the program, to copy it,

  (that is, to “decompile” it), provided that the conditions in subsection (2) are met.

  (2)The conditions are that—

  (a)it is necessary to decompile the program to obtain the information necessary to create an independent program which can be operated with the program decompiled or with another program (“the permitted objective”); and

  (b)the information so obtained is not used for any purpose other than the permitted objective.

  (3)In particular, the conditions in subsection (2) are not met if the lawful user—

  (a)has readily available to him the information necessary to achieve the permitted objective;

  (b)does not confine the decompiling to such acts as are necessary to achieve the permitted objective;

  (c)supplies the information obtained by the decompiling to any person to whom it is not necessary to supply it in order to achieve the permitted objective; or

  (d)uses the information to create a program which is substantially similar in its expression to the program decompiled or to do any act restricted by copyright.

  (4)Where an act is permitted under this section, it is irrelevant whether or not there exists any term or condition in an agreement which purports to prohibit or restrict the act (such terms being, by virtue of section 296A, void).]

Am I allowed to reverse engineer/decompile a computer program, even if a licence forbids me not to? Does it only matter what the laws say in the United Kingdom or do I have to obey the part of the licence?


texts: What, Legally, Justifies Eminent Domain?

texts:
In the United States, under the Taking Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Federal Government's power of Eminent Domain is established:

  nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Therefore, even in a case where the use of Eminent Domain went against the expressed wishes of a given State, so long as it was "justly compensated" the Federal Government has full legal authority of the claiming of land.

My question is: why? I know arguments about public necessity, and the origins of the practice in English Common Law, but what I'm looking for, is twofold:

Where in the Constitution is it stated the Federal Government has full legal jurisdiction over all State land?
Is this interpretation (that the Federal Government has complete control over State land) actually correct?


texts: Dark web youtube videos - legal to post?

texts:
Is it legal to post dark web exploration videos (e.g. exploring virtual drug markers without buying anything) on YouTube without any trouble (I live in Europe, Estonia to be specific)?

And clearly I'm not going to buy anything, just "exploring". So does anyone know? I'm pretty sure I saw series like that by OrdinaryGamers or something, but can it differ from country to country or something?


texts: Do revenue share agreements have to meet minimum wage?

texts: Let's say my company hires a contractor.  They work on revenue share.  If there is not enough revenue to where their share would be greater than or equal to minimum wage, is the company required to cover the difference?  What if this is a full-time employee, opposed to a contractor?


texts: Is it legal for Americans to buy music/movies from those really cheap web sites based in Ukraine?

texts:
There are several web sites out there that sell MP3 music files for 10 cents each and FLAC music files for 30 cents each.  At least one site even sells Hollywood movies (AVI, MKV) from $0.99 (low quality) to $2.99 (1080p).  Most of these web sites seem to be based in Ukraine, and they all have FAQs that claim that they are legal.  Here are a few examples:

From mp3va.com:

  Q: Is your web site legal?

  A: Yes, the activity of Mp3va.com is carried out according to the legislation of the license # IT - 07/13 No IT - 07 - 1/13 of the Ukrainian Public Organization "Avtor" issued for Beowner Ltd. Service www.Mp3va.com pays full-scale author's royalties to owners of pieces of music, trademarks, names, slogans and other copyright objects used on the site. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting is prohibited.

  Q: If your web site is legal, how can you sell music for $0.15/track compared to iTunes $0.99/track?

  A: Our company and licensing authority is located outside U.S. area and we do not have to follow $0.99/track minimum regulations.

From melodishop.com:

  Q: Is your web site legal?

  A: Yes, the activity of MelodiShop.com is carried out according to the legislation of the license agreement # I-003/11 from June, 14 2011 of the State Enterprise "Ukrainian Agency of Copyright and Related Rights" (UACRR). Service www.MelodiShop.com pays full-scale author's royalties to owners of pieces of music, trademarks, names, slogans and other copyright objects used on the site. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting is prohibited.

  Q: If your web site is legal, why your prices are so low?

  A: Our company and licensing authority is located outside of USA and we do not have to follow any minimum regulations of other countries.

From mp3million.com:

  Q: Is your web site legal?

  A: Yes, the activity of Mp3million.com is carried out according to the legislation of the license agreement # 67/17M-10 of the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (NP "FAIR"). Service www.Mp3million.com pays full-scale author's royalties to owners of pieces of music, trademarks, names, slogans and other copyright objects used on the site. Any further distribution, resale or broadcasting is prohibited.

  Q: If your web site is legal, why your prices are so low?

  A: Our Company is registered outside US area to minimize the taxation. Also, we can offer such low prices due to guaranteed bulk purchases (minimum deposit on our web site is 15 USD).

So is it legal for an American to purchase music/movies from those sites?


texts: I accepted a package for a neighbor which damaged my property. Who is responsible?

texts:
Imagine I accepted a package for a neighbor. The content of the box (for an example case, let's say it was a strong magnet) damaged some of my possessions.

Let's say, I placed the box on my computer because I couldn't have known what was inside the box, and couldn't have figured it out without breaking law.

So now storing the box is damaging and/or destroying parts of my computer, just by being placed on it.

Who is responsible for this damage?


texts: What other ways are used to record court proceedings other than "stenographers?"

texts:
Nearly all court proceedings are accompanied by a written record, generated by court stenographers.

From what I understand, courts occasionally use "sound" recordings in place of stenographer records. The original recording is not made available to the public but transcripts are. When, where, and why is this done?

Are court proceedings ever filmed or otherwise visually recorded? It seems that facial expression, hand motions, vocal intonations, etc. are part of the body of evidence on which a judge or jury decides a case. So is this type of record ever made available, and if so, when?


texts: GDPR - Right to erasure - Conflicting laws

texts:
I'm reading up on EU's GDPR in relation to an anonymization product I am working on. The one section that has raised a few questions is article 17 - The right to erasure, or more popularly referred to as "Forget me".

My assumption is that the functionality will have to consist of a mix of deletion of records and anonymization. Especially where there are transactional data that cannot be deleted or for that sake cannot be legally deleted.

Another assumption about the procedures is that the end-user will have to be notified in advance about the "Forget me" job with a date and time. It would be impossible to notify after the job has been done, because then you would need the information that has just been erased. Of course if the customer calls at the date given then customer service would have no records of this customer and would not be able to search by any information given.

Accountability?

In this respect what about all logs of work done? Emails sent would necessarily have the mail-to address stored. I believe there is a conflict of laws, you are legally bound to keep log of messages since it documents work done, but on the other hand you cannot know who this person is. You could anonymize the email address, but then again what about the content of the communication?

Backups?

Does the law also mean that backups will have to "Forget"? That would be very impractical with write-once or streaming type media. How about backups prior to 2018? Backups may legally have to be stored for 10 years, but some would want to store them even longer.


texts: In what legal form can one shape their de facto occupation of local authority land?

texts:
I own a section in a small rural town in New Zealand. The boundaries of it are well known as I did a redefinition survey to find them out. Let's call this land A.

Historically, land A has had a piece of local authority land attached to it as the fence was erected far too over the legal property boundary of A. Let's call this adjoining local authority land B.

Previous owners used to graze sheep on the whole fenced area (A+B) and both the local community and authorities were fine with it. To be clear, neither the previous owners nor I have had any lease (or whatever) agreement to occupy B — it simply has been a de facto status quo.

Now B has grown gorse on it. I have been approached by the authorities with basically two options:

To continue to be regarded as "occupier" of B and therefore take responsibility for issues occurring on it e.g. controlling/removing gorse;
To say that I have no use of B so that they care of the gorse the way they want. Specifically, they would spray it.

The main concern with the 2nd option is that the chemicals used for spraying would be washed out on A because B is higher up the hill. I am therefore keen to keep occupying B and control it the way I want e.g. mow it or plant a food forest. And here comes the question:

Is there any way I could legally fix my free occupation of B so that I could protect it from trespassing? Say if I were to grow fruits on it, I would need to be entitled to say "no" to any people who would want to go there and pick/"steal" fruits. Currently I cannot do this as my rights for land B are not legally formed in any way.


texts: My parents purchased a condo under my name, can they legally take the condo back?

texts:
I live in Ontario, Canada. Due to conflict with my parents, they are claiming that by law they can force me to give back the condo to them (or repay them the amount of the purchase) since they paid for it. Is this true?

The condo was paid in full and it is under my name only. I did not sign anything in relation to the condo with my parents; they basically sent me a cheque and asked me to deal with a real estate agent who is a friend of theirs.

The original intent was giving me the condo as a gift, but there isn't any written agreement.

I have also been paying the property taxes and condo fees.


texts:
I'll preface with the (probably obvious) fact that I'm no law student or professional. I have read the guidelines for questions in law.se, and am confident that my question is specific and on-topic (at least according to my interpretation of the guidelines). Let me know if I'm wrong and how I can rectify it.

Question

How could we achieve a full, or at least partial, review and rewrite of our complex and archaic laws?

This could broadly apply to many countries but I am thinking specifically of the UK.

Background

This question has been building in my brain for a while, and it's emerged from a few different angles.

