texts: How much latitude does an attorney have in a deposition?

texts:
Suppose there is a witness (not a principal) to a car accident. An attorney would naturally ask the witness about where s/he was at what time, what s/he saw of the accident, etc.

But suppose the attorney started getting into "personal" questions. Such as "What do you do for a living? How much money do you make? Are you married, divorced, single? How many children do you have?" I would imagine that these are irrelevant questions that have nothing do with the car accident.

Perhaps there is another group of questions in grey area: Do you own/drive a car? What kind? When was the last time you have been in an accident? These are also highly personal but may have tangential relevance.

Is an attorney permitted to ask questions like those in either paragraphs two and three? Is the witness allowed to decline to answer such questions for reason of irrelevance, or other grounds?


texts: Can party be responsible for unintentional leak of confidential information

texts:
Under what circumstances can a party be liable when confidential information they are in possession of is leaked? For example I signed an NDA with my workplace. If they send an email to my personal email address and gmail's servers are hacked (or spyware is on my computer) would I be liable?

Also what if someone lies to me and I believe them. For example they claim to be working on same project I am working on and need to know a detail.


texts: How successful are non-lawyers when filing declaratory judgements?

texts:
First, note that I wanted to ask the question "how hard is it to file and argue a declaratory judgment?"  But that would have probably been a subjective question.  But if you could include in your answer a mention of how hard it is, that would be great.

I assume "declaratory judgment" is something common to all jurisdictions and not just mine.


texts: Can i download and edit youtube videos and use them to make another video?

texts:
Is it legal to download YouTube videos which are licensed under Standard YouTube license?

If so, is it legal to edit a downloaded video and use it to make another video?


texts: Can a layman conduct legal proceedings on behalf of a corporation for which he works in New Hampshire?

texts:
I do occasional favors for a foreign (non-US) corporation, helping it manage investments in the United States. I have a power of attorney authorizing me to act in behalf of the corporation. I get paid a small annual fee for the larger tasks and do other little things gratis since the owner of the company is a friend of mine. Currently the corporation is doing a lot of investing in New Hampshire. The corporation is not registered in New Hampshire, nor is it required to be because it is only doing investing, and is not an "operating company".

It has not happened yet, but there could arise a situation where we might need to sue somebody. In that situation can I file the papers and represent the corporation in court without falling afoul of the New Hampshire laws concerning the practice of law?

My reading of the laws in New Hampshire is that it is only illegal to hold yourself as a lawyer to the public and do a regular business in law that is illegal. Based on this it would seem to be ok for me to represent my friend's company in court, is that right?


texts: Is the Connecticut local police required to inform suspects of online surveillance?

texts: In the state of Connecticut, must the police department notify a resident that he or she will be, or is, subject of online surveillance, or if mobile data surveillance?


texts: Laws affecting local government in New York State

texts:
I've looked online for the answer to this, but I keep coming up with contradictory or ambiguous information.

In the Consolidated Laws enacted by the New York State Legislature which apply to local governments (i.e. Counties, Cities, Towns or Villages), there are subject matter divisions, such as Education Law, Retirement and Social Security Law, and Highway Law.

Question

  Does General City Law, despite its name, also apply to a Town,
                 County or Village in New York State?


texts: How to handle questionable legal correspondence not intended for me?

texts:
I have an email address from a public provider consisting of my first name and surname - I routinely get a lot of email for other people with the same name, sometimes I respond with a polite "sorry, you've been given a wrong email address", most of the time I bin the emails.

I received an email recently from a US law firm with privileged documents attached - one of the documents is basically a list of things for the "other me" to lie about in a deposition.

Not "skirting the truth", not "avoiding topics", actual "you need to lie about this, deny it completely or say something which is untrue" advice from the law firm.

Should I report this to the relevant legal association or body?  Or should I simply bin the email and forget about it?

I am not in the same country as the law firm (they are in the US).


texts: Why does the Australian constitution differentiate "Original States" from other states?

texts:
In the text of the Australian constitution, the phrase "Original States" (the States when the federation was established) appears in two places which are still relevant today, such as in Section 7 (The Senate):

  Until the Parliament otherwise provides there shall be six senators for each Original State. The Parliament may make
  laws increasing or diminishing the number of senators for each State, 5 but so that equal representation of the several
  Original States shall be maintained and that no Original State shall have less than six senators.

and section 24 (Constitution of House of Representatives):

  But notwithstanding anything in this section, five members at least shall be chosen in each Original State.

Why so?


texts: Is there a US law requiring companies to provide the government with access to their users' information?

texts: So I've heard some people (even in media, I think) say that in the United States, there's some law (or regulation) about digital/technology companies saying that they must provide access to their users' information to the government (i.e., a backdoor) no matter what. But I can't find any reliable references to that. Can someone please provide me reliable information about any such laws or regulations that exist?


texts: HR wants me to sign a confidentiality on something I reported. How big is the scope of the agreement?

texts:
Basically what happened is a coworker made a false statement about me, relating to my work, on Social Media. I reported it to HR. HR wants me to sign the following. I'm concerned with how broad and general it is.

  By participating in the investigation brought to my attention, I
  understand that I have been asked to participate in providing
  information under a current open investigation process. In that
  regard, unless it is necessary to obtain professional advice, I agree
  to not disclose, or discuss with anyone, any matters relating to the
  investigation which includes but is not limited to:

  • The issues discussed with the investigator at any time.

  • The fact
  that I am participating in an investigation.

  • My opinions on the validity or nature of the complaint.

  • Whether and what other individuals might also be participating in
  the investigation.

  • All documents created by me or shared with me during the
  investigation.

Does this only apply to the investigation, or does this mean I cannot talk about the reported event at all, or only information that comes to light after signing the agreement? What is the scope?

Are the terms even enforceable, like is the first one saying I can neither confirm nor deny I have reported something to HR?

Could signing this in any way limit legal action I could take? I'm in Canada but the company was recently bought out by an American company so the HR department is in the US.


texts: Auto insurances disagreement on fault share - scenarios?

texts:
Here is the situation in US, Washington state:

a car collision happened between A and B
a police made a report claiming that party A is at fault (not available to insurance companies at this point)
B's insurance claims that A's fault is 100%
A's insurance after talking to A driver assessed the fault as shared, with 15% on party A and 85% at party B
A's damage is minimal, A has comprehensive coverage
B's damage is substantial, B does not have comprehensive coverage

Basically, A's insurance has decided that they will only compensate 15% for B, leaving the rest up to the B driver out-of-pocket (since they don't have comprehensive).

B's insurance is instructing their client B to talk to A driver directly and convince them to convince A's insurance that the fault should be split more evenly, better yet 100% on A. "A" doesn't really care if their insurance pays off, as long as they are not personally held responsible.

We are the possible scenarios to resolve this?
Is my understanding correct that A cannot be held liable for A's insurance decision or any damages A's insurance refuses to cover?
Can B's insurance or client B directly sue A in this case or it would have to be an arbitrage between insurances?


texts: Can employer legally stop paying time & 1/2 to exempt employee after stating in the offer that they would do so?

texts:
Late July I got a job as a computer programmer on a 6 month contract with the agency that recruited me (although I actually work for another company). The job is W-2, paid hourly, but as I'm a computer programmer making over $30/hr I'm overtime-exempt.
However, when the agency told me the offer over the phone, they told me that I would be paid time & 1/2 for overtime and the written offer that I accepted explicitly said exactly what I'd be paid for overtime and it was time and 1/2. Moreover, when I accepted this offer they were trying to pressure me into taking it and tried to make me decide within 2 hours of receiving the offer because they knew I had another very competitive offer. Had their offer not included overtime pay, the other offer would have been much better in comparison and I probably would have chosen that one. Lastly, the job description they sent me before they even sent the offer stated that my target hours are 45 hours a week, so they knew I'd be working overtime as well.
Yesterday, the agency called me and said that because I was classified as exempt, they weren't supposed to be paying me overtime and wouldn't be doing so going forward. They even tried to frame it as them doing me a favor by allowing me to keep the money that I'd already been "wrongfully paid". I pushed back though and will be discussing it with them again later today.
My first question is, being overtime-exempt means they're not required to pay me time & 1/2 for overtime, but they're not prohibited from doing so correct? Like, they're not breaking any laws by paying me extra for overtime?
Secondly, since the offer said in writing that I'd be paid time & 1/2 for overtime and I was told that verbally, are they required to keep paying me that as part of the contract or can they just stop whenever they'd like since I'm exempt?


texts: Is there a comprehensive web source for a list of european union protections against aggresive contracts?

texts:
Some time ago I found interesting information on the web about additional legal protections that customers from the European Union automatically have when signing up to various services (even services whose EULAs don't include these protections specifically like from companies in the US).

One such protection was a right of sale of purchased digital goods in which anyone who payed money in a single transaction to "purchase" the right to use a specific digital product (like a video game on Steam) is also granted the right, in the EU specifically, to later sale that game to someone else in exchange for money, enabling a sort of "transfer" of ownership despite this going against Steam's own terms of service. I also heard that this was used to apply to reselling of Windows product keys as well (again, against Microsoft's own wishes).

