texts: Is there a legal definition of "viewing a property" (in the UK)?

texts:
Some background: we're moving out of our apartment soon and the agency has requested to conduct a viewing for a prospective tenant when we're not at home, using the spare key in their possession. We have explicitly said we do not authorize anyone entering our apartment without one of us being present, but this caused me to re-read parts of our contract related to this.

The bit I found interesting is this (emphasis mine):

  To allow the Property to be viewed by prior mutually acceptable
  appointment, at reasonable times, during normal working hours and at
  weekends, and upon the Tenant being given at least 24 hours’ notice in
  writing, following a request by any person who is (or is acting on
  behalf of) the Landlord or the Agent and who is accompanying a
  prospective purchaser or tenant of the Property.

The reason I found this phrasing strange is the fact a clause just above it (related to conducting repairs) specifically uses the word "enter":

  To allow the Landlord, the Agent, any Superior Landlord, his agent,
  professional advisers, or authorised contractors to enter the Property
  with or without workmen and with all necessary equipment. [...]

Is there any difference between "view[ing the Property]" and "enter[ing] the Property" in this case? Or, more directly, why would they use different wording in two adjacent clauses?
The only requirement for a viewing seems to be a "prior mutually acceptable appointment" and, unlike the clause about repairs, it includes no subclauses related to when we are required to allow someone to enter. This seems to imply that, in theory, we could just keep not being able to find an agreeable time and they wouldn't be able to show our apartment to prospective tenants at all, which doesn't seem right. Am I missing something here?


texts: Generally speaking must late fees have some sort of cap or limit? For example if it were the libraries policy could they really charge $100 per day for unreturned books? A more realistic example, often contractors have a late fee for late payments. Could it accumulate indefinitely (for example $10 per day) or must it be a flat rate or have an upper limit (for example it stops after 14 days)?


texts: Does the maxim "Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius" apply to the rules for dating my teenage daughter?

texts: Non-lawyer here.  Someone I know who IS a lawyer says that the maxim "Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius" governs conduct everywhere, even in non-legal settings.  I asked if it governs the conduct of teenage boys trying to date my teenage daughter.  He said that absolutely it does, and that ignorance of the law is no excuse.  Frankly, I have no idea what he's talking about.  What would it even mean for this maxim that he called a "canon of construction" even to apply here?


texts: when will a UK-published English translation of a Chilean novel reach the public domain in USA

texts:
I'm a US  ebook publisher looking for out of print books which might be in the public domain which I can digitize. I found a novel which I'd like to investigate.

It was originally published in Spanish in Chile in 1928.
The author died in 1946.
The book was translated into English by two British translators and
published in UK by a fairly well known publishing house in 1931.
As far as I know, the book was never published in USA. I am assuming
there was no copyright registration but I can say definitively that
are no copyright renewal registrations  in the US.
I have no idea when the British translators died. How does one find
out?

(The work in question is THE PARTNER by Jenaro Prieto "English version by Blanca De Roig and Guy Dowler")
I'm still doing research, but there's a chance that neither the work nor the translation was ever published in USA.
What would be the guidelines for determining when something with these characteristics can be public domain in the US?
Also, suppose that I learn that the translation was eventually  published in USA, (let's say in 1938), but the copyright on the copyright translation on that work  was never renewed in the US. Would that affect the year when this work goes into the public domain in USA?
Finally I realize that my question is specific to one book, but are there resources helpful for determining copyright status of translated works? THanks.


texts:
Contracts generally have terminations clauses allowing either party to eventually end the obligation imposed on them by a contract. E.g. the buyer may have to notify the seller of termination in writing; the service may, at its sole discretion, terminate a user for breaking the rules; the agreement may terminate on a specific date and so on. In principle, a contract could be written in such a way that the service has the right to terminate the agreement, but the customer cannot terminate the agreement (so they are stuck with that cell service provider for life). Assume that the contracts in question are contracts of adhesion (take it or leave it, customer). In the scenario, (1) there may be an explicit statement that the customer is perpetually bound or (2) there is no statement regarding termination by the customer: I assume the answer is different depending on whether the contract is silent.

Is there any statutory or case law that addresses the enforceability of perpetual contracts (general common law, unless the answer is too jurisdiction in which case US)? I understand that a contract can obligate a customer to do something in exchange for receiving X, so I'm not asking if quid can be extinguished when there exists a viable quo within the statute if limits. I am also not asking about perpetual copyright licenses.


texts: When is it legal to record someone who is not intending to be recorded?

texts:
In Canada if you're a party to a conversation you're allowed to record it without other's knowledge. What if you're not a party but someone is talking very loudly? For example you want to file a noise complaint about your neighbours?

Also what if it's an accident? Say you're recording a private conversation with another person, and someone walks by or interrupts and says something. Would it be illegal to keep the recording?


texts: Is it lawful for banks to turn away minors?

texts: Is it okay for a bank to turn away minors solely based on age even if they have a parent/guardian to sign/co-sign on the minor's behalf? Would it be considered age discrimination?


texts: Is facebook in violation of CCPA if they don't delete all messenger messages when you delete your account?

texts:
It seems like Facebook won't delete your messages from the recipient's inbox when you delete your account. People send a lot of personal information in messages including their address, phone number, schools, work, etc.

Is this a violation of the CCPA (obviously if you live in California)? WhatsApp doesn't store messages on the server so obviously they can't delete messages from their server. And Instagram does delete your messages from both sides when you delete your account, which is what makes this choice even more odd, given that the Facebook product is in much hotter water regarding privacy.

I know this has been asked before in relation to GDPR, but I wonder if the same holds for CCPA. Here is the other question: Facebook vs GDPR - Private Messages I sent to others will never be deleted/erased from Facebook servers


texts: If someone is cybersquatting myname.com, can I claim it back?

texts: According to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Cybersquatting on a trademark is illegal. However, someone registered myfirstname.com. Do I have any legal right to ask them to sell it to me at a reasonable price ($10)?


texts: Does locking someone out of an account t created using your own identity violate any laws?

texts:
Inspired by this question: https://security.stackexchange.com/q/210045/43940

Someone, person A, created an account using the email of someone else, person B. Person B noticed, logged in and reset the password, essentially taking ownership of the account. There are several comments saying that this violates some laws.

  BTW, what you did was knowingly locking someone out of their account and accessing their info, which may get you heavy fines or jail time. The probability of that is of course small, but remember that lady who shared a handful of songs on e-mule, then was asked to pay $10'000 per song: I bet she didn't expect it either.

The intention of person A is unknown but its speculated that they were taking advantage of free trials. I dont know if the intention matters. However, I would think this would almost be similar to domain squatting or taking a user name on a social media site in order to extort money from another user that would want to use that identity.

Is there any law related to the prevention of someone using an online identity in this way?


texts: Clause in contract - is there a law protecting me from a landlord abusing it?

texts:
Context

So, I'm going through the process of creating a shorthold tenancy with a private landlord in the UK. We've done our references and now are down to signing the contract.

Everything in the contract is fine and pretty standard except there seems to be a clause that has potential to be used as a blanket clause at the landlords discretion for any situation.

  Clause 3.3
  The tenant must not use the Property for any illegal, immoral, disorderly or anti-social purposes.

Obviously we're not planning to Graffiti up our neighbours flats or anything of the sort.

I'm just curious to know if there are any laws protecting me as a tenant from the landlord abusing that i.e immoral is certainly subjective and realistically he could find anything he doesn't like immoral?

Question

Do any laws exist to ensure there is a limit on what can be considered reasonable? If not, am I within my rights to ask the landlord to expand on that clause to ensure there is no doubt between the two parties?


texts:
An agreement is drafted between 2 parties to sell a small business.  The agreement is unconditional.   The agreement requires the vendor provide a breakdown of prepaid amounts on settlement by a given time (say 12pm) so the purchase price can be adjusted.   The purchaser is then required to settle by a given time (say end of the day).

There is nothing in the agreement that specifically contemplates how breaches are to be addressed.   There is nothing specifically stating that payment is contingent on receipt of the information required to the adjustment.

Preparation of the adjustment document reveal that key representations made by the seller (and stated as being key representations) were substantially incorrect.

It is accepted that the seller has breached the agreement in at least 2 ways - They did not provide a settlement document on time, and they made a material misrepresentation.

Questions

(Absent any clauses in the agreement speaking to how conflicts are resolved) -

Does a material breach of the agreement by the vendor allow the purchaser to withhold payment and/or void the agreement?

If the vendor subsequently supplies a correct adjustment (which reflects turnover less then represented and relied on by the purchaser) is the purchaser obligated to settle, even though the vendor is in breach of the agreement?

(Although the jurisdiction is NZ, I am also interested in how this is contemplated in places with similar legal systems like Australia, UK and Canada)


texts: Company delaying paying death benefits: How long is reasonable to wait?

texts:
How long is it reasonable to wait for an assurance company to pay death benefits to the spouse, after her husband died?

The assurance company in question is taking over 4 years, claiming they are waiting to correspond with other parties, I presume husband's children from another marriage, who live in Thailand. Also presumably they take too long to produce the needed documents or to answer, or maybe the company is writing to wrong people, just as a guess. The company did not reveal any details.

However, the spouse is question is sick, cannot work, and has no means to live from, so she is very much dependent on the benefit she is entitled to.

