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What (if any) position is the highest office in the line of succession that someone ineligible to be president could hold? | " Can a young US Vice President follow in the line of succession? " was a question that sparked my interest. The answer to that questions is that a VP must actually be legally able to be President, as well. Okay, so VP is out - but if there was a Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor -style situation where most of the government ... | 6,398 | There are several possible ways to get there, but the answer is "there is no such position." Acting President vs. President Under the Constitution: In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolv... | 12 |
Is the Justice System Fundamentally Flawed? | " Justice is the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered." In the Justice system a person is reprimanded for an act committed. However the punishment of any given person is a function of more factors than the act committed in a nontrivial way. It varies, not insignificantly, with race, gender, ... | 28,817 | Yes As a product of the effort and imagination of human beings, it is, like all institutions, fundamentally flawed. | 1 |
What are the differences between "Malum In Se" and "Malum Prohibitum" Laws | " Malum In Se " and " Malum Prohibitum " are Latin phrases, but beyond their translations what differences do they carry with them in describing laws? Malum In Se meaning "That which is wrong in itself" Malum Prohibitum meaning "That which is wrong because it is prohibited" | 118 | Malum prohibitum can be defined as An act which is immoral because it is illegal; not necessarily illegal because it is immoral. while malum in se can be defined as An innately immoral act, regardless of whether it is forbidden by law. Examples include adultery, theft, and murder. A side-by-side comparison is given her... | 11 |
Unable to understand this text in a deed of assignment of intellectual property | " The assignor has agreed to assign to the Company all of his intellectual property rights and title, interest in and to assigned rights relating to the business, technologies, software, products and services of the Company on the terms set out in this Deed. " I have joined a startup and have been asked to sign a "Deed... | 43,018 | I’m going to answer the headline question “Unable to understand this text in a deed of assignment of intellectual property” because the body is way off-topic as seeking legal advice. Don’t sign anything you don’t understand! Ever! Legally signing something means 3 things: I’ve read it I understand it I agree with it If... | 2 |
What are "divisional patent applications"? | "...from November 5, 2020, there is a New Mexican IP Law in force, which has established new legal concepts and has brought light to some Practice areas which before this New Law, were imprecise or not entirely clear. The New Mexican IP Law has established rules and filing exceptions, which to consider when filing divi... | 76,426 | A divisional application is one that is a spin-off if a patent application that claims subject matter that is fully supported in a previous patent application’s specification and drawings if required but is not claimed in the parent application. The divisional gets the benefit of the filing date of the earliest relevan... | 2 |
Under what circumstances do "alternative lyrics" represent copyright infringement? | "Alternative lyrics" are those lyrics are written to the music of an existing song.
An example would be "My Country "Tis of Thee" written to the tune of "God Save the Queen." My understanding is that if you put the alternative lyrics to the sheet music of the original song without permission, that would be copyright in... | 11,477 | Original lyrics that would otherwise be non-infringing do not become infringing just because somebody might choose to sing those lyrics to an existing melody. The person who chooses to sing those lyrics to an existing melody, however, may be infringing that melody. | 2 |
I paid off my student loans myself. If Biden announces Federal Student Loan forgiveness, am I owed money? | "Biden to Announce Decision on Student Loan Debt, Affecting Millions of Borrowers." I owed $40,000 in student loans, and paid them off by working two and three jobs at a time for many years. If Biden announces he is forgiving $10,000 of student loans, am I owed money? It certainly seems fair that I should receive a che... | 83,494 | You have no injury and so no basis for a suit, unless your claim is that the educational institutions you attended were fraudulent (in which case you'd most likely sue them, or try to petition the government for existing relief procedures for such cases). Since you don't, you have no injury. All parties entered their ... | 7 |
Could "Brutus is an honorable man" be a defamatory statement in the U.K.? | "Brutus is an honorable man" is not a defamatory statement on its face. That, I believe, would satisfy U.S. law. But the quote was from Shakespeare. And the context was an ironic way of implying that Brutus is not an honorable man. English libel law is more favorable to plaintiffs than is U.S. law. So has anyone gotten... | 19,589 | You should look at McAlpine v Bercow. Bercow had made what she thought was a fairly benign tweet, but Lord McAlpine brought proceedings for libel against her. McAlpine won. Afterward, Bercow issued this statement: “Today’s ruling should be seen as a warning to all social media users. Things can be held to be seriously ... | 2 |
How can casinos take "extrajudicial" measures against card counters? | "Cardcounting" is technically legal, but frowned upon by casinos, because it violates the "unwritten law" that casinos are supposed to come out ahead. When card counters are caught, casinos can expel them under threat of being charged with trespassing. But apparently casinos sometimes do more than that, like refusing t... | 1,543 | Extrajudicial implies there is some weight of law behind the casino behaviors you describe. I don't think there is. For example, refusing to cash out chips could just be a management intimidation tactic to try to coerce the customer into agreeing to be "questioned." Which the customer would be under no legal obligation... | 5 |
"Etsy" plans as download - license, restrictions? | "Etsy" is an online platform designed to allow individuals to sell models via a standardized platform. Some sellers off downloadable files, containing plans to recreate those models. Example, rubber band gun "Etsy" doesn't seem to specify which license those files are distrubuted under, and no "shop policies" are speci... | 53,520 | It's up to the seller to specify the license the buyer acquires the model. Very common in those licenses is "no resale of the model" as well as "no sale of derivative works of the model." Derivate means by the was both altered as well as acessory to an item. Some have also express terms for selling manufactures of the ... | 1 |
Is there "evidence-based" practice in law? | "Evidence-based practice" (sometimes colloquially called "what works") is a buzzword floating around many professions nowadays, especially medicine and education. The idea is to use scientific research to inform and continuously improve day-to-day professional practice. For example, a schoolteacher following non eviden... | 76,409 | The primary field of research where the kind of studies you are thinking about are done is often called "empirical legal research." There is a fairly rich literature, that a substantial minority of practitioners in the relevant areas are guided by, in the area of issues related to jury trials: how jury composition infl... | 12 |
What is the rationale behind fair use exemptions? | "Fair use" is one exemption that allows the use of copyrighted material. From what I understand, this exemption falls into one of two broad categories: Teaching, research, news reporting, etc. Basically, this is "educational" use of one sort or another. Although there may be a commercial purpose (for a college, researc... | 11,413 | It is complicated to answer why a law is what it is. Judge Frank Esterbrook writes (in the forward to Reading Law by Scalia and Garner): Every legislat or has an intent, which usually cannot be discovered, since most say nothing before voting on most bills; and the legislat ure is a collective body that does not have a... | 3 |
Does the concept of fairness and due process apply only to the defendant or to the prosecution as well? | "Fairness" isn't mentioned in the constitution but due process is and I would think typically applies to a defendant - someone who has been accused of a crime. But is there a concept where the prosecution can say the process wasn't fair to them?? Case in point - the impeachment of Trump by the House of Reps. Pelosi is ... | 47,666 | Due Process is for defendants: The "fairness" provisions in Amendments 4-8 do not "typically" apply to defendants. They explicitly apply only to defendants. For instance, the 5th Amendment says: No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law... The basic idea is that the public ... | 1 |
Is it legal for a company to restrict people from re-selling (second hand) their products? | "Hive Home" lock their hardware devices to specific accounts. If you move into a house with Hive products already connected to a previous user: you’ll need to buy a new Hive Hub. source And what they don't say is: you have to throw away the old one . The old one is completely useless, and tied to previous person's acco... | 77,403 | This is not prohibiting the resale. You can resell your old box, but you can not transfer your account, and since the box can't take a new account, it is not a useful item to anyone but the original account holder. It is not illegal to make a resale effectively impossible , but you can not ban it under the First Sale D... | 7 |
When is Pro Hac Vice an actual thing? | "I am licensed in the State of Texas and have been admitted on a pro hac vice basis for a case I am handling in Florida. I am not licensed as an attorney in Florida." This is what a lawyer wrote to me in an email, when I asked where he was licensed. The matter at hand in in FL or NJ, while he is licensed in TX. I am ... | 32,207 | How is Pro Hac Vice applied here? Once you sue your former employer, this lawyer would need to be admitted on a pro hac vice basis if he intends to file an appearance for the defendant (that is, a notification to the court that he will be litigating this matter on behalf of your former employer). And should he be sayin... | 1 |
Can the defense claim that the defendant isn't the defendant? And if so, how is the case handled? | "I object, Your Honor.