I've been wondering if there's a website (or book or any other source) that catalogues these additional protections that may invalidate some existing EULAs so that I can acquire a more comprehensive list of them instead of having to scavenge through legal documents from the EU to find them.


texts: Can a realtor take marketing photos of the interior of a rental for selling the property?

texts: Can a property manager allow a realtor to come into your place to take photos of the interior - including your furniture and personal items - to publish these online to sell the property?


texts: As a Sex offender Can a person for take my Photo off my Facebook page, post it, giving my full name and address be charged or sued?

texts: I pleaded guilty to a charge of child molestation over 15 years ago, served time and probation. I now have three girls 7,5,2 who I father on my own. My neighbor's daughter play's with my girls, who's mother later found out that I have a charge of child molestation. She went to facebook found my profile, took two photo's of me and posted a public post with my full name, address what my house looks like and talked about my three girls all in this post. This is in the state of Georgia. She stated that I do all of the little girls hair in the neigborhood, and I don't.I have already had one person come to my house because of this post. And as Ive stated I have three girls. Whether someone feels as if I did do the crime or not, this is wrong to bring this around my girls. Is there anything I can do? She never came to me seeking out answers as to what did or didn't happen. She feels as if I betrayed her trust by not telling her. In her last statement she told me "since I don't want to let people know, that she will let everyone know.


texts: Who is responsible for the actions of an AI (artificial intelligence) agent?

texts:
say i have a software that has AI(artificial intelligence) incorporated into it locally, and the user gives the software some permissions. if the software has caused some problems (developed a hack to another person device, deleted data, accessed private information...) all by random algorithmically generated code from the client itself locally. at that scenario, who is responsible?.
we can treat this scenario as if a "product" of the software distributor caused damage. or we can treat the AI software as a "worker" for software distributor. the law changes on each of the different perspective of AI like it changes between human workers and products.

this is a kind of hypothetical question now, but i believe that in the emerging future this will become a serious question.


texts: Can someone print and sell tshirts whose design includes Apache licensed emojis?

texts: Is printing an emoji on tee shirts and selling them copyright infringement if the emoji font is under the Apache open source license?


texts:
Imagine this hypothetical:

I was in fight with a male relative and I hit him on the back in front of officer, (who came because the neighbor was reported for screaming). The officer grabbed my arm, and asked for my drivers license. They let me off with a warning, and just left.

So since I wasn’t arrested, is my record still clean?


texts:
I am considering to include stack traces in teaching materials and was thus wondering whether they were copyrightable and if so, who would own the copyright and what would that entail to them and to whoever interacts with a copy of a stack trace. My assumption (as a non-lawyer) is that they are not copyrightable in any jurisdiction, but I'd like to know some more details.
Background: A stack trace is a representation of an exception or error that occurred when executing a computer program. Besides some hints as to the nature of the event, it also typically includes information about instructions from the computer program (or its dependencies) that were executed (or attempted) just before the event occurred.
The precise content of a stack trace (i.e. the expression in the copyright sense) depends on a range of technical parameters, which may include, for instance, aspects of the program itself, associated data, the programming language, the operating system or the hardware it runs on.
While things like random functions or CPU overheating can complicate the picture, a stack trace is essentially deterministic in a given set of circumstances, which probably means that copyright concepts like the creativity threshold would not be applicable to the stack trace as a whole, though there might be some room for them in things like names of variables or functions that appear in the stack trace.


texts: What is the standard way to address written statements presented as evidence in a civil case?

texts:
A friend of mine is suing someone. I (and others) witnessed all of the violations that are claimed, but I'm unable to attend the hearing in person for various reasons (mainly that I've moved out of state).

I'm writing a statement for my friend to present in the case, and wasn't sure how to address it. My plan was to use

To Whom It May Concern

or

To All Interested Parties:

or

To the court

or

Dear <Judge's Name>,

or

Your honor, complainants, respondents, and witnesses:

But I don't know that any of these are considered appropriate. Most likely I will choose the first.

What is the standard form of address in written statements to be presented during civil proceedings? Also, who is actually being addressed here?


texts: Can someone who owns property on the border prevent/delay government related construction?

texts: A card game company has reportedly bought acres of land on the Us/Mexico border, and also hired eminent domain lawyers to defend it. Could this actually prevent the construction of something (i.e a wall) from being built, or perhaps delay the process?


texts:
According to 1860 Indian Penal Code:

  "Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife is not rape."

What are the possible exceptions to this law that would allow for a husband to be prosecuted for raping his wife?


texts: Is it illegal for a family member to keep a U.S. certificate of naturalization or passport from its adult owner?

texts:
In the U.S. is it legal for a family member to withhold certificate of naturalization & passport from another legal adult?

What can be done to retrieve the documents?


texts: Mens rea in hypothetical "illegal" abortion

texts:
Consider the following hypothetical scenario. I recognise that it very likely to never occur, but I am interested more in the technical implications than in any actual possibility. Additionally, while the ethical questions involved are certainly interesting, I am specifically asking about the actual legal issues involved, not about the ethics of the situation (except so far as they might apply to the legal outcome).

  A clause is added to the constitution declaring unambiguously that all
  unborn foetuses fitting a  certain set of criteria are human beings with all
  the attendant basic rights etc.

  A pregnant woman, whose unborn child matches the set of criteria
  exactly, but who absolutely, unequivocally and unambiguously believes
  that her unborn foetus is not a human being, procures an
  abortion.

Is the woman legally guilty of murder (or, if not, any form of homicide)?

I'm interested in any and all reasons for the answer being yes or no, but my main concern is the following:

The act of procuring an abortion, as I understand it, would satisfy the actus reus of murder, that is, the deliberate ending of a human life. However, if someone is genuinely convinced that they are not killing a human being (which includes the circumstance that what they are killing is not a human being), it would seem that they do not satisfy the requirement for mens rea for a murder conviction.

One might draw a parallel with a woman with postpartum psychosis who, while hallucinating that her six-month-old son is a monster, throws him from the balcony of an apartment building, killing him. In both cases, the woman involved causes the death of her child, but is totally convinced that she is not killing a human being.


texts: How does the "well regulated militia" clause affect laws?

texts:
The second amendment to the US Constitution states:

  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.

What, if anything, about the law(s) in the US would be different if the italicized text had been omitted?


texts: How can pro bono lawyers of a libel defendant become defendants themeselves?

texts:
According to this wikipedia article, Lord Aldington managed to join  pro bono legal defenders for Nikolai Tolstoy as defendants in his libel lawsuit.

"In 1996 the Court of Appeal upheld an order Aldington had obtained that made lawyers acting for Tolstoy pro bono parties to the case, and thereby jointly liable with Tolstoy for any costs or damages awarded to Aldington."

How could this happen in the U.K.? Is this "normal" British justice, or was the law twisted to benefit a highly placed plaintiff?  Could this happen in the US, Canada, Australia, or anywhere else in the English-speaking world?

Perhaps the issue is one of "champerty and maintenance," the theory being that the pro bono lawyers "subsidized" the defendant, and therefore had the means to pay. If that's the case, what's to prevent rich Englishmen from going around and suing poor people they dislike, knowing that the latter don't have the means to defend themselves?


texts: Is it legal for Comcast to (apparently) require my SSN to obtain service?

texts:
I went to sign up for a new Comcast account online.  They asked me for some basic billing info, but also asked for my DOB and SSN, which I'd rather not give to them out of concern about identity theft.

The claim is that they need it to run a credit check (ok, fair enough):

But then wait!  There is an alternative - I can pay a $50 deposit instead.  Or so I thought:

They still ask for my SSN!  I thought that perhaps it was now an optional field, but as you can see from the validation message:

So, it would seem that they are not giving me a choice here.  Is this legal?  Are they allowed to require my SSN just to set up service?


texts: How can I determine whether I can use a name commercially?

texts: Where can I search for whether I can or cannot use the name "Connect 4" or "Connect four" for my game?


texts: Is This Workplace Discrimination? What should I do about it?

texts:
So I work at an large company, dealing with automotive related services. Most of the stores (and employees in general) are guys. Today a girl applied at my current store. Female employees are not unheard of, but very uncommon. I heard my manager talking to another employee as to why he will not hire her. The reasons he cited were:

"She's too pretty. It'll be a conflict of interest for the guys.
"She looks like she weighs 120. What happens when she has to lift something heavy?"
"She only wants the job because she's interested in drag racing"

I wasn't involved in the conversation or the hiring process and I'm quitting soon anyways, but I'm pretty sure this type of discrimination is illegal...and on top of that, wrong. Ethically, I feel like I should do something, I'm just not sure what the best thing to do would be.

My first thought was to find her application, and email her, telling her the conversation I overheard. Though I think going through her application would be illegal...
Emailing somebody who is even higher than my boss. (Assistant Vice President, Vice President, or even the CEO) The problem with this is

I'd have to find their email address, which I don't know and asking would sound suspicious since I'm leaving
I've met my AVP and I doubt anything would be done about this. The company has one of those "good old boys" type of things; everyone in the company started out at the same position and worked their way up, so a lot of managers are friends with the AVPs and VPs...