One (admittedly trivial) cause has been the articles and videos which float around, describing 'weird' and 'ridiculous' British laws  still in effect, banning activities such as 'handling a salmon in suspicious circumstances' or 'carrying a plank along a pavement'. While I have read other articles which appear to debunk some of these laws, many appear to be legitimate and completely useless - well in need of removal or rewriting.

On the other end of the spectrum are the news items, or bursts of public indignation, that pop up from time to time regarding tax loopholes for the super rich and similar financial quirks that, on the face of it, seem to be needlessly complex and unfair. I'm aware tax loopholes specifically may be harder to close than one might assume, especially when the super rich have the incentive and resources to impede it, however this just seems like more reason to me why a complete overhaul may be needed.

As a general impression (again, I'm no expert), I also get the feeling that often court proceedings are much more drawn out than they need to be, due to subjective wording of laws, or other complexities that could be ironed out with a rewrite. This one is less definitive, more of the impression I get as an outsider looking in.

I've also been reading and thinking a lot about AI and other advanced technology developments recently. A lot of the discussion seems to be about how limited our current legal system is in dealing with matters around AI ethics and culpability/accountability as they begin to arise. It seems to me the solutions being worked on will rely on building upon many existing, complex laws which were written in a time when AI wasn't even conceivable. Won't this problem of out of date laws tangling with new technology get worse and worse? It seems to me another reason redoing some or all of our laws would be a great idea and save us a lot of bother down the line.

There are many more reasons this question has occurred to me time and time again, but I hope these suffice to give an idea.

Research and Thoughts

I've tried to look into this for myself, both here on law.se and online in general. Besides being buried in a mountain of results for the recently released song 'Rewrite the Stars', however, there really doesn't seem to be a lot out there addressing this.

Possibly because it seems such a ridiculous concept. I'm aware laws have to be passed in Parliament, and evidently an entire legal system couldn't just be passed at once. I'm interested if there could be a way to overcome this however, even if it involved dramatically reworking the way laws are passed.

Other obstacles that spring to mind:

-It would be a gargantuan undertaking in terms of time, money and manpower.

-There would be no real world testing, and a messy changeover between old and new

-People could exploit the overhaul, by trying to manipulate the new system to benefit them

While this may come across as a silly question, I truly feel the benefits that could be reaped from a completely modern, logical system of law would at least balance these difficulties? What would the process look like, and can these obstacles be overcome from a legal perspective?


texts: Can a condo HOA be held responsible for inside mold remediation due to a suspected leaking roof?

texts:
Can a Massachusetts condo HOA be held responsible for inside mold remediation due to suspected water seepage of a roof?

How great of a burden would it be on the home owner to prove it came from the exterior?


texts: Do running lights satisfy laws requiring headlights be on when wipers are on?

texts: Some cars have running lights (which are on whenever the engine is running). Some states have laws the require headlights be on when wipers are being used.  Do running lights meet that requirement?


texts: Can an individual in California file a small claims case and NOT serve the defendant (or defer the serving)?

texts: Does California allow a plaintiff to file a small claims case and either not serve the defendant or defer the serving until some time in the future (perhaps the plaintiff has 6 months to serve the defendant)?


texts:
We just moved into an apartment in a great (but somewhat expensive) building.  Upon move-in we found several dead centipedes on the floor.  Following that, we saw several live ones, and a cockroach in the stove.

Exterminators came and sprayed, and it seems that while that roach was errant (there were no signs of others having been there, and neighbors haven't seen any), the centipedes remain.  I haven't seen a lot of them, but we'll see one crawling on a wall at night occasionally.

This isn't a big deal to me, but my wife has a phobia-level aversion to the critters.  She can't even kill them with her shoe; she just runs.  We talked to the apartment manager about this issue, and she escalated it to the management company.  Turns out they'll waive the 6-month apartment transfer requirement, but still make us pay the $500 fee.

The only thing in the contract about bugs relates to bedbugs.  There is something about transferring to a different apartment in the contract, but it just says "a fee" - no amount is stated.

Is my only feasible solution here to pay?


texts: What laws regulate owners of fundraising websites?

texts:
Is it true that any one can set up a website for fundraising without declaring a legal entity?

For example, my church needs to raise fund for repair work, the project would cost about $40K. If I want to create a website for people to send me money for that cause, do I have to declare a business?


texts: What meant Lord Mansfield by 'form', 'turn parties around upon frivolous objections', and 'ruin'?

texts:
What does 'form' mean? Excessive formality, e.g. completing the wrong form or pleading the wrong cause of action?
I can't guess the meaning.
How do 1 and 2 ruin and destroy both?

Primary Source. Secondary Sources:

Laughing at the Gods: Great Judges and How They Made the Common Law, p. 32 Middle.

    Although Mansfield's more expansive judicial style is
  hardly considered novel or original today, its innovative and
  almost groundbreaking quality at the time cannot be exag-
  gerated. Judges tended to see themselves as operating under
  more prosaic restrictions than the poetic Mansfield would
  allow. He was unafraid to irrigate the dry soil of legal rules
  with more invigorating waters. For instance, in Trueman v.
  Fenton in 1777, he opined that "I never like to entangle
  justice in matters of
  [1.] form [End of 1.] and
  [2.]      to turn parties around upon frivolous objections [End of 2.]
  where I can avoid it —
  [3.] it only tends to
  the ruin and destruction of both. [End of 3.]"
  Consequently, Mansfield
  believed not that he was making new law but that he was
  liberating the real and abiding principles of the common
  law from the enchainment of earlier mistaken characteri-
  zations. As he put it in Pugh v. Duke of Leeds in the same
  year, the proper judicial task was "not to make new law, but
  to vindicate the old from misrepresentation." Although he
  did not go so far as to declare that unjust rules could not be
  law (as some of his later judicial heirs, like Tom Denning,
  have done), he did work his hardest to make law and justice
  coalesce.

Lord Mansfield: Justice in the Age of Reason, p. 229 Middle.

    Mansfield's decisions in commercial cases, as in other areas of the law,
  were intensely practical. Where he thought it necessary or appropriate, he
  abandoned the formality Of traditional common law pleading rules in order
  to provide legal protection to a broad range of commercial assets, transactions, and practices.70 His aim was to get as quickly as possible to the essential issue or issues involved in a dispute and to resolve the dispute in
  accordance with principles Of justice and fair dealing. He Stated in one opinion: "I never like to entangle justice in matters of form, and to turn parties
  round on frivolous objections where I can avoid it. It only tends to the ruin
  and destruction of both ... The question therefore ... is ... whether the facts
  support the merits of the defendant's plea."71


texts:
As a web developer, I find that we can learn a ton about HTML, CSS and JavaScript by opening the Developer Tools in Chromium and inspect elements, seeing the names other developer choose for their CSS classes, how some effects are achieved, etc...

I'm thinking about making a video where I demonstrate how powerful of a learning tool this is. I'm a bit torn on this, as anyone can do it for themselves, but still, readable source is not equal to open source.

So my question is: Can I inspect websites' source in teaching video?


texts:
There is a LOT of conflicting information on this subject online, mostly revolving around whether or not traditional dress is "sufficient reason" to carry what is essentially a knife in public.

My questions are thus:

Is it legal to carry a Sgian Dubh in public whilst wearing traditional Scottish dress in the UK?
Does the blade have to be blunted?

Whilst all answers are appreciated, I would be particularly interested in any precedents or specific litigation related to this topic.


texts: Is it legal to sell scale models of buildings I have no affiliation with?

texts: If not, what is required from the owner of the building to have the rights to sell scale models of their buildings?


texts: Can public schools solicit donations directly from students?

texts: I have a daughter in a public school in California in 1st grade. Her school is getting ready for a walkathon where each student is expected to bring in donations. This strikes me as inappropriate: the children do not have their own funds and therefore should not be solicited. All requests for donations in my view should go to parents. Are there any laws or regulations restricting public (or private for that matter) schools from soliciting donations from 7-year-olds?


texts: CEOs can't sell stock without risking imprisonment?

texts:
From what I understand if a CEO sells stock in their company and the stock price then goes down significantly within less than a year, they can get indicted for "insider trading" and face 5 to 10 years in jail.

Does this basically mean that a CEO basically has to hold onto stock indefinitely and only sell when they are sure the company is not facing a decline? So, basically sell and pray the company does not tank?


texts: text about a deposit held by the landlord

texts:
In the hope of salvaging some of the deposit held by the landlord, my husband exchanged texts with the landlord. She kept coming up with all kinds of excuses why she wishes to deduct the cost of damages although none were stated at the time of the exit inspection. In frustration and anger at that, my husband said something like: "you can keep your money." He never mentioned that I was in agreement with him about saying that. I am a co-signer in the lease contract.
Will that hold in a small claims court where I am suing her for the full deposit?
Do we have a chance of winning the case?

Respectfully
Evelyn Mayes


texts: Does out-of-state tuition violate the US Constitution?

texts:
Many colleges and universities charge more to students from out of state. Doesn't this violate the US Constitution, particularly the full faith and credit clause? Has this ever gone to the supreme court, or at least tried to?

To me it seems if it was anything else, it would be a violation. A grocery market selling soda at 2x the cost to out-of-state citizens would probably get slapped with a lawsuit right away. This might even fall under other anti-discrimination laws too.