What precedent are we setting here?
That the defendant isn't actually the defendant?" — An American Pickle (2020) Suppose that a man that society identifies as Herschel Greenbaum is put on trial for a crime that Herschel Greenbaum allegedly committed. However, his attorney claims that the defenda... | 74,739 | This is, in effect a defense of mistaken identity, and an assertion that the person on trial is not in fact the person who committed the crime. It is not legally significantly different from a case where the defendant claims that a witness has identified the wrong person. Exactly how the defense would be conducted woul... | 10 |
Can you be shot in "self-defense" for attempting to disarm someone? | "I'd like to see you try and take my gun" is a common mantra among 2nd amendment enthusiasts, the implied sentiment being they'll kill anyone who tries, but I'm interested in what would happen if this actually occurred. If, for instance, a student brought an AR-15 slinged across her back challenging others to take it, ... | 28,639 | I think it would depend on how a jury viewed the "challenge" to her audience. The general rule for self-defense in Texas is that the person needs to reasonably believe that force is immediately necessary to protect herself from someone else's use of force. I think a jury would find it reasonable to believe that someone... | 5 |
Is "If it's not forbidden, it's permitted" codified somewhere? | "If something is not forbidden by law, then it is allowed" is a principle that is usually taken for granted in everyday life. For example, there is no law explicitly permitting me to wear a top hat, but there is no law against it either, so wearing a top hat is permitted "by default". Does this principle actually have ... | 1,278 | Strictly speaking, that principle isn't even true everywhere in the US. The maxim "nulla poena sine lege" (i.e. "no punishment without a prior penal statute") was historically applicable to civil law systems, such as are found in continental Europe. In common-law systems, there was never a tradition in which a crime wa... | 6 |
Does HM Courts and Tribunal Service profit from court fees for litigants unconnected to the UK? | "In fact, English law is the preferred governing law for business transactions worldwide, even those that don’t have any geographic connection with the UK ." If too many litigants unconnected to the UK sue in UK courts, then they shall overwhelm the UK courts and unjustly crowd out UK taxpayers. Thus how does Her Maj... | 83,357 | Courts are a public service They run at a loss. Notwithstanding, just because a contract is under English law doesn’t mean it will be heard in an English court. Other nation’s courts will determine disputes according to English law if the contract so stipulates. Whether an English court will agree to hear a case depend... | 2 |
Copyright implications of dismissing Individual and Representative Plaintiffs v. Github Inc, Microsoft Inc, OpenAI (et al.) on derived LLMs | "Individual and Representative Plaintiffs v. GITHUB, INC., a Delaware corporation;
MICROSOFT CORPORATION, a Washington corporation; OPENAI, INC., a Delaware nonprofit corporation; [...]" is a class action lawsuit filed against OpenAI et al which includes the allegation of "violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright ... | 92,014 | A motion to dismiss sets no precedent Whether it succeeds or not, it does not result in a judgement on the merits, it is simply an analysis on whether the case as pleaded shows the defendant has a case to answer. The case would have to go to trial, have a judgement issued (i.e. not settle), and await the result of fina... | 5 |
"Jingle bells, Batman smells, etc" -- any copyright or trademark problems in that now-famous song lyric? | "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin's laid an egg" -- any copyright or trademark problems, per se , in that now-famous song lyric? | 88,620 | The original Jingle Bells song was first published as a Thanksgiving Song in 1857 and has lapsed into public domain. The Batman lyrics constitute parody which would further put their singing under fair use. You may sing it as part of your own musical arrangement with little discourse from Warner Bros, the current c... | 4 |
"Like Facebook, only better" - Can I legally use this in marketing? | "Like Facebook, only better" - Can I legally use this in advertising for my website. Is it possible to do so without getting sued? | 17,555 | UK-based answer here: It is entirely legal for a firm to make a statement which compares itself to a competitor, so long as it is true (Defamation Act 2013 s2) or is an honest statement of opinion (Defamation Act 2013 s3(1)). However with regards to a "statement of opinion", generally speaking a disclaimer of "it is ou... | 0 |
Marijuana Reclassification | "Marihuana" is a Schedule I drug. What will it take for marijuana to be reclassified into a federally legitimate (available anywhere over the counter and could be used recreationally by anyone over 18) drug? https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-cannabis-research-and-drug-approval-process | 82,635 | The controlling federal (US) law is: 21 U.S. Code § 812 - Schedules of controlled substances 21 US Code 812 and "Marijuana" is specifically listed among Schedule 1 substances. Just as with any other federal law, for this to be changed, Congress would need to amend or repeal this statute so that Marijuana no longer appe... | 3 |
Is it legal to say "Let's Go Brandon" on amateur radio? | "No amateur station shall transmit... obscene or indecent words or language..." Saying the original phrase Let's Go Brandon was derived from would certainly violate this, but would saying Let's Go Brandon be an issue? As a comment by user sonyfreak points out, quoting the Wikipedia article "Let's Go Brandon" : "Let's G... | 81,679 | According to the official FCC page "Obscene, Indecent and Profane Broadcasts" : Indecent content portrays sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive but does not meet the three-prong test for obscenity. This page does not cite any laws or sources. The "three-prong test" would ber the r... | 2 |
When is "at the time of the gift or inheritance"? | "Similarly, if you received specified foreign property as a gift, or inheritance, the cost amount is its fair market value at the time of the gift or inheritance" Question:
If I am the beneficiary of a foreign non qualified annuity and I opt to leave the annuity in place for a few years (five year rule) and take out a ... | 48,082 | That would be the moment you came into the possession of the item. Specific to the clause, it's looking for the fair market value of the item (if it's not a specific dollar sum) when you received it (once upon a time, during the Ming Dynasty, you could get Ming Vases for a lot cheaper than you can today, since that D... | 2 |
Can I use a TV character name for my business brand? | "Species 8472" is a legendary race in the Star Trek universe, which is the only one other than humans to ever have defeated the Borg. It has particular resonance amongst tech nerds, for this reason. I want to therefore register a website with the number 8472 in it. For example "trader8472" or "sensor8472" etc. Would th... | 13,323 | There is no IP in a number - can't be copyright, can't be trademarked. We have Pentium chips today because Intel couldn't patent the 586. | 1 |