My question is, is it reasonable that the assurance company is delaying the payment of her part, because other parties she has no contact with, are delaying the process?

Would it make sense to request an earlier separate settlement for the part to which the spouse is entitled?

Some details added

The husband signed "Expression of Wish (Nomination of Beneficiaries) Form,
saying that "the trustees/scheme administrator has absolute discretion as to which of my beneficiaries receive the lump sum death benefit, I would like this to be paid to the following", where the widow is named with 100% percent.

I wonder what does the "absolute discretion" mean here? Can the trustees simply ignore the named widow or delay any payment infinitely?

The widow is very sick and relies on such payment, she can die in absence of adequate treatment, will it make the company responsible?


texts: Can a Freelancer charge late fees if not explicitly defined in the contract?

texts:
For US-Law:

Can a freelancer charge a client late fees for late payments if they are not explicitly drawn out in a contract?

For example, let's say the freelancer has a contract for an hourly rate only, and no articles related to fees. However, the client has not paid for weeks and the freelancer notifies them he will charge a late fee if not paid in n days.

Is this viable? Will it holdup? Or is it an ambiguous situation?


texts: Can a former employer deduct a "fee" when issuing a check for my new roll-over?

texts:
A former employer deducted a "fee" charge when I contacted him to get my 401 funds moved to my new employer's roll-over account.  It was 1 year after I was dismissed from his employment.  Is it legal for him to deduct this "fee" from my personal
funds?


texts: Mitigating software license incompatibility

texts:
I am currently developing a piece of software which utilises open source software licensed under LGPL (specifically, I'm using FFMPEG).

I need to include a piece of paid software in my project which has its own license. The license of the paid software states that users are not permitted to reverse engineer the software (which applies to my project as a result). See section 1.3.1 of the license agreement quoted below.

This clause conflicts with the LGPL license. I would ideally like to have a situation whereby I can use FFMPEG and this paid software in the same software package without conflict.

Is there any way of circumventing this conflict? It has been suggested that the paid software licensor could resell their license to each of my software users...but I feel this is not a good approach since (a) it adds to the cost of my software (b) it's a further contact/step/license for my clients to use my software. Preferably there would just be one license to cover the whole software package, as it is at the moment.

  1.3.1 License Grant. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, You are granted a limited, nontransferable, royalty-free license to redistribute and sublicense the use of the Programs solely to Authorized End-Users: in object code form only; (ii) as embedded within Your Integrated Product for internal company use, hosted applications, websites, commercial solutions deployed at Your Authorized End Users sites, or shrink- or click-wrapped software solutions; and (iii) pursuant to an end user license agreement or terms of use that: imposes the limitations set forth in this paragraph on Your Authorized End-Users; prohibits distribution of the Programs by Your Authorized End-Users; limits the liability of Your licensors or suppliers to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law; and prohibits any attempt to disassemble the code, or attempt in any manner to reconstruct, discover, reuse or modify any source code or underlying algorithms of the Programs, except to the limited extent as is permitted by law notwithstanding contractual prohibition.  Notwithstanding subsection 1.3.1(iii), if the only Authorized End-Users of Your Integrated Product are Your employees and such use is internal and solely for Your benefit, You are not required to utilize an end user license agreement or terms of use. In no event are You allowed to distribute the Software or sublicense its use in any format other than in object form, as a standalone product, or as a part of any product other than Your Integrated Product.


texts: Does copyrighted code protect intellectual property rights on novel algorithms it implements?

texts:
Imagine you have come up with a novel algorithm to solve a problem, and have implemented it in, e.g., javascript, and have put its src, along with an appropriate copyright, on a publicly available code repository, e.g, bitbucket.

Can the copyright alone be enough to keep another entity (let's call it Evilsoft) from copying the algorithm or integrating it with software it produces (which might not be written in the same programming language)?

If it isn't the answer, what else is?


texts: How to understand submission deadlines and reporting regulations of the European Securitisation Regulation?

texts:
I am currently reading through the Reporting Instructions for securitisations which states for non-ABCP securitisations on page 7:

  Information on the underlying exposures for non-ABCP securitisation must be reported on a quarterly basis at the latest one month after the due date for the payment of interest.

Which is, so far, understandable.

However, there is also a Question and Answers On the Securitisaion Regulation document which shows the following table on page 8:

To me it's not clea how to understand this. In particular, I cannot quite understand what the cut-off date is.

I understand that, e.g. having a interest payment date (IPD) of 5th of January, a report has to be submitted until the 5th of February. However, the table states that the "data cut-off date" is "no more than two-months before the actual submission date".

So which timeframe does the report have to contain then?

Is there a more concrete example for this?


texts: How is sentencing determined for involuntary manslaughter with multiple victims?

texts: How does sentencing work in cases where someone is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter where there were multiple victims? For example, someone causes a serious construction accident by negligence, which kills multiple people. Is the person given the same sentence as if there was only one victim, or are the sentences added together or is it something in between?


texts: Is Google obliged to obtain consent for the processing of searches for anonymous searches under the GDPR?

texts: If you do not register a personal account for Google, thereby not giving specific and informed consent for the processing of your personal data, are Google still obliged to obtain consent for the processing of your searches for uses outside the scope of performing the search itself for searches under the scope of the GDPR? For example, the search and subsequent search results clicked could be used by Google to improve future search results, or improve ads personalization.


texts: being forced to use Express Scripts (mail order delivery) on perscriptions

texts:
Insurance policy set up by the workplace requires us to fill prescriptions through a specific mail order vendor and denies coverage of prescriptions through other retail vendors (Walgreens, CVS, etc)

Is this legal?

Seems like it takes away consumers choice, and there are valid reasons for not wanting mail delivery, including, not always being in or near the same address.

Also, I've heard that they use and send out older expired medicine but have no way of confirming or validating the truth of that.

Is there any legal recourse here or are we just stuck with this?


texts: For GDPR compliance, what documents or contracts need to contain a list of processors or sub-processors?

texts:
Should a complete list of processors or sub-processors be written anywhere for GDPR compliance?
If so, who is required to do so? Controllers, processors, sub-processors?
And where should the list be written? Privacy policies, data processing agreements (DPAs), other documents?

Quoting article 28, paragraph 2, it seems sub-processors must be written in DPAs between a controller and a processor, but it's not clear to me whether the sub-processors list should be explicit or not:

  The processor shall not engage another processor without prior specific or general written authorisation of the controller. In the case of general written authorisation, the processor shall inform the controller of any intended changes concerning the addition or replacement of other processors, thereby giving the controller the opportunity to object to such changes.

In all other cases I'm not sure whether any processors or sub-processors should be written anywhere. For example, I didn't find any information about listing processors in privacy policies.

I found a related question here about a specific case, but what I'm asking is more general.


texts: Is it illegal/unlawful to use an adblocker?

texts:
So, this might sound like an odd question, but at a very simple ethical level there is a clear problem with using an adblocker. There is, after all, a very clear understanding that ad providers are paying them for your access to the content or put differently: You pay for the content by watching those ads (of which selling your privacy is often (though not always) a part). Unethical however hardly means directly unlawful/illegal, so I have often wondered about the legal mirror of those ethical rules.

Our hypothetical case

So, some ToS's explicitedly have statements like

  You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Service.

taken from the YouTube ToS. So let's assume our theoretical service has those as well possibly even explicitly addressing adblockers. Note clearly that I am not saying that the quoted statement is the best legal way of putting this, it's purely an example.

Now, lets say that a user uses this service for a year whilst an adblocker is running. Lets also say that the user has signed up for the service and explicitly consented the Terms of Service. Is there any way that the service could lawfully get this user to pay up for his usage of the service (the loss of income)? Or if not, is there any form of 'punishment' the user could face? (Beyond being blocked from the service, but he could also be blocked from the service even if he didn't use an adblocker if the service answer would feel like it) And if yes, does it require such an explicit segment in the ToS or is this already a natural given?

PS. I have selected the united-states as the main focus of the question, simply because it's most likely to get a quality answer, however if you also know how the same would work out in a western european country I would love it if an answer could include a very short rundown of that as well.


texts: Would I be violating terms of service if I asked for permission but got no reply?

texts:
I created a Python API wrapper for a service, which I want to release as an open source python package if possible but not necessarily, the main issue is that I have a small python project where I need to use their API, not too many requests, if I could release it, that's better. The company is in my country, Lebanon

The company's terms of service forbid me from doing so, but they don't offer a python wrapper in the first place.

The company has two founders, one left and one works at google, I tweeted the first, sent a LinkedIn message to the second, asking for permission got no reply. The company has two email addresses, I sent emails to both addresses got no reply.

If the worst case scenario is them blocking my IP address, that's fine, but I wonder if they would be able to pursue legal actions against me even though I went above and beyond trying to ask for their permission without being able to reach them.  Am I still violating their terms of service?\

For example if you use Google translate API for free, you are also violating their TOS, they only block your IP if they detect a large number of API requests and never sue the writer of the library, you could find many free Google translate libraries.


texts: Legal workarounds for testamentary trust perceived as unfair

texts:
My mother recently passed away and her will includes a testamentary trust for a portion of the estate designated for her grandchildren.  Unfortunately, the terms of this trust seem to unfairly benefit my children vs. my brother's, which is creating family drama -- so much so that extended family (cousins) designated as trustees want to refuse to get involved.   My brother and I are aligned on a more equitable arrangement (with which the trustees concur) but my initial research indicates that testamentary trusts must be followed exactly.