If that example violates full faith and credit, why not out-of-state tuition?


texts: Is there a way to make amazon refund an incorrect charge?

texts:
Amazon (US) has charged me incorrectly (shipment cost was calculated incorrectly), but the support refuses to refund with money, it only offers "promotional credit" that can be used on next purchases.
I do not plan to use amazon again as their level of service is very low and there are errors in their IT systems. Is there a law that obliges them to refund?

They sent the package to an incorrect address. I chose the correct address in the interface but somehow at their back end a different address was chosen.
They refuse to change the address after the shipment has been sent. There's no way to get the package at that address, and it is not my error. Is there a law that they should send the package to the correct address even if I found out that the address is incorrect after the order had been shipped as I had paid for the package already.

Should they somehow compensate for the time that was wasted on their incompetent support specialists? (Approximately 6 hours of useless conversations and repeating the same issue again and again)

What is the legal way to ask a company for a compensation without applying to court, when the support specialists say "there's nothing we can do, the system does not allow us to compensate"?

I'm worried if it is legal to mention a specific store and if they can sue me for mentioning them. Just in case the info I gave is only for example, it may not be 100% accurate, it is only for the purpose of making an inquiry here, in fact the info I provided may be not 100% true. And maybe it is about a different store.


texts: Is a driving license issued by a European country valid as ID in Italy?

texts:
I'm an Italian citizen resident in Hungary, both are part of EU.
I'm trying to understand if a driving license issued by Hungary would be accepted as a valid ID in Italy. I searched online and I found this information (emphasis mine):

Secondo la legge italiana, per documento di identità si intende ogni documento emesso da una Pubblica Amministrazione italiana (o di un altro Paese) che abbia la finalità di identificare la persona che ne è il titolare.
Source | https://www.money.it/Documenti-di-identita-quali-sono-quando-scadono

Translates approximately to:

According to the italian law, an identity document means any document issued by an Italian public administration (or from another country) that has the purpose of identifying the person who is the owner.

If the above is correct, I seem to understand that a Hungarian driving license would be considered valid.
I'm looking for some authoritative source to confirm the above statement.


texts:
I plan publishing information in an article about Software which is the result of people reverse engineering the software.

The author of the software has been attempting to sue people who made use of the information because it is against the EULA.

I do not have the software myself nor have I ever accepted the EULA. I am only using information I found on the internet (public websites, etc.) and write my article based on my researches.

My question is: Can I be sued for doing this because it is against the EULA which I never accepted?

The reason I am doing this is because it is a security threat for the users of the software however it needs more attention in order to be addressed by the company.


texts: Does National Security have Limitations?

texts:
Further investigations of the San Bernardino Shooting has the federal government asking Apple, Inc. to dismiss public privacy agreement.

Is this ethically admissible through the All Writs Act of 1789?

Consider the following:

Absence of alternative Remedies.
Independent basis for jurisdiction.
Necessary or appropriate in aid of jurisdiction.
Usage and principles of the law.

February 16, 2016:

The federal government invoked the All Writs Act.
Ordering Apple Inc. to create a special version of iOS, without "Full Device Encryption."
in attempt to hack an iPhone involved in the investigation.

Does national security have limitations?

United States of America vs Apple(2016-02-16) (“In the matter of the search of an Apple iPhone seized...)


texts: Can a school provide preferential treatment for one allergen and not another?

texts:
Our daughter is allergic to dairy milk.  We provide her almond milk at home, however our school has told us we cannot bring in almond milk due to concerns about nut allergies, and that we should provide soy milk instead. We do not want our daughter drinking soy milk and feel that the school's policy is discriminatory due to the fact that both soy and dairy are potential allergens and they are allowing those, while banning nuts. Therefore they are providing preferential treatment for children with one medical condition while not providing the same considerations/protections for children with another medical condition.

Are we correct in our assessment that this is a discriminatory practice?

We are willing to work with the school to develop sane practices based on CDC recommendations, such as allergy-free tables in the lunchroom, etc.


texts: Can you be required to have a written contract by California?

texts:
I was reading the list of the 12 conditions necessary to qualify under as a Business Service Provider (BSP) in California over at https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/california-bill-ab-5-threatens-consultants/, and one of the conditions caught my eye as being a rather capricious one:

  The BSP must have a written contract to work for the contracting company;

What exactly does this mean?

I'm a big fan of being legally allowed to have "verbal" contracts for most things (legally enforceable provided sufficient evidence exists on the details of the contract, e.g., through "verbal" communication over email), but this condition makes it appear like I must actually hire a lawyer to draft some officially-looking contract, with signature fields and all.  (I guess the question here may also be on whether or not communication over email falls under "verbal" or "written" "contract" in this context?)

This condition sounds very fishy to me, as you're legally allowed to do most business transactions without a "written contract" otherwise.  Would this condition be enforceable?  Would it be void due to being too ambiguous on what "written contract" means?  What rights I may have through other laws that this condition might violate?  (Right of free association?  Some other rights?)


texts: Youtube, downloading videos and local temporary files

texts:
Other posts have discussed whether downloading videos from Youtube is legal or not, but I want to point out something else.

When you stream a video from Youtube or another streaming service, the video is actually downloaded to your computer because else you can't really see it, and as such I can just go to the temp folder and copy paste it somewhere so as to avoid it being deleted.

Can that be rendered illegal? Or is it already?


texts: Are diving suits outlawed in Cannes, France?

texts:
The mayor of Cannes, France has recently outlawed the burqini from public beaches.
I'm an underwater diver. When I heard this news, I had no clue what a burqini looked like. I was quite stunned when I looked at the description[1][2]:

The full-length lycra suit with hijab head-covering is not too figure hugging to embarrass, but is tight enough to allow its wearer to swim freely.
The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet, whilst being light enough to enable swimming. It looks rather like a full-length wetsuit with built-in hood, but somewhat looser and made of swimsuit material instead of neoprene.

Basically, it looks like a wetsuit. Divers use wetsuits all the time.
Does this mean wetsuits are now outlawed as well?


texts: What would it take to replace the electoral college system?

texts: It seems electoral college debate comes back every election these days. What would be needed to replace/remove this system? An amendment? ratification? Is it even possible?


texts: Do you have to surrender "ideas" in intellectual property transfer?

texts:
I'm looking at an MSA for software services that reads, in part, emphasis mine:

  Contractor agrees that all of the work product produced under this Agreement, including without limitation all notes, designs, specifications, technical information, ideas, processes, … or modifications, and other data relating to the work done under this Agreement by Contractor, and all Intellectual Property with respect to the work product (collectively, the “Work Product”), is solely and exclusively the property of CUSTOMER and Contractor hereby conveys, transfers and assigns all Intellectual Property in the Work Product to CUSTOMER.

What struck me as odd is that "ideas" are supposedly amongst the items that are being exclusively surrendered and assigned; is that even legally binding, as ideas are protected by neither patents nor copyright?


texts:
I read on http://www.ufc.com/event/ufc-fight-night-brazil-oct-28-2017#/fight (mirror):

fights are verbally agreed

What's the point in specifying that "fights are verbally agreed"? As far as I am aware of, oral contracts have pretty much the same validity as written contracts. E.g., from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oral_contract&oldid=759606175:

In general, oral contracts are just as valid as written ones, but some jurisdictions either require a contract to be in writing in certain circumstances (for example where real property is being conveyed), or that a contract be evidenced in writing (although the contract itself may be oral). An example of the latter is the requirement that a contract of guarantee be evidenced in writing, which is found in the Statute of Frauds.
Similarly, the limitation period prescribed for an action may be shorter for an oral contract than it is for a written one.
The term verbal contract is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for oral contract. However, a verbal contract is one that is agreed to using words, either written or spoken, as opposed to an implied contract.

Let's assume that the contract was made in the United States.


texts: Place and date of author's death and copyright

texts:
Consider the following two situations:

An author of a book dies the 1st of January of 2000, in London, at 2:05 AM, GMT. Yet, from the perspective of Washington, the author died the 31st of December of 1999, at 22:05 PM, EST.
An author of a book dies the 1st of January of 2000, in Washington, at 2:05 AM, EST. Yet, from the perspective of San Francisco, the author died the 31st of December of 1999, at 23:05 PM, PDT.

In these two cases, when will the copyright of the book expire? Both the US and the UK give post-mortem 70 years of copyright protection to authors' material. Does the answer depend on where the book was published?

Note: this question is particularly relevant in the context of copyright defined in terms of "end of calendar year". This seems to be the issue in the definition of copyright protection length. For instance, see page 3 of this document for the US, and the Notes at the end of this page.


texts: HOA bylaws: Are they enforceable absent a contract?

texts: If one lives in a community (a “Resident”), in which there has been a longstanding non-profit corporation calling itself a “homeowners association” (the “HOA”), with bylaws, and registered with the state, that conducts meetings, does maintain certain ”common areas” (primarily roads not maintained by the local municipality), and invoices “members” (meaning anyone living in that community) for such efforts, is the Resident obligated (under any theory, statutory, contract, etc.) to pay those invoices, when the Resident purchased a home in the community recently, and never signed any contract with the HOA? The Resident was not provided with the HOA’s bylaws until well after moving into the community, and had paid past invoices on the belief that payment was voluntary among those living in the community (i.e., for the common good of the community), until the invoices increased dramatically (without forewarning or explanation). The home is a private single family home on private property, accessible by dirt roads not maintained by the municipality. The HOA was not mentioned in the closing papers for the purchase of the home, and there is no mention of it on the Resident’s deed for the property. Can the HOA compel payment?


texts: Why major social networks collect age but do not display it

texts:
I have noticed this on various social networks that during registration user is asked to specify age, however created user profile does not display the age.

