Many older books printed for the UK market (most notably *The Great Gatsby*) had text on the back cover resembling the following:

>
> For copyright reasons this book is not for sale in the U.S.A.
>
>
>

Under [*Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtsaeng_v._John_Wiley_%26_Sons,_Inc.), I'm pretty sure this has no legal meaning in the US any more, but I have some questions:

* What was the historical basis for this notice?
* Is this notice indeed legally void in the United States under *Kirtsaeng* (assuming the book was lawfully acquired in the UK or its territories)? In other works, could I legally sell such a book in the US?

Kirtsaeng and books from the UK marked "not for sale in the U.S.A."


This is with reference to [Section 9(1) (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1999](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/382675/).

I got an objection regarding my trademark application under the above section.

The examination reports it as :

>
> The above mentioned application has been examined under the provisions
>  of Trade Mark Act,1999 and Trade Mark Rules,2002 and the trade mark
>  applied for is open to objection under the following sections :
>
>
> 1. The objection is raised under S 9(1) (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1999, as the mark consists exclusively of words or indications
>  which may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity,
>  intended purpose, values, geographical origin or the time of
>  production of the goods or rendering of the service or other
>  characteristics of the goods or service;
>
>
>

I would like to see some examples on how people have responded to such objections. Appreciate your help in this regard. Thanks

Trade Marks Act 1999: How to respond to objection as per Section 9(1) (b)


About 15 years ago while my father was working 55 hour weeks being paid $8/hr, he completed his taxi license and started working more hours a week as a taxi driver. On the highway, one of his passengers struck him with a hammer on the back of his head landing him in the hospital for a few months for no apparent reason.

My father, being an immigrant, did not understand the law or his rights so did not pursue the issue further, despite police catching the individual in question.

I, his son, would like to look at this case and pursue it, despite my father's unwillingness to do so. Is there a way that I, independently, can figure out the identity of the criminal. The city in question is Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Is there a criminal database for my city Calgary


What law is broke if someone subscribes another person's email to several explicit websites?

What law is violated when someone subscribes another person's email to several websites?


I'm having a hard time finding what the copyright law would be on teaching others through videos, what I've learned from professors in college. How does copyright apply to such a thing? Can I make a video of me writing out what I've learned, or should I change the material completely?

Even if I change it, isn't it still considered getting the information from my previous instructors? And possibly copyright infringement?

But if so, then pretty much every bit of code that any one has ever learned was learned from some source, and if they teach any thing in a video, it's copyright infringement. So I'm very confused on this topic.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

copyright of teaching (in video) learned coding techniques


A designer drew a logo for me. It is an artistic representation of a lamp screen with recognizable traits, together with text. The original lamp was created more than 100 years ago, in the early 1900s. The specific lamp used as model for this artistic representation is a newer one made by someone else, but it maintains the main traits of the original.

Originally, the design was patented, but the patent expired long ago. Many manufacturers have mass produced their versions of this lamp later, and variants are for sale everywhere. Still, I am wondering if there may be copyright at play here: The original creator died less than 70 years ago.

Can using this logo create any problems for me? Can laws vary from country to country, making this problematic only in some countries?

(I want to use a nickname that is associated with this type of lamp together with the logo. The name is not trademarked in any domain. Also, I should note that my product has nothing to do with lamps.)

Artistic representation of 100+ year old lamp


If company A contracts company B to be paid by the hour, and company B contracts an individual C, also paid by the hour, is it legal for company B to pass on the hours their own contractor C billed them for to company A is if the individual C were company B's employee?

Real world example: a company is contracting a software development LLC for some development worked paid by the hour. The software development LLC wants to hire a tester via contract to test this software for a few hours. The softwere dev LLC pays their tester, then bills the hours the tester works on the client's project to their client.

I know that companies bill their clients for hours their on-payroll **employees** worked, but my question is specifically whether or not the hours of one contractor can be passed on by another to their client for working on the client's project.

Also, the question is regarding United States law.

Passing on contractor hours


I was wondering what laws, if any, restrict donating money to criminals who have committed crimes which you support and want to encourage (lets assume the motivations are not necessarily so explicitly stated).

Musings:
On the one hand this seems basically the same as paying someone to commit a crime.
But on the other hand, accused criminals get donated money all the time to fight the ensuing court battle. Which seems like something that is clearly legal.

*This is in response to the recent flurry of donations and 100K bail given to the man who assaulted Dylann Roof. And was just wondering how exactly the law applies to such unique situations.*

Giving Someone Money Because of a Criminal Act?