What would be the best thing for me to do in this situation?


texts: Fair use of licenced music snippets in a commercial, educational product

texts:
I have a commercial product that teaches music theory using a series of short videos. In an upcoming video, I'd like to give examples of particular theory concepts using several short snippets of popular music (~10 seconds each). The snippets would play a minor overall part in the lesson.

I have three questions.

1) Would this usage (several short snippets of licenced music) be considered "fair use" in a commercial, educational product?

2) Instead, if I were to record myself strumming the chords of that particular song snippet (~10 seconds), would it be fair use to use that recording in the video?

3) Is there any issue simply discussing the songwriting (e.g., chord progression or melody) of a piece of licenced music in the video?


texts: Why should a witness have to be arrested if they didn't answer the summons of a subpoena?

texts:
If this is a why of the law based on policy, I will move it to the politics site.

I do not think it is right to arrest someone who hasn't broken any laws. The witness didn't probably show up due to medical, psychological, or some other reason. What if the witness went out of the jurisdiction or out of the country?


texts: Speeding Ticket and Argument with Judge and Police Officer

texts:
I received a speeding ticket and plan to stretch the time out to the maximum and sign to deny and take it to court. I'm told I may end up having to pay even more for the ticket if I do this potentially.

Questions

Is it true that I may have to pay more than the ticketed fine if I take it to court, the officer shows up, and I lose my case before the judge?
Is there anything I can do specifically when I go to court if the office is there to just pay the ticketed price right then?


texts:
Some time ago I have created an Android application as a part of my bachelor's thesis. The application can advice user how to solve Rubik's Cube, and user also can play the Cube using touchscreen. During creation of application I have noticed the image rights statement at https://eu.rubiks.com/info/image-rights/ and https://eu.rubiks.com/info/usage-rights-faq/.

I was quite confused by this information, and so I contacted Rubik's Brand Ltd. I briefly described my application and attached some screenshots to my email. Their response follows:

  Dear Ondrej

  Rubik's has an exclusive license for Apps in place.  As
  such we cannot allow publication of any app using the Rubik's Cube.
  We are aware that several such apps do exist and regularly take these
  down via our legal team. I realise this is disappointing for you and
  you are welcome to produce the app for personal or school project use.
  However, we cannot allow publication. I am sorry we cannot be more
  helpful this time.

This message was really quite disappointing, but .. is that even possible? How Rubik’s Brand Ltd. can have "exclusive license for Apps in place"? Have they any right for this restriction? And how can anyone restrict image representation of basically 27 cubes arranged into shape of cube? And even in any color? Most confusing thing is that Ernö Rubik himself has Google+ account where he is posting some images of Rubik's Cubes almost everyday. I am really sure that creators of these images didn't asked Rubik's Brand Ltd for any permission. It is really strange for me.. It is also known that Rubik's Cube patents expired already.

Can I somehow legalize my application? (by changing name, changing colours of the Cube, avoid 3x3x3 Cube.. please advice anything)

They also wrote that they "are aware that several such apps do exist and regularly take these down via our legal team", but apps which I have installed one year ago are still at Google Play. I suspect that this could be just monopolistic behaviour because Rubik's Cube has its "official application" at Google Play.

There are some screenshots (posting this is probably also illegal!) of my application:

Thanks in advance!


texts:
I was wondering wether it would be illegal to import a work from a country (let's say the US) where in that country it is in the public domain, but in Australia in still is in copyright.
This is something that I find to be common enough. I know article 16 of the Berne Convention says something on this, seeming to imply that it would be illegal, but i'm honestly confused because it seems to contradict what the Australian copyright act says on non-infringing copies and their importation.
Thanks for your time.


texts: Are published sports results copyrightable?

texts:
In NBA vs. Motorola where Motorola did not infringe NBA's copyright by publishing scores of games. However, I am wondering if published scores are copyrightable.

For instance, the result "Bulls 99-89 Lakers" itself may not be copyrightable (since it's a fact), but what if it is published on the NBA website? If I want to use the score that is published on the NBA website (without reaching an agreement with NBA), would I infringe NBA's copyright in that case?


texts: Why are some complaints accompanied by affidavits by the Plaintiff parties verifying the complaint's accuracy?

texts: I assumed that the factual allegation in a complaint were always assumed true so an affidavit by the Plaintiff verifying the accuracy of the factual allegation would appear unnecessary, or? Why is this done?


texts: Can I legally decompile my own binary code created by copyrighted compiler?

texts:
I've the following scenario:

I've written some programming code which I own, but I lost the source code, however I've binary which was created by the compiler.

Can I simply decode my own binary code back to the source code if I know how to do it?

Here are the technical details to reproduce that scenario on the computer:

Write a dummy program:

$ echo "void start() { }" > foo.mq4

I've downloaded the compiler (without accepting any agreement):

$ curl -O https://download.mql5.com/cdn/web/metaquotes.software.corp/mt5/mql.exe

Compile the program (which generated encrypted foo.ex4 binary file):

$ mql.exe /mql4 foo.mq4
MQL4/MQL5 Compiler build 1162 (02 Jul 2015)
Copyright 2001-2015, MetaQuotes Software Corp.
foo.mq4 : information: Compiling 'foo.mq4'
Result: 0 error(s), 0 warning(s)

I lost my source code:

$ rm -v foo.mq4
removed ‘foo.mq4’

I'm trying to decompile the binary file using a tool to recover my source code:

$ ./decompiler foo.ex4

Is that perfectly fine to do that, or not? Or it depends, if so, on what?


texts:
This question is for the United States in general for online marketplaces.

Some history:
Back in 2012, Ebay stopped the sale of spells, and now Etsy has also banned the sale of spells.

They have both banned several things that are not illegal to sell, but questionable.

I am not concerned about whether it is 'moral' or against a religion, but rather whether the seller and/or the site that the spell was sold on could be held liable for anything?

An assumption would be that the buyer would get some proof that the spell was performed. This could be a photo, video, skype session, or some other form of proof. The proof may be downloaded, mailed, or in person delivered.

If it is against the law, what law / regulation? I've seen several posts stating that it's against the law, but no one has mentioned an applicable law.

Also, what would be the legal difference between a spell and a prayer?


texts: 2 companies, some shared source code, 1 company gets sold - who owns what?

texts:
We have two software companies.  Company A was formed 15 years ago.  Company B was formed a year ago.  These two companies do not compete, but they both access certain external APIs and massage similar data.

99.8% of the source code between these 2 companies is separate and different (even different languages/tech stack), but we did share some code to import in some data files to a DB, and access some public APIs.  Both company A and B have upgraded these shared files over the last year, although company A originally created them (of course).

We are now selling company A (talks completed, preliminary agreements signed, just waiting for official paperwork to be prepared and to meet in a few days to sign).  The group that is buying our company A is aware of company B, and we have a non-compete, even though we don't have competing products.

As we were preparing to package up all the source code for company A, we realized there were these little utility/import files that were also in company B's repository, and company B is dependent on them.  These "utility" source files are not by any means the "core" of either app.

However, company B does not have time to clean-room rewrite these files, plus we have to go through re-certification with the API owners if we change our source code (which takes time).

We don't want to stall or risk the sale of company A, but we want to stay within the US law.

So in a situation like this, are these little utility files shared IP?

Is there something we can do before the sale ends to protect us, such as company A selling a branch of these files to company B?

We want to be honest but we don't want to open up a can of worms right before the close of sale, because we are worried that it might cause panic where there is not cause for any.

Any precedents or thoughts here?

Thank you.


texts:
In reference to this statue, https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01804.htm

  ...or any person designated by a member in writing as the member's representative and all members or designated representatives so desiring shall be permitted to attend and speak...

What document might the association require to see a non-lawyer is representating a member of their association? Would a durable special power of attorney work?

Does that still work as a company representing the homeowner? Should a simple statement suffice instead?


texts:
I stole $50,000 from my employer over a 14 month period.  They found out and terminated me.  I scraped together $50,000 and gave them a cashier's check today.

I was told by someone in the company that they were not going to prosecute me criminally, but that it was possible that they would prosecute me civilly.

I don't know what this really means. I assume they are going to go after me for more money, but I'm wondering what they could ask for.  Interest on the money over the 14 months?  I don't believe that they can prove any damages that I caused.  The $50,000 is a very small amount of what the company brings in even in a month's time.

Can someone shed some light on what I am likely to face in the coming weeks and months?


texts: Antitrust: when is it bundling, and when is it just a single product?

texts:
One issue often considered by anti-trust law is bundling: restraints of the form "you can buy A from me if and only if you also buy B from me". A particular historical concern has been that a dominant firm in market A might use such a restriction to force consumers to choose its B rather than a competitor's.

But this leaves open the question of where one draws the line between bundled products versus components of the same product:

If I am forced to buy a set of tyres with a car, are the tyres and car bundled, are are they just two parts of the same product?
If I am forced to accept a web browser with my computer operating system, are the OS and browser bundled, or is the browser really just a part of the operating system?
If Netflix will let me subscribe to its entire library, but not choose a la carte, is it bundling of many movies or just the sale of a single product 'a viewing subscription'?

My question is: by what principles do courts settle the question of whether AB is a single product made of two components or whether it is a bundle of two different products, A and B?