Users on social networks that provide the bio text field usually put their age into the bio section anyway.

Is it illegal to display age of users who are below 18?

This is the only explanation I can think of, since dating websites and dating social networks that are for adults only, always display the age alongside the users profile.


texts: Legality regarding PCSO's using speed camera

texts:
In the United Kingdom we have Police Community Support Officers (pcso's) and then proper policemen/policewomen. Recently a friend of mine got caught doing 34mph in a 30mph zone by a pcso on his own with a hand held speed camera.

My question is can a penalty/points be issued via post if you are caught speeding by a pcso acting on his own, iv'e found several different opinions but no actual law regarding the matter.

Things other people have said:

yes, as long as a proper policeman is present when measuring speeds
no, they can only issue warnings
yes, as long as they have proper training


texts: My employer has declined my annual leave request a week before my holiday - is this legal?

texts: A couple of months ago I requested 5 days annual leave, and gave my employer the dates.  The employer did not acknowledge the request, but sent an automated e-mail a week before the leave was due to start, telling me that the request had been declined.  It’s not the first  time it has happened, and my colleagues say that this is the normal practice in this workplace.  Is it a requirement for the employer to give reasonable notice when declining leave, and if so, what is the minimum period it must give?  I have now requested two weeks leave in July (and I can be flexible on the dates), plus the week that was  declined in May, and again it has failed to acknowledge the request, or give any indication when I can expect a  response.  If the company continues this pattern of behaviour I will clearly be forced into taking  my annual leave entitlement at a time of the company’s choosing, which has previously not been in whole weeks, but rather random days dictated by the company.


texts:
Suppose the owner of a lot on which a mobile home is situated conveys the lot to a grantee, with no mention of the mobile home in the deed of conveyance and no discussion of the issue between the parties. Should the grantor or the grantee then own the mobile home?

Here is my reasoning. Correct me if I have any misconceptions please.

Let us assume the mobile home is not on wheels (if it is on wheels it is not a fixture, meaning it would belong to the grantor). On the one hand it appears to be a fixture. Therefore it would belong to the grantee. According to the reasonable person test for fixtures (which I am not sure is a real thing, let me know if it is or isn't) if a reasonable person would believe that a "fixture " is part of the property then it is indeed part of the property. I think it is reasonable to assume that it is. Then again the fact that it isn't mentioned in the deed should raise eyebrows for the reasonable person. So I'm really not sure if this passes the reasonable person test.

HOWEVER the mobile home is not mentioned in the deed. Isn't a deed supposed to  include an accurate description of the land? Failure to mention it in the deed should mean that it is not part of the conveyance right?

In conclusion I have no idea what the answer is.


texts: Can I carry a pet, in a carrier, on my lap whilst in the front passenger seat of a car (in the UK)?

texts:
I’m trying to decide which car to buy and one constraint is that it must be possible for us to transport the cat, very occasionally. I’d like to know whether it would be legal, in the UK, for me to carry our cat in a carrier, on my lap in the front passenger seat. If so, that opens up the option of a two seater.
The only legal guidance I’ve found so far states that pets must be restrained.


texts: Is it legal for employers to hire only native speakers?

texts:
I recently learned that there are some companies (for instance, certain editing, writing, or translation services) that explicitly refuse to hire non-native English speakers for certain positions a priori.
Obviously, a person's language abilities are both a relevant
qualification for certain jobs, which tends to be a permissible and even desirable form of discrimination, and this is highly correlated with whether they have been speaking a language since childhood or not. However, it is self-evidently not determinative of an applicant's ability to perform the duties of a job, as any "X speaking perfect Y" search will demonstrate. It also seems like the sort of policy that might run into problems due to being considered de facto discrimination against
an individual based on their membership in any of various protected classes. Therefore, is it legal for a company to announce beforehand that they will not hire non-native speakers even if they demonstrate all other qualifications for the job, or to tell an applicant who has passed any preliminary steps that they will not hire them because they are not a native speaker?
I am interested in answers for the United States of America and the European Union, to the extent that transnational norms around this sort of thing exist in the latter.


texts: Is it possible to charge two prices based on sexism

texts:
This is about Sri Lanka and business. A GYM sport business place(PowerWorld).
Is it possible to advertise discriminant charges based on the gender.
For females it's around : 7000/- LKR and for males it's around ,12,000/- please correct me if I'm wrong, but definitely there is a price gap.

Is it oky to make advertisements like that under SL democracy or is it going under discrimination against sexism. If it's acceptable what are the legal conditions.


texts: Is replacing a failed part with a faulty design with the same part considered a repair, in the EU

texts:
I am wondering about a situation that used to happen with the 2011 series of MacBook Pros.

At one time, they all started to fail, one after the other.
The root of the problem was identified and well documented. Ultimately, it was a design flaw.

Apple followed their standard playbook:

Claim that only a small number of machines have been affected.
Once there is pressure from lawsuits, do a fix, without admitting any mistakes.
Claim they're running a quality program to the benefits of customers.

The issue here is that the 2011 models started to fail outside of the warranty period, but the number of failures was so large that there were several lawsuits and this pushed apple to fix all broken machines.

Now the fix involved replacing a broken part with another identical one, with the same flaw and a known limited lifespan.

According to the discussions I had with the customer service, this is considered a repair in their eyes. I disagree.

Their point was that they extend, through replacements, the lifetime of the computer until it is 'vintage'. Vintage seems to be 5 years for them.

My point was that since we have machines made in the 80s that are still running, 5 years is not acceptable as a lifespan. Even if a machine is made obsolete, it should have a significantly longer lifespan. And I argued that swapping a part with another one that both parties know will fail is not a repair.

I made the argument that if a part is known to have catastrophic failure on an airplane, we don't replace that part with the same model, but with a fixed design. At that stage they wouldn't comment anymore.

A current situation is very similar with the Boeing 737 where it was found that, on some planes, a critical component started to fail at 1/3 of its expected lifespan. My assumption is that the component will not be replaced with one that has the same flaw.

The short version of my question is "who is right?" :)

But the real question is:

What is the accepted expectation of 'repair', according to the law?

Is it:

put a product back in service, regardless of what may happen later? This would probably be the literal meaning of the word,
or
perform work on a product so that the part repaired will perform for its expected lifespan?


texts: I recently made a tweet towards the administrative staff at my high school that some people may consider distasteful or offensive. A couple people messaged me about the tweet out of concern that I might get into trouble with administration for my tweet, but I am not sure if this is true. I am no expert on law, but I would argue that I am using my freedom of speech. Am I in any danger from my school administrators or any lawful danger by keeping this tweet up?


texts: Can you press charges if an insurance carrier refuses to stop billing you, even when you're no longer an insured?

texts:
NY state here. My wife and I changed car insurance several weeks ago. There was no lapse in insurance, we transitioned from Carrier A to Carrier B smoothly. I submitted my Cancellation Notice with Carrier A and confirmed (from them) that they received it and that they flagged my policy with them to expire effective the date the policy switched over to the new carrier.

Several days later, Carrier A made another monthly autowithdrawal from our bank account, when we no longer had a policy with them. I called them and they admitted it was an error on their end, and said it would be several days to get the amount refunded. Several days later, still no refund. I called again, and again they told me it would take a few more days. This cycle has repeated several times since, and it's obvious to me that they have no intention of actually issuing a refund.

The kicker is: we were using a large portion of the withdrawn amount to finance our Christmas this year. Now that's out the window.

I'd like to look into pressing charges against the carrier, because:

They made the withdrawal (I believe) illegally, after we no longer had a policy with them, and even admitted it
We've been out a large amount of money (to us, at least) for several weeks now
There will be significant emotional loss if the funds aren't recovered in time for Christmas

So I ask: can we press charges? If so, for what? How do we even begin this process?


texts: How should defendant respond to summons with endorsed complaint in NY (CPLR)

texts:
If a client is served with a "summons with endorsed complaint" for case filed at NY civil court (dispute less than 25k), where it was effectuated by substitute service, then what are the next steps - especially with regards to timing?

is endorsed complaint similar to just a summons where the plaintiff attorney have the obligation to send a full complaint within 20/30 days, or need to wait till the defendant makes a demand for complaint?

Or is the next step by the defendant to answer the complaint within 30 days?


texts: What is meaning of omission of a section from any act of legislature

texts:
I understand meaning of repealed sections. But, if any section of act has been identified as omitted does this mean that this particular section was not meant to be in the act? If so then why official texts of act mention its number and put the word omitted?