Meaning of "Strike from the Record" in legal code? Is there *any* memory/record once "stricken"? By who/what handled/processed? Proof of striking? | "Strike the record" ("strike from the record", "strike that from the record") is a frequently spoken phrase in legal procedural docudramas. Are there violent connotations historically to the word "strike" as used (very often the term is screamed [at extreme decibels], by my memory), legal repercussions from being stric... | 52,992 | My understanding is that "the record" only refers to the official record of the proceeding, e.g. the transcripts that would be kept on file and used as the basis for formal decisions. Such records are usually prepared after the fact by a court reporter based on their shorthand notes or audio recordings, so this indica... | 9 |
How specific must a contract be? | "There is no refunds with this purchase. If you are a mentor or are affiliated with any other trade teams you will be removed and will not be refunded if found. Legal action will be taken on any members that share our content. Vertex Investing are not financial advisors, Following trade ideas and trading in general doe... | 57,321 | The question does not say what reasons the other party gives for not paying, and so one cannot judge whether such reason is covered by the terms quoted in the question. In general a contract need not be highly specific if the intent is clear. However, any ambiguity will usually be resolved against the party who wrote... | 3 |
How can incitement of imminent lawless action not be constitutionally protected? | "advocacy intended, and likely, to incite imminent lawless action, see Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969);" But doesn't the founding documents of the US enshrine the right of the people to overthrow a government when it no longer serves their democratic ends? Are these two doctrines not at severe conflict? Is Rev... | 81,959 | How can incitement of imminent lawless action not be constitutionally protected? The short answer to your question is "because the Supreme Court of the United States said so." In Brandenburg v. Ohio SCOTUS found that the Constitution protects speech that calls for lawless action in the abstract but does not protect spe... | 5 |
How do you interpret: option to break after 12 months with at least 2 months’ notice | "option to break after 12 months with at least 2 months’ notice" In my opinion, the sentence above can be interpreted as follows: 1) the agreement can be broken at least 12 months after inception date. In our case, the agreement starts June 1st 2019 and hence the agreement cannot be broken before May 31st 2020. 2) Woul... | 41,266 | Your interpretation is correct. And yes, both conditions need to be met. Other terms in the lease might clarify that the last month's rent will not be prorated even if the notice is such that the unit is vacated prior to the end of a calendar month. | 2 |
Clarifying language on law of auction sale | "where the sale is not notified to be subject to a right to bid on behalf of the seller, it shall not be lawful for the seller to bid himself or to employ any person to bid at such sale, or for the auctioneer knowingly to take any bid from the seller or any such person; and any sale contravening this rule may be treate... | 9,116 | The seller may not bid (on item referred to) unless notification (in unspecified manner) has been given that the seller retains the right to bid. The seller also may not employ a person to bid on his/her behalf unless such notification is given. The auctioneer may not take such bids, if he knows that the bid is forbidd... | 2 |
Bribery? $1 million pledged against Collins if she backs Kavanaugh | $1 million pledged against Collins if she backs Kavanaugh "The senator and her Republican colleagues are decrying the effort in
Maine as attempted bribery, as attention shifts from Kavanaugh's
confirmation hearings to the question of how lawmakers will vote on
his nomination" How does the pledge fit the label of ... | 31,713 | It sounds less like bribery (where you give someone a benefit in exchange for an official act) than like extortion (where you threaten some harm in the absence of an act). | 3 |
What is meant by a litigant insuring a judge's life? | ' Lord Scarman ' The Telegraph (10 Dec 2004). Scarman was assigned to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division (moving to the Family Division when it was abolished) and presided over the longest probate case ever heard: his judgment ran to 24,000 words and his life was insured for £300,000 by one of the parties invo... | 29,061 | It means exactly what it says: one of the parties (call them A) to the case purchased a life insurance policy that would pay £300,000 (presumably to A) if the judge were to die. Why they did this, we can only guess. But if the case was extremely long, there may have been a greater chance that the judge would die befor... | 5 |
Intra-community civil actions in the EU | 'A' (in an EU member state) contracts with 'B' (in another member state) who then breaches the contract. Can 'A' sue 'B' under some harmonised community-wide procedure? If not, in which state does 'A' bring his action (if not stated in the contract)? | 150 | For the first question, assuming EU legislation being applicable here, EU regulation No 1896/2006 of 12 December 2006 on creating a European order for payment procedure may be relevant, foreseeing a unified procedure for payment claims. On the second one, the answer is likely to be found in EU regulation No 1215/2012 o... | 4 |
What is a 'creed' legally? | 'Creed' is a 'protected characteristic' with respect to discrimination or harassment, at least in some U.S. jurisdictions or for some private employers. The Wikipedia article "Creed" defines it thus: A creed (also confession, symbol, or statement of faith) is a statement of the shared beliefs of a religious community i... | 8,690 | It appears to be a grey area and does not appear to have an explicit definition aside from religion in many jurisdictions. Even those jurisdictions that discuss a broader definition, seem to shy away from actually doing so. Note that this is only a cursory search and experts in various jurisdictions may come up with mo... | 8 |
To whom does the German 'Impressumspflicht' apply? | 'Impressumspflicht' is a law in Germany forcing people running a website to publish personal information like name, address, email, telephone number and so forth. If it is a commercial website, even more information needs to be provided like tax number, competent court and so on. My question is, what are the exact circ... | 23,395 | Disclaimer: Links are in German. My German is quite rough. Quoted translations provided by Google Translate. Turns out the question "Do I need an Impressum ?" is complicated. I'll start with examining the case for companies, then work down to the average private citizen. Impressum requirement The requirement for an onl... | 5 |
reduce into possession | 'reduced into possession' isn't just worded for animals. 'reduce' here doesn't feel like ordinary meaning. What does it mean? I quote Etymonline because legalese can deceivingly use common words today but actually aim for some bygone meaning. Why not just use 'possess'? Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Material... | 45,074 | A thing that is not owned by anyone is said to be Res nullius (no person's thing). When a person captures, seizes, or takes into his or her possession such a thing, that person is said to "reduce it to possession". This refers to the act by which it becomes that person's legal property. Subsequently it is one of that p... | 1 |