I am working on some software for a business I want too open. I want to try my best at creating my own terms of use until I get enough money too hire a lawyer to help me through all the legal stuff.

If my business got sued and it lost, am I personally responsible for the assets? Is there a chance I could go to jail? Of course I don't want to be sued and I don't think I'll be sued but I want to know the worst case scenario. Is it that my business goes under or that I may have to pay out of pocket ect.

This business will be a website that

* allows people to post videos and charge money for them
* The business will take a certain percent of the money

I plan to do everything on my own and do not want to include anyone in this business. I live in Michigan, United States.

Is there personal liability when a business gets sued?


Lets say I design an entertainment app and when I finish the app I realize that there is a lot of fowl language and want to use a GNU library for something like checking for curse words.

Would using a library as such be a problem legally for selling my product later? (or having it as a closed source project)

GNU GPL license question


I needed a variety of yard work done around my house. I found a contractor and scheduled him to come out and give an estimate. He did not show up on time to give the estimate. However, that is typical in the business. However, I did try to contact him a few times, with no response. I was not happy and started looking for another contractor. He did show up several hours later and gave me an estimate. We ended up agreeing on a price and scheduled the work to be done 5 or 6 days later at an unscheduled time on Sunday. He said it would be "after Church." Sunday came and I tried texting him a few times with no response. He was a no show. While at work Monday, I started looking for another contractor. When I arrived home from work, I saw that all the work had been done in my absence. He did not contact me in any way, just left a bill in my door. He did everything requested and did a good - not great - job. If I had been there, I would have had him touch up a few areas. However, I was satisfied with what was done and mailed him a check.

However, I was wondering what would have happened if I didnt want him to do the work. Verbally, we said Sunday. Can he just show up Monday and do the job without my permission? I wouldnt think so. Im in Virginia, if that makes a difference.

Delivering services at a later date


When a web-application is finished we minify our source and combine all different CSS and JS files into one, to speed up the performance (pageload).

As I thought about it, I recognize that some tools delete all comments (from source) so that you've to add the copyright information on the correct place afterwards.

So I came to the idea to reformat this information.

Here a example what I mean, default copyright-informations:

```
/*! jQuery v1.11.3 | (c) 2005, 2015 jQuery Foundation, Inc. | jquery.org/license */ {minfied source code}

/*
 * responsive-carousel ajax include extension
 * https://github.com/filamentgroup/responsive-carousel
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2012 Filament Group, Inc.
 * Licensed under the MIT, GPL licenses.
 */

/*!
    Slimbox v2.05 - The ultimate lightweight Lightbox clone for jQuery
    (c) 2007-2013 Christophe Beyls <http://www.digitalia.be>
    MIT-style license.
*/

```

To something like this:

```
/*
 * Name         Version    Licence-Type    Licence-URL       Copyright    Copyright-Owner           Source
 *
 * jQuery       1.11.3     MIT             URL-TO-LICENCE    2005-2015    jQuery Foundation, Inc    URL-TO-SOURCE
 * jQuery UI    1.11.4     MIT             URL-TO-LICENCE    2015         jQuery Foundation, Inc    URL-TO-SOURCE
 * Slimbox      2.05       MIT-style       URL-TO-LICENCE    2007-2013    Christophe Beyls          URL-TO-SOURCE
 */

```

But the question is... is that allowd/legal? Or is this already then a copyright/licence-issue? In the licence text I don't found informations about that.

**edited:** URL-TO-Phrases for URLs, because stackexchange identifys doubles as spam.

Recreate copyright information on merged and minified files


This question is closely related to:
[How do community websites and forums defend against copyright claims?](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/19746/how-do-community-websites-and-forums-defend-against-copyright-claims), but it didn't exactly answer my question as my question is about servers based in Europe.

If a server is hosted in Germany, what courses of action could the site admin take in order to defend themselves against copyright infringements of user posted content? (E.g. pictures from Tumblr etc)

I noticed that America usually uses the DMCA or the fair-use policy (as mentioned in the linked question), but I doubt it is the same in Germany. Would a similar approach work as American forums have? (e.g. put it in their policies that copyright infringement needs to be removed) Or are bigger measures to be taken because the law in Germany seems to be more strict?

What EU law regulates the service providers liabilities and responsibilities for user posted content?


What are the possible legal implications, and what possible recourse is there for a visitor from outside Germany, when a German website has an Impressum section with invalid contact information?

The background for my question is that I want to reach a site owner regarding a web site which took over a domain name which used to be in my possession. I don't particularly have a problem with the site, I'd just like to get in touch regarding the possibility of setting up some redirects. But so far, every attempt, by email or phone, including whois contact information as well as impressum, has been unsuccessful.