The trust is for the benefit of five grandchildren: Two from my brother, presently age 27 and 22, and my three children, ages 17, 13, and 11.  However, rather than equal distribution, the trust specifies the following (excerpting some of the exact legal language):

for the benefit of any one or more of the living benficiaries
for their health, and education (including room and board)
without the necessity of equalization among them at any time

Education is more fully defined in another paragraph and largely applies to tuition, room, board, books, etc. at an accredited college, university, or trade school.  The trustee has "absolute discretion" but is advised to "consider all funds or resources available to a beneficiary".

When the youngest beneficiary is 21, the trust is to be divided into two trusts (no specific split percentage is mentioned) based on children of myself and my brother, from which income is paid at the trustee's discretion to the children until the youngest of each of these two trusts reaches age 25, at which point the trust(s) terminate with equal division.

As written, the trust would seem to possibly unfairly benefit me/my children:

My brother's children have both graduated college, and do not plan to pursue postgraduate education
His two children's college was funded primarily through Pell Grants; they do not have student loans
My three children do have college coming up (the first next year!) and my income precludes any significant financial assistance, but is not enough to avoid taking out loans

Obviously there's no clear cut "need" and the "absolute discretion" allows the trustee to make that judgment (which our relatives don't want to have to make.)

Everyone (my brother, myself, trustees) would love to just equally split the benefits to all five grandchildren; however, there does not seem to be a way to do that within the constraints established.  Even if we "designated" 60% to be disbursed to my children and supported their college, we would have to wait 10 years until my youngest child reaches age 21 before we could "divide" the trust (100% to my brother's children, 0% to mine) to pay out to the other beneficiaries.

One thought I've had to reduce family drama is to request the trustees disburse all the funds for my own children's education and simply gift my brother's children their "share".

Are there any other legal ways of overriding the specific instructions of the will with a more equitable distribution that everyone involved (and alive) agrees with?


texts: Does signing for someone else's letter containing a fine make the original recipient liable to the contents of the letter?

texts:
I am a UK resident and during a road-trip I made to Italy I (unknowingly) went to a restricted road which I was not allowed to go in. This apparently resulted in me being liable for a fine. However I was not actually aware of this when I did it since the system that flagged me was an automated camera based system. This apparently resulted in Italian authorities cooperating with UK authorities to track me down to send me the fine.
This apparently happened about a year ago and the Italian authorities ended up sending a tracked, signed for, letter containing the fine I was liable for. However I never received this letter. I became aware of this whole timeline when I was more recently contacted by a UK based collection agency which was employed by Italian authorities to collect the fine plus deadline increase and Late Payment Charges. This had made the fine significantly more than it was originally.
The agency sent me proof that the package was delivered and signed for. For context, in the UK the signature happens on a touchscreen and the mailman also fills in the name of the person who made the signature. In this particular case the signature was not mine and neither was the receipient's name, nor was it of any person I know or recognise (in fact it was just 3 letters, maybe initials, no idea who they belong to though). I informed the collection agency that since I was not made aware of the fine the first time around I should only be liable for the original fine, without any extra expenses or increases however this was their response to me:

[...] as far as we are concerned you received the original notice our client sent out to yourself.
This therefore means that whoever has signed for it on your behalf has made you liable for the deadline increase and also any Late Payment Charges our client have decided to add on the account.

Now I am not a lawyer nor do I claim to understand the nuances of the law, but this has struck me as very strange and hard to believe.
Therefore I am wondering if this is true, does signing for a letter that is not addressed to you make the person it is addressed to liable for its contents? Does this even apply if a letter is delivered to the wrong address by mistake? Is there any relevant precedent to support the collection agencies claim or are they making this claim in order to do whatever it takes to collect as much money as possible?


texts: Can a party demand you not record their phone call?

texts: To my understanding call recording is legal in Canada, even if the other person isn't aware of it. I am going through arbitration, and someone I spoke with said "there is to be no recording of this or any other calls". Must I follow this instruction? If someone expressly states they do not wish to be recorded, is recording the conversation illegal?


texts: Does failing to disclose the rate of mileage compensation violate DCAA compliance or any other labor laws?

texts:
I have an American company that does federal contracting which compensates employees a fixed rate based on how many miles they drive per day.  They have an online portal in which their drivers enter in how many miles they have driven and shows them how much money they will be compensated for those miles at the end of the month.  The owner of the company sometimes changes the amount per mile that he compensates his employees and has asked me to remove anything from the portal that tells his employees exactly how much their mileage will be compensated or what the current rate is so that they only see the final amount on thier paycheck.

Does this violate DCAA compliance or any other labor laws?


texts: Is it legal for using the limited free storage of Google Drive freely for business? Or should one buy a license for it?

texts:
A space of 15 GB is given free by Google Drive.
Is this only for personal use or can I use this freely for business?


texts: Rent cheque was stolen from landlord and cashed in - whose money is lost?

texts:
On Money SE there was a recent question "Rent cheque was stolen from landlord - am I obligated to pay again?". The situation: Tenant pays rent by handing a cheque to the landlord, the landlord is robbed before the cheque is deposited. Consensus on money.stackexchange.com is that the tenant should tell their bank to cancel the cheque, and hand over another cheque.

However, what happens if the thief manages to cash in the checque before it is stopped? The money is gone. Clearly someone is going to lose out, either landlord or tenant. But whose money is it? Does the tenant have to pay the rent again, paying twice, or does the landlord lose his rental income for the month?

The question was asked in Canada, but other jurisdictions would be welcome as well.


texts: Is it legal to market a product as DLNA enabled if it has not passed DLNA certification yet?

texts:
We would like to push our DLNA-enabled product to the market faster and receive feedback from customers before we go for various optional certifications, including DLNA certification (which also require more resources than our startup company currently has). DLNA standard itself is open and all the requirements are freely available, the same way as UPNP specifications which are the basis for DLNA.

Obviously, we cannot use the "DLNA certified" logo on our device yet.

But are we allowed to use "DLNA" logo or at least claim that the device supports DLNA at some level to encourage our customers to try out the feature and report any issues found, so we can fix them in our next software updates?

It would be great to have an advice from people who have used DLNA in their products and have clearly marketed their products as DLNA capable without having obtained DLNA certificates. Did it went smooth? Were there no objections from Digital Living Network Alliance against your product?

Here are relevant links:

Digital Living Network Alliance

DLNA certification guide and description


texts: How to obtain a sync license for posting a cover version online?

texts:
SoundCloud states:

  You'll still need permission from the original copyright holders of a song before you can post your cover on SoundCloud, even if you provided the vocals and played all the instruments. After all, the song itself is still someone else's.

This is obviously not specific to SoundCloud. But then how on earth should a musician contact a band to ask for permission to do a YouTube bedroom cover?! CDBaby states that a sync license is needed but doesn't explain any typical way to approach the music publisher.

If multiple music publishers are listed in the liner notes, does one administer all rights in a particular song, or does a reuser have to negotiate individually with each one?
Do music publishers tend to require a recording artist to have the backing of an established label before granting a sync license?

(Based on a question by Mr. Boy on Music: Practice and Theory that was closed as off-topic and is too old to migrate. It was recommended in a comment to ask here on Law Stack Exchange instead.)


texts:
As I understand it, criminal investigation is an applied science that focuses on solving crimes. Once a suspect is identified, he or she may be prosecuted by a judge and jury under the law.

So we're talking about two distinctly different yet related things here - criminal investigation and law. Is there a term that covers BOTH?

To put it in perspective, imagine suggesting that people study science in order to understand how gravity works, political science to understand how government works and philosophy to attempt to uncover the meaning of life. What would a person study if they want to understand the entire criminal process, from the moment a crime is first investigated to the moment a suspect is sentenced? Is the answer just "study criminal investigation and law"?


texts: Can a data subject be asked to share a limited part of their data if it would be in their interest to do so?

texts: I am an adviser for a UK agency that provides free advice to the public. I have two employment cases that differ in detail, but are fundamentally the same issues and involve the same company. It could benefit both clients if they were aware of the other case, by showing a pattern of behaviour by the employer. Can they agree to us sharing their name and telephone number with the other client?


texts: If I got arrested 2 years ago but the case was never picked up and never got the chance to see the judge because the state didnt press charges and the person never pressed charges will it still show up on my background?  I went to the. Courthouse to get a background check and they said I have nothing and if I was arrested 2 yrs ago it was never filed. What does that mean?


texts: Can a prospective employer require you to pay to take a test as part of an interview?

texts: I just red this question about having to pay to take a test for an interview. Is it legal? Must an employer reimburse? In general this site says an employer can't charge you a fee to start work.


texts: Can I legally recreate public Japanese buildings in a 3D game?

texts:
I'm wanting to make a game set in Tokyo, specially Asakusa. I want to loosely recreate some of the streets and buildings to really nail the feeling of being there.

Is it legal to recreate buildings in 3D for my game if they are along public streets? Like neighborhoods or small shops.