Edit: Screenshot of text of Representation of People's Act 1951 (Govt of India)


texts: Am I allowed to blog about technical topics I was paid to learn about?

texts:
I work as a software engineer on lots of research topics where I look into new technologies. These topics have intersections with my private interests which I research on my own time after work.

The software I produce during my working hours obviously belongs to the company but who owns the knowledge I gained during working. Aside from NDA contracts am I allowed to blog in my own time about these topics?

As requested here are some information about my employment:
I work as a consultant at a large consultant company where I am employed with a salary. I am not personally responsible for the impacts of my work and my company provides the malpractice insurance. Furthermore there is no exclusivity of employment but my employer needs to notified if I work another job.


texts: Are police officers required to wear masks and protective gear when disposing of illegal cannabis?

texts:
I'm hoping someone here can help me identify a potential OSHA violation. In these pictures the Kentucky State Police Cannabis Suppression Branch has went on somebody's land and destroyed some cannabis plants. As you can see from the pictures, these plants are fully mature. According to this article about the Indiana division, burning mature plants is a common practice. One of the officers says...

  "If we don't have a suspect and aren't going to be able to make an arrest, obviously we don't want them to get it, so we will wait as long as we can and then we'll whack it," Bennett said.

This means every time the officers burn these plants, they wait until they are fully mature with massive buds on them.

If you look at the pictures, none of these officers are wearing any sort of masks or protection. They are being fully exposed to "toxic fumes" from a Schedule 1 substance that Jeff Sessions said is "only a little better than heroin".

Are these officers violating any OSHA rules? If not, should something like this be brought to OSHA's attention?


texts: What's the legal state of a data learnt from open-source datasets?

texts:
Is it legal to make a software to "learn" from open-source datasets like Freebase or WordNet and use it to build an open-source knowledge-base system?

Freebase license (CC-BY) - Require credit and indicate if changes were made.
WordNet license - Require the same license for copies or modifications.

Both Freebase and WordNet are open-source licensed but require some kind of acknowledgment (or credit) for any change made to the dataset. My project will most likely learn from those projects and will represent the data in a very different way.

Do I have any restrictions on the data being generated by "learning"? Do I have to acknowledge those sources?


texts: My friend needs me to act as a current landlord

texts: My friend is having a hard time renting because she has never lived on her own. Everywhere she's gone they said she has to show 3 years rental history. I'm not coming doing this I feel it's fraud. I need something that I can show her so she'll believe I could get into trouble.


texts:
UK Parliament passed a law recently in an attempt to block a no-deal Brexit.

Government representatives keep saying that the PM will "test the law".

Which seems to be different from "breaking the law". What does it actually mean?


texts: How is conceding a client's guilt different from a guilty plea?

texts:
I'm asking this question in the context of the current Supreme Court case McCoy v. Louisiana in which the fundamental issue is whether it is unconstitutional for defense counsel to concede an accused's guilt over the accused's express objection.

I didn't quite understand this quote from the respondent's brief:

  This Court has held that a few important rights—“to plead guilty, waive a jury, testify in his or her own behalf, or take an appeal”—may be waived only with the client’s consent. Jones, 463 U.S. at 751. But “[w]ith the exception of these specified fundamental decisions, an attorney’s duty is to take professional responsibility for the conduct of the case, after consulting with his client.” Jones, 463 U.S. at 753 n.6. In Florida v. Nixon, 543 U.S. 175 (2004), the Court declined to add contesting guilt at the guilt phase of a capital trial to that list.
  Nixon concluded that strategically conceding guilt in a capital case is not “the equivalent of a guilty plea” and may be defense counsel’s wisest course. Id. at 189- 191. As the Court explained, a “guilty plea is ‘more than a confession which admits that the accused did various acts,’ it is a ‘stipulation that no proof by the prosecution need be advanced.’” Id. at 188 (quoting Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242 (1969)). A “plea is not simply a strategic choice; it is itself a
  31
  conviction.” Id. at 187 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).


texts: A computer "virus" that only spreads (no payloads) - Is it illegal?

texts:
Let's say that someone makes a computer virus. The only thing the virus does is email itself to random emails. Upon someone opening the virus, it is emailed from their computer to other random emails as well, thus making the virus spread.

Let's also say that the virus does not use the personal email of the infected user to spread itself, instead it uses emails provided in an online database that it has access to. The target emails it gets emailed to are randomly generated on the victim's end, and have nothing to do with his actual contacts.

This virus does nothing but spread. No payloads, no information stealing, nothing else.

Would that be classified as a virus, and the creator of it as a criminal? Would his punishments be as severe as the author of a harmful virus?


texts: Are there any legal limitations to using IP based authorisation so that only users from client premises can have access to cloud?

texts:
We have a cloud-based B2B solution that is meant to help them collate and manage their operational data. One of clients wants to ensure that their employees can only access their data from devices within their own premises. To allow this we are considering collecting IP information alongside their regular login details and only allow access to the IP addresses from a pre-defined range provided by the client. However, some people in the team raised concerns regarding the legality of using IP addresses this way in countries such as Germany.

However, As per what I read online though the limitation is basically on collecting IP data to create individual user profiles and our approach should be fine as it is IP information provided by their employer to access an organisational database. Can someone please confirm if this is the right understanding or if there might be legal limitations?


texts: Does US law have a notion of supply chain management?

texts:
I'm reading about a recent lawsuit filed by Delta Airlines against one of its vendors. Also see Delta Sues Software Provider Over Data Breach and Lawsuits target Delta and vendor for cybersecurity breach.

Delta's position is, the vendor is responsible:

  Any liability coming out of that breach, which is minimal, is going to be the responsibility of the vendor, which is [24]7,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’ve been very clear about that. It was their breach, not ours.

In the software security and risk management fields, we would hold Delta Airlines responsible because Delta is responsible for its supply chain. That is, Delta is responsible for its vendors it chooses. See, for example, NIST SP 800-53A, Assessing Security and Privacy Controls in Federal Information Systems and Organizations, Item SA-12.

Does US law not recognize supply chains and not hold companies responsible for them?

If not, then what stops someone or a corporation from setting up corporations to sidestep requirements, regulation and oversight?

For the second questions, suppose it would cost a company $10 million dollars to implement a particular program. The company determines it wants to give the money to share holders instead, so they setup an overseas corporation and pays the overseas company $100,000 a year to do the job it was supposed to be doing. It does not matter how poor a job the overseas company is performing since the goal is to offload risk and minimize cost, not comply.


texts: Does an employer have to provide employees with access to running water?

texts:
Suppose the water supply to the office block ceased, including tap water and bathroom facilities. The reason for the water supply discontinuing is unknown and there has been no communication on the issue.

Could the staff go home, citing health and safety reasons?


texts: What is the origin and significance of distinguishing between "misdemeanor" and "felony"?

texts:
As far as I know, the difference in definition is merely that a "misdemeanor" is something punishable by a year or less in prison, and a "felony" is something punishable by more than one year in prison.  Assuming I've got that right (and correct me if I am wrong) that seems like a rather arbitrary dividing line to be making up words to define.  Why not have a "nuisance" a "misdemeanor" and a "felony" as the dividing lines?  Who decided there should be only "misdemeanors" and "felonies"?  And what is the significance of calling something a "misdemeanor" or a "felony"?  I mean, if one person is charged with 364 days in prison and another is charged with 366 days in prison, it hardly seems helpful to distinguish them by calling one a misdemeanant and the other a felon.

What are the labels used for and who came up with those labels and aren't they arbitrary?


texts: Could I go to jail for using someone else's credit card?

texts:
So I'm 13(thirteen) and I was on amazon and I looked up random card numbers not expecting it to work and to be used as a prank on my friends. It turns out, the number I was given was active and had money on it, and I can't undo my purchase.
I'm very scared that I'm going to go to jail and have to pay for my purchase.
I have no money and my parents are broke and we are on the verge of living on the streets and I'm so scared. Please Help.


texts: Conservatorships assigned to person with no property?

texts: Can conservatorships be assigned to a person with no assets?  If the person had assets at the time of filing, but not at the hearing date, could it still be assigned?


texts:
I am a college student (USA) from State A and go to college in State B. Last September I registered to vote in State A as an absentee voter. I voted in a local election but never got the ballot for the primary election. Last June I received a jury duty notice at my parent's house (state A), to which they responded by saying I had moved and gave my apartment address in State B. My permanent address is still my parent's place, as is my driver's license address and passport address.

  Am I still eligible to vote in State A? Is it illegal to register to vote in State B unless I go through some process?


texts: If mathematical equations are not patentable, why are algorithms patentable?

texts:
I'm new to the domain of understanding the law behind patenting, and I want to start a company that uses machine learning algorithms. Unfortunately,  almost every concept is patented by the top companies.

Aren't computer algorithms mathematical equations? Any algorithm can be represented mathematically. People may argue that even physical objects like engines can be expressed mathematically, but physical objects are obviously different from mathematical expressions. But how are algorithms different from mathematical equations? Many machine learning algorithms exactly satisfy the definition of mathematical equations, as they were directly derived from statistical methods used in the past (which I believe were not patentable before the software era). Of course, an animation created by an artist, cannot be considered as a mathematical work, even if the software uses multiple mathematical methods to make it function.