Examples of how these decisions have been made in past cases would be welcome.

n.b. I am aware of the economics of bundling and that there may be efficiency reasons for products/components to be bundled. I am interested in learning about how these economic principles (along with legal principles) are put into practice.


texts: If a landlord approvs a tenant but refuses to allow them to move in, can the tenant recover fees associated with temporary housing?

texts:
Venue is NYC/New York State/US.

The Situation:

Landlord's real estate agent shows an apartment to Bob.  Bob likes the apartment, puts down a deposit, submits an application.  Application is approved, Bob signs the lease for move in on a certain day, and pays first months rent and security deposit by certified check.

Move in day comes, and the landlord/real estate agent doesn't show up to give keys to Bob.  Bob has to do an emergency month-long rental extension to avoid being homeless.  After probing, the real estate agent first says that the keys will be available in a few days, and later in the week says that the landlord hasn't signed the lease, but nor has he said that he is not going to sign the lease, and in fact is unreachable, after having told the agent that he is getting cold feet about the rental.

Bob rents another apartment and moves in a week later, paying two rents for most of the month.

The Question:

Bob would like to recover the fee three weeks of his emergency rental extension where he is paying both for the old apartment and the new apartment.  Is it likely for this to succeed, whether in small claims court or in a civil action with a lawyer?

Research:

I haven't been able to find anything quite on point for this situation - everything I can find is about recovering rent when the apartment is rendered uninhabitable.  Haven't been able to find anything about this odd little situation.  The agent had never seen a landlord he was working for refuse to talk to him, so he had little insight.


texts: When are government officials protected by legislative immunity?

texts:
A legislator is being sued under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for violating a constituent's civil rights. The legislator wants to assert legislative immunity as a defense.

What is the test for determining whether his actions fall within the scope of the grant of immunity?

EDIT: I already understand that "absolute legislative immunity attaches to all actions taken in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity"; my question is how we know whether an action is in that sphere. For the sake of example, imagine that Pat and Dan are neighbors who have always hated each other. Pat is elected the president of the school board. Pat wants to sue Dan for monetary damages based on the following actions:

Voting to reduce the number of teachers at Pat Jr.'s school;
Defaming Pat in an e-mail to a principal. The message is sent and received using government e-mail addresses, but its content has no connection to school district business.
Refusing to let Pat Jr.'s Eagle Scout troop make a presentation to the school board.
Ordering the police to arrest Pat for loudly coughing "bullshit" when Dan says he treats everyone fairly.
Punching Pat in the parking lot after the meeting.

Under generally applicable common-law principles, which of these claims should a court dismiss on the basis of legislative immunity, and what test should it use to decide which claims survive?


texts: Can I sue an appraiser for assigning a low value to my property?

texts:
Due to the low value assigned to my home by an appraiser, I didn't get a loan and it did cost money.

However, when I went to another bank, two new appraisers gave a higher value and I was able to refinance my mortgage.


texts: Can an e-commerce site owner be guilty of a crime if the site is hacked?

texts: Are there any crimes that could apply to a site owner if his e-commerce site is hacked?


texts: Why can Domain Registrars sell trademarked Domains?

texts: For example, as of writing this, Vanillacoke.org is available for purchase. There would be nothing to stop me from buying this and Godaddy or whichever Registrar profiting from it. Why are domain names given a pass here in terms of IP law, why isn’t this considered violation? I don’t see how this is any different than someone selling Vanilla Coke T-Shirts for example.


texts: Can a real estate agent refuse to show a rental property (apartment) in NYC if I don't provide my eligibility information?

texts:
I'll email the Nooklyn real estate agents in the New York City area with a question about the property (e.g. floor level, elevator availability, cost of parking, etc.), and they almost always respond without answering the question, and saying they can show the apartment, but then ask for move-in date, income, and credit-score. Answering politely that I'll share my personal information after the viewing, they respond with "we can set up a viewing", and ask again about the above questions.
Refusal to provide them with this information, and the agent simply stops responding to emails and essentially prevents showing the property.
Is any of this behavior legal in NYC?


texts: Do the observations of constitutional courts that are not necessary for deciding the case form binding precedents for lower courts?

texts:
My question concerns the principle that constitutional courts should not decide what is not strictly necessary for deciding the case at hand. What happens if, say the Supreme Court, made well reasoned and detailed (but unduly far-reaching) conclusions about a legal question deciding which was not at all necessary for the case at hand ?
Do these circumstances alone suffice to argue that these conclusions (insofar as they relate to the question which was not before the court) do not form binding precedents when the legal question arises before a High Court in a future case?
I am attaching a pic from the book Constitutional Law of India Vol-II by H.M. Seervai.
This question is in context of India, but I would appreciate answers from other jurisdictions as well.


texts: What is the legal grounds for the MA approved gun roster?

texts:
In Massachusetts, the attorney general's office ruled, many years ago, that only guns that they approve of, which have certain features, are legal to sell in the state.

This regulation claimed to stem from CMR 140, the consumer protection law against false advertising.

How is this regulation possibly legal? What is the legal argument that "you can't claim your product does something it doesn't" leads to, "if you don't include these features in your product, it's illegal to sell here"?


texts:
A house on a landlocked tract (Property A) in North Carolina is for sale by realtor. Property A is accessed from the state road by a driveway, the end of which is constructed on an easement granted across an adjacent property (Property B). The easement is worded to allow the owners of Property A to

pass and repass on foot, vehicles, or otherwise through, including the construction of necessary utilities for lands of [owners of Property A]... said easement hereby conveyed accordingly facilitating access usage of land lying between the [owners of Property A] and the access land of the [owners of Property B].

Does the seller of Property A (or their real estate agent) have the right to place a "for sale" sign on Property B advertising the sale of Property A, without the permission of the owners of Property B? The sign in question is located on Property B, next to the end of the driveway leading to Property A, but both within the easement described above, and within the right-of-way for the state road.
(In other words, the sign is exactly where you would expect such a sign to be, and, this being a rural area, there is no issue with anyone being confused about which property is for sale. The question is just about whether the easement or some aspect of state law gives the seller a right to place the sign without the permission of the owner of the other property the easement runs over.)
I'd be interested in whether this easement, or any aspect of state law, has any effect here. I've done a little research on both, but haven't turned up anything relevant.


texts: Does showing an image as part of a presentation fall within the domain of copyright?

texts:
I am interested on the following situation due to its importance in an academic setting (which makes question about it common on Academia SE):

Suppose I legally obtain some digital image created by somebody else (e.g., by downloading from a public website). I then show this image as part of a presentation for my talk during an academic conference. Attendees (including me) have to pay a fee or be invited to participate in the conference, i.e., the conference is not freely open to everybody. The talk is not recorded or broadcast; the presentation is not distributed.

My question is whether this situation falls in the domain of copyright, i.e.: Is showing an image in such a fashion something that is an exclusive right of the copyright holder (unless specified otherwise)? I am interested in the general international situation, e.g., the Berne Convention. Note that this is not about this action being allowed by exception (e.g., fair use) but about whether it falls within what is protected by copyright in the first place.

My research/thoughts so far

According to this summary of the Berne convention, the protected rights include:

  the right to translate,
  the right to make adaptations and arrangements of the work,
  the right to perform in public dramatic, dramatico-musical and musical works,
  the right to recite literary works in public,
  the right to communicate to the public the performance of such works,
  the right to broadcast […],
  the right to make reproductions in any manner or form […],
  the right to use the work as a basis for an audiovisual work, and the right to reproduce, distribute, perform in public or communicate to the public that audiovisual work [4].

The only point that I can think of covering the action in question, is the last one, if the presentation is considered an audiovisual work that is performed in public, but that does not seem to be the intention of this point to me.
Looking into the convention itself, the only applying paragraph (if any) seems to be Article 11bis, 1 iii:

  Authors of literary and artistic works shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing:

  (iii) the public communication by loudspeaker or any other analogous instrument transmitting, by signs, sounds or images, the broadcast of the work.

I wouldn’t call the action in question “transmitting the broadcast of the work” though.
If the action in question would fall within the domain of copyright, so would showing my desktop background before I launch my presentation.


texts: Is an employer liable for a hostile work environment caused by clients?

texts:
The setting: a group home for juvenile males.

The situation: they are court ordered to be there.

The problem: they verbally abuse staff on a daily basis, and in some instances, physically abuse staff.

The clients receive a handbook with the rules and policies. There are numerous rules, one of which us they are not allowed to bull each other or make inappropriate comments.

However, there is no rule stating they have to respect staff. They don't mind reminding you of this as they disrespect you. Management is aware of the situation and their response to us is "don't take it personally," even when we are verbally abused with racial slurs.

Can an employer be held accountable in civil court for their clients' actions? If they don't utilize their own tools and policies to prevent the behavior?


texts:
In a book that I'm reading about the Nuremberg Trials, I noted the following:

  A number of minority positions have been cited as representative of NMT, for example in The Presbyterian Church of Sudan vs Talisman Energy, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2009 relied solely on the Ministries Tribunal acquittal of Karls Rasche, the head of Dresdner Bank for the proposition that "International Law at the time of the Nuremberg Trials recognised aiding and abetting liability only for purposeful conduct.' In fact, Rasche was the only defendent in any of the trials held to this standard; not only did every other tribunal apply a knowledge standard for aiding and abetting, the Ministries tribunal did so for other defendents. Regardless, the purposive standard is the second circuits official standard, sounding what one scholar called 'the death knell for most corporate liability claims under the Alien Tort Statute.'

