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[ { "answer_id": 7047, "body": "<p>It isn't clear that the example you give is illegal police action, but let's assume that it is for the sake of this question, since it doesn't affect the analysis.</p>\n\n<p>If possession is not compelled, then it is voluntary.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "us-constitution", "florida" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7036, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Why would the FDA limit actionable material that may enhance\n treatment?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Because the FDA has a bunch of regulations that say if you are going to sell a medical test you first have to <em>prove</em> that it is safe, accurate, and effective. The genome scan companies first had to prove that their genome scans were accurate and had sufficient quality controls built in. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, the typical results from a genome scan involve a lot of ambiguity, and probabilistic measurements of relative risk, so there was a huge question of whether the automated reports produced by these companies would actually be accurate, intelligible, and not promise too much or too little to the consumer. The company, Sure Genomics, in the article you linked too, apparently avoids this issue by having a physician review the report, and consult with the consumer. Other companies tried to completely automate the process and didn't include the physician consultation. </p>\n\n<p>As least one company, 23andMe, <a href=\"http://gizmodo.com/23andme-is-back-in-the-genetic-testing-business-with-fd-1737917276\" rel=\"noreferrer\">has, at least partially, worked out it's issues with the FDA</a> and can provide medical reports on some conditions.</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "united-states", "health", "fda" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7020, "body": "<p>Even without a warranty, if they were negligent in the way that they bought, inspected, stored, and offered you fuel, then they owe you for any damages that happened as a result unless you absolved them of liability in some agreement that you had with them.</p>\n\n<p>What did the email that mentioned \"warranty\" say?</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 7035, "body": "<p>Unless there is a clause in your contract with the gas station owner that they must be given the first right to attempt any repairs then you do not have to do this.</p>\n\n<p>If your contract was, as is typical, you saw the advertised price, you pumped some into your car, you paid, then no such clause exists.</p>\n\n<p>Notwithstanding any consumer protection statutes that are almost certainly applicable, common law contracts contain a warranty that the goods supplied shall be merchantable (gas with water in it isn't) and fit for any reasonably foreseeable purpose (running a car is a pretty foreseeable use for gas). If they breach this term and damage results, they are obliged to restore you to the position you would have been in but for the damage; i.e. they have to pay the repair bill. Incidentally, they still owe you the gas you paid for.</p>\n\n<p>Rather than taking legal action, why not write a big sign saying \"THIS PLACE SELLS GAS WITH WATER IN IT!\", putting it on your car and parking it where potential customers can see it. My guess is they will settle pretty quick.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "warranties" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7033, "body": "<p>As far as I can tell, the <a href=\"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/terms/license/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Oracle Binary Licence Agreement</a> doesn't say much.</p>\n\n<p>If you're really concerned, it's better to be safe than sorry. Just add a quick note, <em>this app was written with Java!</em>, but make sure not to make it look as if Oracle endorses/promotes the app.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If you're willing to release the source code and binaries, you may like Github. You may have fun looking around, learning about Open Source. It's a popular licensing model that allows people to use libraries for a variety of uses. </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "software", "attribution" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7024, "body": "<p>On the first page of <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/overview\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/overview</a> you find: </p>\n\n<p>\"You can bring some goods from abroad without having to pay UK tax or ‘duty’ (customs charges), as long as they’re for your own use.\" And on the next page \"... will use them yourself or give them away as a gift\". </p>\n\n<p>This clearly doesn't cover anything that you bring into the UK to sell it. And a bit further on the site it says \"You must tell customs (known as ‘declaring’) on arrival in the UK if you have goods: ... that you plan to sell\". Since you are asking here, it is quite obvious that you intend to sell :-)</p>\n\n<p>You said \"e.g. say this guys comes every month from Russia to France for unrelated business, each time he fills up his luggage with the maximum allowed amount of goods that comply with custom laws\". If this guy sells the stuff to you, then the maximum allowed amount of goods to import without paying taxes is zero. Once he is willing to pay taxes, there is no limit. </p>\n\n<p>Obviously regularly importing things from Russia or France and selling in the UK at a profit means that he is running a business in the UK, which means he would have to register a business, pay corporation taxes etc. It's all a matter of degree; for small amounts nobody cares (up to some limit you don't need to register a business or pay taxes; I don't know the details). </p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "business", "international", "customs-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7021, "body": "<p>Tell whatever lawyer is drafting the \"official paperwork\" about the problem and ask if it is covered or if you need to change the text or add a rider. If neither company competes, a mutual release/license of existing shared code should be perfectly manageable for an experienced attorney.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "intellectual-property", "software", "ownership" ]

[ { "answer_id": 7007, "body": "<p>Depending on what state the servers are located in and whether the crimes are prosecuted at the state or federal level then you may or may not be charged by law enforcement, especially if you removed the offending content as soon as notice was provided that there was offending content on your server(s). </p>\n\n<p>Even if you where to be charged and sent to court common sense would/should prevail and MOST judges would accept that you did everything in your power to remove the offending material as soon as you became aware of it being on your servers. </p>\n\n<p>This comes into play quite often when web hosting companies are advised there is child pornography on their servers, which no company wants to be told is on their servers. </p>\n\n<p>As long as the files are removed and any reasonable requests from law enforcement regarding account information and access logs are provided then generally you wont have any issues. </p>\n\n<p>Please note this is a general statement and there are always chances that you will get a police officer or judge which will want to make an example of you, but this is where appeals work.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "internet", "liability", "terms-of-service" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6807, "body": "<p>This is more of an answer from experience, but isn't necessarily a legal answer. During the summer months, I would bike to school, which is around an 11k distance. There's been some... interesting drivers, but I've figured out a good bit.</p>\n\n<p>From the online handbook, I got this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Sometimes you will need to enter or cross a bike lane to turn right at a corner or driveway. (See Diagram 2-12) Take extra care when you do this. Enter the bike lane only after ensuring that you can do so safely, and then make the turn.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To help you, here's a good image of a bike lane:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/pucMP.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/pucMP.jpg\" alt=\"Dotted bike lane\"></a></p>\n\n<p>Generally, as a road nears an intersection, the line separating the bike lane from the road lanes will become dotted, signalling to cyclists and cars that they may enter the lane to turn. This is a good indicator: you've got a good distance to slow down, and prepare for the turn.</p>\n\n<p>Not all bike lanes have the luxury of a big green box to help, so the decision is effectively yours as a driver. Check your mirrors and your blind spot before slowing down. Remember to signal: as a cyclist, this is the scariest thing for me. Riding through in a bike lane to find a car turning in front of me without having signalled. This is probably the most important part: making sure that you know the cyclist's intentions, and that the cyclist knows yours.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6815, "body": "<p>If you do not enter the bike lane before your turn, for whatever reason, it is a violation to make the right turn across the bike lane.</p>\n\n<p>&sect; 141(1)(2) of the Highway Traffic Act says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Where a driver or operator of a vehicle intends to turn to the right\n into an intersecting highway, he or she shall, where the highway on\n which he or she is driving has marked lanes for traffic, approach the\n intersection within the right-hand lane or, where it has no such\n marked lanes, by keeping immediately to the left of the right curb or\n edge of the roadway and he or she shall make the right turn by\n entering the right-hand lane of the intersecting highway where the\n lane is marked or, where no such lane is marked, by keeping\n immediately to the left of the right curb or edge of the roadway being\n entered.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK227\" rel=\"nofollow\">R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 141 (2)</a></p>\n\n<p>The bike lane is a lane. I am frustrated that I cannot find a definition of lane in the Highway Traffic Act but I did find in the Toronto municipal code:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>BICYCLE LANE - The lanes or portions of lanes of highways designated\n as bicycle lanes under §886-8</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So if bicycle lanes are lanes, and you must be in the rightmost lane to turn right, then you need to be in the bike lane. It is definitely confusing and perhaps impossible sometimes!</p>\n\n<p>In the US the typical rule is the as you've described - cars, yielding to approaching bicycles, move into the bike lane to make right turns. As you've intimated in your hypothetical, it causes all sorts of problems. </p>\n\n<p>As for the law around taking a right turn from an area to the left of the bike lane, that's going to be up to the discretion of the police officer and then perhaps a judge! What is a driver to do who approaches a right turn at a red light with no cars waiting, wants to move into the bike lane, but the dashed line hasn't started yet and the bike lane is full of bikes. The driver can't go into the bike lane (solid line) and can't pull forward to the light (must be in bike lane to turn right!), and can't roll up to move into the lane after the dashes start (full of bikes)!</p>\n\n<p>Fact is, drivers come in three flavors - those who know how the bike lane turn rule works and try to follow it, those who don't know the rules but see bikes and try to do their best, and those who don't know the rule and don't see bikes and do whatever is in their best interest. </p>\n\n<p>Even better is these biker boxes that they are painting in some places. These things are not even defined in the laws or the driver handbooks! So they are painted on the roads, but can drivers be ticketed for somehow not doing the right thing?</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "canada", "driving" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6616, "body": "<p>I haven't really heard of crimes having a level of 'severity' attached to them. As phoog notes, the severity of crimes are generally measured by the harshness of their sentencing. Obviously, <a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-80.html?txthl=witchcraft#s-365\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">pretending to practice witchcraft</a> (punishable via summary conviction) would be less severe than someone such as <a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-7.html?txthl=treason#s-46\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">high treason</a> (an indictable offence where you are liable to be imprisoned for life).</p>\n<p>The issue here is that the severity of an offence is mostly a matter of opinion, and is biased. Generally, it is the government that defines the terms for punishment. When a court strikes down a law as being &quot;cruel or unusual&quot;, the following test is generally served well: In order for a law to be struck down, it must be &quot;so excessive as to outrage standards of decency&quot; or &quot;grossly disproportionate to what would have been appropriate.&quot; In R vs Smith, a mandatory prison sentence of seven years was struck down because the law didn't consider other factors in the crime, which made it unusual punishment.</p>\n<p>The 'severity' of the crime really depends on the case itself, and not just the name and punishment for a crime. To support this, many crimes have accompanying &quot;circumstances&quot;, that the court must consider when trying a case. § 269.01(1) defines an example of a circumstance, <em>aggravating circumstance - assault against a public transit operator:</em></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Aggravating circumstance — assault against a public transit operator</strong></p>\n<p>269.01 (1) When a court imposes a sentence for an offence referred to in paragraph 264.1(1)(a) or any of sections 266 to 269, it shall consider as an aggravating circumstance the fact that the victim of the offence was, at the time of the commission of the offence, a public transit operator engaged in the performance of his or her duty.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>It's important to note that with the myriad of cases there are, it's difficult to determine a 'severity' of an offence. While you may be able to deduce a <em>general</em> system to classify, it won't always be accurate. There are just too many factors to consider, and whether such a punishment would be cruel or unusual would be up to the courts to decide by individual case.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6617, "body": "<p>Probably not.</p>\n\n<p>This is taken from <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/cruel_and_unusual_punishment\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wex</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>While the Eighth Amendment forbids grossly disproportionate\n punishments for capital sentences, the court is less clear on its\n boundaries for noncapital sentences. Capital sentences provide\n special constitutional protections that do not necessarily extend to\n noncapital sentences, as discussed in Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S.\n 957 (1991). In Harmelin, the Justices disagreed over the existence of\n a proportionality requirement for noncapital sentencing proceedings. \n The lack of clarity on this issue was further discussed in <a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20030330224722/http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02pdf/01-1127.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lockyer v.\n Andrade, 538 U.S. 63 (2003)</a>. In <em>Lockyer</em>, the Court determined that\n for noncapital sentences, a gross proportionality requirement is only\n available in “exceedingly rare” and “extreme cases.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The <em>Lockyer</em> case was a guy who was sentenced to two life sentences (possibility of parole after 50 years) for stealing $150 of VHS tapes from Kmart. The procedural posture of the case is messy (finding that no federal habaes relief is available) and the facts are specific (three strikes law). But the holding is clear:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The gross disproportionality principle reserves a constitutional\n violation for only the extraordinary case. In applying this principle\n for §2254(d)(1) purposes, it was not an unreasonable application of\n our clearly established law for the California Court of Appeal to\n affirm Andrade’s sentence of two consecutive terms of 25 years to life\n in prison.</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "human-rights", "us-constitution" ]

[ { "answer_id": 1190, "body": "<p>Yes, you would be responsible. Maintaining the vehicle in a state that enables compliance with the law is the owner's responsibility, and it is a driver's responsibility to comply with the speed limit. There is no knowledge or intent requirement in a speeding violation. That said, a judge might show leniency if you came to court with documentation of a repair or recalibration of the speedometer after the citation. </p>\n", "score": 24 }, { "answer_id": 1192, "body": "<p>This varies widely depending on the jurisdiction, but you'll often see speeding tickets downgraded to a non-moving offense like &quot;improper equipment&quot; when the speedometer is broken.</p>\n<p>You'd want to check the jurisdictions you're interested in to see how they define improper equipment.</p>\n<p>Edit: here's an example from NC that sig_seg_v alludes to:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>N.C.G.S. § 20-123.2 Speedometer.</p>\n<p>(a) Every self-propelled motor vehicle when operated on the highway shall be equipped with a speedometer which shall be maintained in good working order.</p>\n<p>(b) Any person violating this section shall have committed an infraction and may be ordered to pay a penalty of not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00). No drivers license points, insurance points or premium surcharge shall be assessed on or imputed to any party on account of a violation of this section. (1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 822, s. 2.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>In NC, DAs frequently allow you to enter a &quot;responsible&quot; plea for the improper equipment rather than a &quot;guilty&quot; one for speeding. This allows you to avoid points and/or insurance ramifications.</p>\n<p>Plea bargains can be beneficial to the jurisdiction for a few reasons: 1) they're specifically authorized by statute (N.C.G.S. §20-141 (o)), 2) prosecutors have high case loads and negotiating plea bargains decreases that volume, and 3) the county with jurisdiction may collect surcharge revenue from the plea (N.C.G.S. §7A-304 (a) (4b)).</p>\n", "score": 9 }, { "answer_id": 1200, "body": "<p>It absolutely depends on jurisdiction, to my knowledge these laws are usually (always?) state-level. In my state, North Carolina, an \"exact speed limit\" state, for years the law was that if you were clocked less than 10mph over or under the speed limit, you were ostensibly traveling at exactly the legal limit, because police radar could legally only measure within +/- 10mph of the actual speed at which a vehicle was moving.</p>\n\n<p>(This was, historically, due to federal legislation that mandated a maximum highway speed limit of 55mph in order for a state to secure federal highway funding. The state legislature complied with these regulations without compromising their constituents' ability to drive at 65mph by posting a 55mph limit and allowing motorists to travel 10mph over the posted limit. Those federal restrictions have since been lifted.)</p>\n\n<p>Recently, a new party was voted into control of the state legislature, and the law was changed -- police radar is now legally exact to within 1mph, and a driver is in violation if they don't travel the exact speed limit on a given roadway. In practice, however, motorists found in violation can often plead guilty to a lesser charge -- that is, to a charge of \"improper equipment\" -- so the prosecution can avoid the costs they would otherwise incur by actually having to prove their case. This doesn't apply to severe violations, like going 90mph on a freeway marked 65mph or 55mph in a 35mph zone, which are often criminal misdemeanors, not traffic citations. In general, whether someone is eligible for such a reduced charge depends on their history of traffic citations and on the local district attorney's office and the presiding judge.</p>\n\n<p>Some other states do not have an \"exact speed limit\" and drivers are responsible for maintaining a posted minimum speed (where applicable) and not exceeding a posted maximum speed. In these states, minimum speeds are often present on interstates and other major divided highways and often absent elsewhere. Where in doubt, follow the speed of traffic or stay 5mph under the posted speed limit, as indicated by your perhaps glitchy speedometer.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your question explicitly, and in general, yes, as an auto registrant you are responsible for keeping your automobile in good working condition. However, there are often charges less costly than exceeding a posted speed limit for which you can accept a plea bargain or for which you can provide evidence to the court to reduce your responsibility.</p>\n\n<p>(My source is personal knowledge and experience as a licensed driver in NC)</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 1198, "body": "<p>This question is no longer one of law, but rather of \"justice.