My - admittedly speculative and somewhat vague - line of thinking is that, since the law presumably requires the Impressum information to be correct, the hosting and possible other upstream providers should be able to coerce the guy into providing contact information; even though they likely cannot volunteer his private contact information, they must have an obligation to pressure their customer to rectify the situation if they are notified of a violation.

Be that as it may, where can I turn to hopefully get the situation fixed?

I'm in the EU, if that makes a difference. I can probably produce a few sentences of roughly intelligible German if need be.

Invalid information in Impressum on German web site


I hope this is the right place to ask this kind of question!

I am a videogame streamer on twitch.tv. It is pretty common to have a so called donation button there. It is a button where you can support your streamer with a little tip so he can buy a beer or the next cool game with it. The method which is used the most for those transactions is Paypal. In Paypal you can make chargebacks as a "buyer" (the donator) and the "seller" (the streamer) has to refund the money and has to pay refund fee to Paypal. Since there are people who think it is funny to donate you 1000€ and then chargeback the money so you have to pay back a fee you have to make a proper statement on your page to obviously display the situation so you have a higher probability of winning the dispute that might follow, because obviously you don't want to support this fraud behaviour. On my donation page I have the following statement at the moment

>
> You don't purchase any kind of product or service with this payment.
>  With this transaction you donate to my stream to support it. Donations
>  are non-refundable! If there are any questions regarding the donation,
>  please feel free to contact me at my@email.com
>
>
>

Is this actually enough to protect myself from chargebacks and defend myself later on from people who want to get their money back?

I am sorry for my bad English, it is not my native language!

Paypal chargebacks


The father of my wife (from Germany) died in London 10 years ago, with a different name, but with the same family name (for example was born in Germany with the name Johannes Doe, and in London died with the name Michael Doe. The problem he had a different identity, and this one used in London was fake, because he has alot of problems and he tried to escape).

He had different bank accounts in London, but when my wife asked some people there, they said since the name is different, she doesn't have any right to this money.

Is there any way to resolve this problem(to prove that my wife is the daughter of this person dead in London)?

How do we claim the estate of someone who died under a different name in a different country?


I want to translate Turkish sentences through Google Translate for the purpose of using it in a work. Is this subject to copyright?

Google translations and copyright


I would have thought this would've been asked already, but I searched this site and the Internet, and I couldn't find anything. Apologies if this is a duplicate.

As computers become increasingly autonomous, there have already been a handful of incidents where computers have done things that would be criminal for a person to do. For example, a self-driving car killed a pedestrian, and a Twitter bot made a death threat. Moreover, both of these computers were essentially operating under their own decision-making processes and were not directly controlled by any human.

Could it be possible for prosecutors to file criminal charges against a computer? Is there some standard of sentience that the computer would have to achieve in order to indict it?
(United States)

Could You Indict a Computer?


If I use the blogging platform Medium, to which extent can I (not) reuse the content I have published there on a personal blog website? My naive view on that matter is:

* I am still the owner of the text and can republish it anywhere, same goes for own or public domain images
* I can use links with text and image previews on my own blog, linking to Medium-posts
* I cannot embed Medium posts in an Iframe on my own site
* I cannot copy comments from medium which belong to their rightful owner, even if I participate in the discussion under the article

Is that correct?

Can I copy & paste an entire article from Medium if it's written by me?


I just read the following in [an article](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/02/three-musketeers-convicted-of-plotting-terrorist-attack) in The Guardian (emphasis mine):

>
> In prison they met their co-defendant Rahman, 32, one of nine men prosecuted in connection with a plan to attack the London stock exchange, **who was serving five years for owning copies of an al-Qaida magazine**. On the witness stand, Hussain said Rahman was “domineering, paranoid, weird and had a lot of contact with MI5”.
>
>
>

Is there really any law that makes it illegal to own copies of a publication? We punish thoughtcrime, these days? Is this an error in the newspaper or is there actually a law that permits people to be prosecuted (and even jailed for years!) for simply possessing a document?

Please note that I am not asking about cases where the possession of the document was presented as evidence of someone's worldview when they have been caught committing a crime. I am asking if the possession of a document1 can ever be considered criminal.

---

1Obviously, I am not talking about stolen documents or even certain classes of pornography whose very existence (photographs) implies an illegal act took place.

Is there a law in the UK that makes possession of specific publications illegal?