I've looked into this independently a bit and I found Article 46 on this translation of Japan's Copyright Law says:

  It shall be permissible to exploit artistic works permanently located in such open places as mentioned in paragraph (2) of the preceding Article and architectural works by any means not falling within any of the following items: (i) multiplication of a sculpture and offering it to the public by transfer of ownership of its copies; (ii) imitative reproduction of an architectural work and offering it to the public by transfer of ownership of its copies; (iii) reproduction of a work for the purpose of locating it permanently in such open places as mentioned in paragraph (2) of the preceding Article; (iv) reproduction of an artistic work exclusively for the purpose of selling its copies and sale of such copies.

This seems to me to mean so long as I'm not recreating buildings to be sold or selling representations (photos, etc.) of the building as the sole focus I should be ok.

However, since I am in the US, does only US law apply to me? I have found this part of the US Copyright Law that states

  (a) Pictorial Representations Permitted.—The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place.

The game will involve simply walking around, no violence or libelous in nature.

What do you guys think?


texts: What is law of the case in the us federal court system for district court judges?

texts:
Someone recently brought up the apple fbi phone unlock case and I, not being a lawyer, got curious about whether, if a final decision had been reached by that judge, what exactly that would mean. That lead me to the term law of the case.

So I'm curious what law of the case is, and how it works at the district court level.  I know district courts are bound, under stare decisis, to follow higher courts, but my understanding is that law of the case refers to the idea that they are bound (as opposed to just persuaded) by certain decisions they've made in the same case, barring an appeal or a change in facts or law.

Is that right?  Assuming it is, which decisions are those?

Is that just a special form of stare decisis?

Does law of the case apply as a binding precedent for similar cases before the same judge, the same case before a different judge but in the same district, or different judges within the same district?

Is there a universal way law of the case works in terms of being a binding precedent, or can districts or circuits differ?


texts: Where is the best place for a man to pursue a divorce?

texts: As far as divorce law goes, in what country and/or state is the best place for a man to get a divorce?  (I.e., where will he receive the most favorable terms?)


texts: How can you know if a newer statute is referencing another statute, if the newer statute doesn't explicitize this?

texts:
I'm nonplussed. Please see the subject line of this question, and emboldening below.

How can you know which older statute is being referenced (by the newer statute)?

What statute is s 11(4) of UCTA 1977 referencing? Do you see why I'm nonplussed? If s 11(4) of UCTA 1977 explicitized which older statute it was referencing, I wouldn't have to ask.

      Finally, you will identify any cases that discuss or clarify the application
or content of the statute in question, again relying on your
lecture notes and reading materials to point you in the right direction.
You also need to know the extent to which other acts relate to
the statute in question. For example, the Unfair Contract Terms Act
1977 incorporates, by reference, the concept of the common duty
of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and the Occupiers’
Liability Act (Northern Ireland) 1957 (see section 1(1)(c)). The 1977
Act also relates to obligations arising under the Sale of Goods Act
1979 and the Supply of Goods (Implied Terms) Act 1973 (see section
6(1)). However, a statute need not refer to another statute specifically

Page 16.

to bring it into the sphere of influence (see, for example, section 11(4)
of the 1977 Act).
      Again, in a simple statute, the cross-referencing to other enactments
may be easily identifiable. In those cases, you would simply
highlight the cross-references. You would not need to make a separate
list of the potential areas of statutory overlap, as you would do
with a complex statute such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
However, no matter how complex your statute is, it is always good to
make a single list of the cases which discuss your statute and the statutes/
sections to which they relate. Compilation of a single list is necessary
because you may learn about the cases at different points over
the term. It is astounding how much more easily you can remember a
series of cases if you have them all listed in a single place.

Now I copy and paste section 11(4)
of the 1977 Act.

(4) Where by reference to a contract term or notice a person seeks to restrict liability to a specified sum of money, and the question arises (under this or any other Act) whether the term or notice satisfies the requirement of reasonableness, regard shall be had in particular (but without prejudice to subsection (2) above in the case of contract terms) to—

(a) the resources which he could expect to be available to him for the purpose of meeting the liability should it arise; and

(b) how far it was open to him to cover himself by insurance.

Page 17. Stacie Strong. BA English literature (UC Davis 1986), MPW (USC 1990), JD (Duke 1994), PhD Law (Cambridge 2002), DPhil (Oxford 2003). How to Write Law Essays & Exams 5th Edition (2018).


texts: How is the cost of a software service determined?

texts:
I just went through a Compliance eLearning which had a section covering anti-trust laws.
My understanding of predatory pricing from that is inline with this description I found on wikipedia

  During the period of predatory prices, the predator's profit is negative, or the price is lower than the cost.

At the end of the eLearning, a quiz asked:

  If a competitor tries to enter the same market one is in, what would be lawful behavior and what might lead to prosecution in regards to anti-trust laws?

The correct answer, of multiple possible answers, suggested that

  One could try to make their products attractive by giving the best reasonable discount you could offer.

While another possible answer was

  Giving a discount on the Software suite that will temporarily sell the software below cost price. But this can be changed again as soon the competitor is driven off the market.

which obviously would be a breach of anti-trust laws.

But this left me confused, if I ever was working in sales or a related department....

What is actually considered the cost of a software service in this regard?
And what is considered a reasonable discount in that regard, and what is unreasonable?


texts: Indemnification clause in effect, but indemnified party refuses to cooperate

texts:
Suppose a contract exists in which defendant D has indemnified party E.  D and E currently dislike each other.  Third-party plaintiff P, in a liability matter arising (indirectly) out of the contract, has sued defendant D.  He could have chosen to sue E in addition to or instead of D, but he didn't; only D.

D requires documents from E in order to prepare the defense.  But party E, out of spite, refuses to provide them.  D does not want to have to subpoena E, because it would reveal to the plaintiff that D and E are not on good terms; moreover, the plaintiff has not brought E into the case at all and D would rather just keep them out of it entirely.

Does D have any other recourse against E in this matter?  Does this possibly constitute bad faith on the part of E?


texts:
Suppose John Doe is on trial for murder and Jane Smith is called as a witness. Suppose some question prompts Jane to take the fifth against self incrimination. My understanding is that the prosecution can offer blanket immunity to Jane.

What happens if the prosecution offers blanket immunity to Jane, and then Jane admits to the murder and describes how she framed John? Is she free from prosecution for the crime of murder? Or can she only be immunized against other crimes, not the crimes that John has been charged with?


texts: EULA questions about Microsoft Windows and Samsung

texts:
I have questions about two EULAs, Samsung and Microsoft, and a BONUS one too if you know it off-hand.

Samsung I got no clear answer from from them, and am now asking the dev forum, but I won't be getting anything from there I bet.

So, let's say I use the "pm uninstall -k --user 0" command to uninstall Samsung Bixby, or Messages, or Emergency Mode, or the Edge panels, or S Finder, or any other apk pre-installed by Samsung. Does this violate the EULA, which I think is at this link https://www.samsung.com/sg/Legal/SamsungLegal-EULA/

Second, for Microsoft, whose support chat page hanged twice and I'm going to get the Samsung run-around from them because this is a legal dept question the tech support people don't know about it.

I'd reckon such removals are fine.

According to the Windows EULA, relevant part 2C https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm

Would anything at all that could be done solely with regedit, cmd, powershell, and the permissions editor in File Explorer--all of which are provided by Microsoft--or some combination thereof, be acceptable under the EULA? I'd guess that these would not be violations of the EULA, since whatever is done with those, it is within the limitations of the software. I can't see what else it would violate other than 2C.

Moreover, removals of applications like the Microsoft Store, Edge, etc., all of which can be done with the above-mentioned tools, if done with a third-party application, would that infringe upon the EULA? I wouldn't think so.

Finally, if anybody knows off-hand whether removing cell-carrier applications or bloatware using the above-mentioned ADB method is a violation of the carrier EULAs, I'd be most appreciative.

I don't have any lawyers breathing down my necks or anything. This is solely for my own aedification.

I'd contact the legal depts directly, but it'd be slow and they deal with actual lawsuits and subpoenas and the like and I'd rather not attach my name to some rather simple question with at most a minor practical effect.

Yours Truly,

Stinkoman


texts:
I currently live in a residence for temporary stays in London with which I am under contract. The contract stipulates a minimum term of 5 weeks (which is passed) and then rolls on a weekly basis. I told the residence I want to move out in two weeks and they replied by citing the clause of the contract which prevent me from checking out.
The clause specifies a 14 days notice and an additional condition which states I agree not to leave between the 10th of December and the 2nd of January.
So far, I respect the 14 days notice but my checkout date falls within the two dates.

If I do not pay, they will keep my deposit which is 3 weeks rent. If I pay to January, it will cost me 3 weeks as well. I do not intend to pay because I already have a new place and do not want to pay for not living there. Basically, if I stay and pay, it will cost me the same as sacrificing the deposit.

I am not from the UK and in my country such a clause would be illegal because abusive since it forces "weak part" (the tenant) to pay and the contract is not fair for both parts. If the clause is illegal, then law prevails on the contract and I can safely ignore this clause.
Is such a clause legal in the UK? I have been told the law of 1977 describes the conditions of checking out. Does this clause fit in the frame of this law?

The other leavers I have is to exit the contract by stopping paying the rent and being evicted. It will cost me the deposit.
The contract itself is a bit dodgy. The flat I have been allocated to is not the one on the contract. Some sentences in the contract are meaningless. Is there a way to break the contract for such a reason?


texts:
If a University is laying off many people from a department. They will receive one, or two months of pay, and a lump sum for a number of employment years.