\"</p>\n\n<p>As far as the <em>law</em> is concerned, you are still in violation. As a practical matter, \"justice\" says you will not be chased for a 3mph violation.</p>\n\n<p>If it <em>does</em> happen, the principle is extended further. Your defense is to take the matter to traffic court. A sympathetic judge may \"buy\" your story and let you off or plead guilty to a non-moving violation. There may be other things working in your favor; the officer may not have filled out the ticket properly, or whatever.</p>\n\n<p>I have beaten all but one of my traffic tickets by going to court. In one case, the judge couldn't read the officer's handwriting, in another case, the officer alleged that I was parking in a no parking zone on a \"main\" street, but gave the \"incorrect\" cross street (one where parking was allowed)></p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 1233, "body": "<p>I guess that in most countries the driver is responsible of the road worthiness of the vehicle, including speedometer. otherwise everybody would be speeding with broken speedometers. While traveling in Senegal, Africa, I didn't see a single car with working speedometer. Mayby that's valid excuse there.</p>\n\n<p>Remember that on most cars the speedometer shows too much speed to be on the safe side, so the drivers obeying the limits drive too slow. I personally use gps or smart phone speedo app to measure the accurate speed, and set my cruise control to speed just below the maximum allowed over speed of 10 km/h.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "driving", "speeding" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6998, "body": "<p>For your example of items with Marvel characters on them for sale by people and companies not licensed by Marvel, Redbubble clearly states that </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We ask, rather we beg, that you remember this when you are posting\n work on Redbubble. If you make sure that all the works you upload\n consist of your very own, original ideas and are not infringing on the\n intellectual property or publicity rights of another...</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(from <a href=\"https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/articles/201579195\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/articles/201579195</a> )</p>\n\n<p>and further, Redbubble has full contact information for the submission of Notice and Takedown Reports by each real trademark owner.</p>\n\n<p>There are many individuals who upload products which use unlicensed artwork in violation of trademarks, and Redbubble acknowledges this and gives recourse to the license holder to inform them so they can remove the items. It's not a perfect system, but Redbubble it seems makes every effort to help police their market. ( Teepublic has a very clear policy statement, too: <a href=\"https://www.teepublic.com/copyright-policy\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.teepublic.com/copyright-policy</a> )</p>\n\n<p>Many companies - such as Marvel - employ agents to regularly check such websites and issue takedown demands to the sites; the sites in turn remove the products, and in some instances, ban the individual from using the site again.</p>\n\n<p>In the case of Amazon, there can be two types of products sold that use trademarked artwork and characters: items sold by legitimate businesses that have license agreements with the trademark owners and who have the products sold by Amazon itself; and items sold on the Amazon marketplace by individuals who open Amazon Marketplace accounts themselves and don't have licenses. Amazon will be sure to check the products they sell; they will have a takedown notices system for their marketplace vendors. eBay is somewhat the same way; there is a mix of individuals and businesses on eBay, but eBay doesn't operate an umbrella sell/ship by eBay, like Amazon.</p>\n\n<p>It's kind of a whack-a-mole situation on the Interwebs. How much time/money does a company spend to chase down trademark infringement? Is it worth going to court for persistent violators? (These are, for the most part, civil cases, not criminal). Violators can always open a new account on sites such as Redbubble and eBay under a different name. And it starts all over again.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "copyright", "trademark" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6986, "body": "<p>You are confusing some things. Patents don't come into play here at all, your problem is all about copyright. </p>\n\n<p>If I write something, anything, then I have the copyright on that work, and you may not copy it without my permission. This applies to my post here, for example, and to math exercises that you find in a book. \"Reproduction is illegal\" isn't any contract between the author and you, it's a polite reminder that there is copyright law that doesn't allow you to copy the book or parts. </p>\n\n<p>Just write your own exercises. Don't even think about copying someone else's. Do the work yourself. Don't try to profit from someone else's work. </p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "patents", "authorship" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6985, "body": "<p>You can't do anything that makes it impossible to sue you. I can sue you right now because I don't like your post. I'll probably not get anywhere with it, but nothing can stop me from suing you. So forget about that part. </p>\n\n<p>Now about suing you successfully. Let's say I copy your code, do all kinds of paperwork, and then sue you for copying my code. This goes to a civil court. And then there comes discovery. Claiming that I have the copyright, I'd have to show that I wrote the code, or I hired someone who wrote the code for me, or I got a copyright transfer from a previous copyright holder. Whatever I come up with, it involves lying in a civil court. And lying in court is criminal. </p>\n\n<p>Let's say I convince Joe to go to court with me and say \"he paid me $10,000 to write the code for him, and that's what I did\". You would then ask Joe whether he can show the cheque for $10,000 or something in his bank accounts, and his tax returns where he told the IRS about the $10,000. Obviously Joe has none of these. So he has a bit of a problem. You will then ask Joe if this is really what happened or if he just made the whole story up, and make it clear to him that lying in court is a crime. Most likely Joe will give up at that point. </p>\n\n<p>All in all, suing you is a rather stupid thing to do. You can't prevent it, but its unlikely to be successful, there's no real upside to it, and that's why people don't do it. </p>\n\n<p>Just as an example, I have quite a bit of code at home that I have written myself and that I own completely. I don't only have the code. I have several months worth of backups that prove the whole history how the code was created and modified, starting with nothing and building up from there. Anyone copying the code wouldn't have that. They would have the final code, they wouldn't have anything that proves any of the steps of creating the code. </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "internet", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6980, "body": "<p>I read his point as being that continuity in law may be a necessity, but it is not a duty of those who are interpreting the law to overuse continuity: black-letter law and precedent should be followed but also understood.</p>\n\n<p>Thus when the law exists it should not be changed by a judge bound to follow precedent, but when there is a close question, the judge or advocate should step beyond the necessity of merely accepting precedent as showing the right result by analogy--he should understand that competing social ideas are at work and address that conflict directly in his thinking and his decision.</p>\n\n<p>Page 460 of the article has a great explanation:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My object is not so much to point out what seems to me to be fallacies\n in particular cases as to enforce by various examples and in various\n applications the need of scrutinizing the reasons for the rules which\n we follow, and of not being contented with hollow forms of words\n merely because they have been used very often and have been repeated\n from one end of the union to the other. We must think things not\n words, or at least we must constantly translate our words into the\n facts for which they stand, if we are to keep to the real and the\n true. I sometimes tell students that the law schools pursue an\n inspirational combined with a logical method, that is, the postulates\n are taken for granted upon authority without inquiry into their worth,\n and then logic is used as the only tool to develop the results. It is\n a necessary method for the purpose of teaching dogma. But inasmuch as\n the real justification of a rule of law, if there be one, is that it\n helps to bring about a social end which we desire, it is no less\n necessary that those who make and develop the law should have those\n ends articulately in their minds. I do not expect or think it\n desirable that the judges should undertake to renovate the law. That\n is not their province. Indeed precisely because I believe that the\n world would be just as well off if it lived under laws that differed\n from ours in many ways, and because I believe that the claim of our\n especial code to respect is simply that it exists, that it is the one\n to which we have become accustomed, and not that it represents an\n eternal principle, I am slow to consent to overruling a precedent, and\n think that our most important duty is to see that the judicial duel\n shall be fought out in the accustomed way. But I think it most\n important to remember whenever a doubtful case arises, with certain\n analogies on one side and other analogies on the other, that what\n really is before us is a conflict between two social desires, each of\n which seeks to extend its dominion over the case, and which cannot\n both have their way.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(Thanks to cpast for the link)</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "jurisprudence" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6977, "body": "<p>You can seek damages for breach of your terms. This normally starts with a letter of demand. Ultimately you would have to prove the breach and the damage.</p>\n\n<p>Issuing an invoice in such a circumstance <em>could</em> put you in breach misleading and deceptive conduct laws as it presumes an indebtedness that may not exist.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "internet", "contract-law", "terms-of-service" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6899, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>How would I ask a company for the contact information and whatever else\n that I would need in order to prepare for a subpoena for data, documents,\n &amp; records related to my account/interactions with that company?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Contact the company and ask them who you should direct your subpoena duces decum (SDT) to. Be specific and ask them about why type of records they keep, if they require account numbers. Also ask them about what format they will produce the information. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Would I need to talk to someone in the legals dept? Some executive \n officer? who has the authority to divulge company information and records?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This really depends on the company. I am a practicing attorney and found that the larger phone and internet companies have published SDT guidelines and dedicated compliance folks. These requests almost always go through or involve the company's legal department. However, the smaller the company, the less likely there is to be a legal department.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "california", "civil-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6941, "body": "<p>Yes,\nI would count it as counterfeit as the serial codes will already exist and you are bringing the other dimension $ to this one so they would be the \"copy\"</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "currency" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6961, "body": "<p>What you need is called a partnership deed. There is nothing special about it; just write down the rights and obligations of both partners and put \"signed as a deed\" above your signatures.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "contract-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6532, "body": "<p>As far as I understand, no. </p>\n\n<p>In Canada, everyone has the <a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">constitutional right</a> to be free from any cruel or unusual punishment, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ol start=\"12\">\n <li>Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.</li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you're guilty of a crime, well then, you're guilty. You're either going to be tried in court (and if you were guilty of that crime, then you will probably be found guilty), or you will plead as such. Before being tried, you could try to plea bargain with the prosecutor: plead guilty and be sentenced to a lesser charge.</p>\n\n<p>Say you were charged with <a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-61.html#docCont\" rel=\"nofollow\">assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm</a>. You thought that the punishment was cruel or unusual - and thought that the trial judge had made an error in the law. In this case, you can make an appeal to a higher court.</p>\n\n<p>There are also other things that can factor this: <em>mitigating</em> and <em>aggravating</em> circumstances. If many circumstances are mitigating, then it may make way for a lower punishment, and vice versa with aggravating circumstances, where punishment may be higher. Again, this is something where if something was erred, you can appeal to a higher court.</p>\n\n<p>However, just because you think a sentence is too long won't constitute cruel or unusual punishment. In <a href=\"http://ojen.ca/resource/581\" rel=\"nofollow\">R. vs Latimer</a>, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that minimum sentences, even if within special circumstances, will not constitute cruel or unusual punishment, and be upheld. Originally, he had been sentenced only to one year, based on the recommendation of the jury. He had been charged with second-degree murder. The Supreme Court reinstated the default punishment: A life sentence with no eligibility of parole for ten years.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "criminal-law", "plea" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6956, "body": "<p>No, the length, verbosity, or number of terms of art don't affect the validity of a document as evidence of a contract.</p>\n\n<p>However, in-artful drafting can lead to ambiguity. Complexity for its own sake can backfire.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "contract-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6955, "body": "<p>The parties can be required under oath to explain what they understand the plain meaning of the words to be.</p>\n\n<p>Where they disagree about the <em>plain meaning</em> of the words, they can use expert witnesses to give weight to their interpretation.</p>\n\n<p>Once the judge determines the plain meaning of the words (either by agreement between the parties or by reference to expert witnesses or other evidence), it is a matter of standard <a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6236/how-are-contract-disputes-resolved/6237#6237\">contract interpretation</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Even in the case of an idioticon, where no expert witnesses are available, if the disagreement between the parties surrounds only a few words, the judge could find that there is no actual ambiguity because the context. Also, the judge could refer to parole evidence if needed.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>The purpose of the written contract is to provide evidence of your agreement. It is a bad idea to create evidence that you both may want to rely upon at some point if nobody else can understand it.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states", "contract-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6951, "body": "<p>Assuming everyone is in agreement, including the president, less than a day. Assuming there is one person in disagreement in the House Senate, about a week. Assuming there is one person in disagreement in both chambers and the president opposes it, approximately 3 weeks. If more than two-fifths of the members of Senate oppose a bill, a really long time. </p>\n\n<p>In both the House and Senate there is a procedure called suspension of the rules. This procedure requires two-thirds vote.\nThis is the House Rule:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(a) A rule may not be suspended ex- cept by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present. The Speaker may not enter- tain a motion that the House suspend the rules except on Mondays, Tuesdays,\n and Wednesdays and during the last six days of a session of Congress.</p>\n \n <p>(b) Pending a motion that the House suspend the rules, the Speaker may en- tertain one motion that the House ad- journ but may not entertain any other motion until the vote is taken on the suspension.</p>\n \n <p>(c) A motion that the House suspend the rules is debatable for 40 minutes, one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in opposition thereto.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Essentially when this motion is in order and there is support of at least two-thirds or members, the bill can be passed in 40 minutes. If it is not in order, the House can ask for unanimous consent to pass the bill, which means barring any objections by the members, the bill passes.</p>\n\n<p>The Senate could do the same under their suspension rules. The Senate rules require a day's notice to suspend the rules. See below:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ol>\n <li>No motion to suspend, modify, or amend any rule, or any part thereof, shall be in order, except on one day's notice in writing, specifying precisely the rule or part proposed to be suspended, modified, or amended, and the purpose thereof. Any rule may be suspended without notice by the unanimous consent of the Senate, except as otherwise provided by the rules.</li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Thus it would take a day to pass through the Senate. However, if no Senator opposes the measure, the measure can be passed immediately through unanimous consent. </p>\n\n<p>After both the House and Senate pass the bill, the President would need to sign it. If he does it immediately becomes law, otherwise he can delay it, for up to 10 days when it becomes a law OR he can veto it, upon which the bill will return to its original house. If there is any objection by any of the members both houses will have to go through their suspension rules again, which could take another week.</p>\n\n<p>As a side note, the Senate has no restrictions on debate, except by three-fifths vote. In such a scenario where more than two-fifths oppose a bill, the opposition can just continue to debate the bill and in the end, it will never pass because it will never be voted on. </p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "parliamentary-procedure" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6916, "body": "<p>How is the school forcing the child?</p>\n\n<p>If it's part of the uniform code then that is a condition of the contract between the school and the child's parents; a contract they freely entered into. If the parent's want the child to attend then they can force the child to have the haircut; or withdraw them from the school.</p>\n\n<p>The parent's have every right to dictate how the child gets their hair cut.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "human-rights", "child-abuse", "indian-penal-code" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6932, "body": "<p>According to Wikipedia, nineteen US states allow those who will be 18 by the time of the general election to vote in the related primary or participate in the related caucuses. New Jersey is not among them.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>States include: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age</a></p>\n\n<p>The article also notes that</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents states from \"denying\" suffrage to 18-year-olds, but does not prevent states from establishing a lower voting age.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That is, federal law establishes 18 as the age by which citizens must be allowed to vote in federal elections. States may, but are not required to, allow younger people to vote.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states", "new-jersey" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6928, "body": "<p>Quorum defines the minimum number of members present in order to conduct business. Once quorum is met, members may make motions and the assembly may conduct business.</p>\n\n<p>Now your question concerns the minimum required for passing a motion, and you are correct some motions require more than majority, such as 2/3 vote.</p>\n\n<p>The problem in your analysis is that rules of procedure assume that the majority or supermajority is met from the members present and voting, not from the total number of members.</p>\n\n<p>Let me show you some examples so you can fully understand.</p>\n\n<p>Let's say there's an assembly with 21 members, with the standard quorum requirements of majority of the members.</p>\n\n<p>The minimum number of people required for quorum show up, which is 11 (more than half is majority).