I recently purchased an LLC via LegalZoom and they made a mistake by adding a comma in my LLC Name. I was told that I had to cough up over $150 just to get it corrected through them so I wanted to do it on my own as the filing fee is only $30 or $45 if I wanted to drop it off.

The form is located here: <http://bpd.cdn.sos.ca.gov/llc/forms/llc-11.pdf>

My issue is that I don't know what some of these fields are for. What do I put in "4. Parties to the Document Being Corrected" and in "Document Provision"?

For the parties to the document being corrected, I assumed it would be LegalZoom, Inc. but maybe it's the Secretary of State? Not sure what to put in that field and if I am even allowed to correct it.

Current LLC is "Company, LLC", want it corrected to "Company LLC".

How to correct an LLC Entity Name in California?


In other words. if some evidence (but not conclusive) exists of somebody else comitting a crime, can a defence lawyer use this when representing their client?
For instance, in the Glen Sebastian Burns and Atif Ahmad Rafay case, where the two were accused of murdering the latter's parents, there was an FBI informant that had told the police that Islamic fundamentalists may have been responsible, although the police did not pursue this line of inquiry. Could a defence lawyer raise something like that in court?

Can a criminal defence lawyer talk about the possible guilt of other suspects when defending their client?


**EDIT:**

My original title focused on the union, but I changed it to include the employer. They're both working hand in hand against the interests of the employees/dues-paying union members.

---

Imagine a Corporation (C) that's affiliated with a union (U). They agree on a contract that says extra work should go to more senior people. If the company needs to call people to work an extra shift, it is supposed to call the most senior people first.

However, the company blatantly ignores the contract, recruiting the LEAST senior people.

When an employee with seniority with high seniority files a grievance, C and U both lie, intimidate and stonewall. For example, the union claims the company won't give them its payroll records, making it impossible for them to know who worked when. And when the company finally hands the records over - three months later - the union won't let the grievance see the records.

The union also makes grievance jump through all kinds of hoops. If you file a grievance, you're expected to do all the detective work - cite a particular less senior worker, with details (time, date, location) and have it signed by a witness. The irony is that there could be a dozen less senior people who worked that day, a fact the payroll records could easily prove.

But the union refuses to go on a "fishing expedition."

Long story short, grievances are typically solved six to nine months after they're filed, and the grievants never expect to get more than about 30% of what they're owed.

The state Dept. of Labor says "contact the National Labor Board." The National Labor Board says a contract - and its interpretation - is between C and U; they can do whatever they want.

Is that really the end of the road, or is there some kind of legal or quasi-legal action one could take? If you know the company and union are both withholding information, lying, delaying payouts, etc., can you cite them for violating any particular laws? What about a union that "interprets" and enforces the contract two different ways, giving its cronies all their support while thumbing their nose at everyone else?

It appears that the only recourse would be legal action, but it's hard to determine whether any laws have been violated. Moreover, the employee can't afford to hire an attorney. Would this be case that the ACLU or some other organization might help with?

How can one fight an unfair/corrupt employer/union (working hand in hand)?


If a vendor clearly ignores PCI-DSS regulations and puts my personal credit card information at risk, is there any legal action I can take against them?

In the case at hand, a vendor first scanned my hand-written order form with a phone (likely a personal smartphone) and then sent that scan to me in an unencrypted email. But this is not the first case in which a vendor has mistreated my information like this.

While I have not (yet) incurred any actual damage, I would like to be able to do my part in making vendors aware of their obligations. So far I usually send a nice email reminding them of the PCI-DSS regulations. But I always feel like that these emails are ignored at best. Is there some form of cease and desist that I can apply in this case? Is there a place or organization that I should notify? Should I sue them?

Can I sue a PCI violator


Can the writer of a contract attempt to trick the signer using defined terms? Is such a contract binding or void, and can the writer get into trouble for doing so (eg. for misrepresentation)? Two types of scenarios that I want to ask about:

1. When a defined term in the contract carry a much narrower, or much broader meaning than the common meaning. For example, can a contract define a term "Image" (as in a picture) to mean any computer file, or to mean any image showing a red flower?
2. When the defined meaning is completely incompatible with the common sense meaning. For example, can a contract define an "Text file" as a file with the `.png` extension?

Does the answer change if the defined term, when used normally, starts with a capital letter (eg. if "SVG file" is defined as a `.png` file), so the reader is less likely to suspect the term has been defined in the contract itself?

Does the answer change if this happened in another legal document, such as a EULA, where the person agreeing does not have a chance to call the writer of the document out?

Is it legal to redefine a term against common sense in a contract


Small claims generally do not allow service by publication. If the defendant cannot be found you have to pursue a real lawsuit. This will not be worthwhile unless there is tens of thousands of dollars involved.