I have been reading the article in this link: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/software-patents.en.html and here the author states that the public key encryption method was patented. Don't encryption algorithms precisely come under the definition of mathematical equations?


texts: If a police officer stops someone for a traffic violation and they don't have a driver's license and no identification at all, what is the charge?


texts:
The GDPR seem to assume that the client would want us to maintain accurate data. Article 5(1)(d) makes it clear we have to correct inaccurate data.

But I deliver pizzas for a big chain, and I although I am not responsible for their GDPR policy I am baffled by the following:

A customer obstinately gave an incorrect address because they have not accepted the change of road name that the council imposed 20 years ago. Ignoring the opportunities for civil litigation (their wasting our time or them getting cold pizza as a result), what should we do to conform with GDPR?

Can we leave the data inaccurate? Must we leave the data as the customer wants it (inaccurate)? Can we correct it? Must we correct it?

I strongly suspect that if we do alter it, the customer will complain or alter it back.

I have considered the definition of "accurate" and who is responsible for saying what a street is called. I find that there is no explicit definition of "accurate" in the GDPR, but that it is considered inaccurate if it misleads. I was literally misled in that I was led down the wrong street and could not find the house. This makes any argument about which name is official irrelevant as far as I can see.


texts: Speeding unawares after turning from the terminating road of a T-junction

texts:
This is a follow-up question for "Ambiguous speed limit after passing a T-junction" (59728). The original question asks what the speed limit is, in the 20 metres after the intersection and before the 60-sign. This question asks whether ignorance of this speed limit is a valid defence.
We again consider the intersection between Fitzgerald St and Angove St in North Perth, Western Australia (left-hand traffic). This is a T-junction, with Fitzgerald St being the continuing road and Angove St being the terminating road.

Dale M's answer to the original question establishes that:

The speed limit along Fitzgerald St northbound is 40 km/h (pink), beginning at the 40-sign before the intersection, all the way up to the 60-sign erected 20 metres after the intersection. Only after this 60-sign does the speed limit become 60 km/h (green).
The existence of a side road with a 50 km/h limit (blue) is irrelevant.

Now suppose that Bob approaches on Angove St and turns left into Fitzgerald St northbound. Bob knows nothing about the earlier 40-sign, but sees only the 60-sign, and concludes either:

The speed limit on Fitzgerald St is immediately 60 km/h, since the 60-sign is consistent with all of Fitzgerald St being a 60-zone (which was indeed the case before 2016); or
The speed limit on Fitzgerald St is immediately 50 km/h, since the 20 metres up to the 60-sign is an unsigned portion of a built-up area.

Therefore, after completing the left turn, Bob drives through the final 20 metres of the 40-zone believing that it is either a 60-zone or a 50-zone. (Yes this is difficult, but I think just doable with a powerful car by starting with a wide left turn into right lane at 35 km/h.)
Does Bob have a valid defence if issued with a speeding infringement?
If yes, suppose that Alice drives along Fitzgerald St northbound, straight through the intersection, clocking a speed of 60 km/h within the final 20 metres of the 40-zone.
Would infringing Alice require proving that she did not turn left from Angove St like Bob did?


texts: Does EU consumer law apply on products purchased in the EU but used abroad?

texts:
A product (computer) was purchased in a EU country, from a EU retailer, by a EU citizen, and paid for from a EU bank account, but is currently being used outside the EU (in Asia) because the owner is abroad. The product has now developed a significant fault.

It is now outside of the 1-year warranty offered by the manufacturer, but is well within the time frame for warranties against defects guidelines of the EU overall as well as of the specific EU country. If the owner were in the EU right now, the manufacturer, or at least the vendor, would be obliged to give a repair/replacement (based on experience of owners currently in the EU).

The question is, does the owner resident outside the EU  temporarily, have any recourse under EU consumer protection law in this case? Can s/he make a claim under EU consumer law being resident outside the EU, or must he get back to the continent to have legal protection?


texts: Which has precedence, a purchase policy or an invoice's payment terms?

texts: If an online company has a posted policy that says your payment is due on the second of every month, but send you an invoice with terms of net 30 and a due date of the thirtieth, is the invoice date the binding date or does the stated payment policy trump the invoice due date?


texts: Can I use Creative Common ShareAlike licensed pictures in my commercial mobile app?

texts:
I have developed a mobile application which contains and displays pictures of celebrities. All pictures are licensed with a CC BY-SA. The app is commercial.

Unfortunately, when I published the app on Google Play, Google rejected it for "violating Intellectual Property policy."

I have made an appeal for my case which led to a discussion in which I learned my app was rejected because:
"images related to films are most likely protected by the various studios that produced and released them. It is reasonable to assume that these would not be made legally available in public domain or via Creative Commons as most studios are extremely protective of their intellectual property."

I emailed back, saying that all pictures had a CC BY-SA license with examples like this one:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emma_Stone_2011.jpg (license is at the bottom of the page)

I am no law expert, so maybe I have overlooked something. I thought using in my app pictures with this license would prevent me from such copyright problems. Have I missed something?

Thanks for your help.


texts: Access to broken parts, after a repair, in the EU

texts:
In the European Union, if a customer gets a repair performed, does he have the right to request the broken / replaced parts?

For example: if you get a phone screen repaired, do you have a right to request the broken screen?

My belief is that the broken part is your property.

If the merchant can't provide the broken part, can you request to be compensated for its value (as a broken part that could be reconditioned, recycled, etc)?


texts: If no prior contracts have been signed, can a landlord make tenants sign after a week of tenancy?

texts:
I am not asking for legal advice, just curious about the law. To illustrate the question I think it's best to use a specific example.

A friend of mine responded to an ad on craiglists for shared housing. It was agreed upon, one of the roommates would be the acting landlord (rent would be paid to him and he would be responsible for the up keep of the house). No paper work was signed. A week after everyone moved in, the actual land lord (the owner of the house), has everyone co-sign a lease.

Is it legal for the landlord to request the tenants sign a lease a week after moving in and if it is, could the landlord evict if a tenant refuses to sign? What if only the one tenant who had said he would be acting as the landlord had already signed it, but the actual owner wants everyone to sign now? If relevant, I'm talking about one lease with everyone's names on it (not individual leases).

I understand if someone rents and moves in before signing the lease, the landlord can kick them out if they don't agree to the lease, but I'm wondering if different if they've already lived there a week?

This is assuming none except the "acting landlord" had signed any lease (though the verbal agreement was only the acting landlord would have to).

This is for B.C. Canada.


texts: Can an American own part of a Canadian-based corporation?

texts:
Combination of New York State (USA) and Ontario (CAN) jurisdictions here.

If a New Yorker/American wishes to take partial ownership (equity) in an Ontario-based corporation, are there any special legal considerations to take?

Is it even possible for an American to do this? Or would he/she need Canadian/dual citizenship to own part of a Canadian-based corporation?
Besides normal filing procedures, are there any additional forms/filings/steps an American must do (with either government) to become owner of a Canadian-based corporation?


texts: Intellectual Property Issues associated with a Public Speach?

texts: Can a public speech be copyrighted or otherwise protected with regard to intellectual property ?? (with regard to Melania Trump’s speech before the Republican National Convention)


texts: How to get a parent to pay child support?

texts:
A mother (now on probation for a financial felony) has not paid child support for years.  The state child support agency checked and said she has no employment income, but she drives a new car.
What are the possible steps to enforce child support payments? (This is in the state of Georgia, USA.)  I prefer approaches that do not involve paying an attorney, since that fast becomes expensive and counterproductive.


texts:
What is the earliest American federal law that could technically be used to prosecute someone today, that has not been overridden by another law?

For the purposes of this question, we are talking about only federal laws, not the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution or its amendments, but actual bills ratified by congress.


texts: Is "attorney-client" privileged waived upon disclosure of documentation?

texts:
A document is labeled "attorney-client privilege confidential".

If said document is disclosed by the records custodian providing a box of records to the plaintiff, is the document "fair game" for the plaintiff to cite in any future context (including litigation)? Are there any exceptions when it would not be "fair game" ?

Does saying "Ooops! I did not mean to disclose this" restore AC-Privilege?

Update: Assume the document is photocopied from a set of boxed corporate records and that a documented records request was issued.


texts:
I would like to ask how does it work with GDPR and a service like "who called me".
Basically there are no publicly listed phone numbers as these kind of websites are using pretty much every number from 00xx. to 99xx. - so both existing and non existing numbers. And its up to user to find/report particular number.
But once someone wants to flag/comment particular number as spam, the actual number has to be in a database. But no numbers are revealed unless a person search for that number which means he has to know it first anyway.
It is a bit tricky for me to understand whether this falls into GDPR rules or not and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!


texts: Do I have grounds to file a civil lawsuit against the City of Chicago for my Expired Plates Violation? Is it worth it?

texts:
I was 2 months late to renewing my license plate this year. I was given a fine (which was more than fair given my mistake), paid it without contesting, and then renewed my plates (with a late fee). The payments for my plate sticker went through and I was able to confirm that my plates were listed in the Secretary of State database as "In Good Standing".