\nIn order to pass a motion, you only need majority of the members present and voting. That typically means 6 people. However, let's say 2 members abstain from the vote or are present at the meeting but don't record their vote. Then a vote can pass 5-4. Quorum is met and a majority of the members present and voting, voted for the the motion.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly 2/3 votes are counted from members present and voting.</p>\n\n<p>There is an exception to this. If the organizations bylaws say that it takes a majority of the members to pass a certain motion, then the motion must pass by the majority of the total number of members in the organization, which is 11 in this case. Thus all 11 people present in the room would have to vote for it.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "parliamentary-procedure" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6921, "body": "<p>If you host a DokuWiki installation yourself, you don’t have to include this licensing information.</p>\n\n<p>If you decide to include it (or if you use a hosted installation where the provider decided to include it), you thereby license your content under one of the Creative Commons licenses. You still have the copyright, but you allow others, under this license, to make use of your content under certain conditions.</p>\n\n<p>Take for example your very question, which is licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>. This allows me to publish your question on my website (or print it in a book and sell it, etc.), and optionally edit it, as long as I provide attribution (<code>BY</code>) and license it under the same license (<code>SA</code>). If I don’t follow these requirements, I would infringe your copyright. You, as the original author, still have the right to license your work under other licenses, and you don’t have to follow these license yourself, of course.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "copyright", "creative-commons" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6919, "body": "<p>As mentioned in the comments, the simple answer is 'probably not' because you probably haven't yet gotten around to taking your halftrack in to get the necessary paperwork to demonstrate eligibility for registration, even if said halftrack was eligible for registration.</p>\n\n<p>I'm also going to confine this answer to whether you can legally drive the halftrack on public roads. I am not aware of any special laws about merely owning a halftrack that (say) you keep on a farm as decoration, but in any case I think you are more interested in whether the vehicle in question can be registered.</p>\n\n<p>Vehicle registration standards are (mostly) dealt with under State and territory law. I can give you an answer for Victoria, to at least illustrate the issues and where to look for answers. However, (at least some of) the relevant standards appear to be uniform across Australia.</p>\n\n<p>The starting point is that it is an offence to operate a vehicle on a public road without registering said vehicle: Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic), s 7.</p>\n\n<p>The Act provides that:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the Regulations may prescribe how registration is applied for and granted or refused: s 9; and</li>\n<li>the Minister may prescribe standards for registration by notice in the Gazette: s 10.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The standards cover \"the construction, efficiency, performance, safety, design and equipment of, and the method of identifying\" vehicles.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not good at searching Gazettes so I'm going to wave my hand over a gap and skip straight to things like:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>'Guide to Modifications for Motor Vehicles' on the VicRoads website (VicRoads being the road traffic authority in Victoria, the government agency in charge of registering vehicles): <a href=\"https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/~/media/files/documents/safety-and-road-rules/vsinumber8guidetomodificationsformotorvehicles.ashx?la=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/~/media/files/documents/safety-and-road-rules/vsinumber8guidetomodificationsformotorvehicles.ashx?la=en</a></li>\n<li>'National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification (NCOP)', which is an Australia-wide document: <a href=\"https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb_ncop.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb_ncop.aspx</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This is one of those areas where you probably need a mechanic more than a lawyer.</p>\n\n<p>Once you have satisfied yourself that your halftrack meets the applicable standards, you need to go and get a 'VASS Approval Certificate' ('Vehicle Assessment Signatory Scheme') from a certified tester and then register the vehicle with VicRoads.</p>\n\n<p>Happy driving!</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "australia", "vehicle" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6910, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Why might Martin Shkreli's lawyer announce to the public that Shkreli's not making any more statements?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To try to get the media to leave Shkreli alone, which Shkreli might appreciate. That is one valid motivation for making such an announcement.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6911, "body": "<p>Giving the article a read, I came across a few points:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Leave the guy alone</p>\n\n<p>The guy did some pretty nasty things, and is accused of having done even more. It's kind of a place where everyone wants to have a yell at him, and ask him questions. Keeping him out of the public would make his life, well, easier.</p></li>\n<li><p>He can get into even <em>more</em> trouble</p>\n\n<p>If the guy says something, it can be used as evidence at trial. He may disclose something, or make himself more of a \"fool\" - undermining his own credibility (if he even has any left), if he were to testify at trial. Worse comes to worse, if something else comes out, he can incriminate himself by proving something, or if he does something else (such as committing assault), he can land up with more charges.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, the media will pressure him, and if that happens, things might not get pretty. Better keep him away from the media. Any confrontations with the media won't result in something positive.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Isn't this damaging both Shkreli's image and their relationship?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not really. It's just a \"standard\" thing to do - keep out of trouble, and let the lawyer facilitate any discussions that may arise.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "criminal-law", "lawyer", "public-relations" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6912, "body": "<p>Assuming that the answer on your linked question from <a href=\"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/1987/legal-stance-on-using-application-icons-within-our-product\">User Experience</a> is correct, your questions are basically identical to each other.</p>\n\n<p>Generally, logo's are used to identify a product. Many software organizations actually encourage you to use them to identify their items. They will generally come with guidelines that dictate how they can be used: Here are <a href=\"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks/usage/default.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">Microsoft's guidelines as an example</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If you're querying the Windows APIs to find the images, you should just about be fine. You're not necessarily distributing them, and you're using it to identify a product that is not yours.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "advertisements" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6901, "body": "<p>A trade mark is infringed where there is the reasonable possibility of confusion between the trade marked goods and services and the infringer's goods and services.</p>\n\n<p>For a company named Glorfindel, there is. For one named Natasha, there isn't.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "copyright", "business", "trademark" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6858, "body": "<p>A mail slot is not a mailbox. So putting a key through a mail slot after locking the door is not the same as putting the key in a mailbox. </p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 6847, "body": "<p>It is illegal to use a mailbox, yes. (Not necessarily a mail slot). You are looking for 18 USC 1725.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as\n statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like matter,\n on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established,\n approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or\n delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment\n of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such offense be fined under\n this title.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1725?qt-us_code_temp_noupdates=0#qt-us_code_temp_noupdates\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1725?qt-us_code_temp_noupdates=0#qt-us_code_temp_noupdates</a></p>\n\n<p>As to why the monopoly exists, that's a legislative history question. There are all of the obvious advantages and disadvantages: network effects, interference with official mail, government income, freedom from spam; inconvenience, making it easier to receive unofficial mail, increased competition in mail delivery, no need for a second mailbox for newspapers, better advertising information from said spam.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "mail" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4870, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>I have already contacted a lawyer and paid all the money I had and\n they didn't help me resolve anything, the guy just talked to me for a\n little bit. He essentially just took my $600 and no action was made.\n He said the best thing to do would be to wait it out because the\n contracts were never fulfilled by them and they can't claim my\n inventions etc if I am an independent contractor. To me it just\n sounded like a bunch of BS and not a real solution to this.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You paid $600 for expert advice which told you to do nothing. You think the advice is bullshit and intend to go full steam ahead against the advice given. I'd say it is very likely that the lawyer is a better expert than you, so you should follow his advice. You are in a hole, you were told to stop digging, and you intend to continue digging. Don't. There are times where doing nothing is the best advice. </p>\n\n<p>In this case, you intend to accuse someone of breach of contract. That has a good chance of landing you in court. A company cannot afford to ignore such a statement. You claim the contract is void and you want to cancel it - but you can't cancel a void contract. It's void. </p>\n\n<p>Listen to your lawyer. </p>\n", "score": 13 }, { "answer_id": 6892, "body": "<p>I hope I am understanding this right.</p>\n\n<p>Generally I think it depends on the agreement that was signed.</p>\n\n<p>Most of the time, companies make you sign an agreement where you agree to sign over all inventions to them. This usually involves any invention that was created using company resources or on company time. If that is what the agreement states, then you can do other works outside of your job and still have proper claim to them, as long as no one can prove that you did it on company time or with company resources.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "contract-law", "business", "non-compete", "washington" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6881, "body": "<p><strong>Not without permission</strong></p>\n\n<p>The creator of the program has copyright in it: you are proposing to make a derivative work and for this you need permission.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "software", "eula" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6879, "body": "<p>Fact are not subject to copyright protection: a list of the top 100 movies on IMDB is a list of facts. There is copyright in the artistic work that surrounds these facts; the font used, pictures, formatting etc. and you can't copy that but if, for example, you used a web API to query the info from IMDB and displayed it as your own artistic creation that is perfectly fine.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "internet", "intellectual-property" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6871, "body": "<p>If it was illegal to make the entire copy, it is illegal to copy half the file. See also, e.g., Basic Books v. Kinko's Graphics Corp., 758 F. Supp. 1522 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)</p>\n\n<p>In response to the question of whether moving it to someone else's servers makes a difference: it is the act of copying, not the possession of the copy, that is the violation of copyright law. As for the copy a service assists someone to make, contributory liability would be the issue. </p>\n\n<p>You don't need to be the person making the copies to be contributing to the infringement--material contribution to the copying process and knowledge of infringement run a serious risk of creating contributory liability. </p>\n\n<p>If seriously considering such a service as a business model someone would need to consult a copyright expert with technical knowledge or pay counsel with technical knowledge for a good bit of time to do some research. There are major civil and criminal consequences if the industry or the government decides to go after a service doing this, so legal expenses would be a significant and important cost of doing business that would significantly increase barriers to entry.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, the service would likely be in violation of its agreement with storage vendors, who would want to minimize their legal exposure and might well discontinue the service when they learned what it was doing.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6873, "body": "<p>For the US: If you're old enough, you might recall <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26M_Records,_Inc._v._Napster,_Inc.\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>A&amp;M Records v. Napster</em></a>, see <a href=\"http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1047162.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">239 F.3d 1004 (2001)</a>. Napster didn't store any of the infringing data itself, and in most cases, the data never even passed through their servers. Nonetheless, the District Court held, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed, that Napster could be held liable for \"contributory and vicarious\" copyright infringement, because Napster knew about the infringement, could have stopped it but did not, provided material support for it, and benefited financially from it. </p>\n\n<p>Napster was enjoined from \"engaging in, or <em>facilitating others</em> in\" copyright infringement, eventually requiring them to shut down. They later settled copyright infringement claims for $26 million and declared bankruptcy.</p>\n\n<p>It's hard to see why your proposed service wouldn't face all the same problems and then some.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "internet", "canada", "online-piracy" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6864, "body": "<p>IANAL, but: as an employee, you are working for a company that owns your work, a manager that manages you, as well as any software/IP you produce, the PC and network you use, etc. So they can require a copy of your login/password to the network.</p>\n\n<p>In a way, the manager and the company as a whole doesn't need a copy of your password; I'm sure the network administrator has root access to all accounts on the network, can access the passwords, and can change them at will to give or prevent your access.</p>\n\n<p>By asking to \"write the password to a piece of paper, place it inside an envelope, and seal and sign that envelope,\" the manager is reasonable in\nneeding \"access to the account when she is unreachable,\" i.e. out for the week, during a network security situation, or after you don't work there anymore.</p>\n\n<p>They may also want some sort of paper trail of your original password rather than depend on the network. That motivation is their own management style, possibly in conjunction with the network administrator, and/or some requirement thought necessary by the legal department.</p>\n\n<p>If you decline, they may tell you the network administrator has your password anyway. But, to decline such a request as a new employee is not a good idea.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6867, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>In USA, can Miss X legally decline the request for her password?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, she can legally decline and the employer can legally fire her.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6870, "body": "<p>She can decline it but can also be fired for refusing to provide it. She created a password for use on company equipment and accounts; of course it is the company's right to access those things.</p>\n\n<p>It is, however, a bad security practice to have a plaintext password exist, and leaves her open to a risk of someone misusing her login. It also leaves the company looking a little worse in the press (especially the technical press) or a jury if there is a data breach in which employee passwords are compromised, even by phishing or an unrelated means.</p>\n\n<p>So from the perspective of the employee, this becomes more a question of how to navigate the situation professionally than it is a legal one. I would ask how to address the issue over on <a href=\"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/\">https://workplace.stackexchange.com/</a></p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6874, "body": "<p>If the company in question is publicly traded or otherwise covered by the Sarbanes Oxley Act, the new employee should confirm this is the true corporate policy (maybe it is!) as opposed to the manager going off script. </p>\n\n<p>SOX requires companies to have sufficient internal controls to prevent fraud on public shareholders. If this 10 year experienced software engineer's credentials would grant access to the ERP system, financial systems or underlying databases, I would be deeply surprised if a big-five accounting firm conducting a Section 404 risk assessment signed off on a corporate IT policy of storing paper copies of login credentials in a supervisor's desk. That said, it's the company and their auditors who get to decide, so I can't say this could never be a corporate policy. </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "employment" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6869, "body": "<p>For the basics of the (now annulled) Safe Harbor Decision I direct you to an <a href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/06/safe-harbour-european-court-declare-invalid-data-protection\" rel=\"nofollow\">article</a> by The Guardian explaining the significance to various companies. The gist of the new agreement is quite well presented in the BBC article you linked.</p>\n\n<p>Your question, whether the data will fall under UK or US jurisdiction, is exactly in the center of the concerns that lead to the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul the previous Safe Harbor Decision.</p>\n\n<p>A company established in the UK operates generally under UK law, which in turn gets a lot of binding legislation from the European Union. EU legislation that comes in the form of Directives, binding as to the objectives but leave the Member States some leeway in implementation, need to be transposed to national law by the Parliament. Directive 95/46/EC, the Data Protection Directive, was implemented in the UK by the Data Protection Act 1998. UK companies must hence comply with the domestic data protection legislation that has roots in European Union legislation.</p>\n\n<p>Another major source of data protection-related safeguards is the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which was elemental in the Schrems case (<a href=\"http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&amp;docid=169195&amp;pageIndex=0&amp;doclang=en&amp;mode=req&amp;dir=&amp;occ=first&amp;part=1&amp;cid=769284\" rel=\"nofollow\">C-362/14</a>) that lead to the annulment of the Safe Harbour Decision.</p>\n\n<p>The US company hosting the server (or providing a PaaS service) has to comply with US laws, but falls also under EU laws when it processes personal data collected by an EU company - or data collected from EU citizens. This provides for an interesting conundrum starting from the point when Snowden revealed the mass surveillance conducted by the NSA: if the US company is obliged to allow access to the data on its servers without a court order, but is not allowed to do so under EU legislation - namely the Safe Harbor guarantees they've made to be able to process the data at all -, then who's the one calling the shots? </p>\n\n<p>As long as the servers are physically located in the US, there's little doubt that any surveillance can be quite effectively pursued even if the company is hesitant about the matter, and therefore any guarantees given to the EU about due process are aspirational at best. </p>\n\n<p>We got thus far without going into any general debate on \"state sovereignty in the Internet age\".</p>\n\n<p>Hence the Schrems case, hence annulment of the Safe Harbour, and hence now the EU-US Privacy Shield.