To which the author notes:

  Had this study been available then the court may have reached a very different conclusion.

This seems very strange, almost like a schoolboy error. I mean, why should the only defendent indicted upon economic crimes be held to a different standard to all the other defendents? It appears to be an outright example of bias, especially when the presiding judge in his report to President Truman in June 1945 emphasised the need to prosecute individuals in the 'financial, industrial and economic life of Germany who are proveable ... to be common criminals.'

Q. Why was Rasche held to a 'purposeful conduct' criteria unlike every other defendents in the trials who were held to a 'knowledge standard.' Was this, in fact, an example of bias by the judges?

Q. What are the major differences between 'purposeful conduct' and a 'knowledge standard'?

Q. Why has it been said that holding to such a standard 'sounds a death-knell to all corporate liability claims under the Alien Tort Statute'. Why in particular to the Alien Tort Statute and not more widely?


texts: Can the victim of a conversion recover money from a vendor to a converter?

texts:
Suppose B "converted" money entrusted to him by A. B then turns around and buys goods, say a car, from C using the converted funds.

A can sue B for conversion, of course. But can A sue C as the recipient of converted funds. Or can C (who didn't know that the funds were converted) use as a defense, I sold B a car for the money, your remedy is the car owned by B?


texts: Is it illegal to modify a website locally

texts:
I am getting flak from the company I work for for having built a bookmarklet that makes one of their web applications more functional. It injects some code and new elements onto the page to augment the features of the site. Everything it does can be reproduced in the developer console.

They are accusing me of violating their Terms of Service, specifically the generic phrase

  "You agree that you will not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, frame in another web page, use on any other web site, transfer, or sell any information, software, lists of users, databases or other lists, products or services provided through or obtained from the site."

Does this hold water? What I'm doing is 100% local, modifying a rendered version of a website. I am not affecting their servers in any way. How should I respond to this?


texts: Does a dog attack warrant immediate police assistance?

texts:
Earlier today my mother and I were attacked by a large German shepherd.

The owners had left their dog unleashed on their property which has no fences or any division between their large lawn and the public sidewalk. The dog saw us talking and walking on the sidewalk and immediately came after us barking loudly. We ran for a little, the owners were nowhere in sight, but the dog caught up to us in the middle of the road and we were forced to fend it off with our umbrellas. After a minute of pushing the dog away from us it retreated behind a house.

We called 911 right away and said the dog retreated for now and we were told to call the non-emergency police line. We asked several times for someone to come and witness the dog roaming the streets, but the officer insisted on filing a report and kept asking us for personal information. We were terrified to return home or leave for work the next day.

Is it justified for the police to not send a police officer when you report a large off-leash dog that approached you aggressively?


texts:
CNN and MSNBC legal analyst Midwin Charles was something of a celebrity, but her cause of death (a month after her first vaccine dose) remains undisclosed, which led to some speculation online.
I thought causes of death were supposed to be public in the US. Is there any way to know for sure why she died?


texts: Do I need to get transit permits for an unmanned circumnavigating ship?

texts:
Suppose I built a small unmanned robotic ship (1.5 m long), and I intend to make it circumnavigate the Earth without stopping in any port along the way. Under international law, do I have to get permission from any authority in order for my ship to legally sail around the world?
As far as I can tell, this shouldn't be a problem if my ship is launched in international waters, and if the ship only sails in international waters (am I correct?). However, I am concerned about sailing in (or accidentally straying into) territorial waters, especially when transiting through narrow straits such as the Strait of Malacca or the Luzon Strait. What are the relevant laws that I should look into?


texts: Assuming Oracle wins Google v. Oracle America, then would Google have to pay fewer damages if they dropped support for the contested APIs?

texts:
As of this writing, the Google v. Oracle America case is yet to be heard by the Supreme Court. Assuming that Oracle wins the case, if Google was to drop support for the contested APIs on the Android platform, would that result in less damages or other negative legal consequences either immediately or over the long term?

I notice that Google has started developing a different OS called Fuschia which can run on mobile devices, which would not infringe patented APIs. I also notice Google has started supporting a different programming language called Kotlin on Android alongside Java, even to the point of calling it "Google's preferred language for Android app development". It's worth noting that Java APIs, including the contested ones are easily accessible from Kotlin by default.

I'm wondering if, given Oracle wins, the legal consequences for Google would be materially different if Google was to suddenly drop support for the contested APIs on Android, (possibly by providing non infringing alternatives), while continuing to support, develop, and otherwise continue with the above projects.

(I'll mention here that this is an attempt to rework this closed question to be on-topic.)


texts: Why is no language in the world defined by one single official entity?

texts:
As I understand, languages are mutable and shaped by their usage and the need for newer terms.

The definitions of single words and expressions aren't always clearly defined by dictionaries. There are different definitions for each term, some more vague than others and some embracing more meanings.

In my opinion there is the need to exist one official place that defines a language instead of different respected entities not only for common learning but also for legal purposes such as:

  Absent some definition or example in the document itself, one must fall back on the “ordinary and plain meaning” of the term, which, as with all terms, is subject to interpretation and dispute.

My question is if there have been attempts of a country or such to officialize a language so that it leaves less doubt and controversy in legal cases of any meanings in for example written contracts.


texts: When and how is the advocacy of violence illegal?

texts:
Today I saw a t-shirt reading "Kill a liberal, save a taxpayer." Also I have heard that the right to free speech does not extend to the right to shout "fire!" in a public theater. But if I did choose to exercise non-free speech, what would happen?

What statutes exist against wearing a t-shirt that advocates violence against a particular group?

If I wore such a t-shirt and the police decided it broke the law, what would be the consequence?

Is this illegal at the federal, state, or local level? How does it vary, if not enforced by the US federal government?


texts: Why do the majority of states require you to publish your name change?

texts:
I know that there are some states, like Oregon, which are easing up on this. If you are transgender, or have been the victim of abuse or crime, you should be able to change your name in private. At the same time, are they trying to make it hard for us so that if we were trying to hide our tracks from the law, people would have a chance to object? I wouldn't want the whole world to know I was transgender, no way.

Why can we not do a thorough criminal and background check on every person who wants to have their name change, similar to what an employer or volunteer coordinator might do before hiring or allowing you to volunteer?


texts: What type of work are training materials according to U.S. copyrights law (Title 17)?

texts:
I presume it is either of the following, given that training materials are often videos or tapes accompanied by the transcribed text (or vice versa).
The definitions according to 17 U.S.C. § 101 (archived):

"Literary works" are works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonorecords, film, tapes, disks, or cards, in which they are embodied.
"Sound recordings" are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as disks, tapes, or other phonorecords, in which they are embodied.
"Audiovisual works" are works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines, or devices such as projectors, viewers, or electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as films or tapes, in which the works are embodied.

Relevant resources:

https://www.copyright.gov/register/sr-choose.html
https://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-type.html


texts: Is the area in front of shops considered a pedestrian zone / crosswalk?

texts:
In an outdoor mall setting with many shops along road, is the area in front of each shop entrance considered a crosswalk where pedestrians have a right-of-way, even if unmarked?

An incident today got me thinking about the above.  I've always  been under the impression that the above is true, but I'm not certain if it actually is or if people just generally act that as if it were out of courtesy/safety.

Relevant story

Leaving my local Petsmart shop today I started heading toward the road to cross and get to my car.  While walking I glanced to each side and saw one side clear, the other had a lady that just reached a stop sign at a near by intersection.

Given that she had just stopped and I was near the road, I decided to cross when I reached the road.  There was ample time for her to slow and wait if necessary (depending on how fast she decided to go through the intersection).

What transpired is that as I was about half way through crossing she drove up to the point where her bumper was about 6 inches from my legs then waited.  As I got clear she then drove by and yelled out the window "Not a crosswalk, A*h***!"


texts:
Bob and Alice are getting divorced. They each have jobs, but Bob makes significantly more than Alice. They purchased a home together but each own their own cars prior to getting married. They also have separate bank accounts and a joint account for the bills they split. They also each have their own retirement accounts.

I know that specifics vary from each case and state. But typically what qualifies as "Martial Property"?


texts: Is a warrant required to access your SMS activity in the UK?

texts: How long is it saved and under what circumstances can it be retrieved by the state?


texts: Gym Membership Extraordinary Termination when Flaws were already present before signing?

texts:
I'm going to a local gym in my town for about half a year. At the time I signed the contract I didn't have a car and bus or train is terrible where I live, so I had no other gym to choose from. The contract states terms of 1 year with a 1 month notice period to terminate it.

Now, after these 6 months of training there and educating myself over a lot of weightlifting topics, I started to notice a lot of flaws in the gym. For example, I'd love to do Squats or Military Presses. Unfortunatly the gym doesn't have such a rack to take the barbell out and picking a heavy loaded barbell off the ground is pretty hard (even impossible when trying to lay the bar across my neck to squat with it). Also there are some machines I'd like to use, which are also missing.