Would the members of this department have any leverage when they are offered this package?

Could they decline to sign it and ask for more? Do they have any leverage to do this?


texts: Why is Front Running markets not treated as insider trading?

texts:
Front-Running is described in the book Flashboys and relies on an information advantage, that is apparently provided by the exchanges to a select few.

Is said practice somehow different from insider trading?


texts: Can the maintainers of a LGPL project use contributed code after the original contributor withdrew it and was kicked out from the community?

texts:
Suppose that out there in the web there is a project, let's call it <PROJECT NAME>, licensed under LGPL v 2.1 or, at the end user's discretion, above.
An external contributor (not officially affiliated with <PROJECT NAME>) submit a merge request to the project. "Submit a merge request" means that he writes some code that substantially improves <PROJECT NAME>, uploaded his code on <PROJECT NAME>'s website and asks the maintainers of <PROJECT NAME> (from now on, just "the maintainers") to merge his code with <PROJECT NAME>'s code.
The contributor code starts with the following notice:

This file is part of <PROJECT NAME>.
Copyright 20XX-20YY <CONTRIBUTOR NAME> <CONTRIBUTOR SURNAME> <>
<PROJECT NAME> is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
<PROJECT NAME> is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with <PROJECT NAME>; if not, see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

The maintainers don't merge. Suppose that one maintainer demands that the contributor call some functions from <SOFTWARE X>. But the contributor thinks that basing his work on <SOFTWARE X> will substantially decrease the quality of his work. Furthermore, the contributor notices that this maintainer is also a maintainer of <SOFTWARE X>.
After the initial merge request, the contributor continues to work on his code, which, if merged, would substantially improve <PROJECT NAME> capabilities. This goes on for years. The contributor has written a lot of code, millions of lines, over several years, that substantially improves <PROJECT NAME>, while repeatedly asking the maintainers to merge.
After years of code writing, the contributor asks for the final time the maintainers to merge. They don't.
The contributor is finally fed up, remove the merge request, delete his code, and ask for his code not to be used anymore in any way by <PROJECT NAME>.
The contributor is banned from the project and kicked out from the community by the maintainers.
The maintainers, who have saved the contributor's code in their computers, open another pull request with his code. This means that they re-upload on the web what the contributor has deleted. They modify a small portion of the code (2/3 lines) to use <SOFTWARE X>. Then they merge.

Is it legal for the maintainers to do that?

Relevant to answering this question may be the explanation here:

Some open source projects, generally large ones with corporate
backing, occasionally have what’s known as a Contributor License
Agreement. This document explains any additional requirements and
rules for submitting source code to a project, and will usually have a
clause explaining that the submitter is granting their copyright to
the project’s parent entity

So we will suppose that <PROJECT NAME> does not have any such Contributor License Agreement.

Can be argued in court that the contributor did not offer the license to the public indiscriminately. He did offer his Merge Request and related license to the maintainers. By not merging the pull request, the maintainers did not effectively accepted the license. Now the contributor has withdraw his code, and so there is no licensing offering anymore. Would such argument stands?

If the answer to the previous is no, would the maintainers still be required to keep the original contributor copyright notice?
Copyright 20XX-20YY <CONTRIBUTOR NAME> <CONTRIBUTOR SURNAME> <<CONTRIBUTOR EMAIL>>

The jurisdiction is United States.


texts:
I am in a situation where my friend was not able to get a phone contract under his name, and I being a good friend agreed to add a line to my account and leased a phone for him (all under my account).

Recently we had a few misunderstandings and the person decided to stop making lease payments on the device. I reached out to the person and advised him that I (we) do not own the phone, so he must either return the phone to me so I can bring it back to the Carrier or start making the lease payments, and he ignored my requests.

Due to the above, I am interested in bringing this person to court. Now, my question: Is that even possible?  What's the term used for this legal situation? What paper work would I file with the courts to get this moving?

State: New Jersey


texts: What is the difference between tenants in common and joint tenancy?

texts:
What is the difference between tenants in common and joint tenancy in the context of renting a home? Which is the one, if one person didn't pay his share, the rest would be responsible to cover it?

Also what's co-tenancy?


texts: Recording a conversation with a non-federal employee

texts: I am considering recording a conversation or try to secretly record one between me and a non-federal employee. I am currently a federal employee, not FBI or CIA but am investigating on my own a possible cover-up which I am a victim and witness of. I want to know if I can do it legally without the others' consent.


texts: Why is a company allowed to change the number of shares it’s divided into after its IPO?

texts:
I read that even after an IPO, a company can change the number of shares that it’s divided into based on a board vote. What’s to prevent them from arbitrarily increasing the number of shares to raise capital, thereby diluting the value of the outstanding shares?
I understand that a company might refrain from releasing all of their stock into the market initially so they can sell it later to raise capital, but it seems strange that they would be allowed to raise money by decreasing the value of an asset that shareholders have already bought.
In other words, what’s to prevent a company from saying every quarter: “Instead of being divided into n shares, we’re now divided into n+100 shares. We’re keeping 50, and the other 50 will be offered in a PO (which will decrease the value of the outstanding shares)”?


texts: What does the term "Probable cause" mean?

texts:
I know what probable cause is and how it is used in law/law enforcement. But what does the actual term "probable cause" mean?

In a sentence where it is used like

  "The drug dog's alert gave me probable cause to search your vehicle"

in this case the officer has "definite cause" why is probable used?

In the wikipedia definition it says:

  "Probable" in this case may relate to statistical probability or to a general standard of common behavior and customs

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probable_cause

But that is also very vague, "statistical probability" or "general standard" of what? Statistical probability of, in the given example, having drugs? How does that relate to giving cause?

It just seems like any way you try to interpret the word "probable" it doesn't make sense, you either have cause to search/arrest/etc. or you don't where is the probability?


texts: Legality of lawyer retaining monies won in settlement?

texts:
In 2015 I employed a "no win no fee" law firm to fight a claim for compensation for damages from the employer of someone who was convicted and jailed.  I signed a Conditional Fee Agreement, and I have a copy of the law firms terms of business.

The conditional fee agreement makes it plainly clear that, whether the case is won, lost or settled, I would pay the law firm no more than a given percentage of my award, if any.

I have monthly emails from the law firm detailing the expenses accrued, and these monthly emails also state that my liability is only in the case of a successful outcome, and is limited to a given percentage of any successful award to cover "unrecovered expenses, disbursements and success fee".

Toward the end of 2016, the other party settled my claim for a significant five figure sum.

At that point, I was told by the law firm that I would be paid "in installments", and what this entailed would be discussed with me by their Costs Manager, to whom the case was now being passed to as the case has been successfully concluded by the solicitor in charge of it.

As it turns out, the Costs Manager disclosed to me that I would be paid immediately about 10% of my settlement, with the rest being retained by the law firm until they have recovered their costs from the other side.  The Costs Manager also noted that this could take several months.

This retention is not detailed anywhere in any signed agreements or terms of business, and has literally only been mentioned after I agreed to the settlement figure.

Do I have legal standing to require the law firm to release all 100% of my settlement to me immediately (minus the success fee percentage)?

I am in the UK, and this is a civil claim.  No courts have yet been involved, the settlement is entirely a private matter and the settlement has indeed been paid to my law firm by the other side at this time.

Update in case anyone was following this:

I challenged this with the law firm themselves and the Law Society - end result is I now have my money, the firm referred itself to the Law Society for breaching multiple rules, and I have an apology letter from the firm.

They attempted to selectively quote the agreement, ignoring bits which contradicted their interpretation, and they transferred the money from the client account to their office account without presenting me with a bill of costs, and as such that placed them in violation of Law Society rules.

Basically they attempted to claim 98% of the compensation, and the agreement didn't support them in doing that - they attempted to claim it was my obligation to cover their fees until those fees were recovered from the other side, and they supported that by quoting the agreement right up to the paragraph before it says "we will limit your liability for our costs to x%".

Once this was pointed out to them, with plenty of supporting evidence from the agreement, conversations, correspondence and other sources all saying the same thing, they backed down immediately and referred themselves.

I think several people misunderstood the question here - I wanted to ascertain if there were any legal rules which allowed the firm to do as they did outside the agreement.  There is not.  The firm was in the wrong.


texts: Could a nursing home accept payment to 'hire' someone for a one hour a month part time job to get a vaccine?

texts:
The Covid-19 vaccine is being released first to people who work for nursing homes, hospitals etc.  In theory if someone values getting the vaccine as soon as possible they may be willing to go to whatever extremes it takes to get into this high priority group.
Could a nursing home somehow abuse this system by offing 'jobs' that required almost no work just to allow someone to qualify for an earlier covid-19 vaccine?  If so could they actually profit from offering such jobs?
Obviously I'm not actually advocating such a behavior, I doubt it would be cost effective logistically even if it were deemed legal, and there are also some obvious ethical concerns to such a policy.  I'm just curious on the actual legal implications if someone attempted this.


texts: Is it legal to reverse-engineer structures on PlanetMinecraft?

texts:
There is a video game called Minecraft, in which you can build structures (e. g. houses). Some people publish them on publicly accessible sites such as PlanetMinecraft.com as sets of files in format A.