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "united-kingdom", "data-storage" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6860, "body": "<p>If you have a business agreement with the website owner ensure the business agreement authorises you to responsibly conduct periodic security assessments in order to identify vulnerabilities which if found would then be responsibly disclosed only to them and via a secure communication. If they agree to this then you would be protected for the activities you have described.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have a business agreement with the website owner they may not welcome for you to scan first and introduce yourself later, and they could respond as though you pose a threat. Scanning for vulnerabilities if not authorised in advanced could be reported to the police as an offence under the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Misuse_Act_1990\" rel=\"nofollow\">Computer Misuse Act</a> in the UK or the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act\" rel=\"nofollow\">Computer Fraud and Abuse Act</a> in the US. While the police may or may not follow-up, and a prosecution may or may not result, it's always best not to let things get this far!</p>\n\n<p>While the legislation and consequences can differ between UK and US, the much safer route is always to get permission first. </p>\n\n<p>An even safer route is for you to contact them, introduce yourself and invite them to scan their own website, and if vulnerable contact you for assistance to implement the solution (assuming you might provide such a service). You cannot be liable if they have scanned their own website.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "united-kingdom", "internet", "hacking", "ethical-hacking" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6857, "body": "<p>PIPA has a dispute resolution process. See page 39 of the <a href=\"https://www.oipc.bc.ca/guidance-documents/1438\" rel=\"nofollow\">guidance document</a>. The judge in your current case may have the power to award you damages under PIPA, but most likely not. You are probably best served by using the information as evidence that the guy is a bad person, has little regard for the laws, openly defied PIPA, etc. However, if he's smart he will say that you consented. Look at pages 5 and 6 of that document that you linked to. Unless you protested when you handed him your license and watched him photograph it, it's hard for you to say that you did not provide implied or verbal consent. This is especially true when coupled with the PIPA dispute resolution which start with you attempting to resolve this issue before filing a complaint.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, it might help you demonstrate a pattern of bad behavior but your current legal dispute is not the place to resolve your privacy issue. </p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "canada", "rental-property", "small-claims-court", "british-columbia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6855, "body": "<p>This may help you defend yourself, it will not prevent the problem. </p>\n\n<p>Section 4.3 of the PayPal User Agreement indicates that you agree to be responsible for all chargebacks and fees. You cannot get out of that agreement with PayPal by passing on your liability to a third party, which is essentially what your disclaimer attempts to do.</p>\n\n<p>Your best bet, and in fact the only way you can protect yourself, is to refund large amounts as soon as they hit your account. </p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "internet", "international" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6842, "body": "<p>Translating a work gives you a \"thin copyright\" in the translated text, but the underlying copyright still holds, so you need permission from the original copyright holder. (As well as anyone they have given exclusive rights to, such as a publisher. The publisher may also already have exclusive translation rights into French.)</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "copyright", "intellectual-property", "translation" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6854, "body": "<p>Yes, if you rent a room in the owner's house the act does not apply; there may be another one that does.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly for student accommodation. </p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "canada", "rental-property", "british-columbia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6713, "body": "<p>First off, <a href=\"https://www.bing.com/mapspreview?&amp;ty=18&amp;q=Arbutus%20Ridge%20Cowichan%20Bay%20BC&amp;ss=ypid.YN1226x17458524541865393034&amp;ppois=48.6932792663574_-123.540298461914_Arbutus%20Ridge_YN1226x17458524541865393034~&amp;cp=48.693279~-123.540298&amp;v=2&amp;sV=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">Arbutus Ridge is not in Victoria, British Columbia</a>.</p>\n\n<p>After doing a little bit of research, it seems as if Arbutus Ridge is actually a community built on a single plot of privately owned land. All people who reside in that area seem to have shared ownership, and it's a retirement community. To make matters more confusing, the Wikipedia article of the subject seems to imply that the community is independent: that is, it's already been incorporated.</p>\n\n<p>Public housing is a provincial issue under Canada, but since Arbutus Ridge is basically private, it is able to set many rules for itself. I'm not sure how this integrates with neighbouring communities and the provincial government, but it is what it is.</p>\n\n<p>As I noted in my comment above, most municipalities in Canada don't have by-laws on this matter because there is no need: gated communities are rare in Canada, and most municipalities don't have legislation because they don't need it. I only know of one gated community in Toronto and the surrounding areas/suburbs.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "canada", "traffic", "british-columbia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6604, "body": "<p>In this specific case and location, the precise location of the incident <em>was</em> explicitly made a public space via state law not too long before this actual event.</p>\n\n<p>They therefore most certainly have no right to privacy. </p>\n\n<p>What is interesting to me though is the other side of this, does someone have the <em>right</em> to record others in public spaces, or is it simply <em>not illegal?</em> For instance if I non-destructively and non-violently \"jam\" your camera by shooting a low-power IR beam at your lens, have I abridged a legal right of yours? I don't think it would be illegal to do this. I am not even positive its against the 1st Amendment. The 1st Amendment relates only to the dissemination of information, not the collection of it. The Constitution doesn't seem to compel the gov't to make information available, or even to make things/events/spaces observable. The various \"sunshine\" laws after-all had to be enacted, it wasn't part of an interpretation of the 1st Amendment. </p>\n\n<p>To put a finer point on it, is recording events in public spaces <em>legal</em> or merely <em>lawful</em>?</p>\n", "score": 5 }, { "answer_id": 5165, "body": "<p>First of all, the property of the University of Missouri is probably <strong>not</strong> public space.</p>\n\n<p>Notwithstanding, \"public space\" needs to be understood as \"space which is <em>normally</em> open to the public subject to whatever conditions the person with lawful authority over the space decides\". For example, the National Parks Service can charge an entry fee and prescribe conditions of use for entering a national park; they can also require anyone to leave for breaching those rules or for safety reasons. Similarly, the City of Los Angeles can close a public street to stage a parade and emergency services usually have wide ranging powers to limit access to anywhere.</p>\n\n<p>Likewise, the University of Missouri can decide what areas of their property is notionally public and what are private and the conditions that apply to access and can change this whenever they like. They can also delegate that authority to, for example, tenants.</p>\n\n<p>So your question becomes \"Do the protesters have lawful authority over the area?\"</p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR</strong></p>\n\n<p>Probably not.</p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 5185, "body": "<p>Your question seems to relate to privacy moreso that what is public space. In other words, does a person on the yard/quad of University of X have a right to not be photographed or videotaped. That answer is no they do not. This is a freedom of speech issue and the photographer has a right to photograph.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "privacy", "freedom-of-speech" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6833, "body": "<p>The US uses a \"first to file\" system, or maybe more accurately, \"first inventor to disclose\" system. If two people independently invent the same patent eligible thing, and neither discloses it publicly, then the patent will be awarded to the first person to file.</p>\n\n<p>To prevent somebody else from patenting your invention, either disclose your invention publicly or apply for the patent yourself as soon as possible.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6834, "body": "<p>The entire premise of the patent system is that you disclose your invention to the public in exchange for a limited monopoly on the invention. If you invent it early and keep it to yourself while someone else goes ahead and invents and patents it later, then they are the person who has undertaken to take advantage of the premise of public disclosure through the patent system in exchange for patent protection, so the patent system protects them, not you.</p>\n\n<p>The patent system also requires that the inventor file for or have assigned his patent rights. Someone else who steals your invention cannot get a patent on it, or at least if they do the patent will not be valid and enforceable. Issued patents are presumed to be valid, but you can still show they are invalid, and one way to do that would be by showing that they name someone who stole the invention as the inventor.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "patents" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6836, "body": "<p>There is no international patent. Each country protects IP under its own national laws and registration system.</p>\n\n<p>However, there is the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which makes it easier to start the process in each of the countries that you eventually wish to patent an invention.</p>\n\n<p>A typical route would be to file an application under the PCT, and then pursue national patent applications in each country that you plan to exploit your invention.</p>\n", "score": 5 }, { "answer_id": 6835, "body": "<p>Patenting something internationally begins to cost a great deal of money and is a complex project with a lot of fact-based nuances.</p>\n\n<p>Anyone seriously considering it should consult an experienced patent attorney for advice on where to apply first and which kind of application to file in that jurisdiction. Your application strategy might well vary based on the countries you are targeting, the kind of invention, the likelihood of success in getting the patent issued, whether the value of the patent lies more in its first years (many inventions) or down the road (e.g. pharmaceuticals that will undergo a long regulatory process), whether you need an issued utility patent sooner to sway investors, etc....</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "patents" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6819, "body": "<p>In the United States the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act would likely apply. The questions would be whether the cracker exceeded authorized access to the computer and whether the computer \"is used in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or communication\". </p>\n\n<p>It can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the number of computers affected, amount of money involved, etc...</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "germany", "hacking", "france", "italy" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6624, "body": "<p>There's a couple open source licenses that I currently think of, that resemble your requirements. The Reciprocal Public License, and the General Public License.</p>\n\n<p>These licenses have a bit of a \"giving-back\" requirement, in other words, they've got a copyleft clause. Anyone who uses software licensed under the RPL or the GPL need to provide the source code back to their community. However, the two licenses differ, albeit minimally.</p>\n\n<p>The RPL forces you to distribute any modification that you make, even if you do not deploy it publicly. The GPL forces you to distribute any modification that you make, when you deploy it publicly. Distribution is defined as making the source code available.</p>\n\n<p>These are just about the closest you can get. These licenses can't force them to notify you of any changes, but they do force them to make available any changes that they make. If they host their code on GitHub or something like that, it should be relatively easy to search for such projects.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6287, "body": "<p>Clause one is fine, but clause two “If a person ends up distributing a commercial or open source project based partially or entirely on mine, he/she <strong>lets me know about the existence of such product/project</strong>, nothing more, nothing less.” is not:</p>\n\n<p>Putting this clause in will stop the software being Free Software or Open Source, but with a little modification to conditions it can be both.</p>\n\n<p>from <a href=\"https://opensource.org/osd-annotated\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://opensource.org/osd-annotated</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in\n modified form only if the license allows the distribution of \"patch\n files\" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program\n at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of\n software built from modified source code. The license may require\n derived works to carry a different name or version number from the\n original software.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Free Software definition says, you can not restrict modification, but can in a limited way restrict distribution (make them change name, informs previous developers) <a href=\"http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Whether a change constitutes an improvement is a subjective matter.\n If your right to modify a program is limited, in substance, to changes\n that someone else considers an improvement, that program is not free.</p>\n \n <p>However, rules about how to package a modified version are acceptable,\n if they don't substantively limit your freedom to release modified\n versions, or your freedom to make and use modified versions privately.\n Thus, it is acceptable for the license to require that you change the\n name of the modified version, remove a logo, or identify your\n modifications as yours. As long as these requirements are not so\n burdensome that they effectively hamper you from releasing your\n changes, they are acceptable; you're already making other changes to\n the program, so you won't have trouble making a few more.</p>\n \n <p>Rules that “if you make your version available in this way, you must\n make it available in that way also” can be acceptable too, on the same\n condition. An example of such an acceptable rule is one saying that if\n you have distributed a modified version and a previous developer asks\n for a copy of it, you must send one. (Note that such a rule still\n leaves you the choice of whether to distribute your version at all.)\n Rules that require release of source code to the users for versions\n that you put into public use are also acceptable.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Irrevocable, even on death (how do we contact you if you are dead, and 1000 other circumstances, that I can not thing of all of them).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In order for these freedoms to be real, they must be permanent and\n irrevocable as long as you do nothing wrong; if the developer of the\n software has the power to revoke the license, or retroactively add\n restrictions to its terms, without your doing anything wrong to give\n cause, the software is not free.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Hope you find a licence you like, do not make up your own (we have enough, and they are hard to do well). One of the best things to do, is make it easy for them. Put the project somewhere like github (though I don't like git: it is too difficult for me). Then people will contribute because it is easy to. </p>\n\n<p>I remember part of the rational of the Free Software rules is: imagine some people being persecuted my a corrupt government. They are using you software to fight for their freedom, and need to change it. If they transmit there changes to you, they will be arrested and shot.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "copyright", "licensing" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6712, "body": "<p>Short answer: yes and no.</p>\n\n<p>I've never heard of this term before, but what you are calling \"mobbing\" does, in fact, sound like the dictionary definition of type 2 sexual harassment, at least if said \"mobbing\" is done with a sexual bent.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/types-of-sexual-harassment.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/types-of-sexual-harassment.html</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This type of sexual harassment occurs when a co-worker or supervisor in the workplace makes sexual advances or comments to an employee that, while not affecting promotions or the future of the employee's job, makes the working environment of the employee offensive and hostile. In general, the comments tend to affect the employee's ability to do her job.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note that this is completely different from \"type 1\" or \"quid pro quo\" style sexual harassment, which is the kind that everyone is aware of; however, this version occurs quite often as well and is pretty well codified.</p>\n\n<p>Again, that's straight-up sexual harassment, though; there are other illegal forms of harassment that deal with singling out someone because of their race or creed, for example. That being said, I am no lawyer but the simple act of ganging up on a worker is not, I don't think, in and of itself illegal. If you're being ganged up on because you're black, or because you were a whistle-blower, that's one thing, but if people are ganging up on you simply because they don't like you, well, I'm sorry but you probably don't have any recourse (please note that I am not a lawyer and that this is not a site to receive legal advice from).</p>\n\n<p>More info on \"mobbing\":</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.manageangerdaily.com/2010/03/how-to-combat-workplace-mobbing/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.manageangerdaily.com/2010/03/how-to-combat-workplace-mobbing/</a></p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6723, "body": "<p>Speaking for Australia, the behaviour that you describe is not named but would fall under the broad umbrella of bullying, the Safe Work Australia <a href=\"http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/827/Guide-preventing-responding-workplace-bullying.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">guide</a>. The Definition is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Bullying is a workplace risk that person's conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) are required to prevent, respond and investigate under the Work Health and Safety Act(s). This is <em>harmonised</em> legislation that, apart from administrative matters, is the same in each state and territory and at the Commonwealth level.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "harassment", "workplace" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6181, "body": "<p>I doubt that they are legally required to get your VAT as a condition of registration. However, they are a private company, and they are allowed to attach almost any restriction they want to registration.</p>\n\n<p>It is more likely that they require your VAT for some of the business interactions that they expect will happen after you register for the site and have decided to make it a condition of registration.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6410, "body": "<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;From 1 January 2015, telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will always be taxed in the country where the customer belongs* – regardless of whether the customer is a business or consumer – regardless of whether the supplier based in the EU or outside.&quot;</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Ref: <a href=\"http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/index_en.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">EUROPA: Taxation and Customs Union - Telecommunications, broadcasting &amp; electronic services</a></p>\n<p>If you register on their website as a business customer then VAT is payable in the EU country where the customer belongs (UK in this case), if you register as an individual customer then VAT is payable in the EU country where the supplier belongs (Germany in this case).</p>\n<p>Having tried that site just now, the EU VAT registration number field appears to be optional though and not mandatory.