A week later I was still waiting for my sticker to come in the mail but parked my car on a city street. A Chicago officer issued another expired plates violation for my vehicle while I was away and didn't have an opportunity to explain that my plates were now in good standing for atleast the past week and I was merely waiting for the sticker in the mail. I immediately contested this ticket online, providing evidence of my receipt from the Secretary of State's office that I had renewed well before this ticket was issued (and worded it as formally and politely as I could have).

I thought when my situation was reviewed it would be rather open and shut, and the fine would be dropped; however today I received a letter in the mail that a local judge had reviewed my case and determined the violation was still in affect. It then stated I would need to pay additional money in order to open a civil lawsuit to sue the city of Chicago if I wanted to appeal further; otherwise, I would need to pay my fine.

It is my understanding they are probably within their right to press forward on charging me (I believe state law is that even if your plates are in good standing you can be fined for not displaying your sticker within 30 days of the original expiration date); however, I felt my situation would have been more understandable and that I had done my best to renew my plates prior to when this new violation was issued.

In short, I have a 60 dollar fine (not for having expired plates but for not receiving my sticker quickly enough to display). Please let me know if a circuit court in Chicago would be even be willing to see things from my perspective or if I should just hand over more money.

Lastly, If I were to file a civil lawsuit how much would I expect to pay to even try appealing this? Would I effectively be losing more money than if I just paid this fine? I tried to get this answered by calling the circuit court's financial department yesterday but they just transferred me to different branches for over an hour.


texts: I have confused many times wherever I studied about “Dacoity, Robbery and Extortion”. These three terms are closely related to each other and written in ambiguous forms


texts: Does a person sitting in the driver seat of a stopped and off car have to show driver license if the police ask?

texts:
Suppose a person is walking in a park and gets stopped by park staff, who claim that the person is trespassing (or is doing something else illegal). The person then gets into the driver seat of their car to keep warm but does not drive away (for whatever reason--maybe staff refuse to open the exit gate to let the car through or maybe the person was invited onto the property and was never asked to leave). The person leaves the car off. Police arrive and ask the person for a driver license. The police are not citing or arresting the person and are not investigating a traffic infraction. Does this person have to provide driver license? Does it matter if the car is on?

Assume this is in the USA, and assume it is in a state without a general requirement to provide an ID. If it helps, assume it is New York.

Edit: the New York assumption made the question fairly uninteresting.


texts: How to establish a legal basis for exclusive use of names like Champagne

texts:
I heard that the name Champagne can be used only for sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region in France and recognized by an association there, and that it is prohibited to call other sparkling wine as Champagne. What is the legal basis for this, and how can one establish a similar privilege, say in USA, EU, and other countries?

Is it a registered trademark like Doritos, and is it the same thing as no other chips than those produced by that company can be called Doritos?

If I register 'Sake' as a trademark for a type of alcoholic beverage produced in Odaiba region in Japan, will other producers outside of that region prohibited to call their sake as sake any more? I guess such registration will be rejected, but then what happened in the case of Champagne? What happened to the Champagne producers outside Champagne then?


texts: Resignation retraction denied because of replacement, but is not true

texts:
A friend of mine (person A) has had his resignation retraction denied because a replacement (person B) has already been moved (without Person A knowing). However this isn't true, as Person B was notified 2/3 weeks prior (whilst they were on furlough, and wasn't informed they were a replacement for Person A). Whereas notice wasn't given until last week - and wasn't intimated previously.
I understand that a company can reject a retraction without giving a reason, but as they've said that Person B was coming as his replacement, could this amount to constructive dismissal?
Related: The reason for retraction was because the branch is being transferred to another company under the same group, and following discussions with them they want to remain. However it is the previous company that are denying the resignation retraction.
Are there any employment laws being breached, or is it just one of those things?


texts: Do I have the legal right to let Twitter customer support delete an email exchange I had with them?

texts: I did have an exchange with them and afterwards, now, I would like them to delete it after solving the problem. Is that possible? thanks


texts: Car Insurance insisting I pay for the remainder of the year after a no fault crash

texts:
A couple of months ago I was in a no fault accident that wrote my car off, I contacted my insurance company and told them about the accident. I was assured that as long as it wasn't my fault my no claims or premium wouldn't be affected. I was made to feel like claiming for the damage was the right thing to do.

In the end the car was written off as it was deemed not worth repairing and I was awarded a £200 payout.

When I then attempted to cancel the insurance I was told I couldn't yet as the claim had not been closed by the underwriter. I left it for a month and continued to pay my premium. Today I was in touch with them again to close the policy and was told I would need to pay a full £600 as I have been paying monthly and would need to pay for the remainder of the year.  Is this legal?

(At no point during the process was I told that this would be the case, the whole time I was made to feel like I was doing the right thing and I now very much feel like I have been conned into giving them more money. I would have been far better off to scrap the car myself, get scrap value and have just canceled the insurance!)


texts: How does The Warranty Department afford (or avoid) the FTC Do Not Call fines?

texts:
Supposedly, there are fines associated with violating the Do Not Call list — these fines may be, per call, greater than the US median yearly income — yet this ubiquitous script plagues most peoples' voicemails:

Hi, this is (Lisa|Anne|…) with The Warranty Department… this is the final call for you to renew [your car's extended] warranty before we close the file.

How has this universally-hated company kept getting away with it, for so long? Is it incorporated outside US jurisdiction? Do they just declare bankruptcy and re-form yearly? Are they, like so many other companies, getting duplicitous "consent" to do what they do vis-a-vis some professional relationship with payment processors or credit bureaus?
Even if we assume that as many as 1 in 1000 people take them up on the incoming offers, I cannot imagine that they pull an average of 1,000 years' wages per victim to remain in the black after the FTC fees… so how are these calls still coming? Is TWD an off-shore corporation? Is the FTC unable to identify them? Are they simply choosing not to enforce the fines?
Or are these calls merely a perennial scam, a Sybil attack perpetrated by people unrelated to each other, who are just using the same stock audio recording for their telemarketing outreach?


texts: Interesting hypothetical: Is it legal to deny service to a customer in a children's dentistry if he is scaring other kids based on his appearance?

texts:
A child has gone to a children's dentistry since he was 5. He is now 18, 6'9", 300 pounds, and bearded, resembling Andre the Giant. During each weekly orthodontics visit, the other children in the waiting room are clearly shaken and parents report that their 5 year olds are becoming scared to go to their dentist. They ask if the owner of the practice could kindly talk to the parents of the 18 year old and ask if he could attend an adult dentistry. The owner obliges, not wanting to upset and possibly lose customers. The owner explains the situation to the "giant's" parents and offers an alternative practice, one run by the owner's friend from dentistry school who happens to have worked with children for 20 years before opening a general practice, i.e. whose service is equal with that of the current dentists. The parents refuse. Would the owner of the practice be able to deny service to this individual without losing a discrimination lawsuit?

I think this is a pretty interesting question. One, we are dealing with children, who can't expected to be rational actors (e.g. observe that the giant is peacefully going about his business and is perfectly innocuous by the determination of any sane adult), but are also in a sense "customers". In addition, there are perfectly viable alternatives available that would only enhance the experiences all involved parties if exercised.

This feels like discrimination; if we replaced the giant with a black child, or anyone else with "abnormal" but immutable features, it seems the answer would be clear. We would say that the children need to learn how to live with others in their society that don't look like themselves. But this is maybe a bit more acute, considering it would seem much easier to convince a 4 year old who hasn't been exposed to Nazi propaganda or "Birth of a Nation" that a random African American is harmless than it would given the real-world manifestation of the cartoon antagonist of the latest Disney flick. After all, on top of the desired for specialized care, part of the ethos of the children's dentistry is the desire to create a sort of dental "safe space", a friendly environment that assuages the anxiety of this otherwise possibly frightening experience. Should we really expect children to learn life lessons while dealing with the immediate fear of the dentist?

TL;DR:
Kids at a children's dentist are scared because an 18yo who has been going there since he was 5 looks like Andre the Giant. The dentist denies service to the 18 year old and his family, saying that of course it would be discriminatory if everyone involved were rational, but that little children can't be expected to be rational actors, and that if the 18yo keeps coming, it will hurt the business of the dentist. Is there any sort of precedent that firmly classifies discrimination against an individual based on immutable characteristics as illegal, or can this take place under certain circumstances?


texts: My Boss wants me to correct checks paid to us

texts:
I work for a county government. We process over 16,000 checks over about 2 months. I have an issue with some things we do. If someone writes a check out wrong, for example if he doesn't put the correct change in either the box or Written Out, we have to change it.

If someone writes in the box 285.00 but Written says eighty five 00/100 my boss will make us write it in ourselves.

I don't feel comfortable changing someone else's check. I just want to find out whether this is legal to do or not.


texts: Is it legal to put a billboard on residential property?

texts:
A billboard is put on top of a person's roof or on his vacant land. It is zoned residential. This person lives on a main road and the billboard is visible to cars travelling on it. He hasn't received permits or licenses to do so.