I read about extraordinary termination when the gym removes a machine (or other equipment) or does fail to replace broken ones, so I came to this question:

Am I able to extraordinary terminate this contract due to missing equipment, although I technically should have know that it was missing before I signed?


texts: Does Texas have a legal right to leave the Union or secede?

texts:
Many people, possibly even including recent Texas governors, think that Texas has a right to secede from the Union.

Does it, or does it not?


texts: Is writing quality regulated by the UK Sale of Goods Act

texts:
When products are sold in England and Wales there there is an implied contract term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality. (Sale of Goods Act, Section 14)

Does this mean that consumers are entitled to a refund if a book is badly written?

Of course in many cases it would be hard for a court to judge writing quality objectively, and I suppose the policy aims of allowing free expression and consumer protection would be in conflict.


texts:
Patent US4309569, published in 1982 and expiring 20 years later, describes an algorithm for creating hash trees (known as Merkle trees, after its inventor), used for data validation. How is this patentable?

The US has granted "software patents" since the 70s, but my understanding is that this does not extend to obvious/trivial algorithms or mathematical formulae. In my view, hash trees -- and, thereupon, the application of the mathematical formulae presented in the patent -- are entirely obvious and non-novel. I believe this would be the view of any computer scientist or seasoned programmer; it therefore strikes me as unlikely that it was never independently reinvented (before or since), hence invoking a legal challenge.


texts: Are freelancers liable when products they develop for a client suffer data-breaches?

texts:
Supposing this is a freelancer & client in the EU and that a website was reasonably secured when developed.
Imagine there are no written contracts and a year after delivery this client's website suffers an attack and its sensitive data is stolen.


texts: Can a dark web site exempt itself from prosecution with an immunity agreement?

texts:
Is it possible in the United States for a dark web site operator (or potentially anyone involved in an illegal activity) to create a contract that legally binds a law enforcement organization to grant preemptive immunity against any illegal activities that might occur?

For example, upon sign-up the site might present a EULA or similar that says something to the effect of:

"By signing in to this site, you, as a representative of any law enforcement agency, acting as a representative of and on behalf of your respective agency, do hereby grant the site operator and any affilates of this site perpetual immunity from civil or criminal prosecution for any and all activities associated with this site, including indemnification against damages for ..."

Is there any legal predent anywhere in the United States where a person has been encouraged by a law enforcement organization to commit a crime under protection of immunity, possibly in pursuit of some greater good (justification: it takes a criminal to catch a criminal)?  Could such a precent be used as a defense in conjunction with this agreement ("They signed the agreement Your Honor, just like they did with Homer vs. The City of Springfield, 1985")?

If it isn't possible, what law(s) prevent it?  If it is possible, what would such a contract look like (note, I won't be the one to test this, just curious...)?


texts: Can I produce or write my own recipe book based on what my action in cooking using other's recipe book or online?

texts:
I have done my research but the stack exchange provides no further answer that I needed. My research is as follows:

A StackExchange user comments

  Selection and ordering of the recipes could be a "compilation" under
  U.S. law: the creative decision-making in compiling the set of recipes
  might satisfy copyright's "modicum of creativity" requirement. See 17
  USC §103: "The copyright in such [compilation] is independent of [...]
  any copyright protection in the preexisting material." I'm not 100%
  sure about that, though. There may be relevant case law; I don't know.
  Source

Publications International vs Meredith should provide you with the desired clarity. 17 USC 102(b) says

  In no case does copyright protection for an original work of
  authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of
  operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in
  which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such
  work

  The court found that

  The identification of ingredients necessary for the preparation of
  each dish is a statement of facts. There is no expressive element in
  each listing; in other words, the author who wrote down the
  ingredients for "Curried Turkey and Peanut Salad" was not giving
  literary expression to his individual creative labors. Instead, he was
  writing down an idea, namely, the ingredients necessary to the
  preparation of a particular dish. "No author may copyright facts or
  ideas. The copyright is limited to those aspects of the work -- termed
  'expression' -- that display the stamp of the author's originality."

  and finally

  Although the inventions of "Swiss 'n' Cheddar Cheeseballs" and
  "Mediterranean Meatball Salad" were at some time original, there can
  be no monopoly in the copyright sense in the ideas for producing
  certain foodstuffs. Nor can there be copyright in the method one might
  use in preparing and combining the necessary ingredients. Protection
  for ideas or processes is the purview of patent.

  Of course, that precludes copying the author's elegant description of
  live on the Riviera, which is protected literary work.Source

I have cooking as a hobby. I would like to put up a site where I share the recipes I used. I sometimes use recipes from the cooking book which obviously copyrighted work. Therefore, I decided what if I 'retell' the process involved when I am cooking the dish myself, producing 'my own' 'cooking instruction'? Of course, I would like my recipe to have the same ingredients as the reference book I am using, else the taste is not going to be the same. Is this allowed? How about international law since I am not in the US.


texts: European prohibitions on bullbars on public roads

texts:
I am looking to drive my American SUV in Europe (mainly in the UK, but also probably France, Italy and Germany). I have a hefty bullbar on both the front and back of my 2002 Chevrolet Suburban, similar to this.
Since these bullbars are so dangerous if you’re ever in a collision with a pedestrian, I am wondering if there are any laws in those countries which prohibit them on public roads. I am intending to go only for a short holiday, so I am not trying to register the SUV in Europe.


texts: UK - Landlord refuses to remove personal items

texts:
My partner and I have recently begun renting a house in the UK.  The rental is a high value one (around £4000/month) and the property is large, and fully detached.  The initial tenancy is for 12 months.  The property is rented basically unfurnished, with only a couple of items on the inventory, and our tenancy agreement grants us full use of it and its grounds.

The landlord lives abroad and operates through a local estate agent.

When we viewed the property, we noted that the two garages and an adjacent storage room (which they call "the basement") were largely filled with the landlord's personal items - old exercise equipment, construction materials left over from building renovation, crates of old toys etc.  We were assured by the agent that anything we didn't want to use would be removed.  We subsequently made an offer, signed the tenancy agreement and begun our tenancy.

We collected all of the landlord's leftover personal items into one of the two garages, and requested our agent to collect them as agreed.  However, we were then told that the landlord did not wish for some of their items to be removed.  The agent copied us in, very unprofessionally, on an email from the landlord, where she said she was very upset that the tenant had gone through their basement and moved their personal items - and that they were to be moved back into the basement.

We replied and made it very clear that we did not agree to store the landlord's personal items in any part of our property, and that this was not part of our tenancy agreement.  We also stated that if the landlord wished to store their personal items in the basement or other parts of the property, then that would have to be through a separate arrangement with us.  We gave a date by which we would like these items removed, and finally pointed out that we are very concerned that we do not have full use of the property that we are paying for.

The agent acknowledged this, but have nevertheless now removed only a selection of the landlord's items, telling us that the landlord has instructed them to return the rest to the basement.  At this point one of our garages is half filled with crates of the landlord's personal rubbish and unable to be used as a garage.  None of this stuff is mentioned on the inventory.

We would really prefer not to burn bridges with our landlord and the agent by resorting to legal threats at this stage if we can avoid it, as we really like the house and would like to continue living there - but we would also really not give up some of our limited space to store the landlord's crap for free!

What are our options in this situation, and what's our legal position?  I have come across some sources stating that this sort of situation counts as partial eviction, due to the landlord denying us use of / access to some of the property - is that accurate?  Is there some way we can convey this to them, gently enough not to cause a major rift?  If it doesn't work out amicably, what's the best recourse we can have?


texts:
As not being an English native speaker, I have to write an academic report in my mother tongue but I can't find the official Laws of Nigeria because of the lack of my googling skill. Where can I find the official Laws of Nigeria? Could you add the site link or give me the relevant keywords?

PS. Especially I need Employee's compensation laws in relation with occupational disease, accidental injuries at workplace, mental stress and so on.


texts: Do private contracts supersede local/state/federal laws?

texts: Using the classic example, "promise your first born child". Let's say I entered into a contract with another party (individual or group) and the contract states that I offer a service or product in exchange for another service or product (money probably). There is a clause in the contract that states if the other part is unable to fulfill his/her/their end of the contract, then the other party must give me their first born child. Will this contract hold up in a court of law in the United States? This is assuming the other party was willing and able to enter into this contract with me.


texts: Must I always ask permission if I use code someone other wrote?

texts:
I was told that it might be useful to publish something on Github to get a job. I was wondering if there are any copyright issues here:

Suppose I got an idea of a small program. I do it mostly by my own but I found some good functions from Github or some discussion forum. Author of those functions have not said anything about the lisences of the code. Is it legal to publish the program I made in Github if there are any code that is available from the Internet but author has not said anything about its lisence or copyrights?

Do the lawyers judge that of course I am guilty as there is code someone other wrote, they have copyright to it, and there is no permission to use it, or do they think that it would be weird to bully people by posting code to the Internet that nobody can use?

I'm from Finland.


texts: What types of rights can be waived, and what types of rights cannot?

texts:
How can I find out what kinds of rights can be waived, and in what manner?
For example:

Can I waive any of my Constitutional rights? What kinds require a contract, and what kinds are waived through not exercising them at the proper time?
Can I waive any of my statutory rights? What kinds require a contract, and what kinds are waived through not exercising them at the proper time?
Any other rights I'm missing?