</p>\n<p>I have noticed that some websites for a while now have used the VAT registration number to verify if a customer really is a business customer since they were only required to collect VAT for B2C sales only and required B2B customers to self report under the reverse-charge scheme for EU VAT. My understanding (please someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that EU VAT applies to all international sales within the EU, both B2B and B2C now.</p>\n<hr />\n<p><strong>Added on 01-Feb-2016:</strong></p>\n<p>The guidance that would apply to this supplier is as follows:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;If you supply digital services and your customer doesn’t provide you with a VAT Registration Number (VRN) then you should treat it as a business to consumer supply and charge the VAT due in the customer’s member state. If a customer is unable to supply a VRN but claims they are ‘in business’ but not VAT registered because, for example, they are below their member state’s VAT registration threshold, you can accept other evidence of your customer’s business status eg, a link to the customer’s business website or other commercial documents.</p>\n<p>It’s your decision whether to accept alternative evidence that the customer is ‘in business’ and your customer can’t require you to treat a supply as business to business if they haven’t provided a valid VRN.</p>\n<p>If you accept that your customer is in business, the supply doesn’t come within the scope of these business to consumer arrangements. With a cross-border business to business supply the customer will be responsible for accounting for any VAT due to the tax authorities in their member state. You must complete and submit a quarterly European Community Sales List declaration to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Other EU member state tax authorities are then able to request details of the database where these declarations are securely stored for taxpayer compliance and audit purposes.&quot;</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Ref: <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-supplying-digital-services-to-private-consumers/vat-businesses-supplying-digital-services-to-private-consumers#eu-vat-rule-change\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GOV.UK: VAT - businesses supplying digital services to consumers</a></p>\n<p>Essentially this means they <em>shouldn't</em> be requiring you to provide a VAT ID but that if you don't specify one, they can either choose (if they wish) to accept proof of your low turnover for VAT registration exemption and deal with you as a business keeping this evidence to satisfy their tax obligations and accountants, or alternatively deal with you as a consumer and charge UK VAT on any orders. There is no legal requirement I can find for you to supply a VAT ID in order to become a customer of theirs.</p>\n<p>I would have originally thought this would have probably been an error in the webdesign of the registration form treating it as a required field when it shouldn't be. Also, they may have misunderstood the VAT rules? A conservation by phone or email between them and yourself may be required to proceed further here, you could reference the links I've added to this answer.</p>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6249, "body": "<p>The \"for legal reasons we must have your VAT registration number\" is nonsense. If you tell them that your company is not VAT registered, that should be absolutely fine - as long as they charge <em>you</em> and not the other way round. Obviously if you are <em>not</em> VAT registered and they buy <em>your</em> services, then your bill must be excluding VAT. And if they charge you a bill including VAT, then <em>they</em> must give you their VAT registration number on their bill. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, they have the right to do business with you or not for any reason they want. If they refuse to do business with you for stupid reasons (like their false belief that it would be illegal), then there is nothing you can do to force them to do business with you. </p>\n\n<p>(I just checked an email with an invoice for £0.79 that I received from Apple because my wife played Candy Crush, and it does indeed contain Apple's VAT registration number, and a sequential number as it should. Which interestingly allows me to know how many invoices including VAT they are sending out! There is no reason whatsoever why they would want to get a VAT registration number from me). </p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "corporate-law", "tax-law", "germany" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6809, "body": "<p>It is quite likely that a constitutional amendment was (and is) not needed to ban alcohol. For example, if the Controlled Substances Act is constitutional (and I have no reason to believe it isn't) then alcohol could be added to it tomorrow <strong>and it could be removed the day after tomorrow</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Right there is the reason that you choose to use a constitutional amendment - it is as hard to reverse as it was to enact; it needs <em>another</em> constitutional ammendment.</p>\n", "score": 6 }, { "answer_id": 6811, "body": "<p>A complete ban on alcohol by the federal government would most likely be held unenforceable. Congress's arguably strongest power to regulate is through the commerce clause.</p>\n\n<p>The commerce clause as reinterpreted in United States v. Lopez, requires the regulated act to substantially affect or relate to interstate commerce. As long as a state permits alcohol to be made in the state and the alcohol never leaves the state, one can argue there is no substantial effect.</p>\n\n<p>In that case congress would have no authority to regulate alcohol.</p>\n\n<p>Also there is the case of the 18th amendment and it subsequent repeal. This suggests that congress did not have the power to ban alcohol prior to the 18th amendment. Most likely a blanket alcohol ban will not be found constitutional, a ban of alcohol being imported internationally or between states will most likely be found constitutional.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "constitutional-law", "us-constitution", "alcohol" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6810, "body": "<p>It is not uncommon for trans-national contracts to be prepared in two or more languages and when this is done it is normal for one version to be the definitive version.</p>\n\n<p>What you have written does not appear to say this, however.</p>\n\n<p>To be honest I don't even know what \"... preferentially English language User Terms shall be taken into consideration than translation into other language.\" means. I <em>think</em> you are trying to say that the English language version is definitive but that certainly isn't clear. It could also be interpreted that when you translate your ToS into say, German, you must use the English language version as the source rather than going from say French to German.</p>\n\n<p>A clearer formulation would be \"Between different language versions of these ToS, the English version is definitive.\"</p>\n\n<p>With respect to your second construction, if I'm reading your French ToS and I read:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Le présent accord est prévu pour vous et a conclu en anglais.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>... all I know is that is complete nonsense because it is self-evidently untrue and I will happily argue that in court in either French or English.</p>\n\n<p>Do yourself a favour, pay a lawyer to write this stuff for you and have them professionally translated.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "terms-of-service" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6802, "body": "<p>Probably not.</p>\n\n<p>A trade mark exists to identify the goods and services provided by the business that owns the trade mark and infringement occurs when you use it is such a way to cause confusion that your goods and services are their goods and services.</p>\n\n<p>A website to sell second-hand Toyota's (say) does not cause such confusion - the brand identifies their goods and cannot be confused with your service (the second hand marketplace).</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "branding" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6801, "body": "<p>In general, police have no special protection from being recorded; if it is legal to video or audio record a person in that jurisdiction then it is legal to record a police officer in that jurisdiction. Anything that it is legal to do with the recording of a person is legal even if that person is a police officer.</p>\n\n<p>As to if it is legal to record a person see:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/3540/is-it-legal-to-post-a-photograph-that-i-captured-of-a-stranger-in-the-street/3620#3620\">Is it legal to post a photograph that I captured of a stranger in the street?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/4617/model-release-for-image-without-faces/4619#4619\">Model release for image without faces</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/659/how-do-laws-affect-photography-of-non-humans-in-public-when-people-may-be-in-the/725#725\">How do laws affect photography of non-humans in public when people may be in the frame?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/247/what-are-the-legal-repercussions-of-taking-a-strangers-picture-in-public/989#989\">What are the legal repercussions of taking a stranger&#39;s picture in public?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/1369/what-is-considered-public-in-the-context-of-taking-videos-or-audio-recordings/1380#1380\">What is considered &quot;public&quot; in the context of taking videos or audio recordings?</a></li>\n</ul>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "traffic", "police", "us-constitution", "consent" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6788, "body": "<p>Yes, technology patents are useful.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the Amazon patent you referred to, it only covers Amazon's one-click ordering (and similar single-action ordering), and it is immensely valuable to Amazon. Their competitors (essentially, anyone who sells things online) would love to use a similar system, but to do so, they must either pay Amazon a licensing fee or risk being sued for patent infringement.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond the value that patents can bring in court or at the negotiation table, and the value that they can have in dissuading potential competitors from taking away your business, patents can also have great defensive value. Some technology companies amass vast collections of patents for defensive purposes. They do not necessarily plan to sue anyone for patent infringement, but if one of their competitors were to sue them, they have the arsenal to effectively countersue.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "intellectual-property", "patents" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6781, "body": "<p>As an employee you are performing \"work for hire\". All IP produced by work for hire belongs to the hirer i.e. your employer owns it, you don't.</p>\n\n<p>Some jurisdictions recognise moral copyright which generally grants the individual creator rights to attribution and for their work to not be used in a way which could damage their reputation or the artistic merit in the work.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "contract-law", "employment", "ownership", "work-for-hire" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6773, "body": "<p>Getting permission from the game owner would be a sensible approach. If you get it, great. Then you could do it with the owner's blessing.</p>\n\n<p>It's possible to do your write up without the owner's permission, but then you have to be <em>much</em> more careful. For instance, the names of games cannot be copyrighted. No one can prevent you from writing \"A Guide to Bridge,\" or \"A Guide to Chess,\" etc. On the other hand, some games are <em>trademarked,</em> in which case you will need to attach a TM (trademark) symbol when referring to them. In this case, see a lawyer.</p>\n\n<p>You are also allowed to discuss the game itself \"in your own words,\" but you must be careful not to \"plagiarize\" anything from the rules, or the official game description. That is, while you can refer to specific aspects of a game, such as building houses and hotels, the leash on copying is fairly short, as little as five words. This does not refer to five words in a common sequence referring to a single thought like \"The United States of America,\" but it could refer to five words in an original or unusual sequence such as \"I think therefore I am,\" by Rene Descartes, or \"X houses and Y hotels,\" where the numbers X and Y define the number of houses and hotels in a certain board game trademarked (I believe) by Parker Brothers.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6505, "body": "<p>If your guide contains <strong>any</strong> images or text from the game then, yes you need permission from the copyright holder to reproduce their content. </p>\n\n<p>You may also need permission to simply use the name of the game since you are entering a for-profit venture based on copyrighted material you do not own.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "licensing", "software", "privacy", "trademark" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6758, "body": "<p>I realize there's already an answer, but I'd like to go into more detail.</p>\n\n<p>There are generally two kinds of open source software licenses: <em><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_free_software_licence\" rel=\"noreferrer\">permissive</a></em> and <em><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft\" rel=\"noreferrer\">copyleft</a></em> (the latter sometimes called <em>viral</em>).</p>\n\n<p>Both are intended to allow people to freely use, modify, and redistribute a work while ensuring the original author gets credit. This contrasts with releasing your work into the public domain, which would allow anyone do literally anything, even claim to be the author.</p>\n\n<p>The difference is that permissive licenses allow you to re-license your derivative works however you like, while copyleft licenses require your derivatives to be licensed under the same license (hence the term viral). The reasons you'd choose either one are philosophical and political and beyond the scope of this answer.</p>\n\n<p>Both the Apache License and the MIT license are permissive, so incorporating MIT licensed code into your Apache licensed project is certainly allowed. Just be sure to attribute the original author for the parts your incorporated and include a copy of the MIT License terms, as required by the license. Go ahead and read it to make sure you get all the details right; it's fairly short and easy for a layperson to comprehend.</p>\n", "score": 13 }, { "answer_id": 6732, "body": "<p>Yep you can.</p>\n\n<p>The MIT license is a very simple, permissive license, that is compatible with just about any open source license you can think of. The only requirements that it holds are a disclaimer of warranty and liability, and attribution.</p>\n\n<p>Since the MIT license is compatible with the Apache 2.0 license (which is also a very permissive license), you can bundle those components together under the Apache license.</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "licensing", "software", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6745, "body": "<p>First off, the work is almost certainly <em>not</em> in the public domain in the US. Works are generally copyrighted upon creation or publication, but in this case the work was probably explicitly copyrighted. The fact that a work is out of print generally has no bearing on its copyright status.</p>\n<p>US copyright law changed several times in the last century. The 1985 copyright year means the board game was probably published then, and it's since it's a Disney copyright it's a corporate work, which would give it a copyright term of 95 years, meaning that it should be covered under copyright until 2080. See this <a href=\"http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">factsheet on copyright from the US Copyright office</a>.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Works Created on or after January 1, 1978</strong></p>\n<p>For\nworks made for hire and anonymous and pseudonymous works, the duration\nof copyright is 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation,\nwhichever is shorter</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>International laws will vary, but many countries adhere to the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Berne Convention</a>, which means that international laws will probably be at least similar. Either way, the work isn't very old from an intellectual property perspective.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Fair use</a> is an exception to copyright law that allows portions of copyrighted works to be used without permission or compensation in certain circumstances; academic or scholarly use is one of them. Generally, your use of the work has to be the minimum necessary amount to serve your purposes, and cannot harm the commercial value of the work. (The fact that the work is out of print may help with the latter.)</p>\n<p>The problem with fair use is that it's always determined on a case by case basis. The only way to know for sure if a particular use is fair use is to wait for the copyright holder to sue you and then make a fair use defense in court.</p>\n<p>I was going to suggest that you discuss this with the editor of your journal, but re-reading your question it looks like you're planning to publish to a personal blog rather than an academic journal. In the end, it's up to you (or your attorney, if you choose to hire one) to analyze the relevant legal concepts and rules and decide if and how much of the work to use.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "copyright", "fair-use" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6138, "body": "<p>If <strong>X</strong> can prove that the injury is a result of <strong>Y</strong>'s negligence then <strong>Y</strong> is liable for the damage that is a reasonably foreseeable result of that negligence. So, maybe.</p>\n", "score": 0 }, { "answer_id": 6139, "body": "<p>I think <strong>X</strong> would be hard-pressed to demonstrate that joblessness was a harm caused by negligence. A large number of people who are benefiting from psychiatric support and care are also jobless. </p>\n\n<p>At very least it may not be <strong>X</strong>'s core claim, which may then undermine the viability of the suit.</p>\n\n<p><em>. not speaking specifically for the UK, but the US is also a common-law jurisdiction .</em></p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "england-and-wales", "negligence" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6613, "body": "<p>Pull over to the right edge, stop, and wait until the emergency vehicle has passed. Do it safely.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&amp;group=21001-22000&amp;file=21800-21809\" rel=\"nofollow\">California Code Section 21806</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall immediately drive to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway, clear of any intersection, and thereupon shall stop and remain stopped until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>21807:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The provisions of Section 21806 shall not operate to relieve\n the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive\n with due regard for the safety of all persons and property.</p>\n</blockquote>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "california", "traffic", "driving" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6699, "body": "<p>Nobody could have reasonably foreseen that damage.</p>\n\n<p>If the magnets are strong enough though, they are considered a dangerous good, and that brings a bunch of packaging, paperwork, and shipping requirements that would prevent the situation you describe.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "liability", "germany", "mail" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6747, "body": "<p>The Common Law is not just the interpretation of the law by the courts in their judgements; it is also a creature of the society in which it lives. </p>\n\n<p>A judge is bound by precedent and following that precedent leads to \"its formal qualities as a legal judgement\". However, if the precedent that must be followed was established in, say 1816, applying it to facts in 2016 may lead to an unjust outcome; post-Napoleonic ideas of justice do not always mesh with early 21st century ideas of justice. The judgement may be flawed in its \"substantive merits as a political outcome\" i.e. the punter's won't stand for it.</p>\n\n<p>Remember that a court can always overturn a precedent set by an equivalent level or lower court so at this level, they have to decide if the precedent should be overturned to match current community notions of justice. For example, in the Australian Capital Territory it was recently decided that the precedent that an intoxicated person could not be criminally liable was not in line with community expectations and was overturned; creating a new precedent. Courts are cautious about doing this because <em>justice</em> is only <em>one</em> of the functions of the legal system; <em>certainty</em> is another and if you change precedents willy-nilly to give justice you reduce certainty.</p>\n\n<p>A judge in a position where they <em>must</em> follow precedent has 3 options:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>He can follow the law and the losing party can appeal because the judgement is self-evidently wrong in providing justice - it will make its way up the chain of appeals until it reaches a level where the precedent can be overturned.</li>\n<li>He can follow justice, the losing party can appeal because the judgement is self-evidently wrong in the law - it will make its way up the chain of appeals until it reaches a level where the precedent can be overturned.</li>\n<li>He can kick it - basically say that whatever judgement he makes will be appealed so it should be moved to a court that can consider and perhaps overturn the precedent before everyone goes to the time and expense of arguing the facts.</li>\n</ul>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "us-supreme-court", "jurisprudence" ]