Is this legal on a federal level according to U.S. laws?
Is this legal in all states or do some states prohibit this?
What about county and local laws?
Do some counties and cities have ordinances that prohibit
residential billboards?
Or is a person allowed to construct signs on their own personal
property as it is their right to do so with their land as they please?
If this is unlawful, what are some of the potential consequences
that the landowner could face? Would they just be fines and how
large might those fines be?
Should this person be researching all local county and city
ordinances to see if this is legal in his area, or should this be
considered fine anywhere within the USA?
Does it matter what size the billboard is? For instance, does a 7'x7' billboard carry less lawful risk than a 30'x30' billboard?


texts: What legal consequences exist for falsely accusing counterfeiting?

texts:
Entity A falsely accuses in a formal complaint with a large E-Commerce website, a retailer or group of retailers of knowingly selling counterfeit goods, for entity A's own benefit. Entity A files no police reports, and does not contact the accused retailers. Entity A knows that this action will indirectly (through existing procedure E-Commerce company already has in place) have negative financial consequences toward the retailer or retailers in question.

What are Entity A's possible negative legal consequences for making such an accusation falsely, if any?

Jurisdiction: I don't understand jurisdictions very well, so in my hypothetical case it might be California, it might be Washington, or might be any number of locations in the United States. If my lack of understanding makes this question too broad, I would request assistance in better understanding jurisdictional authority in a situation like this.

Assume for this question, that Entity A has the right to represent the good or goods in question, and would plausibly have reason to complain against actual counterfeiting.


texts: Governments interfering with churches since they have tax exemptions and/or tax benefits

texts:
In most Western nations( especially with a large Christian population), there are usually tax-exemptions for churches and/or some kind of tax-deductible benefits for those who donate to churches.

However, based on the Western law system (especially Anglo-Saxon legal systems), would there be a way for governments to argue that they can start interfering with church policies and/or church practices, rituals, etc.?

For example, could governments start arguing that churches have to accept same-sex marriages, therefore, ensuring that same-sex marriages take place during church ceremonies, and so on so forth?


texts: What action can be taken on a B2B portal which collects upfront import fees through their courier service providers to a country which does not impose any import fees for importers. The worst thing is that they are collecting from buyers behalf and paying to the customs department at origin which is not true!


texts: Would a parent leaving their child at safe haven to avoid paying child support be guilty of a crime?

texts:
Let me start by saying this is a purely hypothetical question asked only out of curiosity, I have no unwanted children nor am I horrible enough person to do this if I did.

Still lets say hypothetically that two teenagers end up having an unplanned child.  The mother wants to keep and raise the child, but the father does not want to be a parent to the child, and also does not want to be forced to pay child support for the child if the mother raises it.

At some point the father offers to take the newborn child for an evening from the mother to watch the child, which the mother agrees to.  However, instead of caring for the child as promised he instead takes it to a safe haven location and drops it off to be adopted; despite knowing the mother wanted to raise the child.

The man is not guilty of kidnapping, as I understand it, as the biological father has the right to travel with the child.  But surely he is guilty of some sort of crime for doing this?  Can he be compelled to reveal which haven he left the child so that the mother can find it before it's put up for adoption?


texts:
For me my Website(A) works as a Platform for Users to share Videos, Images and Links from Other Websites, Lets take for example Youtube

User(A)of my Website copied an Embed Code of Illegal Copyrighted Video Hosted on Youtube.

User(A) logged to my Website and used this Embed Code to show the Video.

so the steps are

Illegal 3rd-Party Embed Code Copyrighted (YT) Video
-Uploaded By-> User(YT)
-Taken By-> User(A)
-Shared at-> Website(A).

Does my Website(A) takes any responsibiltiy of that 3rd-Party content?

I didn't host the Content or anything on my Website, It is hosted by Youtube, And Youtube allows me to take Embeded Codes of their Videos to share it on my Website.


texts:
In Texas, and in the county I'm speaking of, to dissolve or drop out of an HOA there needs to be a 2/3 majority of property owners (1 vote per property) voting in the affirmative in order for a section to drop out of or abolish an HOA.

An obvious answer might be to consult an attorney, but I'm curious about a few things:

Can the HOA add new CC&Rs or new rules to make it 'illegal' to try to disband it? Can they retaliate against anyone trying to organize such a vote, such as harassing them about rules (which are NOT in the CC&Rs) a homeowner is 'violating' including fines that double each day? etc.

This is only hypothetical but I'm curious about it, the mechanics involved in getting it abolished, and whether or not the board can just vote on new CC&Rs to enforce on a whim? It's my understanding that only the CC&Rs in effect at purchase time are binding on a homeowner.


texts: Who's liable for copyright infringement when hiring a design company?

texts:
If company A pays company B to create an ad/logo/video/etc. and then uses it, what happens if company B used copyrighted material without obtaining the necessary permissions, unbeknown to company A? Is company A liable for that?

I assume they wouldn't be able to use the material after being informed of the infringement and presented proof of that. I'm asking about if they don't know about it.


texts: Are "Social Media Reacts"-videos on youtube legal?

texts:
A popular idea behind multiple youtube channels is to pick a certain topic (say, a tv-series) and then post the reactions that people have to that topic on social media, whether that be a post on twitter or an uploaded image (like a meme) on instagram or facebook.

Here's an example from football: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPuEqdf-za0

Is there any illegality to such videos?

Specifically, I am wondering whether

using people's posts on social media (containing only text) and presenting them in a youtube video is lawful, and how it depends on whether the name or profile picture associated with that social media account is visible,
and also whether there's an issue if the post on social media contains not only text, but, say, an image, which may be their own creation or taken from somebody else (or a combination, for example one of those "meme"-images with photos overlayed with some funny text). Does this change the issue?


texts: Can I protect myself against misused funds if i invest in a self employed person's project?

texts:
If I invest a sum of money to a self employed individual for their project can I sue them for the return of the investment if they meet the following general points:

can't or won't show me what they've used the funds for
can't or won't show me progress that has been made, and
seem to be living extravagantly

What is the risk that the funds can being used for personal indulgences instead of the earmarked project by a self employed individual?


texts: Why does the legal system make it easier to successfully claim self-defense if it resulted in the death of the assailant?

texts:
Most (if not all) firearm self-defense courses will teach you that violent altercations can end in the following outcomes, sorted in order of preference:

De-escalation - resolve the conflict before it gets violent
Escape - run away from the assailant, rather than allowing the altercation to happen
Shoot to kill
Shoot to maim - try to harm the assailant in a way that wouldn't kill them

The justification for why #3 is better than #4 is that you won't have a witness in court when you're put on trial, so your odds become a lot better. But why is this the case? Wouldn't society prefer if self-defense altercations ended with the least possible amount of harm to the other party? Are there countries which try to actively encourage not shooting to kill by making self-defense more easy in that case?


texts: The US Constitution endorses a right to "keep and bear" arms. What about buying, selling, and manufacturing guns?

texts:
The text of the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution reads:

  A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This is somewhat narrowly worded in the sense that it does not say anything about a right to manufacture, buy, sell, gift, or otherwise traffic arms. However, since the enumerated right to "keep and bear" (whatever that means) is not intended as a dead letter, some amount of legal gun manufacturing and transfer would seem to be a background assumption.

Does the current legal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment understand it as protecting arms manufacturing and trafficking? Where in the case law is such reasoning developed?


texts: Who is responsible for the disposal of a body when there are no directives in the deceased's will?

texts: If someone dies with a will, but does not mention their body or how to dispose of it, who decides what happens? Or, let's say a parent has two children and dies leaving no will; which of the siblings decides? Who pays for the result of that decision? If one sibling wants to have a huge funeral and the other wants to just toss the body in a dumpster, does the cost for the funeral come out of the estate before it is split?


texts: Can my will gift digital files to specific people?

texts:
A specific bequest is defined as such:

  the gift in a will of a certain article to a certain person or persons

Here it says:

  A specific bequest is a gift (bequest) or a specific item or asset to a named person or entity.

Does a computer file count as an item?

Can I say that person A should get file A from my laptop and person B should get file B?

I imagine that I can, but it is not immediately clear to me that "item" or "article" includes digital files.


texts: Is there statutory interest on an unpaid debt, or can I only recover the principal?

texts:
I made a no-interest short term loan to a family member and have documentation of the debt, and he did not pay me back in the stipulated time frame.

If I take legal means to recover the money owed, can I make a claim for interest at some statutory rate, or can I only recover the principal, no matter how overdue the debt is?


texts: Doesn't Yahoo News Digest infringe copyright?

texts:
I noticed that all the "summaries" in Yahoo News Digest are simply pieces of articles copied and pasted from another website. Isn't this violating the copyright of the real article?

EDIT: If I am not wrong, the app was first created by a teenager who wrote a script which automatically made the summary of any article. Assuming that he wasn't able to pay the newspapers for replying all the articles on the app and also that the script simply took some paragraphs from the article without changing any word, how was it possible for him not to infringe the copyright?


texts: Do lawyers actually use big bookshelves filled with texts?

texts:
Both on TV and in the offices of lawyers I've been in, they always have huge bookshelves with numerous volumes of law, rules of procedure, references, and I have no idea what else.

Why do attorneys have these?

Do they actually reference them, especially when so much information is searchable and indexed online?

Are the books updated regularly? or are these the books they graduated with, and are rarely changed out?

Do the books exist purely for psychological impressions, or is there a utilitarian purpose?