I owe rent for a month and my landord is threatening me to move my stuff out of the house | ( Note: I know a similar question has been asked but this is slightly different in terms of the agreement and I also have specific location information which might help come up to a better conclusion.) This is Covid19 pandemic time and I understand that it is a tough time for everyone. I'm living in a rented single roo... | 51,960 | Even with a verbal lease, evictions must be done legally; the landlord can't evict you with out going through a legal process that takes time, and can't legally dump your possessions outside, or ask someone else to do it. In addition, according to MassLegalHelp , there are temporary changes to evictions due to Covid-19... | 7 |
Why obtain two first degrees in law, when one suffices? | ( TL;DR - Summary ) Why study 2 first professional degrees in law? I know firsthand that a first degree in law from Canada, US, UK, or Oceania qualifies for postgraduate law programs (eg LLM) in these countries. So why did these 'legal eagles' NOT do an LLM, in place of the second LLB or JD? Doing a second LLB or JD, ... | 393 | Basically: what Flup said in his last paragraph (and so upvoted accordingly). Every one of the practitioners you named has an undergraduate degree from the UK, and an undergraduate degree from Canada. This, presumably, is because you're not permitted to practise law in most jurisdictions unless you have some kind of qu... | 3 |
Income tax bracket threshold for zero tax in the US and regarding no income at all | (1) I am trying to find out whether one has to file any income tax if they are an American citizen permanently living abroad but having literally no income? (2) While trying to search about this on the internet, I wondered why is there no tax bracket with 0% or nil income tax (the UK doesn't tax income upto £12,500 for... | 53,586 | Q2: US tax brackets are based on your taxable income , which is computed by applying various adjustments and deductions to your "actual" gross income. In particular, most taxpayers are entitled to apply a standard deduction which is currently about $12,000 for a single taxpayer. So if you are a single taxpayer with a ... | 3 |
What is the significance of Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump/Biden? | (1) It appears that a Federal court had ruled that Trump's twitter account is a public forum, and thus protected by the first amendment. Is this a correct analysis of the original ruling by the Federal court? (2) Why was Twitter allowed to delete Trump's account, after the ruling by the Federal court was issued, design... | 78,345 | Overview Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump, No. 1:17-cv-05205 (S.D.N.Y.) was a suit over Trump's blocking various people and other account holders from posting to his Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump. The district court held that by positing official government actions to twitter, as well as statements of pub... | 2 |
Was Derek Chauvin protected by Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005)? | (1) Was Derek Chauvin protected by Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) 1 ? (2) If Chauvin had not touched Floyd at all, would Chauvin be protected by Castle Rock v. Gonzales? Meaning no attempt at arrest, no confrontation, nothing. Just let Floyd leave with his cigarettes. (3) Given the apparent huge disparity... | 78,644 | Was Derek Chauvin protected by Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748
(2005)? No. Derek Chauvin , the police officer whose affirmative physical acts caused the death of George Floyd is not protected by this precedent. Castle Rock v. Gonzales holds that the police do not have a duty to enforce the law that may be enforce... | 4 |
How can it be legal for companies to send me random crap and then demand payment? | (Although I live in Sweden, I think this applies more or less globally.) Numerous times throughout the years, the most recently today, I have received snailmail notifications from the postal office saying that I have a package to collect. These are not fake messages; somebody has actually inputted my address informatio... | 50,198 | It isn’t legal If people want to send you stuff, they are free to do so. You don’t have to pay for it. | 1 |
Why is the onus for adhering to privacy directives (e.g. GDPR, CCPA, etc.) on a host and not the user? | (Apologies in advance for the lengthy epistle) Background: A colleague is planning to launch a social media and forum website which will appeal to a relatively narrow audience. For the sake of discussion, I've compared it to an online dating website. During a technical review, I noted he intends to block the entire EU... | 82,314 | For the same reason that states require doctors to be licensed Surely, if I want an unqualified, unlicensed surgeon (or a person that says they’re a surgeon) to crack open my cranium and poke my brain, that’s up to me? There is no doubt that requiring people to attend medical school for half a decade and then spending ... | 10 |
Can the state of New York arrest and/or prosecute President Trump during a time when Trump is still president? | (Assuming there were grounds for arrest and prosecution). | 22,326 | Nobody knows for sure. The Constitution gives the House and Senate the (sole) power to impeach and remove a president, but that does not preclude a President being prosecuted for a crime. The Constitution does not distinguish the between the president and other high officials in terms of alleged immunity: it says The P... | 2 |
Family trust but probate (informal or formal?) needed | (Based on @ohwillieke's answer, I've updated this to clarify the facts) Family trust: was set up by parents as a revocable living trust. had "upon death" instructions to transfer all to beneficiary #1 (B1), or if B1 was dead, then divide among B2, B3, etc. per the land abstract from the county recorder's office, shows ... | 21,726 | Short Answer If everything was set up correctly in the first place, it is probably unnecessary to open up either an informal probate case or a formal probate case, although it may be necessary to prepare a small estate affidavit. But, there aren't enough facts in your question to know for sure. There are also a couple ... | 3 |
Can a franchise owner avoid paying overtime by splitting employees between locations? | (Based on this question from workplace.SE ) Can a fast food franchise owner avoid paying overtime by splitting employees between two nearby locations, say 20 hours at location A, and 25 hours at location B? Would it matter if the locations were different restaurants? Or if one location was an entirely different kind of... | 33,222 | I believe that under federal law, the franchise owner cannot avoid overtime in this way. A similar case was considered by the Labor Department in 2005 (FLSA2005-17NA) : This is in response to your request for an opinion concerning the application of the overtime requirements of section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act... | 6 |
Rental Agent claiming an admin fee from 2 years ago | (Context Details: UK, renting in London. Agent is Foxtons.) I've just left a rental property after 3 years there.