[ { "answer_id": 38, "body": "<p>I'm not a lawyer or a medical professional, but on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate\">Wikipedia's page about DNR</a>, we see the following quote:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In the United States the documentation is especially complicated in that each state accepts different forms, and advance directives and living wills are not accepted by EMS as legally valid forms. If a patient has a living will that states the patient wishes to be DNR but does not have an appropriately filled out state sponsored form that is co-signed by a physician, EMS will attempt resuscitation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Based on this, I would hazard the guess that you can't treat anything other than those forms as legally binding, as they even ignore a living will without that state's form.</p>\n", "score": 22 }, { "answer_id": 43, "body": "<p>No, this would not be considered a legal order. A DNR order proper is an order issued by a medical practitioner (at least in Maryland, this is a doctor, an APRN, or a physician's assistant), and has to take an extremely specific form (either a specific state-issued form, or a specific state-issued device like a bracelet). A \"DNR\" shirt can't serve as a DNR order, and so EMS will ignore it.</p>\n\n<p>With physicians, it's more complicated -- they have to obey your wishes whether or not you filled out the state form, and so if you clearly express a wish not to be resuscitated they will issue a DNR order. However, they can't do this unless it's clear that you're giving informed consent to the order; wearing a shirt isn't considered to show that you made an informed decision that you intended to be binding. An advance directive (specifying what care you'll want if you aren't conscious, which is the only time a DNR applies anyway) will require some way to confirm that this is really what you intend; generally, this consists of a (witnessed) signature or oral instructions to a practitioner.</p>\n", "score": 14 }, { "answer_id": 487, "body": "<p>As an EMT, we are trained to only respect a legal document signed by the patient and his/her physician. Typically, there is a certain form approved by the state that must be filled out and signed such as a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_Orders_for_Life-Sustaining_Treatment\">POLST</a>.</p>\n\n<p>In general, we are trained that if there is any doubt, resuscitation should be attempted. The logic is that it is better to resuscitate a patient that has a DNR than to <em>not</em> attempt resuscitation on a patient that does <em>not</em> have a valid DNR.</p>\n", "score": 7 } ]

[ "united-states", "health" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6636, "body": "<p>The GPL is a copyright license that belongs to a category of license commonly called &quot;<em>copyleft</em>&quot; licenses. The defining characteristic of a copyleft license is that a work derived from a copyleft-licensed work must be licensed under that copyleft license as a whole. For the GPL, if your work includes a single piece that is licensed under the GPL, then the entire combined work must be licensed under the GPL whenever you choose to distribute it.</p>\n<p>When you distribute a combined work the includes GPL components, you must license the entire work under the GPL. When you do so, your obligations for the new work include:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>making the human-readable source code of your application available whenever the application is available, and</li>\n<li>permitting anyone who receives a copy to make derivative works based on your code and release it under the GPL.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Note that I've said &quot;<em>whenever the application is available</em>&quot; and &quot;<em>anyone who receives a copy</em>.&quot; Only people who have been given a copy of your application have a right to the source code and permission to create derivatives. If the application is only available to company employees and not the general public, then no one in the general public has the right to see the source code of your application. Also, the company employees might not either, because they've only been given access to the application as agents of the company. Per the <a href=\"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#InternalDistribution\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GPL FAQ</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or company “distribution”?</strong></p>\n<p>No, in that case the organization is just making the copies for itself. As a consequence, a company or other organization can develop a modified version and install that version through its own facilities, without giving the staff permission to release that modified version to outsiders.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>But you've said that you want to include some elements on websites, which I assume are public-facing. In that case, for those public-facing works, you will need to make the source publicly available. You ask:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I had to &quot;publish&quot; my code. I don't know what that means, since the JavaScript code is visible to anyone.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Very true -- Web applications are already sent to the user in source form. Some things to consider, however, are:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>You must <em>make it clear</em> that that your application is licensed under the GPL. Making the source available satisfies requirement #1 above, but the user might not know that requirement #2 (permission to prepare derivatives under the GPL) is in effect unless you prominently state (e.g., in a footer, About page, etc.) that the work is licensed under the GPLv3 and include a copy of the license.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>According to the GPLv3, your source code must be in &quot;the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it.&quot; You cannot minify or obfuscate the source code when satisfying the requirement of source code availability. If you wish to minify your application's source (e.g., for performance reasons) then you must separately make the original source available to anyone who receives the minified source.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>If your website work is made up of lots of discrete files, it could be a big pain to download all of the pieces. You might make the whole source available as a single zipped file. A complex website with iframed resources, scripts, styles, and image resources could be quite difficult to gather up manually. In addition to being courteous, I'd be a little concerned that forcing users to gather up all the pieces could be viewed as intentionally impeding the ability to access the source, but I don't really know to what degree that concern has legal merit.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6627, "body": "<p>The GPL license is what's known as a copyleft license. It's an open source license, which is known for it's \"viral\" nature.</p>\n\n<p>The GPL provides many freedoms with code, including: the use in private and commercial environments, as well as the freedom to modify and distribute that code. However, it comes with a catch. Anything modifications to the code also have to be made available, and even cases where you're making a link (e.g. <code>GPLLibary.foo();</code>) will force that library to be made under the GPL as well.</p>\n\n<p>So when do you have to make available your source code? It all depends on how you distribute it.</p>\n\n<p>If you ever make the code into an application, and distribute publicly, you must also distribute the source code. However, if you are only using it internally within your organization, then there is no distribution, and you don't have to make the source code available necessarily.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "licensing", "gpl", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6683, "body": "<p>You are referring to <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/32/47.4\" rel=\"nofollow\">32 CFR 47.4</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The only reasonable interpretation of that list is that one must meet all of the 5 requirements.</p>\n\n<p>The alternative interpretation would make any group that \"[has not] already received benefits from the Federal Government for the service in question\" eligible to apply.</p>\n\n<p>Since this is a regulation, the interpretation of the agency that wrote the regulations is given great deference. An agency's interpretation of the regulations it writes itself is <em>controlling</em> unless \"plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation\". (<em>Auer v. Robbins</em> 1997)</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Regarding whether there is ambiguity at all, read <em>King v. Burwell</em> for several restatements of the principle that one must read words in context before deciding they are ambiguous:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A provision that may seem ambiguous in isolation is often clarified by the remainder of the statutory scheme . . . because only one of the permissible meanings produces a substantive effect that is compatible with\n the rest of the law.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They refer to the \"fundamental canon of statutory construction that the\nwords of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to\ntheir place in the overall statutory scheme\".</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6722, "body": "<p>Your interpretation is creating an ambiguity when none exists. Your specific question is about <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/32/47.4\" rel=\"nofollow\">32 CFR 47.4</a> not applying to the National Guard; however, you hone in on a single phrase while ignoring literally everything else about the regulation. So, there are additional things you look at:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The purpose of the part. This part has a nice \"Purpose\" section at 47.1, which says it implements PL 95-202 and</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to determine if an established group of <strong>civilian employees or contract workers</strong> provided service to the U.S. Armed Forces in a manner considered active military service for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Also, its title is \"Active duty service for civilian or contractual groups.\" Members of the National Guard are not civilians. It would be <em>surprising</em> (to say the least) if they fell under this part, given that the clear purpose is to say \"some civilian service to the military is not just a normal civilian job; these people deserve benefits given to people who are formally in the military.\"</p></li>\n<li><p>Surrounding rules. For instance, the definitions in 47.3 require that a group, to be a \"civilian or contractual group\" within the meaning of the part, be similarly situated to the Women's Air Forces Service Pilots.</p></li>\n<li><p>Statutory authority. All parts of the CFR need to be made under authority granted by Congress; the authority for 32 CFR 47 is a federal law codified as a note to 38 USC &sect; 106 (and passed as PL 95-202 &sect; 401(a)) saying </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the service of any person as a member of the Women’s Air Forces Service Pilots (a group of Federal civilian employees attached to the United States Army Air Force during World War II), or the service of any person in any other similarly situated group the members of which rendered service to the Armed Forces of the United States in a capacity considered civilian employment or contractual service at the time such service was rendered, shall be considered active duty for the purposes of all laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs [if they meet DoD regulations to qualify for it]</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Administrative agencies are given a great deal of deference when interpreting the statutes they base their regulation on; however, they can't really <em>not</em> require that a group be similarly situated to WASPs, because the statute they're saying groups can qualify under <em>requires</em> that groups be similarly situated to qualify.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>To answer your question about whether the National Guard gets benefits: Members of the National Guard are simultaneously members of the Army or Air Force reserves. This regulation lets certain <em>civilian</em> groups count as active duty, leaving it up to DoD who qualifies. For the military, there's no need to leave it up to DoD who qualifies; Congress is quite capable of simply defining what the military is. Under 38 USC &sect; 101(21), \"active duty\" means, among other things, \"full-time duty in the Armed Forces, other than active duty for training.\"</p>\n\n<p>When the National Guard is on full-time military duty other than for training, they are on active duty, because that is what that phrase means. When they aren't, they aren't. At no point do they qualify because they are civilians in a similar situation to WASPs (which is the sole purpose of this part, to let those people qualify) due to their National Guard service; they are qualified because they are actually <em>in</em> the military, and not because some special policy means they qualify when they otherwise wouldn't.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6720, "body": "<p>Under the doctrine of <em>Chevron</em> Deference, when the law is ambiguous, the agency may interpret it in any way as long as it's reasonable. The courts usually interpret reasonableness as being almost anything.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "united-states", "common-law", "civil-law", "administrative-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6702, "body": "<p>Yup, copyright statutes and case law cover these situations.</p>\n<p>In Canada, look at at Copyright Act Section 30.7:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It is not an infringement of copyright to incidentally and not deliberately</p>\n<p>(a) include a work or other subject-matter in another work or other subject-matter; or</p>\n<p>(b) do any act in relation to a work or other subject-matter that is incidentally and not deliberately included in another work or other subject-matter.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The US doesn't have this in statute, but some defendants used a fair use defence, some successful, some not. (<a href=\"http://www.iposgoode.ca/2010/04/cindy-incidentally-the-incidental-inclusion-exception-in-canadian-copyright-law/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.iposgoode.ca/2010/04/cindy-incidentally-the-incidental-inclusion-exception-in-canadian-copyright-law/</a>)</p>\n<p>If you're using a piece of art as part of a tutorial, or being illustrative of a point, or subject of commentary, review, or criticism, that may be fair use or fair dealing.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "copyright" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6690, "body": "<p>Pretty much anyone can sue, at any time, for any thing. In some cases they win and in others they don't. </p>\n\n<p>So when I am writing a book, the safest case is to avoid including real persons or businesses, and certainly avoid saying anything untruthful, trying to take advantage of publicity rights (e.g. naming my book after a celebrity or including a famous hotel name in the blurb on the back without permission), using trademarked terms, quoting copyrighted works, etc...</p>\n\n<p>It gets safer as you get toward major political figures. For example, talking about Donald Trump's hair or Barack Obama's ears is not going to get you into trouble. Political speech lies at the core of protections on free speech.</p>\n\n<p>And it is all fine with permission. If you are writing a self-help or business skills book, for example, you may find plenty of people who are happy to talk to you and give you permission.</p>\n\n<p>If the question is only when do you <em>win</em> the lawsuit, then read up on defamation law, trademark law, copyright law, and publicity rights. But realistically, it's better to just avoid mentioning a real person or business.</p>\n\n<p>I would also point out that unless you are amazing at writing in a particular style, there is a high probability that a fictional work will be more accessible and timeless if you describe events without extensive contemporary pop culture references. Look at your favorite books and see how often they are used.</p>\n\n<p>If you ever get a contract with a major publishing house their legal department will review the book and decide what should be changed, etc...\nAnd if you ever self-publish you will be making a contract with Amazon, Lightning Source, Ingram, or others that you own or have permission to use all of the Intellectual Property. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line: writing most books is something writers do for fun. (Or to boost a resume or client confidence if it's a book in a field they work in.) We should enjoy the storytelling, but shy away from the legal stuff that adds risk, expense, or time unless there's profit potential.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright", "trademark" ]

[ { "answer_id": 5463, "body": "<p>I think it's important to keep in mind the essence of your actions. @Mowzer gave a great answer on the matter in hand, but I'd like to add a point of view.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it illegal to eat while driving? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Like pointed out by @Mowzer, if no law prohibits it, it's allowed by default (lots of countries have this premise).</p>\n\n<p>But what about the <strong>consequences of your actions</strong>? Maybe there's no law against eating in the car, but there sure is one in my country that specific says that <strong>you are not allowed to drive without using both hands in the wheel</strong>. The only exception to this rule is to take out your hand from the wheel to use the stick to change gears.</p>\n\n<p>Another point of view to add is the <strong>liability</strong>. Let's say you're minding your own business while driving and a lunatic trying to commit suicide jumps in front of your car. It's a pretty straight-forward case, you have no reason to be blamed. Now, let's add to the same scenario your snack; with a small change, you are now facing a accident that may have been caused by <strong>reckless driving</strong> (another thing commonly illegal).</p>\n\n<p>To sum up, the law is not really like math that have axioms that determine true or false statements without any distinguishment. That's why every case is single handled in the law by it's particularities.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 5461, "body": "<p>I have never heard of nor am I presently aware of a law against eating while driving.</p>\n\n<p>However, when asking questions of this nature: \"Is X legal?\" you should keep in mind the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In the U.S. (other countries might be different) acts are legal by default. Meaning they are legal unless there is a law prohibiting the behavior.</p></li>\n<li><p>Laws are legal by default. Meaning if a law exists, it is considered legal unless and until it is ruled illegal by a court. Illegal in this case means <strong><em>unconstitutional</em></strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>You should clarify your <strong><em>jurisdiction</em></strong>. In the U.S. we have at least three or four levels of laws (federal, state and local) plus a practically speaking, <strong>limitless</strong> number of regulations which, though not passed by any legislation, are <strong><em>de facto</em></strong> laws nevertheless.</p></li>\n<li><p>From a legal theory standpoint, just as it is impossible to prove a negative, so is it impossible to prove that any law prohibiting any specific behavior does not exist. One can only prove a given law <strong><em>does exist</em></strong> (by citing it). But never that is does <strong><em>not exist</em></strong>. Because there is nothing to cite.</p></li>\n</ul>\n", "score": 2 }, { "answer_id": 6678, "body": "<p>As of September 1st, 2015, it is an offence (Distracted Driving) to be eating while operating your motor vehicle. The <a href=\"http://www.opp.ca/ecms/index.php?id=545\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ontario Provincial Police</a> lists the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Distracted driving qualifies as talking on a cell phone, texting, reading (e.g. books, maps, and newspapers), using a GPS, watching videos or movies, eating/drinking, smoking, personal grooming, adjusting the radio/CD and playing extremely loud music. Even talking to passengers and driving while fatigued (mentally and/or physically) can be forms of distracted driving.</p>\n \n <p>Distracted Driving continues to be a serious issue on our roads and is a danger to all road users.