Imagine, I do the following. I take such collection of files in format A and transform it (manually, automatically or semi-automatially) into format B. I have my own, custom software, which takes format B files as input and then recreates these structures in user's Minecraft in format A (they are not exactly the same, but similar). I intend to give access to that software for a monthly fee.

Format B is my own format and its files are smaller and easier to share and modify than format A.

Am I allowed to

create format B versions of structures on PlanetMinecraft and
distribute them for free

in the following 2 cases under American law?

Case 1: The author of the structure allows to download and distribute the format A file, but does not allow to modify it (according to the copyright statement on the structure page). Technically, I'm not modifying format A file, I read it and create format B file based on information in the format A file.

Case 2: I write to the author of the structure (ask him or her whether or not I'm allowed to do this with his creations), but don't get a response within 1-2 weeks. There is no clear information about the type of license his work is published under.

Analogy: You see someone's house and walk around it several times. That house is format A file. Then you sketch a plan of that house (format B file), which you distribute for free.


texts: Freedom of Speech vs. Defamation/Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress on Social Media

texts:
Let's say I bash a NBA player based on his performance on my twitter/facebook saying,

"his shooting s****"

"he is garbage at defense"

"he needs to get out of this team because he is f****** awful"

and I do this almost every time he plays, for the entire season.

And let's just say that player happened to see my tweets about him.

If that happens, would it be possible for that player to sue me for Defamation or Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress?

Because such NBA player may be a public figure and the criteria may be different for such a figure, I also wanted to ask: what if someone that I curse to is NOT a public figure?

I am not saying I do this, but I had an argument with my brother regarding free speech vs defamation/Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

And I got really curious.


texts: How can I liquidate alcohol as part of an estate in the US?

texts: If I'm the executor of an estate for a person that was the sole proprietor of a bar/restaurant that is stocked with bottles of booze and kegs of beer is there any legal way to sell it to generate cash for the estate?


texts: How to obtain a US court order from outside the country?

texts:
My brother died a few months ago. I requested from Google, via an online form, the email data of my brother. Now they have replied and told that they need a court order from US to proceed further. Their reply contained little information. (I received a unfilled form in PDF.)

I live in India and belong to a lower middle class family. Foreign word means something "non existing" to my family. So we can't go to United States.

How should I further proceed? Is there any online way to sort out things?


texts: Do I need to number sections in an Agreement?

texts:
I'm creating an agreement using an online contract management and signing service. To create the agreement I create separate sections in a library. Then I build the full agreement by adding the sections from the library to a template.

When I add the sections to the template there is no way to auto-number the sections.

When I add, remove or edit sections in the template it appears I might have to manually edit every section and renumber the sections. That can be very tedious to do.

So, I'm wondering if it's OK to NOT number the sections. I'd have titles for each section like:

Support
Governing Law
Force Majeure

And whether an unnumbered agreement would cause any legal problems for me.

Thanks, Ed


texts: Legal meaning of "to the greatest extent possible"?

texts:
I'm reading a policy document and it frequently uses the term 'to the greatest extent possible'.

Is there a standard legal interpretation of this phrase in U.S. law? How might it differ from the phrase 'to the extent possible'?


texts: List of motor vehicle work (car or motorcycle) that requires licensed mechanic when performed by a for-profit business in Ontario?

texts: When I retire, I'd like to open up my own garage, but don't want the overhead and stress of having to hire a licensed mechanic, and don't want to get certified myself. I know there are certain things that can be performed for profit without a license, but where can I find a concise list so that I can determine whether a business built around that would be something I would want to do? For example, I believe suspension and air conditioning fall under the licensed category, and oil changes fall under un-licensed (think of all the teenagers working at Jiffy Lube).


texts: Start a business out of my house selling coffee

texts:
I want to start a business where I charge people to use my living room, wifi.

They can leave a tip for any of my coffee that they drink.

Is there a legality issue with this?


texts:
A friend was rear ended and the other party's vehicle insurance agency sent them a release and settlement of property damage claim with some vague conditions in an email:

Here is the release [attached to the email] that I will need to have signed to be able to move
    forward.

  Once I have a copy of the title, and you let me know when would be a
      good time for you to have the vehicle picked up.  We will also have to
      have the title processed per state guidelines, please hold onto the
      title for that.

My friend signed, scanned, and emailed back the release which included the settled on dollar value, and agreed on a date the following week the agency suggested for the pickup.  If the offer letter mentioned nothing about vehicle title status (ie clean vs salvage), and the insurance agency missed the fact the vehicle was salvage condition, what is the likelihood the insurance agency is able to cancel the settlement and revise the reimbursement value, if they notice the title is marked as salvage condition?  I think the signed settlement may be 'binding' but I have absolutely zero legal knowledge.

Thank you.

Here's the letter:

  This release agreement is made and entered by x and y and its
      affiliated and related companies and corporations and past, present,
      and future officers..


texts: Does an employer have any obligation to report an employee with possible covid-19 symptoms?

texts: Suppose you have an employee with fever during the covid-19 pandemic. Is there any law which makes mandatory to report your employee to the doctor, health authorities, or whatever for him/her to make a covid-19 test to check if he has the disease or not, or are the employers completely exempt of this duty?


texts: In the US, if a defendant in a criminal trial (in state court) wants to change the venue of the trial, is it possible to have it changed to another state?


texts:
Today at work I have some arguments with a colleague. He is stating that unregulated technologies are illegal. Not sure if it makes a difference but the technology we were talking about is cryptocurrency.

Is there any principle in law that says that unregulated inventions/technologies are illegal?


texts: Is there a need for a license agreement when two programmers want to join forces on a common side project?

texts: Recently me and an acquaintance have been talking about working together on a side project. I know he operates his own LLC and probably wants to release the side project under the LLC which is fine. What I am more concerned with is ownership of the code base. I intend to reuse whatever me and him come up with on a separate project of my own independently. If me and him work on our common project without signing any contract, is it legally possible for me to just grab the code and publish another app under my own name which uses that code? If not what kind of contract should I prepare that would give me that kind of ownership (I m thinking some kind of shared ownership of the codebase type of arrangement)?


texts: Does video transcript have the same copyright status as a video itself?

texts: Specifically, I am asking about TED talks. They are available for sharing and downloading freely. Is it also true about their transcripts?


texts: Can I use a picture commercially if I cannot get ahold of an owner?

texts:
I found a picture on a website through Google Images but the website is just a webpage, a single page with two pictures, no contact information. The second picture doesn't relate at all to the first.

The name of the picture file had the words "CFB Media" in it. So I traced it back to a company called Campus Insiders. I am not sure if it really is theirs, but I emailed them in hopes they might recognize it.

If they don't recognize it as theirs, can I use it? I haven't been able to find it anywhere else besides that webpage with no information.

A quick note also, on Google Images there's a dropdown that lets you filter by license. x:

Labeled for reuse with modification
Labeled for reuse
Labeled for noncommercial reuse with modification
Labeled for noncommercial reuse

After filtering, the picture looks to be under every single one of these options.


texts: Why is the manufacturer of a wireless radio device responsible for preventing end-user modifications?

texts:
One of those things that irks me about the FCC regulations is that manufacturers are responsible for preventing, and can apparently be held liable for, end-user modifications to wireless radio devices under 47 CFR Part 15, Subpart C:

47 CFR § 15.203:

An intentional radiator shall be designed to ensure that no antenna other than that furnished by the responsible party shall be used with the device. The use of a permanently attached antenna or of an antenna that uses a unique coupling to the intentional radiator shall be considered sufficient to comply with the provisions of this section. The manufacturer may design the unit so that a broken antenna can be replaced by the user, but the use of a standard antenna jack or electrical connector is prohibited. [...]

47 CFR § 15.212(a)(2)(iv):

Manufacturers must ensure that only transmitter control elements and radio front end components that have been approved together are capable of operating together. The transmitter module must not operate unless it has verified that the installed transmitter control elements and radio front end have been authorized together. Manufacturers may use means including, but not limited to, coding in hardware and electronic signatures in software to meet these requirements, and must describe the methods in their application for equipment authorization.

As a result, manufacturers are forced to actively design wireless radio devices to prevent unauthorized end-user modifications:

The RP-TNC connector used for Wi-Fi antennas was originally meant to be a nonstandard connector to prevent consumers from replacing antennas with those not approved by the manufacturer. The connector ultimately gained widespread use; however, the FCC has not taken action against device manufacturers.
Major laptop manufacturers, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo, restrict the specific Wi-Fi cards which may be installed into a particular system through the use of "whitelists" in system firmware that specify which card models are allowed. If a Wi-Fi card that isn't on the whitelist is installed, the system will not boot.

Why hold the manufacturer responsible for preventing end-users from making modifications? What is the philosophy or historical basis for these rules? (To prevent this question from being too opinion-based, I'd like to see answers that cite relevant documentation such as rulemaking reports.)


texts: Is there a general business equivalent of "stage names" or "pen names"

texts: And by that I mean: a situation where an individual can conduct their general business activities privately within a proprietorship under a fictitious "pseudonym" or via proxy? Though I'd imagine if so there would at least be provisions within the law that would allow for one's identity to be revealed by subpoena or some other means in cases that constitute personal legal liability—especially under criminal investigations.


texts: What is Hans Reiser's earliest release date?

texts:
This question is about Hans Reiser, a well known software developer who murdered his wife and is currently serving his prison term for that.