Note:

I mean without having to go ask a lawyer every single time, obviously.

I'm not asking anyone to make me a table of all possible rights and waiving mechanisms!
I just want some rules of thumb, and/or pointers to existing lists if they happen to exist.


texts: Does the XR vs. Shell case create precedent for environmental activism being necessary?

texts:
Six Extinction Rebellion activists were charged with criminal damage to the Shell HQ building in London’s Waterloo in April 2019.  All admitted the actions, and five of the six relied on the defense that their actions were necessary, in that their actions that day were required to prevent greater harm, specifically that they raise the alarm about the threat of climate change and pressure the UK government to act.  The judge directed the jury that these 5 defendants had no defense under the law.  The sixth defendant claimed that he believed Shell (considered as a whole, including all the staff, shareholders and management) would have consented to his actions, and this was accepted by the judge as recognised under law.  All six were found not guilty by the jury.
Does this create precedent for environmental activism being necessary, such that it could be cited in subsequent cases to demonstrate that similar action may be protected by the law?


texts: Why would a business accept an open ended indemnity clause?

texts:
A government contractor wants to place a blanket PO to our small business but has this open-ended indemnity clause:

The Subcontractor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless [the contractor] and the United States Government, and their respective officers, employees and agents (the "Indemnities"), from and against any and all liabilities, of whatsoever kind or nature, arising out of or in any way connected with the Subcontractor's performance under this Agreement, excepting only (i) liability arising from affirmative acts, done with intent to cause loss, damage or injury, by the Indemnities; (ii) liability arising from the sole negligence of the Indemnities; or (iii) any express liability as may be specified elsewhere in this Agreement.

Why would any business agree to such a clause when, at least in our case, a minor innocent error on our part could result in liability far exceeding the value of the PO? I spoke with multiple sources including lawyers and can't get a clear answer. The contractor claims they NEVER waive or modify the clause.


texts: Let's say I have a consultancy software agreement with a company A. This company A now decides to add my name on some campaign to raise money. Do I have the right to ask them to remove my name from the marketing purpose? In the contract there no clauses regarding any right of using my name for marketing purposes.


texts: Small Business - Can I expense small gifts to myself as a reward (i.e. gift card)

texts:
I recently asked if I could expense Starbucks trips that I make to buy myself a coffee. This has become frequent due to the long hours I'm putting in.

Since I cannot expense coffee trips that I take by myself, can I have my business buy me a Starbucks gift card as a reward for the long hours I'm putting in, and have it expensed? Can I also do this for future employees?

Business type: Single Member LLC


texts: What, besides the younger person's complaint, has caused DAs to prosecute statutory rape?

texts:
If I were a DA (District Attorney) looking out "stamp out" statutory rape, I would make the rounds of the hospitals, identify women who gave birth, or were impregnated when underaged, and go from there. But few, if any DAs, do this.

As a DA, I would of course, follow up on any complaints lodged by the victim, or even by her/his parents. And maybe I would prosecute a case where people were "caught in the act, or there were nude pictures, etc. May even an especially egregious PDA (public display of affection).

But suppose there were no complaints or smoking guns. Could someone investigate based on something like a teenager "holding hands" with someone much older? To make the question objective, what has historically caused DAs to prosecute people outside of the above parameters?


texts: Can the subsidiaries of a holding company each operate under the same dba name?

texts:
Holding company X has subsidiaries A, B, and C

Can A, B, and C each file a DBA to operate as the same name ie ACME?

How would this be different than Holding company X creating a trademark ACME and licensing it to A, B, and C?

Thanks!


texts: Can the executor of a will be the sole beneficiary?

texts: In the United States, can the executor of a will be the sole beneficiary?


texts: Is coordination of testimony by witnesses against court rules?

texts:
Is it against the rules of criminal procedure for witnesses to consult with each other for the purpose of coordinating their testimony in court?
I ask because when I read police reports written by multiple patrolmen concerning the same event, often they use the same language and report things in an identical way such that gives the impression that the police are coordinating the testimony in the reports to agree with one another's statements. Is this allowable?


texts: What happens to somebody returning from ISIS, who did not commit crimes inside ISIS?

texts:
Individual people from American or European countries have joined ISIS over time.

Such a person may decide to returns home.

If it was never recognized that the person had the intention to join ISIS, he/she is basically just a person returning from traveling.
If the person is known to be an ISIS fighter, he will be detained at arrival and probably indicted for some felony.
If it is known the person was member of ISIS, but nothing else is known, and there is no indication that he was an active fighter: What happens in this case?

There is a good example for the third case happening in Germany. A teenage girl without any relation to Islam was in a state of searching for meaning of live as part of normal being a teenager. She was around 15 years old, and somehow, more or less randomly, came in contact with radical Islam culture.

She then decided to travel to join ISIS in some region where it was active.

She basically became housewife, in a relationship with an active ISIS fighter.

After some time, she realized that it all was not a good idea. Around 2 years after joining ISIS, she decided to return to her family. She began to search for somebody to smuggle her home, and succeeded after multiple attempts. There were no reasons to think she had any relations to ISIS - only her father and the smuggler helping her knew about it.

I'm wondering how a member of ISIS returning from any relation with ISIS would be treated when it becomes known, and it is plausible he/she did not engage in any kind of illegal activity during the time. She was still teenager when returning home, but that is not central to my question, except that it probably helped to reduce suspicions.

A documentary about the example case in Germany, in English language: My Daughter and the Caliphate | DW Documentary


texts: Termination of agency due to insolvency of an agent?

texts:
The Wikipedia article on the law of agency says that an agency relationship is may be terminated by "operation of law", and specifically "by the bankruptcy (insolvency) of either party." (meaning either principal or agent.)   Unfortunately there are detailed no references supporting this assertion.

For example, I'm named successor agent under a power-of-attorney for my disabled Mother, and concerned with the actions and motivations of the first agent.  The original agent stops paying debs regularly (one definition of insolvency), does this trigger my authority to act, or does it require the original agent to file for bankruptcy protection?  How about the agent's failure to pay a court-ordered settlement?


texts: Can Rule 15(c)(1) be used by original parties to defeat a timely claim?

texts:
I am currently in a scenario analogous to this one:

Can this hypothetical sequence of events occur in the Federal Arena (particularly 9th cir).

1.) Plaintiff brings a suit against party A before limitations

2.) Party A files an answer

3.) Limitations expires

4.) Plaintiff files amended pleading, adding party B and argues that it should relate back under Rule 15(c)(1)

5.) Parties A and B respond with motions to dismiss, arguing that it does not relate back and thus limitations has expired with respect to both parties.

6.) Court agrees, entire action becomes time-barred against not only party B but also party A.


texts: Does a tenancy swap reset the start of tenancy date

texts:
A and B rented a house from private landlord L, on a 3 year term with an option to break with 2 months notice after 12 months.
After 16 months, B moved out.
A agreed with the landlord on a swap to add C on all the original terms including the same (now 20 months away) end date. The new tenancy agreement also notes that the tenants accept the inventory from A's original start date.
Circumstances changed such that both need to move city, timed such that A and C will both want to leave 10 months after the swap. They gave 3 months notice to this effect.

The landlord's agents responded with the claim that because a new tenancy agreement was signed between A, C and L after the swap, they cannot break the tenancy until 12 months after the swap. This surprised C and astonished A, who will have been in the house for 26 months by that point. Both had understood a swap to imply that C would have effectively the same set of rights and obligations as B, had B continued in the tenancy and A would also continue as before.

Does such a change of tenant generally entail restarting the clock on contractual or statuatory obligations in an AST, and do A and C have any recourse other than paying off the last 2 months or negotiating fresh exit terms from a position of relative weakness?


texts: Using Windows Media Player SDK in a commercial software

texts: Does anyone know what license does the Windows Media Player SDK use? I am implementing a video player to commercial software written in Visual Basic and I couldn't find any license information regarding the Windows Media Player SDK. In the program I am using WMPLib and Windows Media Player ActiveX component and was wondering what I need to be able to sell this software. Do I need a license for this?


texts: What Supreme Court cases, other than Nixon v. United States, have directly applied or interpreted U.S. Const. Art. I, Section 3, Clause 6?

texts:
Background
Impeachment in the United States is mostly handled by the legislative branch alone. Hence the Courts have not typically applied restrictions or said much about impeachment other than Nixon v. United States:

Primary Holding
The political question doctrine is triggered when the text of the Constitution has shown that an issue lies outside the scope of the courts, or there is no judicial standard for resolving the issue.