</p>\n \n <p>If you break this law, you could receive:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>a fine of $225, plus a victim surcharge and court fee, for a total of $280 if settled out of court</li>\n <li>a fine of up to $500 if you receive a summons or fight your ticket</li>\n <li><p>If you endanger others because of any distraction, including both hand-held and hands-free devices, you can also be charged with careless driving. If convicted, you will automatically receive:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>six demerit points</li>\n <li>fines up to $2,000 and/or</li>\n <li>a jail term of six months</li>\n <li>up to two-year licence suspension</li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul>\n \n <p>You can even be charged with dangerous driving (a criminal offence), with jail terms of up to five years.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So yes, it's illegal. If I remember correctly, (I live here in Ontario, but I'm 16, and obviously don't have my licence), you get three demerit points upon being convicted for distracted driving.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "canada", "traffic", "driving" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6676, "body": "<p>At least for US federal law, Stat. is an abbreviation for the United States Statutes at Large. The Statutes at Large are the official record of all public and private laws passed by Congress, exactly as passed, organized chronologically. It's not terribly common to use it when citing <em>current</em> law; the organized-by-topic US Code is much more common to cite for that. But if you want a record of every act passed by the US Congress, the Statutes at Large is what you want.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "common-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6674, "body": "<p>The U.S. Constitution - Article 1, Section 10 is titled \"Powers Prohibited of States,\" and it reads:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>No state shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or <strong><em>Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts</em></strong>, or grant any Title of Nobility.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The title of the section, Powers Prohibited of States, tells us that this clause is directed to the states and prevents the states from enacting any state laws that retroactively impair obligations and rights between two contracting parties.</p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4859&amp;context=mulr\" rel=\"nofollow\">New Orleans Water Works Co. v. Louisiana Sugar Refining Co</a>, the court held that a law passed by the state legislature must be the cause of a contract's obligations to have been impaired in order for relief to be sought under this clause.</p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/1/essays/72/obligation-of-contract\" rel=\"nofollow\">Heritage Guide to The Constitution</a> has a good article explaining the history of this clause.</p>\n\n<p>A central provision of the Northwest Ordinance, which established the Northwest Territory, stated:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud, previously formed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>While operating under the Articles of Confederation between 1777 and 1789 when the U.S. Constitution was adopted, some state legislatures were passing laws relieving well-connected people from debts for which they had contracted.</p>\n\n<p>As the Heritage Guide explains, the obligation of contracts section was added to the clause of the Constitution which prevented states from printing money and making treaties. Initially, the clause was meant to prevent state legislation that retroactively changed the terms of private contracts. But as cases worked their way through the courts, the Supreme Court eventually set that standard that the obligation of contracts clause also prevented states from undoing contracts to which the state was a party where the obligation of the contract had been completed. (As opposed to breach of contract claims for uncompleted contracts.)</p>\n\n<p>Ogden v Saunders, in 1827, held that the obligation of contracts clause doesn't apply to contracts that did not exist at the time a statute was passed.</p>\n\n<p>Those states with their own Obligation of Contracts Clause may have had them before the U.S. Constitution was written (Virginia's original constitution was enacted in 1776) or may have added them as an amplification of the prohibition found in the U.S. Constitution.</p>\n", "score": 3 }, { "answer_id": 6642, "body": "<p>It doesn't come up a lot in U.S. contract cases so far as I know, mostly because the U.S. does not pass laws to disclaim its own debt. It can borrow at a very low interest rate because it pays its debts.</p>\n\n<p>There was some academic discussion a few years ago about whether Congress could change the law to eliminate the debt forgiveness and income-based repayment provisions for student loans or whether that would rewrite the promissory notes and impair the obligation of contracts, but I don't know for sure whether it was written up in the literature or was just professors throwing ideas around. So it's relevant in the US at least to the tune of a trillion dollars or so.</p>\n\n<p>The clause is also still relevant to nations writing constitutions who want to be able to borrow money. If they can easily rewrite a law to prevent themselves from owing debt, nobody will be willing to lend to them. Today debt cancellation on the international stage is ideally managed by entities like the IMF as opposed to by default.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, if you eliminated the clause in the US tomorrow, we could still get good interest rates. A practice of repayment is much more important to creditors than the promise to repay. But lenders do want the promise.</p>\n\n<p>(Sources: memory and reason.)</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "united-states", "contract-law", "constitutional-law", "virginia" ]

[ { "answer_id": 1396, "body": "<p>Jurisdiction is a complex topic, and any detailed answer is going to depend on the national law of the states in question. However, there are two general principles to bear in mind:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Jurisdiction is rarely exclusive; it is possible to be subject to civil or criminal jurisdiction in any state where you do business; and</p></li>\n<li><p>Jurisdiction can (usually) be accepted or waived by contract. This is the practical answer to your question: almost every contract contains a clause saying something like: \"The Parties agree that the law of Norway applies to all matters arising under this agreement and agree that all lawsuits concerning the subject matter of this agreement shall be brought exclusively in the Norwegian Super Deluxe Court for the district of Oslo. The parties waive, to the extent possible under the relevant law, all rights to litigate matters related to this Agreement in any other court.\"</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>These choice-of-forum provisions are not 100% enforceable--and, again, a lot is going to depend on the law of the forum you're disclaiming--but they often are, in both common law and civil law jurisdictions.</p>\n", "score": 4 }, { "answer_id": 6671, "body": "<p>As a general rule the laws of the country of the company are applicable. Norway is an interesting example, as it's not a Member State of the EU, but a member of the EEA. In most cases you'll be on the safe side when you run the company according to the laws of the country of incorporation, including tax laws, and then observe the partners' home countries' tax laws applicable to income.</p>\n\n<p>You should make the articles of incorporation clear as to the choice of jurisdiction in dispute situations, like chapka suggests. In the EU the general freedom of choice for selection of the governing law in contractual obligations can be found in Article 3 of the <a href=\"http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32008R0593\" rel=\"nofollow\">Rome I Regulation</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Mind you, the location of the web server would not matter one bit in your partnership, except if you have to make claims against the hosting service provider.</p>\n\n<p>There's a whole case line in the Court of Justice of the European Union about the location of the seat of the company in cross-border situations, but these mainly address situations where companies have been established to forego capital requirements/evade taxes/defraud creditors. </p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "contract-law", "software", "european-union" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6670, "body": "<p>There are no EU rules on whether and under which conditions unaccompanied minors are allowed to travel, and the competence hence rests with the Member States.</p>\n\n<p>You are probably more proficient with Slovak rules on the matter, but judging by the information <a href=\"http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/children-travelling-alone\" rel=\"nofollow\">provided by the UK Government</a>, there should be no regulatory hassle. The most probable source of problems will be the airline, but at least <a href=\"http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/travel-assistance/children-travelling-alone\" rel=\"nofollow\">BA lets persons 12-17 years of age travel alone.</a></p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "european-union", "minor", "travel" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6667, "body": "<p>From <a href=\"http://www.transequality.org/issues/resources/selective-service-and-transgender-people\" rel=\"nofollow\">TransEquality.org</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>People who were assigned female at birth are not required to register with the Selective Service regardless of their current gender or transition status. When applying for federal financial aid, grants, and loans as a man, however, you may be asked to prove that you are exempt. To request a Status Information Letter (SIL) that shows you are exempt, you can either download an SIL request form from the Selective Service website (<a href=\"http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/SilForm_Instructions.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/SilForm_Instructions.pdf</a>) or call them at 1-888-655-1825. This service is free and the exemption letter you will receive does not specify why you are exempt so it will not force you to out yourself in any other application process. The Selective Service does, however, require a copy of your birth certificate showing your birth-assigned sex. If the sex on your birth certificate has been changed, attach any documentation you have to that affect. Once you receive your Status Information Letter, keep it in your files. For those FTM people who transition before their eighteenth birthdays and change their birth certificates, it is also possible to register with the service. However, no one may register after their twenty-sixth birthday. Also, please note that although Selective Service materials refer to transgender people as “people who have had a sex change,” their policies apply to those who have transitioned regardless of surgical history.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The referenced form has a section where you can declare your gender assigned at birth, and you must attach a copy of your birth certificate. It would appear that having your gender assigned as female at birth does in fact exempt you from the requirement to register with selective service, and as a result you should not be penalized for any purpose related to your not having registered.</p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6632, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Mail from financial institutions; including checking, savings, credit card statements or investment account statements</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Pay a bank or credit card company $2 or some other nominal fee to have them send you a physical copy of a statement.</p>\n", "score": 46 }, { "answer_id": 6633, "body": "<p>Request a <a href=\"https://www.socialsecurity.gov/hlp/global/hlp-statement-7004-revi.htm\">Social Security statement</a>. Get a library card. Write a letter to your senator or representative or a local government office that requires a response. Order something online. Register to vote (you can do this with the last 4 digits of your social security number and <a href=\"http://dos.myflorida.com/media/693757/dsde39.pdf\">without having to prove your address</a>). </p>\n", "score": 29 }, { "answer_id": 6630, "body": "<blockquote>\n <p>Personal mail that does not list the recipient as “occupant”. Example: Magazines, journals, etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Get some friends to write to you.</p>\n", "score": 23 }, { "answer_id": 6637, "body": "<p>write a letter to yourself and receive it.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "united-states", "contract-law", "common-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6658, "body": "<p>Cops conduct undercover operations and don't have to tell you they're cops. (Unless maybe they're under oath in a courtroom, for example.)</p>\n\n<p>Mostly because it would be really stupid and impossible to conduct undercover work otherwise. Rumors and popular media about this are wrong.</p>\n\n<p>This is also true for federal agents and actors. (FBI, DEA, ATF, Secret Service, etc...)</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "us-constitution", "legal-terms", "disclaimers" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6653, "body": "<p>\"Is this legal or not\" is the wrong question. \"How do I approach this problem in this context\" is the right question.</p>\n\n<p>By default a person has no obligation to cooperate with a generic investigator--why would they? There are ways around that in specific contexts and for specific professionals (failure to follow lawful order of a police officer, criminal charges for lying to a federal agent, cross-examination, discovery requests, etc...) </p>\n\n<p>I am sure abuse investigations commonly have non-cooperative suspects and witnesses. Your friend needs to speak with experienced people in your friend's professional role who conduct abuse investigations in your jurisdiction and ask what their practice is when people are non-cooperative in this way. </p>\n", "score": 1 }, { "answer_id": 6656, "body": "<p>I would refuse too - only a court or similar tribunal can require a statement under oath. Even statements to police are not under oath.</p>\n\n<p>I personally would be <em>extremely</em> reluctant to say <em>anything</em> to an investigator who is that ignorant.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "criminal-law", "discrimination" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6602, "body": "<p>Your assumptions are incorrect. </p>\n\n<p>Courts allow oral arguments (when they do allow them) so that attorneys have a chance to better address a judge's concerns. The idea is that it lets an attorney not only present the core of his case, but it also lets him address any problems with his reasoning that the judge may have or help the judge explore a complicated question. Without that all you have is the back-and-forth in writing with opposing counsel, which is useful, but may not actually address the issues that are important to the judge. </p>\n\n<p>There is some difference in how you present arguments on paper as opposed to in oral argument, but the distinction is largely one of style rather than substance. An argument that is great on paper is still great when presented out loud, you just present it differently because you are presenting it in a different medium.</p>\n\n<p>For example, you have to present oral argument with the assumption that the judge may interrupt you at any time to ask a question they are interested in, derailing your entire pre-planned argument into a tangential point the judge considers important. This is great because it lets you address what the judge is concerned about, but it requires a different preparation and some changes to the format of your argument. For example, while you will front-load both oral and written arguments with a roadmap, both your roadmap and your first sentence are much more important in oral argument.</p>\n", "score": 7 }, { "answer_id": 6650, "body": "<p>The use of oral argument depends upon the court. In the Supreme Court nearly all cases have oral argument. In the Circuit's the vast majority of cases do not get oral argument. In the District Court, the judges don't want to see the lawyers if they can avoid it.</p>\n\n<p>A District Court oral argument is invariably Q&amp;A and is held only when the judge has questions.</p>\n\n<p>In the Supreme Court and Circuits, oral arguments are short presentations given by the lawyers to highlight key points; presentations that get interrupted.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "lawyer" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6648, "body": "<p>It depends on the particular law in the particular jurisdiction in which you are charged. </p>\n\n<p>Most statute laws enumerate the defences that are available. In common law countries there is a general defence that (except in strict liability offences) the perpetrator must well ... perpetrate the criminal act; what you describe does not appear to meet that requirement.</p>\n\n<p>Other jurisdictions would not be so forgiving. </p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "united-states", "international" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6635, "body": "<p>Legally it depends on whether the jury believes you and on whether there is any specific common-law on point in the jurisdiction. Morally of course you are responsible for the damage.</p>\n\n<p>Under traditional common-law principles, you would probably be guilty of trespass, an intentional tort. </p>\n\n<p>Your first obvious argument would be that you had permission from the neighbor to check on them, if there is anything they've done that can be construed as consent. Whether that succeeds is a fact question, so it is up the the finder of fact to believe or disbelieve you.</p>\n\n<p>Your second obvious argument would be your alleged trespass was necessary because of risk to human life. This might fail because you could have called police, but might not fail.</p>\n\n<p>And if you <em>do</em> break into their home out of worry for them and they are fine, you really should be at least helping to fix any damage you do, and preferably (if you are financially able to) covering the cost of having a professional do it.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "england-and-wales", "damages", "good-samaritan" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6426, "body": "<p>A \"group\" is a rather Ill-defined concept.</p>\n\n<p>If the group is a familial or social group then their decisions are not legally binding so it doesn't matter.</p>\n\n<p>If the group is the creature of a contract then the contract will tell you. If the contract is silent then a decision would amount to a renegotiation of the contract and would have to be unanimous.</p>\n\n<p>If the group is a creature of statute (e.g. company boards, incorporated associations etc.) then the statute will tell you. The statute may tell you that the group can create its own rules. There may also be different levels of majority specified (simple, 2/3, 3/4 etc.) and also if it is a majority of the whole or just those in attendance.</p>\n\n<p>So, yes, jurisdiction matters; yes, size matters and yes; type matters,</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "parliamentary-procedure" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6625, "body": "<p>Yep, you are.</p>\n\n<p>You still need to keep the LICENSE and NOTICE files in the repository, if there were any in your copy of the project. These files contain the terms and conditions for the project, and provide attribution to the original developers. If you're trying to attribute in the UI of your application, you probably should. It's considered courteous and in the spirit of open source as well. This is also related: <a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6466/do-i-need-to-include-the-full-text-of-the-mit-license-in-the-ui-of-my-app/6501#6501\">Do I need to include the full text of the MIT license in the UI of my app?</a></p>\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ "licensing", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6643, "body": "<p>Ideas are <strong>not</strong> intellectual property.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Artistic and literary works are subject to copyright.</p></li>\n<li><p>Branding is subject to trade mark.</p></li>\n<li><p>Inventions are subject to patents if applied for and granted.</p></li>\n<li><p>Form and function are subject to registered designs if applied for and granted.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Ideas are subject to nothing.</strong></p>\n\n<p>If the communication of the idea is confidential then it can't be disclosed but a feature request where the user implicitly wants it to be incorporated can't be confidential.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "intellectual-property", "disclaimers" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6631, "body": "<p>You are talking about nearly fifty state systems plus the federal system. There is going to be substantial research behind the answer if the work has not already been done for you. </p>\n\n<p>The obvious place to look (after Google) is legal scholarship, as by a lexis or Westlaw search of law journals. Failing that or if you do not have access to one of those databases, your best bet is to ask a law school librarian or legal scholar in either early twentieth-century incarceration or critical race theory for the resources most likely to have the information you need.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "reference-request" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6629, "body": "<p>Under the original Creative Commons license, yes, you can't do this. Since the translated software can't effectively exist without the original, it would be considered a derivative work, and cannot be done under the terms of the license. </p>\n\n<p>However, in the comments that you note that the project uses the Apache 2.0 license. In this case, yes, you can port something to another language. Just make sure that you follow the terms and conditions of that license - which is basically just attributing the original project for the most part, and including the license and notice files.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "united-states", "creative-commons", "derivative-work" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6628, "body": "<p>The license still applies, no matter the file. It may be discouraged, but it's the license you've got, so you've gotta follow it.</p>\n\n<p>Generally, licenses still carry the right to attribution for their authors, so you still need to have a method to attribute them within your application. It's courteous, and within the spirit of open source as well. You don't have to provide a full copy of the license to the end user, but saying that \"This picture is licensed under the MIT license\" would be sufficient. </p>\n\n<p>You may have fun reading this as well: <a href=\"https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6466/do-i-need-to-include-the-full-text-of-the-mit-license-in-the-ui-of-my-app/6501#6501\">Do I need to include the full text of the MIT license in the UI of my app?</a></p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6501, "body": "<p>You don't <em>have</em> to, but you probably want to for a couple of reasons:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>It's courteous, and in the spirit of open source</p>\n<p>It's someone else's work, and you're using it. The least you can probably say is &quot;thank you.&quot; It will also probably help you stay in the clear: since you're using software in binary form, where the notice isn't immediately accessible, then by providing a copy of the license, you respect that licensing term in another way.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>It tells your users what's up with the program</p>\n<p>Let's admit it, having the license accessible to the users tells them what's in the program and so on. It's another way of providing attribution, like I listed in the first reason above. Many apps, desktop and mobile, have a screen or panel to indicate the projects and licenses that they use. They don't have to be straight in the user's face, they can be a little button in the &quot;About&quot; screen of the program.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>To answer a little confusion: the binaries are still a derived form from that source code. Analyse the heading:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The software is still there, it's just there in a different form, a compiled form. Therefore, the copyright and permission notice should probably stick around, even if it's just a file somewhere.</p>\n", "score": 8 } ]