The landlord has authorised the full return of the deposit, but the rental agency has turned around and said that there's £96 of annual renewal fees outstanding. I've proved that I paid the fee 1 year ago, ... | 8,285 | If it's in the contract, you must pay it. You can claim money up to the statute of limitations which will almost certainly be more than 2 years. | 2 |
How much money can the owners of an LLC pay themselves to not be accused of "shielding funds from a lawsuit"? | (Context: This question is about US law). Let's say an LLC has two owners and it makes 300k a year in profit. The owners each pay themselves a (reasonable) 150k salary each year, leaving the assets of the LLC itself 0. In the event the LLC is sued, can a court pierce the corporate veil and go after the salaries that th... | 90,593 | If your LLC made 300K before paying salaries, and paid 300K total in salaries, that seems quite reasonable. You might have a point if the order of events was: LLC pays 100K in salaries, LLC gets sued for 200K, LLC raises salaries by 200K. Note that the owners have to pay income tax on 300k earnings, plus whatever else ... | 4 |
Is it legal to earn money via selling online currency (videogame)? | (Europe/Netherlands) Let's say I'm a World of Warcraft or Runescape player, in these games there are certain prices for gold, for example a X amount of ingame Runescape money might be worth a Y amount of real money. The game does not allow you to "Real-World trade" the money, this is written in the ToS you accept. Ofte... | 9,686 | Let's take Runescape as the example, because there's some guidance about the Dutch legal status of items in that game: the ToS terms do not alter the fact that within Runescape, items are under the actual and exclusive control of a specific player . That is to say, we can treat these virtual goods as if they were non-v... | 1 |
Lack of action taken by landlord against a noisy neighbor | (First time posting on this SE, I hope it's not off-topic.) I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands, let's call her Allison. Both her and her neighbor (let's call him Bob) live in an apartment complex owned by a therapy organization they are both patients at, and their landlord is also the owner of said organizati... | 49,557 | Can a therapy organization get away with catering to one patient's needs, despite that being extremely counterproductive to the needs of another patient, especially if the former is the one breaking the rules? Is it legal for the landlord to blatantly ignore a contract that was signed by all the involved parties and no... | 2 |
Joint Enterprise and Witness Intimidation in UK | (For MOOT case). An accused burglar is currently in an ongoing criminal trial. The accused burglar tells his friend details about the person who accused them. The friend, after hearing about the allegations the accuser has made against the burglar, intimidates the accuser about the allegations. Can the burglar be tried... | 74,797 | Not on those facts If, as you say, the accused merely identified the witness and said (unflattering) things about them in a private conversation then they have committed no crime. In most cases, the names of witnesses are not secret and unless the court has issued an order to keep a witness’ identity secret (which woul... | 2 |
Can you make campaign donations on someone's behalf? | (For US Federal election law only) If someone were to give me a sum of money, and direct me to donate it to congressmen that voted a certain way, would I be able to donate it on their behalf (i.e. in their name)? Would I need power of attorney to do so? Or could I otherwise get authorization to act as an agent? | 18,112 | Campaign contribution laws require that the donor of campaign funds be disclosed and in some cases with dollar caps on contributions per person. Now, if you are actually donating their money in their name, you really aren't doing anything different than a bank is in taking money of the account of a checking account own... | 1 |
Is it legal for a landlord to refuse a lease because an Occupant on the application is an undocumented immigrant? | (For clarity: Applicant - the adult financially responsible for the lease. Occupant - anyone over the age of 18 that will be residing with the Applicant but is not financially responsible for the lease.) Is it legal for a landlord to refuse a lease application for the sole reason that an Occupant included in the applic... | 17,710 | The default rule is that a landlord can refuse to rent to anyone for any reason, in which case the landlord can refuse to rent in this case. There are civil rights laws that limit this discretion in the case, for example, of discrimination based on race, or family status. But, those laws often have exemptions for owner... | 12 |
Should I blur personally identifiable information on Facebook screen recording for YouTube? | (Global question: EU, US, etc) I'm recording a video for YouTube where I show how browser extension works while surfing through different Facebook Groups, Business Pages, Personal Profiles, etc. Should I blur surnames and photos of people who meet on the screen? According to this article: https://gdpr.eu/eu-gdpr-person... | 62,349 | There are multiple issues with what you are trying to do, including issues with copyright, personality rights, and data protection. You are trying to use other people's content and likeness for your advertisement. Unless you are certain that you can do this in your relevant jurisdictions, without their consent, this so... | 3 |
Lawyer knows trial is hopeless but tells client they can win | (Hypothetical) Rob is charged with a crime. His lawyer, upon receiving discovery, realises that they are very unlikely to win the trial if they plead not guilty, that the best course of action for Rob is to plead guilty and get a sentence discount. But the lawyer knows that Rob has money and wants to suck it out of him... | 59,031 | Such an action by the lawyer is certainly unethical, but there is no automatic or routine mechanism to detect it and give better advice to Rob, at least not in the US. Rob could get a second opinion, but criminal defendants do not often do this, and there is no requirement to do so. If the situation is extreme, it migh... | 5 |
Can artists file for plagiarism if their art is used in AI models to make AI art, given that there is proof they're the authors of their work? | (I am an IT student writing a report proposing using blockchain technology to attribute "art" files, used in AI models, to their authors. I know next to nothing about copyright laws for creative works) Suppose metadata in the files used for AI models to generate new derivative art can be attributed to their original au... | 92,536 | "Plagiarism" is an academic concept, not a legal one Plagiarising the work of another without attribution is academic misconduct in every reputable academic facility and can lead to disciplinary action. But it's not against the law, and you can't be sued for doing it. Copyright violation is against the law You violate ... | 20 |
Understanding Declaration | (I am in New Zealand, but am interested in answers following British style law.. When entering into New Zealand (as with most countries), passengers are required to fill out an arrival card . At the bottom of this arrival card it states "I declare the information I have given is true, correct, and complete". The doc... | 44,159 | The Biosecurity Act 1993 gives inspector's the power to take declarations at s30(1B): An inspector may require a person arriving in New Zealand to make a declaration about 1 or more of the following in a manner specified by the inspector: A "manner specified by the inspector" can be either verbal or written. Making a m... | 2 |
Is there case law supporting the view that literary themes are protected by copyright? | (I am not certain that "literary theme is the technically correct term: my question is contain in the body of the question). It is standard legal knowledge that copyright law protects expression and not ideas, that some element of creativity is required for a work to be protected, and that words and short phrases are n... | 55,939 | A copyright protects particular expressions of ideas, not ideas themselves. So, general themes are not generally protected by copyright. Indeed, there is actually case law to the opposite effect , that prevents thematic elements particular to a genre from being granted copyright protection: Scène à faire (French for "s... | 5 |
Can a pre-court settlement include an admission of guilt? | (I do have a lawyer I'm working with in this case, however they are currently on leave for the Christmas holiday season and I am expressly permitted to ask others, even in a public forum, questions like these, as it's a general law question and not specific to my case) An organization ("The Company") recently broke sta... | 34,203 | Can I have my lawyer respond with a counter-offer that modifies the settlement agreement to replace the clause with something like "The Company admits to wrongdoing and is sorry." - or anything? You can ask. But unless you have a rather strong case and the company very much wants to avoid going to court, quite likely t... | 2 |
Does the state forbid competition with so-called natural monopolies? | (I don't need information about specific country, so it's OK to post information about laws of country that you know, just remember to include the name of the country in your post).