His case has drawn significant media attention, mainly because there wasn't a body. It is still exceptional in the sense that he was convicted without the body of his wife having been found, which is nearly impossible in Californian criminal law.

He was arrested in Oct, 2006 and was convicted on first-degree murder on April 28, 2008 for 25 years to life. Later, as a result of a plea bargain, this was reduced to second degree murder and to 15 to life. As the result of the plea bargain, he can't appeal his conviction or sentence.

He was sentenced under California Law, and sits since his arrest in different Californian state prisons.

In some countries, if a convict has a good behavior, a part of his term can be reduced, typically 1/4 or 1/5. Can it happen in California, in his case?
The 15 years are counted from his arrest, or from his conviction?
In what circumstances could he ever be released? As I understood, "15 to life" means essentially a lifelong prison term, with the possibility of release after at least 15 served years. Which depends on what? Who decides it?


texts: Could a third party be forced to hand over data if it is headquartered outside the US?

texts:
In the run-up to Epic v. Apple, Apple as the defendant has requested information via court from several companies that while not involved directly in the lawsuit, could be relevant for making Apple's case in regards to their digital store's (the App Store) cut of financial transactions. This includes companies with existing video game digital stores like Valve (owners of Steam), Microsoft (owners of Xbox and the Microsoft Store), Sony (owners of the PlayStation Store) and Nintendo (owners of the eShop).
While in these cases third parties will participate and engage in discussion especially when they deem some requested information as "sensitive" to their businesses and/or not relevant to the case, my question is more about what the judge can demand from these companies should they fail to convince her otherwise.
Say, for example, that Apple requests information about markup margins for each of the aforementioned companies' digital stores and the judge complies with this request. Since Nintendo is headquartered in Japan, could they be obliged to reveal global numbers or are they free to restricting data that pertains to the US only, through their subsidiary Nintendo of America?


texts:
I had to go several rounds with a doctor's office about them not taking my insurance and them assuring me that the copay would be a certain amount. They then charged me 20x the quoted amount. I didn't have documentation of the quote which is admittedly my fault. Lesson learned, not going back to that office and getting documented quotes in the future.

My issue is that the only way I could pay the bill was to call them over the phone to provide credit card information. I asked for a receipt and the office emailed me a picture of an analog receipt that looked like it came from a cash register with my name scribbled on it. All infosec issues aside this doesn't seem like a legally binding document and it is making me very concerned especially since I am pretty sure I will want to file my taxes with this as a non reimbursed medical expense. Will the IRS take this as a legitimate receipt of medical services rendered? Are their reporting laws around this?

The services were rendered in New York State.


texts: Does the "natural born Citizen" requirement for presidency violate the ICERD?

texts:
Article two, clause five of the United States Constitution states:

  No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

The USA signed the ICERD (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) in 1966, and ratified it in 1994, making it a State Party to the convention. To me, various articles in this convention seem to be at odds with the constitution clause.

For instance, ICERD article 5, clause (c) reads (emphasis mine):

  In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: [...] Political rights, in particular the right to participate in elections-to vote and to stand for election-on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, to take part in the Government as well as in the conduct of public affairs at any level and to have equal access to public service;

Regardless of the original intent of the convention, it seems to me that the quoted US Constitution clause distinguishes citizens by national/ethnic origin when it comes to the political right of participating in Government, and thereby violates this article of the ICERD.

Am I misunderstanding something about treaties in this case? Is the quoted clause from the US Constitution compatible with the ICERD?


texts: What must an ISP do to be protected under the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act

texts:
Under statute 512 of the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCCA) in section (c)(1)(A)(iii) it stipulates that an ISP

  upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts
  expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material;

My first question is what exactly "expeditiously" means, and if there's any precedent anywhere for arguing something was not done "expeditiously."

My second question relates to the DMCA in general.  I know lots of people get Cease and Desist letters for downloading pirated content, and that these cease and desist letters come from their ISPs.  I was wondering if there was anything in the DMCA (or any law) that says that, if an ISP is notified that their subscribers are pirating content, ISPs must notify them, threaten to, or actually disconnect service, or anything like that which would require ISPs to take action against their customers.

Update 1:
I'm just looking for a specific point (if it exists) that states that the in order to avoid liability isp has to take some specific action against a subscriber who is downloading.

Update 2:

I've definitely gotten an answer to my first question and what expeditiously means, my question is with the second one.  As a result of RIAA v. Verizon I know that Subpoena's cannot be used to identify  the infringers and send them letters  so what legal avenue are they taking to make ISP's send these notices?


texts: Is it legal for a landlord to prorate additional days of rent without mentioning price?

texts:
My friends and I entered a year-long lease agreement where we each paid $600 per month to stay in an apartment. The original contract we signed stated we were to move out on May 26. However, as that date approached, we realized it would be significantly easier if we could move out on the 31st.

Because of this, we asked the landlord if we could stay the extra five days. He said yes and didn't mention any additional cost.

A few weeks after we moved out, the landlord sent us a bill for the five extra days we stayed, calculated by taking the monthly fee and multiplying it by 5/31. We had thought we would be able to stay the extra five days for free.

Is this allowed? Was he required to tell us that we would have to pay more money if we stayed the five extra days? Or should we have seen this coming?

We live in the US.


texts: Airline Terms and Conditions changed by email from officer of the company

texts:
Months after booking travel, an officer of an international airline sent me an email (XXX Response to COVID-19) stating, "If passengers decide to cancel altogether, the tickets can be voided at no cost for a full refund."  This contradicts the original Ts&Cs and the website information however due to the pandemic and the special circumstances, I assumed that this letter(email) from a Senior Vice President, The Americas, takes precedence over older/pre-printed(website) Ts&Cs.

Due to the COVID-19 travel uncertainty, I decided to cancel.  When I went to the website, it indicated that there would be a cancellation fee however, they showed an example that if you cancelled in less than 48 hours after booking that the fee would be indicated on the paperwork however you would be refunded the fees also.  I assumed that the website hadn't caught up to this special circumstances and that the actual refund amount would be for 100% of what I paid.  I cancelled the tickets however when I received the refund, the fees were taken out.  I believe a reasonable person would expect the phrase, "no cost for a full refund" to mean that they would be receiving 100% of their money back.

1)  Does the email with new Ts&Cs supersede the original Ts&Cs when booking the ticket and/or website cancellation Ts&Cs?
2)  Should I receive the full purchase price?

Thank you and best regards,
Robert


texts: Can a US Company be sued for failing to honour equity component of offer of engagement?

texts:
In the following scenario, does the individual have a legal case against the company? And if so, what law specifically can be applied?

Summary

A company offers x% equity. The individual engages. The company stalls, eventually offering "x% of profits during employ". The company has acted unethically and cheated the individual, but does the individual have legal recourse?

Details

A US company (Delaware) engages an individual (UK citizen) to manifest the core technology in exchange for a wage plus x% equity. The CEO projects the value of this equity to be eventually several million dollars.
The company stalls on presenting a full legal contract, stating that the internal structure is in flux, presenting instead an interim contract which the individual signs, which makes no mention of equity.
The individual commences work, bringing great value to the company.
After six months the company finally produces a full legal contract. It offers x% of profits made by the company within the duration of employ. This is absolutely different from x% equity.
The individual complains that this is clearly of considerably lesser value (orders of magnitude) from what was offered. First a product must be built. Only then can it be sold. The company has cheated the individual.
The investor who initially said "Don't worry, we will not hold you to your stake" now says "We have decided only to reward those that are actively contributing". When challenged (on Slack) for reneging directly upon his word, he remains silent.
The CEO says "We can only offer this "phantom" equity due to the way the company has been structured.  This is the offer now, take it or leave it. We plan to revise the company structure later."
Over the next 18 months, the individual continues to develop the core technology, while refusing to sign any contract that mentions this "phantom" equity.
By the end of this period almost the entire technical wing of the company is composed of hires made by the individual. The individual has made a brilliant sequence of moves that would not otherwise have been made, sourcing / hiring developers in capacities in such a way as to guarantee the future of the company's product.
Eventually the individual disengages. No revision has occurred. It seems clear that the company has no intention to honour the initial offer. And the product will now succeed. There is no incentive to continue.

Evidence

Initial email correspondence between individual and CEO making clear that the offer is for 2.5% equity
Verified download of all company communication through Slack privy to the individual, demonstrating:

repeated attempts by the individual for the company to honour their
promise
Evasive behaviour from the CEO
The investor simply disconnecting from the discussion upon being challenged

Contract revisions proffered by the company


texts: Can I write off equipment purchases for unrelated business

texts:
I run a small software consulting company. It is organized as a LLC in California, filing as an S-Corp.

I want to start a second business, but something unrelated to computers. I will need to purchase equipment to start the new venture.

Can I simply make this a new division of my existing company, and write off the equipment purchases as a business expense in the same way I would if I was buying equipment for he existing operation?