[ "licensing", "open-source-software" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6614, "body": "<p>Regarding dentists, not medical doctors: It's not illegal, it's just outdated.</p>\n\n<p>You will find a lot of sources online that mention an American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommendation that children perform better when their parents do not accompany them. Something something maternal anxiety. But this is likely the result of 40-year-old research. Some of this was built on studies of how the <em>dentist</em> performs rather than how the patient performs, which is how you get journal articles with titles like <em>Physiological responses of dentists to the presence of a parent in the operatory</em>.</p>\n\n<p>The tide started shifting more than 20 years ago.</p>\n\n<p>Getting outside of the law here, I found this document which demonstrates the lengths to which the AAPD is going to inform its members of the benefits of parental involvement. <a href=\"http://www.aapd.org/media/policies_guidelines/g_behavguide.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.aapd.org/media/policies_guidelines/g_behavguide.pdf</a> Just take a read through the bibliography to get a feel for what your child's dentist <em>should</em> have been reading.</p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "health", "florida" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6601, "body": "<p>It's the interstate commerce clause. Because of how the modern economy works. there's really pretty much nothing that's confined to a single state in its effects and doesn't affect other states. Almost any law can be justified as a regulation of interstate commerce these days, especially if that law is actually directly about commercial activity.</p>\n\n<p>The big case to cite here is <em>United States v. Darby</em> (<a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1183543472021488573\" rel=\"nofollow\">312 US 100</a>). This case tested a federal minimum wage law which banned shipping goods in interstate commerce where they were produced by people paid less than minimum wage, and also banned the employment of those people at less than minimum wage in that context. The Supreme Court found this law constitutional, even though the manufacturing employees weren't personally engaged in interstate commerce, because the employer <em>was</em> engaged in interstate commerce and regulating production was a permissible way to regulate that commerce.</p>\n\n<p>Now, after that decision, there was a major broadening of what was allowed to be regulated under the interstate commerce clause. In <em>Wickard v. Filburn</em> (<a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17396018701671434685\" rel=\"nofollow\">317 US 111</a>), the Supreme Court ruled that the appropriate test to see whether something could be regulated as interstate commerce was whether it had a \"substantial economic effect\" on interstate commerce. Under this rule, federal regulation under the commerce clause is very far-reaching. It supports extending a minimum wage to domestic service workers (<a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6853240429044189885\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Marshall v. Rose</em></a>, a Fourth Circuit case from 1980); it supports extending EEOC rules to state employers (<a href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/460/226/case.html\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>EEOC v. Wyoming</em></a>); it supports a <em>lot</em> of things.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "constitutional-law" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6606, "body": "<p>Inform him of what you intend to do and by what by what date. Make sure that you can document that you did give him notice -- so not sure sure if Whatsapp/text would do -- I would use a registered letter, and a letter which is also sent in CC to your solicitor.</p>\n\n<p>He can always sue you, but he does not stand to win if you can show that you have given him fair warning.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "england-and-wales" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6580, "body": "<p>It looks to me like this is authorized under New York State's <a href=\"http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/executive-law/exc-sect-24.html\">Executive Law Section 24</a>. The text is long, but I think it addresses most of the points in your question.</p>\n\n<p>The law allows the chief executive of a local government (e.g. mayor of a city) to declare a local state of emergency \"in the event of a disaster, rioting, catastrophe, or similar public emergency\". Under such a state of emergency, the executive can promulgate local emergency orders, that can include provisions like travel bans, curfews, mandatory evacuation, etc. Violating such an order is a Class B misdemeanor (see paragraph 5).</p>\n\n<p>I didn't see any explicit requirement for the executive to weigh safety benefits against restriction of personal liberties. The executive just has to \"find\" (i.e. decide) that a disaster exists and imperils public safety.</p>\n\n<p>However, there are some safeguards. The local state of emergency is limited to 30 days (some orders can be extended for an additional 30 days); see paragraph 1. And the state legislature has the authority to terminate the state of emergency by a concurrent resolution (paragraph 8).</p>\n\n<p>Further good reading is a <a href=\"http://www.dhses.ny.gov/laws-policies/documents/2012-2-B-Primer-Q-A.pdf\">primer (PDF)</a> written by the legal counsel of New York's Office of Emergency Management, giving a guide in layman's language for local chief executives on how to handle state of emergency declarations.</p>\n\n<p>I'm slightly puzzled as to why, in this case, the order was given by the governor, when it looks from the law like it should be the mayor's role to do so. It could be that the mayor took the appropriate legal action and just let the governor make the public announcement. Also, Executive Law Article 2-B (Sections 20-29) have many other provisions regarding emergencies. <a href=\"http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/executive-law/exc-sect-28.html\">Section 28</a> gives the governor the power to declare a \"disaster emergency\", though it's not clear from that section whether this includes the power to issue similar emergency orders.</p>\n", "score": 24 } ]

[ "united-states", "new-york-state", "travel", "transportation" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6587, "body": "<p>Under most countries' copyright laws, the copyright exists as soon as a work is created. The copyright generally becomes enforceable upon registration of the copyright. Most works that are marked \"© 2016\" have not actually had their copyright registered at the time the copyright mark is embedded in the work.</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "copyright" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6594, "body": "<p>The ™ symbol, is similar to the (c) symbol. There are both used to assert trademarks and copyright respectively. ™ is for unregistered trademarks, while (r) is.</p>\n\n<p>As Dale points out, it's illegal to assert or use a trademark that isn't yours, as it is false and misleading. Using a trademark that is not yours is known as <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_piracy\" rel=\"nofollow\">brand piracy</a>.</p>\n", "score": 0 } ]

[ "trademark" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6565, "body": "<p>Yes, you can grant any license you want to your larger work.</p>\n\n<p>With respect to Creative Commons, <a href=\"https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#May_I_apply_a_CC_license_to_my_work_if_it_incorporates_material_used_under_fair_use_or_another_exception_or_limitation_to_copyright.3F\" rel=\"noreferrer\">they provide guidance</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>May I apply a CC license to my work if it incorporates material used\n under fair use or another exception or limitation to copyright?</p>\n \n <p>Yes, but it is important to prominently mark any third party material\n you incorporate into your work so reusers do not think the CC license\n applies to that material. The CC license only applies to the rights\n you have in the work. For example, if your CC-licensed slide deck\n includes a Flickr image you are using pursuant to fair use, make sure\n to identify that image as not being subject to the CC license. For\n more information about incorporating work owned by others, see our\n page about <a href=\"https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Marking/Creators/Marking_third_party_content\" rel=\"noreferrer\">marking third party content</a>. Read more considerations for\n licensors <a href=\"https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Considerations_for_licensors_and_licensees#Considerations_for_licensors\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>With respect to MIT License for software, I don't think that many of the reasons for fair use apply to using someone else's source code in your project.</p>\n\n<p>If you're creating criticism, commentary, news, or educational material, you probably have more than just code. You should choose a more appropriate license for the complete work (like a Creative Commons License).</p>\n\n<p>Taking someone's software source code and trying to use it under fair use may also lead to issues when you consider other factors, such as the purpose of the use, the amount included in the larger work, and the effect of value on the copyrighted work.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not finding a lot of cases regarding fair use in software. Galoob v. Nintendo found that you can modify copyrighted software for personal use (not relevant to this discussion). Sega v. Accolade found that copying software for reverse engineering was fair use under certain conditions (again, not relevant here).</p>\n\n<p>If you are attempting to use anything under fair use, regardless of the license that you apply to your larger work, you do need to ensure that you do not give the impression that each individual piece of that work is also under that licence once extracted. That's why you need to clearly mark which portions are used pursuant to fair use. If those portions are extracted from the larger work, then the original restrictions to use apply. However, someone can use the larger work under the license you grant.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I just wanted to add this brief section to be extremely clear.</p>\n\n<p>When you are producing a work, you can choose a license for that work. If you are incorporating someone else's work into your own work, there are two possibilities:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You obtain the other person's work under a license. You must abide by this license and all of its requirements. Some licenses are viral in nature, which restrict the licenses that you can apply to the larger work.</p></li>\n<li><p>You use the other person's work under fair use. In this case, you need to properly attribute the work and identify that it is not available under the same license as the larger work. Someone that extracts that smaller portion must abide by the copyright of that work. If it's available under a particular license, they can choose to use that license or under fair use if they are able to. Someone using your complete combined work uses your license.</p></li>\n</ol>\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ "copyright", "fair-use", "creative-commons" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6570, "body": "<p>A thing needs to be <em>original</em> in order for it to get copyright protection.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102\" rel=\"noreferrer\">17 USC §102</a>: \"Copyright protection subsists [...] in original works of authorship\"</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/page-3.html#h-5\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Copyright Act Section 5 (1)</a>: \"copyright shall subsist in Canada [...] in every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work...\"</p>\n\n<p>In the US, originality requires \"a modicum of creativity\" (<a href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/499/340/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Feist Pubs., Inc. v. Rural Tel. Svc. Co., Inc.</a> \n499 U.S. 340 (1991).</p>\n\n<p>In Canada, originality requires an \"exercise of skill and judgment\" and that \"not be so trivial that it could be characterized as a purely mechanical exercise\" (<a href=\"http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2004/2004scc13/2004scc13.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada</a>, [2004] 1 SCR 339).</p>\n\n<p>Text transcribed from a public domain source would not be given copyright protection.</p>\n", "score": 6 } ]

[ "copyright" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6562, "body": "<p>How much does your company have in assets? When you dissolve the company, and the company has £100,000 in assets that gets distributed to the share holders, then you would most likely be liable up to those £100,000 if problems creep up. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you extracted £100,000 from the company as a loan, then closed down the company, you would also most likely be liable up to those £100,000. </p>\n\n<p>If there were no assets, no outstanding loans and so on, you should be quite safe. And of course you might know whether you have done something that you could be sued for. </p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-kingdom", "liability", "insurance" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6560, "body": "<p>The Berne Convention is the treaty that creates international copyright.</p>\n\n<p>The existence and duration of copyright is determined by the law in the country of first publication. If you publish these things first in Finland they have no copyright anywhere; if you publish first in say USA, they have copyright everywhere including Finland.</p>\n\n<p>However, the law for determining if there is a breach is the jurisdiction where the breach occurs. So even though these snippets may have copyright protection in Finland by virtue of first publication elsewhere; their use may be allowed under Finnish copyright law.</p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "copyright", "international" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6559, "body": "<p>A person should register to vote in their state of residence. Aka the state where they claim to be a resident. Unfortunately, residency is defined by the individual states and the definitions aren't consistent. Even more unfortunate is that the state where a person is registered to vote is often used as a criteria in determining a person's state of residency. So, chicken and egg. Unfortunate on top of that is that residency requirements are different according to purpose. For example you may fit a definition of resident for the purpose of vehicle registration but not for income tax purposes.</p>\n\n<p>The important thing is to be consistent. If a student claims to be a resident of her home state so she doesn't have to change her vehicle registration, she should not claim the school state in order to get out of income tax (or any such things). After consistency, be reasonable. Based on your facts, I think FL is the best bet. She lives there and intends to live there. That's also a good place to pay taxes! But there's the rub. If she tries to claim FL as her residency for income tax purposes someone might take issue with the fact that she hasn't moved her drivers license.</p>\n\n<p>TLDR; plan to register where you'll live when the election happens. If anything is glaringly wrong with that plan, seek alternatives. There is nothing glaringly wrong with registering to vote in FL. </p>\n\n<p>Oops, forgot to add, this document purports to summarize state laws regarding registration: <a href=\"http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/Federal%20Voter%20Registration_6-25-14_ENG.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/Federal%20Voter%20Registration_6-25-14_ENG.pdf</a></p>\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ "united-states", "voting" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6553, "body": "<p>Yes, this is okay. </p>\n\n<p>Creative Commons licenses don't mandate the way that you must attribute. As long as the original creator of the work is attributed in some way <em>that is accessible</em> to whoever would like it. If it's not necessarily accessible, then you've probably got a problem. </p>\n\n<p>However, the EXIF metadata doesn't really sound good because it's not really accessible to people. The reason for attribution is so that the original author of the work can be credited. If no one knows who the original author is, then what's the point of the license (it's better off in something like the public domain). </p>\n\n<p>If your email uses HTML formatting, you could probably get away with something like:</p>\n\n<pre><code>&lt;sup&gt;Image found from \"URL\"&lt;/sup&gt;\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>^{That should be less obtrusive, right?}</p>\n", "score": 1 } ]

[ "licensing", "creative-commons" ]

[ { "answer_id": 6017, "body": "<p>I can't see why it would be illegal. For example, Microsoft was even forced to publish file formats, which would be rather pointless if you couldn't output to that file format. </p>\n\n<p>There was the situation where compressing images to the .gif format had legal problems because the compression algorithm was patented, but someone found a way to output images to the .gif file format without doing any compression, which turned out to be absolutely legal and not covered by that patent. </p>\n\n<p>When you output to a file format, you are not copying any information of the company. In the extreme case that the file format requires you to copy such information (for example if the file format requires that the first line of the file is \"This file format may only be used by ABC company. Any use by any other company is copyright infringement. \", and software refuses to read files without that line of text, then this line is required to be there and therefore doesn't fall under copyright. (In the early years of PCs, IBM computers had the letters \"IBM\" somewhere in the BIOS, and some software checked for these letters and refused to run if they were not there. Result: Copying these three letters into your own BIOS was legal. )</p>\n\n<p>The DMCA is about circumventing copy protection to copy someone else's copyrighted works. (There is another part having to do with protecting ISPs and websites from getting sued; has nothing to do with this at all). You are not circumventing copy protection, and you are not copying someone else's copyrighted works, so the DMCA doesn't come into this. </p>\n", "score": 2 } ]

[ "copyright", "dmca" ]