For example, I heard that the state forbids competition with public utilities. So you can't have two water pipes systems in your house, ev... | 25,209 | You can't open new water-pipes company, it would be against the law. Is it correct? In the US it depends on state law. According to Wisconsin law : (a) Except as provided in par. (am), the commission may not grant any person a license, permit or franchise to own, operate, manage or control any plant or equipment for th... | 2 |
Client does not pay invoice and is claiming copyright | (I looked for similar cases and answers and could not find anything, so please forgive me if it was) I have a 1099 contract with a client for services in the finance industry. Because of my 30+ years of professional IT services, he also asked me to do a variety of IT-related services for him already before he hired me ... | 83,861 | Contracts where the price is not agreed in advance He’s right, you’re wrong. He is required to pay a fair price, or, in legal terms a reasonable price. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances including the amount of time invested, the market rate for similar projects, and your past dealings together. Furthe... | 2 |
Creating products and inventing during employment and assignment of inventions | (I need to ask this question again since I did not have enough information last time. Now I have access to full set of documents I signed including: NDA, Assignment of inventions etc....) If I create a product-idea outside of reasonable office hours using my own resources (Money, computer, code-base etc...) will assign... | 42,312 | If what you do falls within the scope of the assignment clause and that clause is reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s interests (i.e. it is limited in scope) then they will own the IP. For example, if your employer is an accounting firm and what you produce is accounting software they will own it. If what yo... | 1 |
How can you block GDPR users from US based sites? | (I originally asked this question on Server Fault with GDPR tag, but due to minimal response was advised to try asking here) As I understand it, GDPR is European legislation promoted as protecting EU citizen's privacy and granting EU citizens rights to control how websites use data/whether the websites can store said d... | 59,348 | This might be based on a misunderstanding of the GDPR. The GDPR applies under three circumstances: Art 3(1): you (the data controller) are established/live in the EU. Art 3(2)(a): you offer goods or services to people in the EU. Art 3(2)(b): you monitor behaviour of people who are physically in the EU. What is not a fa... | 9 |
Contract tied to a non-refundable deposit if I don't sign | (I read the disclaimer in the sidebar: I'm not looking for legal advice: I'm just curious as to the implications to both parties). Pre-amble and context : So I'm trying to rent a property in the UK. The agent we're going through wanted a holding deposit when we agreed to start the process (fine), which came with an agr... | 7,107 | Competent parties can contract for any terms that are not forbidden by law, and a contract is valid if each party provides consideration (i.e., something of value). It sounds like the contract you're questioning is essentially, "I will give you money in exchange for you showing me an agreement and giving me the option... | 1 |
Third Party Liability for representations | (I suspect this looks a bit like a homework question. Its not. I have tried to distill the question as much as possible). I'm interested in how this would typically be answered in countries based on English law (the events happened in New Zealand) Scenario - Mr Debtor asks Mr Creditor for a loan on the basis that ... | 56,906 | In contract: no If ThirdParty was a guarantor for the loan, then they would be liable to Creditor for any amount unpaid by Debtor. However, in the absence of a guarantee deed there is no contractural liability on ThirdParty. In equity: maybe The relevant doctrine is promissory estoppel . If new-zealand law follows the ... | 1 |
Transcription law | (I'd be interested in UK, US, or any internet/international biased opinions here; as well as anything I could further ready up on!) Let's assume a physical Text exists. Is it legal for person A to transcribe the Text into digital form, for personal use? (eg. Easy searchability) I make the assumption that it is frowned ... | 83,783 | Per definition: transcription Transcription (from Latin: trans scribere -> transcribere: to transfer (text)) is one of two things: Taking audio and turning it into text taking one text and turning it into a text in a different writing style, e.g. Cyrillic to Latin, Japanese (Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana) to Romanji, handw... | 3 |
Is a corrupt Attorney General able to quash any and all Federal investgations? | (I'll try to ask this in as non-biased way as possible) If an Attorney General is part of a corrupt administration, would he or she be able to quash any and all Federal investigations related to that corruption as a way of protecting that administration? For example, William Barr has been widely criticized for what som... | 46,506 | The AG is technically the boss of everyone in the DOJ, and can fire people if they don't do as he says. To fire people appointed by the president and confirmed by congress, he would need the approval of the president. The SDNY does not have to ask for permission to start a case, but they can be fired. | 1 |
Lawyer billing the other party for writing a letter to them | (I'm in New Zealand, but I'm also interested in answers/data points from other jurisdictions) A friend whose Intellectual Property (design patent) is being infringed engaged a lawyer who intends to write a cease and desist letter to the other party, and to send a bill to this other party for his letter! Although it is ... | 9,245 | As a matter of contract law it would not be possible to enforce a requirement to pay legal fees without agreement. You could easily see how this would be problematic: one could just draft letters to hundreds or thousands of people and require them to pay the costs of composing the letter. My understanding is that this ... | 3 |
Copying HTML: copyright violation? | (I'm reposting this from workplace S.E. where I was advised to ask here; apologies in advance for any inconvenience) tl;dr : in the USA, is copying the HTML code from a site (any site whose code is presumably copyrighted) and storing it, for a limited or unlimited amount of time a violation of copyright? Are there prio... | 1,808 | You are clearly seeking legal advice. Answers on this site come from anonymous people on the internet and are not legal advice. You should not act based on information from this site. I am unaware of any lawsuit where one would be sued for merely storing and reading HTML for personal use. Downloading a webpage is prob... | 3 |
Can the court order my retired father, who is a single father, to make more money (Canadian Law) (revised to anonymous) | (I'm sorry about deleting and re-posting the question, there are family details and the site was attaching my real name. I'm reposting using an email address that isn't linked to me.) My father was married to his wife for over 20 years and she recently started a divorce. He retired after many years in a higher paying j... | 43,949 | I am going to convert a set of comments into an answer. Please note, IANAL, especially in your jurisdiction. You are asking the wrong question. The Court is not specifically ordering your father to make more money; it is ordering him to support his ex-wife (XW) at a level similar to what she enjoyed during the 20-year ... | 6 |
How would one comply with a court order to unpublish unlimitable information? | (If this has been asked, please deduplicate; I searched but couldn't find anything similar. Thanks!) This is wholly hypothetical, I hope. Let's have two people, "Alice" and "Bob" . Alice publishes some data that, for whatever legal reason, they ought not to publish. Bob gets some sort of court order which directly inst... | 89,641 | united-states This answer analyzes the question under U.S. law, although it is really generally applicable in all countries with a common law legal system. I'm not familiar with how non-common law countries address this issue at this level of granularity. Given that Alice has been instructed by the court to stop publis... | 27 |
What would be the fastest way to sue someone in a traffic accident? Post Accident Legal Strategies | (In America), when there is a traffic accident, it is generally a civil matter that can be resolved between the parties. Several courses of action are available to the parties to resolve the dispute which generally involves property damage and or injury to the parties or to other third persons or property. An insurance... | 22,888 | Short answer The general approach and attitude that you propose is a horrible one that would bring an unfavorable result. It would add many months or years to the time when the case would mostly likely be resolved and would reduce the economic value of your case by a substantial percentage, perhaps cutting it in half o... | 6 |
What are my rights as an apartment tenant if I have no active lease agreement, in terms of rent amount and move out procedure? | (In Tennessee, as the tag indicates) My previous 12 month lease expired May 30th, 2023. Shortly before my lease expired, my previous landlord suddenly sold the apartment complex to another landlord, and notified us in an email to now contact the new landlord under an email address provided. I sent a message to that ema... | 93,425 | There are two distinct questions here. One is what happens when a lease expires and you don't vacate and the landlord doesn't try to evict you. Generally, in the absence of holdover tenant provisions expressly in the existing lease, the lease becomes a month to month lease on the same terms as previously in force. If t... | 5 |