If the answer is no, what if they were proximately related? Where is the line drawn typically?


texts:
From a Citi's brokerage services contract: "accept and agree to be bound by its terms, as amended and supplemented from time to time by Citibank"
Is it normal to impose requirements like this? As much as I understand, they can change the contract in whatever way they want and don't even ask my permission to do so?


texts:
Prompted by David Siegel's answer,
specifically his final sentence:

if a building is old enough that it is not protected by copyright, there is no protection.

Would this apply when the building has recently been altered in some way?
I assume that a substantial alteration, such as a new wing, might have its own copyright but what about a fresh lick of paint on the front door or having wooden window frames replaced with uPVC ones?
I appreciate that it is highly likely to be fact-specific and although I've added the united-states tag for consistency, I'm interested in people's thoughts from any jurisdiction.


texts: Making fun of someone's sexuality in a magazine subscription

texts: What kind of crime is it considered to fill out a magazine subscription for someone else giving them a provocative false name? Addressing it to someone who is very annoying, and happen to be gay. They received the magazine addressed to an insulting fictitious name and the police found out who sent it. Now the receiver wants to press charges for discrimination and harassment.


texts: In France, can you lock out a squatter the way they locked you out?

texts:
This is specific to France (and maybe other countries, but I doubt that there is any other with such a surrealistic legislation like ours)
In France, when someone breaks in to your house and stays there for more than 48 hours, the house becomes their permanent residence and you need to go though hoops to have them evicted (and god forbids if there are children or otherwise protected populations among the squatters). EDIT: the 48 hours always apply when you do not live in the house, and is often applied by the police forces in other cases (see the second link below)
Relevant information (in French):

a lawyer article summarizing the current (post 2018) state of the law:

a Le Figaro article which discusses the 48 hours delay:

A comment on another question where I brought this up asked whether me breaking into my own house and changing the locks makes me a squatter too. Can the squatters sue me for removing them the possibility to get back into "their" house?
I am interested in the scenario above, not one where you come in by force and throw them away. This is not a good idea, legally speaking, and all the articles about squatters specifically advise you against this.


texts: Quitclaim reversal in Washington state. Statue of limitations? Options? Legal recourse?

texts:
My question involves real estate located in the State of: Washington

My home, has been hostilely taken over. It appears after my home was legally purchased and transferred into my name, that a dispute emerged and a default judgement was entered and I lost the house because of a quitclaim reversal in Washington State.

What is the statute of limitations? When does tolling begin? I have not been in Washington State for years, but it appears the other party hired an investigator, and filed a news paper notice, et all, and received approval from the assigned judge to have the quitclaim reversed without my presence. However, I was never notified, nor present, even though the person(s) involved knew and know how to contact me, they went an alternate route and it was determined i was "unreachable."

Do I have a case for recourse?

Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the difference between personal contract, business contract and full-time contract?

texts:
I'm applying for an open vacancy and the HR is asking me:

  What type of cooperation are you interested in: personal contract,
  business contract, full-time contract?

I spent some time searching on internet but it's not easy for me to grasp clearly the difference.


texts: Has "deceiving a machine" been prosecuted/defined in practice?

texts:
Alaska Statutes - Section 11.46.985 ("Deceiving a machine") states:

  In a prosecution under this chapter for an offense that requires "deception" as an element, it is not a defense that the defendant deceived or attempted to deceive a machine. For purposes of this section, "machine" includes a vending machine, computer, turnstile, or automated teller machine.

Has anybody been prosecuted (and especially, convicted) for a crime under that chapter for an offense requiring "deception" where the "deception" was of a machine?


texts: Is there a legal reason why fictional shows use imitation brand names?

texts:
Often, when I watch TV shows, I'll see or hear about an imitation of a real brand name.

As an example, here is a parody of Walmart from The Simpsons
The store in the picture is unambiguously supposed to represent Walmart.  They're even using Walmart's Styling

Is there any legal reason why they do this? and if there is, does it provide any actual legal protection?


texts: Is there a recourse against UPS for not delivering packages on time?

texts:
I have a "new" address and ZIP code that appears to confuse UPS and consistently causes them to delay delivery of packages to me.

I've tried filing complaints with UPS itself, but to no avail: I tried talking with their local dispatcher but they still don't do much other than help finally locate and deliver the individual missing-package-of-the-week.

As a consumer, I don't even get to select which carrier the merchants I buy from will use so, as far as I'm concerned, UPS has a sort of monopoly here.

I've tried filing a BBB report, but it appears that BBB doesn't concern itself with requests for compensation other than refunds.  I would like to make some sort of punitive claim against UPS, even if it is just symbolic.

What recourse do I have against UPS for their negligent service to me?


texts: If my speedometer breaks without my knowledge, would I be responsible if I broke the speed limit by a small amount?

texts:
Let's say that I drive down an interstate highway at a speed of 68 miles per hour, where the speed limit is 65. I think that I am going 63 miles per hour because my speedometer is off by five miles per hour - without my knowledge.

Would I be responsible for speeding even though I have no reasonable way of knowing that I am breaking the speed limit?

Note: I would like to assure everyone that this is entirely hypothetical. I have never encountered anything remotely like this, nor do I expect to.


texts: If an arrest warrant is issued does that mean a statement was made under oath? If so if a part of the statement for the arrest warrant is proven false what are the implications? In the case of a search warrant that would mean that an argument for removing any evidence obtained under the search warrant but what does it mean if a person is arrested to be charged but part of the justification was in fact incorrect. more than a clerical error but a statement of existing evidence showing something it clearly doesn't. For example the statement says there is evidence this person was at the place at the time of the crime but the actual evidence puts the person there weeks after the crime and not at the time of the crime.


texts:
I am planning to make a Local-Area-Network personal music server program.

The idea is that the program lets you host your music so you can stream it from any of your devices on your local network (though no music is distributed with the program itself). It may also do some analysis on the music, which means it will need to operate on the music files themselves in some cases (stuff like genre classification).

Can I, the developer of the program, be held responsible if an end user uses the software on copyright infringing material?
Are home music servers legal in general?
What if the user makes the server public? (publicly hosts it, port forwarding, etc)
What other legal considerations should I make?

NB: an example of a similar project is MPD.

Notes:

I am in the UK and so am interested in UK law specifically.
the program is only for personal use
the program is not monetised (am planning to make it open source)
I am not distributing music with the software
the project is for school, so fair use/similar clauses may apply

Any help would be appreciated!


texts: Can 5th amendment protection be successfully employed to block discovery of a document?

texts: Commonly witnesses may invoke the fifth amendment to avoid incriminating testimony, but can the fifth be invoked to refuse production of documents (for example e-mails) that may incriminate. Could the fifth be invoked to prohibit production of bank records that may incriminate?


texts: Has natural law ever been asked of a U.S. Supreme Court nominee in a confirmation hearing?

texts:
Has natural law ever been asked of U.S. Supreme Court nominee in a confirmation hearing?
Whether or not a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court believes there is natural law or what his thoughts of its role in human law are would pertain to his judicial philosophy, so it seems such a question would be asked of him.

Cicero De Republica 3.22.33 defines natural law (quoted in Integralism: A Manual of Poilitical Philosophy ch. 7 "Law" by Crean, O.P., & Fimister):

There is a true law, a right reason, conformable to nature, universal, unchangeable, eternal, whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil. Whether it enjoins or forbids, the good respect its injunctions, and the wicked treat them with indifference. This law cannot be contradicted by any other law, and is not liable either to derogation or abrogation. Neither the senate nor the people can give us any dispensation for not obeying this universal law of justice. It needs no other expositor and interpreter than our own conscience. It is not one thing at Rome and another at Athens; one thing today and another tomorrow; but in all times and nations this universal law must forever reign, eternal and imperishable. It is the sovereign master and emperor of all beings. God himself is its author, its promulgator, its enforcer. He who obeys it not, flies from himself, and does violence to the very nature of man. For his crime he must endure the severest penalties hereafter, even if he avoid the usual misfortunes of the present life.


texts: If a judge makes a factual error, can that be appealed?

texts:
If a judge makes a factual error, and that error was an important part of his judgement, can the judgement be appealed?

Normally, an appellate court will only consider matters of law and assume the matters of fact as being settled at the full discretion of the trial judge.

What if the judgement makes a clear error of fact? For example, imagine that in the judgement it reads as follows:

  Since luminol will only fluoresce in the presence of blood, we can
  assume that the blood of the victim was present.

This statement is simply factually incorrect. Luminol will fluoresce when in contact with a wide range of catalyst materials, not just blood.

So, in this case the judge has made a factual error. Can such a provable error be the basis for an appellate court to overturn or remand a lower court decision?


texts: If rental agreement is month to month, must one full month of notice be given before leaving?

texts: If no contract was signed and the verbal agreement was month-to-month (no specific end of tenancy) must 1 full month of notice be given to move out and get the damage deposit back?


texts: Would it be feasbile to sign a document with your weaker hand and claim it wasn't your signature?

texts:
For example, say I was starting a new job and needed to sign multiple documents to start. I agree to the majority of the documents but there is one document I don't want to sign, so instead I sign that document with my weaker hand. The idea being the signature looks different compared to my other signatures.

Later down the line the company wants to sue me for breach of contract. (The breach pertaining to the document I signed with my weaker hand.) Could I claim that I never signed it and offer as proof the fact that the signature is wildly different to the signatures on the other documents? Could this argument hold up anywhere?

Note: I know this is a silly question, and no I have no intention of doing this at all.