This is the  only Supreme Court case that I know of which directly applies U.S. Const. Art. I, Section 3, Clause 6 (i.e. the Trial of Impeachment) in any context.  I would like to know from a legal perspective any other limitations and or interpretations that the Supreme Court has given to U.S. Const. Art. I, Section 3, Clause 6.  Hence my question
Question
What Supreme Court cases, other than Nixon v. United States, have directly applied or interpreted how the Trial of Impeachment works on the federal level?


texts: How do executives pay themselves $1 per year without running afoul of minimum wage laws?

texts:
Many executives, especially chief executives, receive nearly all of their compensation in stock. Both for public perception, and for tax reasons, Elon Musk, Eric Schmidt, Jack Dorsey, Larry Page, Mark Pincus, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others pay themselves only $1 per year.
Assuming these men and women are legally "employed" by their respective companies, and given that I don't believe compensation in stock is legally pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, how do they manage to avoid receiving at least minimum wage in cash?
Where jurisdiction is concerned, I'd like to consider federal law in the United States, as well as state law in New York and California, though I am curious to hear about any other relevant state law as well (maybe Delaware Corporations follow only Delaware minimum wage laws?). Thanks in advance!


texts: Can you own copyrights to dance moves or choreography?

texts:
So there's this thing called High Fitness.  It's a company that makes money off of choreographing exercise routines to popular music, and sells the choreography. It's essentially Zumba but less dancey and more of a workout. The company offer$ training in order to "certify" people as "certified" high fitness instructors who have to pay monthly to subscribe to the library of choreography, which they use to lead classes they charge admission to attend.

The question is, if someone were to attend a class, learn the choreography, and then share it outside of the class, are there any concerns about copyright? Could anyone get in trouble for working out or leading workouts using the choreography they learned at a high fitness class?


texts: How is 'severe distress' defined in UK Coronavirus regulations?

texts:
The The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) (England) Regulations 2020, Part 2, Regulation 3 states:

(1) No person may, without reasonable excuse, enter or remain within a
relevant place without wearing a face covering.

Regulation 4 states:

(1) For the purposes of regulation 3(1), the circumstances in which a
person ("P") has a reasonable excuse include those where—

(a) P cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering—

(i) because of any physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability (within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010(1)), or
(ii) without severe distress;

I am particularly interested in how 'severe distress' is defined. Is this a legal definition? How is 'severe' determined, and how would a court decide if a person's distress was 'severe'
enough? Is there any legal test to establish a threshold for this?
Have there been any cases in England/Wales/Scotland where this has been tested - if so, how would I go about finding information (as somebody who is interested in law, but has no legal training or background)?


texts: Financial Market Regulation - Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority

texts:
In practice, what are the main differences between the regulatory approach adopted by Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority and that adopted by Financial Services Authority?

Rather than being substantive, the differences they have seems to be more about rhetoric. For example, it seems that the old approach and the new approach are both based on risk.


texts:
Netlify has coined and trademarked the term Jamstack for a particular development methodology that has now become an industry standard term. It's not a particular product or set of tools, more a philosophy about how to build websites.  There are many articles, blog posts, tutorials and content in general that talk about Jamstack. Netlify's competitors also use this term and so far, there doesn't appear to be any attempt to censor or prevent its use.
The trade mark covers "Creating an on-line community for website and application developers to promote website and application developments best practices."
What are the implications of writing content or marketing material using the term Jamstack?


texts: Consequences of making changes to plea after all parties have signed the agreement

texts:
Can a prosecutor make changes to a plea deal once all parties have signed?

For example: If someone was to plea (deal) to and was convicted of manslaughter. However then the prosecutor changed the paper work to homicide, but did not inform the defendant or the courts. Later they conceded that they made the changes without telling anyone.

Is this lawful, and can your sentence be vacated if this were to happen?


texts: Unsolicited ideas clause in terms of service in the context of corporate email contact links?

texts:
Most term of service contracts have a unsolicited ideas clause that contains language like:

  suggestions or ideas relating to enhancements, new or improved products, technologies

etc.

If the corporation has an email contact link on the home page and someone sends in an unsolicited idea without having agree to the terms of service does that then mean that the corporation is no longer protected from the clause since the individual has not agreed?


texts: Processing of genetic data: which are the required “technical and organisational measures”?

texts:
Several articles of the Regulation require to apply the

“appropriate technical and organisational measures”

or

“appropriate safeguards”

in order to ensure the security of data.

While GDPR article 32 lists some possible measures ensuring cyber security (e.g., pseudonymization or encryption), it is unclear to me what “appropriate” means.

I am specifically thinking of all those cases in which a processor would have to conduct processing:

on data which are a special category (under Article 9) and intrinsically “non-pseudonymizable”, allowing the re-identification of patients (as for genetic data); and
on third-party premises which are possibly untrusted (e.g., clouds such as AWS or Google Cloud, which would act as external processor).

I looked in the regulation to understand more about what security measure would be needed in this context. However, GDPR articles are quite fuzzy on suggesting security measures, and apart from requiring additional documentation (i.e., an appropriate DPIA, according to the Guidelines dictated by the Article 29 Data Protection WP), there is no further, punctual suggestion on how to ensure security in specific situations.

I don’t get how someone would say that a security measure is “appropriate” and thus compliant to the Regulation.

How would a data processor select a security measure in these conditions? What makes a safeguard/security measure “appropriate”?


texts: Can a writer keep an editor's edits despite order cancellation?

texts:
I wrote an article and hired a freelance editor who delivered a result that didn't match the value of how much I paid him. He agreed to refund me.

There are certain edits of his that I would like to use, but would that would infringe upon his rights since the order was cancelled?


texts: How can i compete legally with the large firms in the below mentioned scenario?

texts:
I am from India and when i did some research i found out that there are some big and well established companies in the field of windmill installation for electricity generation like Vestas India, GE Wind Energy Ltd.etc.
I have developed a product for renewable generation of electricity and want to start a startup, but it is not very complex (i.e easy to get copied) and i fear that those big companies could figure out the working of my product easily and can make a duplicate of it. Since i will be a small startup very few will recognize me and i will also be having less connections as compared to those big firms.
Also i do have an option of getting a patent done but there can be a chance that i miss some aspect and then those big firms could find any loopholes and then make my patent invalid.(I guess you must be understanding what i want to say as there is lots of possibility for a product design and it is possible that i miss some of them in my patent)
Is revealing of my product in press will be a good idea
Please guide me what should one do for the above case in order to get recognized. (i guess after update my question is making some sense)


texts: If Person A gets permission to use Person B's computer, but uses it for illegal activities, who is held liable?

texts:
I had this idea to make a network where people can get paid to let other people use their computer for computing purposes. Let's say they got permission to use Person B's computer under terms and conditions, basically saying:

"I will not do anything illegal using this computer."

And they agreed upon the terms. But Person A used Person B's computer to do something illegal like, let's say, distributing paid music for free (without permission) using that computer as a server, so they are violating copyright law. But how can one say "Person B is innocent!" in a valid way, before they have to even leave for court.

Oh, and Person A and Person B both have unlimited liability.


texts: How is the theft of stolen property handled legally?

texts:
Many definitions of "theft" include specific text regarding "the rightful owner" or a variant necessitating that the victim of theft owned the property. (emphasis mine)

For example, The Free Dictionary defines theft as:

  A criminal act in which property belonging to another is taken
  without that person's consent.

Merriam Webster defines it similarly:

  the act of stealing; specifically :  the felonious taking and removing
  of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it

How do these definitions apply if the person being stolen from is not actually the rightful owner, and has in fact stolen the property himself? What criminal repercussions do thieves of stolen property face?


texts: Does the first amendment protect children forced to receive a religious education?

texts: Many parents "force" their children to receive religious education. Does the children's U.S. First Amendment right to freedom of religion allow them to get the police to stop their parents from doing this sort of thing? Or do First Amendment rights not apply to minors?


texts: Who are the copyright holders of softwares that students develop during their studies?

texts: The outputs of a software developed from scratch by a student during his/her studies are used in writing his/her thesis. Can the student's supervisor or the University claim to be a copyright holder of the software? What if the student was paid by the University as a Research Assistant?


texts:
Is it legal to operate a drone (quadcopter or other type) in autonomous mode over private property (either with owner's permission or over my own property)? By private property I mean private real estate like agricultural fields, woods/forests etc. An example usage case would be operating something like a cargo-drone for agricultural purposes.

I am interested in global legal situation, but EU, USA and China are my main areas of interest.

The contrary to autonomous mode would be manual mode where one usually has to maintain line-of-sight when operating a drone. I also guess there is a maximum height that "hobby" aviators are allowed to reach.

A side question - what is the current legal situation for operating a drone in the states listed above? I know about the "Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Registration" in the US only.


texts:
Having observed many jury trials, it seems that lawyers are only allowed to stand behind the podium or walk around the direct area around the podium (within 2 or 3 feet) while addressing the court.

In one instance a lawyer did try to stand within two feet of the jury box, and faced the jury, immediately the judge reprimanded the lawyer saying:

  You are here to address the court, not to directly address the jury

Are there specific rules of court etiquette that says a lawyer can't approach the jury (like the rules that a lawyer needs approval to approach the witness box)?


texts: If I sue someone for a small amount, and win, do they have to pay for my lawyer?

texts:
If I sue my former landlord for taking an extra 150 € from my deposit and I win, besides from the money they should give me back (the 150 €) should they pay for my lawyer expenses?

Or is there a small court for this cases where I do not need a lawyer?


texts: Can governments require administrators of groups on social media platforms to buy licenses?

texts:
The Kenyan government now wants administrators of WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms to pay for licenses. Is this possible with the GDPR, Facebook privacy policy, etc., as the proposed law also requires such administrators to keep all the data of the users of the platform and submit the same to the authorities when required.
Bill summary