Discovery of Evidence - Context, Significance and Meaning? | (In US criminal proceedings) The Prosecution must provide all evidence against the Defendant to the Defense before the trial begins in the "Discovery process". Is the Prosecution also required to explain the evidence and describe how they intend to use it? For example, could they provide a big listing of cell-phone rec... | 93,387 | canada The Crown's duty to disclose all materials and information, inculpatory or exculpatory, unless clearly irrelevant, does not extend to Crown "work product." The "work product" privilege means that "notes and materials that involve the thought process and strategic or tactical considerations of Crown counsel in th... | 8 |
Redistribution of fan art that used copyrighted assets as a reference in the US | (In the context of United States law) Basically I plan to rip model files from legally-obtained video game ROMs and then use those models as references for fan art (high-poly remodels of characters, vehicles, etc.) My first question is if it's legal (ripping assets for personal use without redistributing/sharing them).... | 7,373 | Creating copies of a work is generally illegal, since the right "to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies" and the right "to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work" are both exclusive rights of the copyright holder. If you don't distribute those copies, though, it could be quite difficult for the c... | 2 |
Is it possible to distribute BSD (derived) software with a warranty? | (In the following, assume that "I" is not personal, but could be a corporation or group suitable in size and training to perform the tasks) I have received sample code carrying a license patterned after BSD: Copyright (c) (Year and original author are specifically named here) . All rights reserved. Redistribution and u... | 5,213 | The creator of the software doesn't provide any warranty. If you feel confident in the quality of the software, nothing stops you from providing a warranty. If the software doesn't meet your guarantees, you will have to pay out because you provided the warranty, depending on the terms. Not the creator of the software b... | 4 |
In-court identification of defendants | (Inspired by Can a lawyer subject the court to a (temporary) ruse for a legitimate purpose? ) Under which circumstances are witnesses asked to identify people present (in particular defendants) in the courtroom? In which jurisdictions is this a thing? (I know it happens in the US; what about the UK, etc?) Are there rul... | 87,749 | canada criminal-law In Canada, this is called "in- dock " identification and, while not prohibited, it is recognized to have very little probative value. It has "particular frailties over and above the normal frailties attaching to identification evidence" and "adds little" ( R. v. Izzard (1990), 54 CCC (3d) 252 , pp. ... | 6 |
Can a vigilante be useful for a police department? | (Just for reference, this question is for a story I'm working on, and I wanted a realistic look at the law's side of things.) So, a lot of fiction likes to play off the trope of a Vigilante. This person, (superhero or otherwise) often cuffs the baddies, and leaves them gift wrapped for the police, along with providing ... | 26,919 | Can a vigilante perform an arrest? This depends on whether the vigilante has the power to perform a citizen's arrest . The rules depend on the jurisdiction (and vary from state to state in the US), but generally the power to perform a citizen's arrest is quite limited. It may include the power to 'pre-empt' an offence ... | 5 |
In BC, Canada, may an adult seek & receive a Protection Order if the respondent is the mother of the petitioner but the parties do not live together? | (N.B. I've never studied the Canadian legal system, I'm not Canadian, I don't live in Canada, and I've never been to Canada. But I like cheese curds.) In a nutshell: what I want to know (Hypothetically) A mother is abusing her adult child, but they do not live together. Does the Family Law Act, or any other law, enable... | 57,797 | Under the act, "child" means a person who is under 19 years of age (ignoring a complication about child support). The law covers households, not genetic relations, so the fact that Rita is Aaron's mother doesn't make the FLA applicable. This page explains protective orders in the context of this law. First, such orders... | 2 |
Can governors deploy state police vs federal police? | (Non US national here) Can the governors of states that disagree with the deployment of federal troops deploy some kind of state force to stop these? Does state police loyalty lie with the governor or the nation? | 53,641 | There are multiple police forces in the US: city, county, state and national, and each is responsible to a relevant executive. Typical "police" are city police, who are responsible to a chief of police, who is appointed at the municipal level. Counties usually have an elected sheriff, and a set of deputies; at the stat... | 4 |
Are courts obliged to act if they're aware of a violation, even if the parties are no longer interested? | (Not sure if the title is good) Hypothetical case: Alice files a lawsuit against Bob, alleging some grievance. During the case it's established that Alice violated the law first, causing Bob to take revenge (and also violating the law in the process). Logically the court would punish both of them, but Alice persists in... | 60,486 | Alice files a lawsuit against Bob This is a civil suit, it will not lead to any court punishing Alice, or anyone else. If facts come out showing that Alice violated the law, the local prosecutor could , but need not, file a criminal case against Alice. If the prosecutor does not file such a case, Alice's worst possible... | 6 |
If Trump's legal challenges to the 2020 elections are so bad, why haven't the courts ruled them as frivolous? | (Not sure if this should be on the Law.SE) Per title. Most of the news coverage I've seen have said the challenges are bad, such as this recent one on the result of a challenge in Pennsylvania . "One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal a... | 58,469 | First, while most US court systems do have rules against frivolous lawsuits, most judges are loathed to employ them because the punishment is that the vexatious litigant would be denied the use of courts for when they do actually have a case of merit. Declaring someone a vexatious litigant also does not 100% block some... | 8 |
Why prosecute Kyle Rittenhouse if there is no real chance of a guilty verdict? | (Not sure if this should be on the Politics.SE) From divibisan's answer to one of my questions on Politics.SE : You won't find many people seriously arguing that the Rittenhouse jury ruled incorrectly as a matter of Wisconsin state law. The standard for self-defense is so loose, that it's hard to see how they could hav... | 86,608 | The trial was held because A Kenosha County Court Commissioner ruled there is enough evidence for Kyle Rittenhouse to stand trial for homicide charges. “All this court needs to find was that a felony was committed and probably committed with this defendant,” said Thomas Binger, the assistant district attorney of Kenosh... | 13 |
Sandy Hook defamation case and opinions based on disclosed facts | (Note that I 100% think the Sandy Hook shootings were 100% real.) From a BBC article : In June a Wisconsin judge ruled that James Fetzer had defamed Leonard Pozner by claiming he had fabricated the death certificate of his son Noah. ... In his book, written with co-author Mike Palacek, Mr Fetzer claimed that the Sandy ... | 52,146 | The "failure" in this case can be seen in the transcript of the hearing of arguments for a motion for summary judgment, especially starting at p. 163 where the judge gives his reasons and his ruling granting summary judgment. It really reduces to this sentence: "Having concluded there's no genuine dispute as to any of... | 2 |
CC Non commercial software licensing and selling exceptions | (Originally posted to Open Source. I am programmer, not very good with legal stuff) I have created an app that I feel has potential and want to license it appropriately. It produces visual output that could cause epilepsy, so I want to explicitly make myself not liable for that as well as refusing liability in general... | 65,217 | You may surely create your own license if you please, and use ideas from the Creative Commons license if you wish, but it would not then be a CC license, and you may not use the trademarked "Creative Commons" name for the license. Also the actual license text is protected by copyright. If you license the work under the... | 2 |
Where can I find insurance claim requirements and standards for a given state (Texas, etc) | (PLEASE NOTE: the insurance company I am referring to is the other driver's. The other driver was ruled at fault in the accident) As a handy way to illustrate my experience, here is a scenario: So you're at work and I go to your parking lot and smash your car up and total it so that the repair cost exceeds the value. ... | 16,780 | You should have exchanged insurance information at the time of the crash (and if there was a police report, it would also probably be found in that, which you can obtain with some paperwork from the police). You can then contact the insurance company and ask them what the coverages are on that policy. The amount of cov... | 1 |
Is failing to report a bank error in and of itself a crime? | (Related to discussion at https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/133263/how-should-i-handle-money-returned-for-a-product-that-i-did-not-return/133270 ) Suppose a customer receives a deposit into their bank account due to an error by the bank. They decline to mention this to the bank, hoping that the deposit will no... | 58,857 | Disclaimer: I was the person who originally had the debate with the OP which prompted this question. My answer is based on the UK jurisdiction. Short answer (TLDR) If the action is deliberate, then under UK law it is likely that a crime of theft has been committed. Under the statutory definition of theft, five elements... | 3 |
Is linking to illegal free-movie streaming websites itself copyright infringement? | (Site hosted in Canada) Would a website containing a list of links to free-movie websites be considered illegal? The "free movie websites" are hosting copyrighted movies without permission. Note, the site in question is not linking to particular movies on these sites. It is just providing a list of the free-movie websi... | 65,423 | No. This would not be illegal. There is considerable case law holding that a mere link to a website is not itself actionable, either civilly or criminally, for wrongdoing by the operator of the destination site. This said, even though it would not be a breach of copyright, per se , in some circumstances one could imagi... | 3 |
Where can I find UK law on the way through Parliament (with effect before it has gone through)? | (Slightly different to this question: Where can I find actual UK law paragraphs? ) Basically, where can I find such details about laws that are "in-flight", more specifically laws that are on the way through Parliament to gain final Royal Assent, but will have effect before they do (unless they do not gain Royal Assent... | 49,615 | You're looking for Bills or Draft Bills. Bills & legislation - UK Parliament — this lists them all. A Bill is a draft law; it becomes an Act if it is approved by a majority in the House of Commons and House of Lords, and formally agreed to by the reigning monarch (known as Royal Assent ). An Act of Parliament is a law,... | 1 |
Selling custom electronic projects online in the uk | (Sorry if I am posting in the wrong forum) I am wanting to have a go at selling some of my projects (mostly lighting: epoxy, led strips) after doing a search, it sounds like there are a lot of regulations about this sort of stuff. I have also read about CE which it sounds like I would need in order to sell online (I am... | 33,267 | If you are selling "low voltage" (meaning under 1000 volts ) equipment across an EU border then it requires CE marking . It sounds like your products qualify. If you merely resell equipment that someone else has produced then you can rely on the CE marking of that equipment, but if you are manufacturing something using... | 1 |
My child's name is "Robert'); drop table *;--" Is he in trouble? | (Source: https://xkcd.com/327/ ) So with the upcoming birth of my first child, I suggested the name "Robert'); drop table *;--". While I was quickly told that wasn't going to happen, I have to wonder what could happen if he was actually named that. For the less technical, this name contains what is called
a SQL inject... | 47,603 | Your kid is not in trouble; he's a minor. You're in trouble. A criminal case for the charges a prosecutor would bring, i.e. destruction of property (the data) or for a relevant cyber or computer crime (malware, etc.), and/or a civil case for damages due to the destruction of the data would both hinge on one point: the ... | 16 |
I would like to blow a whistle but don't want to face retaliation | (The following is slightly fictionalized, but more-or-less true) I recently ended a relationship with a hedge fund. The relationship ended unpleasantly, and lawyers were involved. I tried to explain to my lawyer that they were doing a number of things that are breaking SEC's regulations - but these things were way t... | 4,698 | Take option #2. Your concern in that scenario is not realistic: A lawyer who "reported" you to the counterparty of your settlement for such a consultation would be disbarred so quickly and harshly that it might actually give you faith in the Bar Associations. Consultations with lawyers are privileged , and lawyers ha... | 6 |
Is the cop right? Is it OK to harass people, but only as long as it's non-sexual? | (The protagonist of this clip, the "bagel guy", went viral recently in someone else's video) In this Youtube video ( now removed, Twitter copy ) a cop tells him it's not illegal to harass people, but only as long as it's "non-sexual". Is he right? Asking a (very short) guy "How tall are you?" Asking a woman "How big ar... | 42,858 | Overview The cop is basically wrong. Sexual harassment is not the only kind of harassment recognized by U.S. law. The question and the cop's answer to it, assume that simply asking certain questions is illegal or not illegal, but it isn't that straight forward. Words communicated verbally are part of the analysis, but ... | 9 |
How can California not honor a fishing/hunting license or driving instruction permit issued by Oregon? | (These are just examples; the question is more general; it applies to any states and any type of license.) California does not honor a driving instruction permit issued by another state if the holder is under 16, nor do they honor an out-of-state hunting or fishing license. Is this constitutional under the full faith a... | 81,187 | The Full Faith and Credit clause says Full faith and credit ought to be given in each state to the public
acts, records, and judicial proceedings, of every other state; and the
legislature shall, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such
acts, records, and proceedings, shall be proved, and the effect which
ju... | 4 |
How to block children under 13 to access my website and still comply with COPPA? | (This is a follow-up question from How to make sure my website complies with things like COPPA? ) COPPA stands for Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule . In their FAQ they say "yes, you can block children under 13 from visiting your website if you choose to" (assuming the website is not directed to children - and ... | 2,269 | So I can block children under 13, but I can't tell them that? You can tell them after they fail, you cannot tell them on the asking screen. Then what is the correct way to block children under 13 to access my
website and still comply with COPPA? I agree with you that it is odd that they recommend using a cookie but t... | 5 |
Help with interpretation: must I comply or not with COPPA? | (This is a follow-up question from How to make sure my website complies with things like COPPA? ) Quoting FTC's COPPA FAQ : The Internet is a global medium. Do websites and online services developed and run abroad have to comply with the Rule? Foreign-based websites and online services must comply with COPPA if they a... | 2,088 | Yes, they are saying that COPPA applies to you if any of the children are in the US. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/6501 The term “operator”... means any person who operates a website located
on the Internet... who collects or maintains personal information from
or about the users of or visitors to such... | 2 |
Do any US laws restrict ownership? | (This is inspired by and a generalization of the firearms ownership question ). Many laws in the US restrict acquisition or possession of a thing. One can have legal title to a physical thing whose possession is restricted in the person's jurisdiction, where the thing is located in a jurisdiction without the restrictio... | 14,752 | A random example I found is 16 USC 363 , which forbids anyone to own a bathhouse in Hot Springs National Park which has been granted a hot water supply, if they already own another bathhouse nearby. 42 USC 2061 says that the Atomic Energy Commission shall be the exclusive owner of all production facilities for special ... | 7 |
Schengen Area: What was the legal rationale for countries extending Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control beyond Nov. 2017? | (This is not about the coronavirus pandemic, which I understand is a different issue, but about the six countries that had already been maintaining border controls since related to migration and terrorism since 2016.) Could someone explain to me the legal basis of Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway's extensi... | 50,545 | Regarding Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, details can be found on the Commission website . According to the table of all notifications , they all periodically invoke the “security situation in Europe and threats resulting from the continuous significant secondary movements”. This is obviously in bl... | 2 |
Can a company actually become GDPR compliant? Is there such a thing? | (This question could be expanded to other auditing procedures too) How do huge multinational companies that want to become GDPR compliant start off this? I mean, I guess one has to read the regulation, correct? But what if you misunderstood a point? Do companies usually call in an external party like an auditing compan... | 74,405 | The GDPR consists largely of principles instead of concrete rules. It's possible to reasonably believe that you are fully compliant, but then have a court rule against you. Thus, a company might mitigate risks by getting experienced compliance consultants, and by not toeing the line of what is and isn't allowed. But at... | 21 |
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