Is it very difficult to collect a debt if the defendant cannot be served?


If a supreme court judge makes a sentence which violates the constitution, who is violating the law, those who follows the sentence, or those who follows the constitution? Can people in executive power positions be judged later, in other governments or under other judges, for violating the constitution, even if they were following the sentence of a supreme court judge? And how about the judge himself, can he be judged?

If a supreme court judge makes a constitution violation sentence, are those who follows it violating the law, or those who follows the constitution?


Under the GDPR, any company doing business in the EU must remove EU users' personal data upon request from that user.

Since the statute only applies to persons present in the EU, are companies legally permitted to demand that a user requesting personal data removal supply proof that they are present in the EU, so that they can deny the request to those outside?

Do companies have the right to demand proof of being present in the EU before executing a GDPR request?


Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but here we go...

I am planning to create a VR game where the user will be able to watch movies. One of the issues I have thought about would be licensing for the movies, obviously I can't afford to pay huge licensing bills for a game that may not get any sort of revenue, and I want to have a large selection of movies.

I have thought that it could technically be used as a video player, but I want it to be more of a cinema simulator, where people can connect and have a virtual representation of themselves in the cinema, when a person connects they will viewing at the same point the movie is at. (as if you walk in to the cinema late and start watching)

I don't have much knowledge of this area so I was hoping one of you can help me.

Movie Licensing


Opening or throwing out mail addressed to someone else, such as a previous tenant, is a felony with possible jail time and a statute of limitations of five years. But when is this ever prosecuted? If you know this crime has occurred, who should you report it to?

Who prosecutes the crime of opening someone else's mail?


Imagine this scenario: I have a web site where I offer some freeware applications for Windows that are not Open Source (but perhaps are going to be in the future). I'm going to upload a new application that has a plugin architecture, therefore I need to provide the source code for the plugin interfaces that are written in C#. Under which licence should I publish those interfaces? When the interfaces to the plugins are the only piece of source code you are giving away is a licence really necessary?

Open Source Licence


On Workplace.SE, "[My employer wants me to a sign an NDA that is backdated more than 2 years](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/q/71582/18412)" describes the following scenario:

* OP is an employee working on a project
* OP has been working (for 7 years as an employee and for 2 on this project) without an NDA
* Their employer now wants them to sign an NDA for the project, backdated two years (i.e. dated two years ago to the start of the project).

The OP's jurisdiction is presumably Texas.

My question, is it legal to backdate an NDA like that? Is it a civil contract whose parties are allowed to agree (even retroactively) than an NDA is in place? Or could doing so (backdating such a document) be considered fraud, forgery, or anything illegal, or even for some reason ethically or morally wrong?

It seems to me that it might be legal (assuming that I as the employee were willing to sign it) because as an employee I'd assume that some NDA was in place even if haven't signed one (so it's as if the agreement or meeting of minds was in place even before it was documented).

On the other hand it also appears to be creating a false document, so, I don't know.

Is it legal to backdate an agreement?


It's against gender equality to draft men. But it is part of the constitution.

Is there any possibility to "attack" the constitution by going to a judge? Isn't gender equality part of the EU law set, so actually the constitution is actually breaking laws?

The military conscription is in my eyes very discriminating, useless, costs a lot, brakes males development (they could have worked, traveled or studied instead) and against equality. Furthermore you have to be checked by a random doctor (no self-determination about your own body), you have to go to an IQ-test (because there actually are people to stupid for the military conscription?) and then **you have to** sign a document, that you lose some of your rights, like you may not demonstrate or talk bad about the military and so on. If you don't want to, you have to do some social work.

Is there any possibility to attack this law? And how to (where should I go to with this)?

Thank you very much in advance!

Military Conscription in Denmark


I am about to self-publish my first novel using a pen name. I will be registering the copyright this week.

My question is, on the first page of the novel where you put all the publishing/copyright info, should I say that the novel is copyright of my pen name, in order to protect my true identity?

Example, let's say my real name is Jane Smith and my pen name is Denise Smithers. I will register the copyright with the copyright office using my real name (but will also write what my pen name is), but I don't want to put that on the book as I want that kept private.

If I write (c) Denise Smithers, will that imply that the copyright belongs to the actual person behind the pen name?

I know that the copyright belongs to me anyway, but I still want to add that copyright line to my novel.

How to express copyright when you use a pen name


Bob wrote a solution manual for book X. (solution manual = a manual that presents solutions for some/all exercises of the book)

Is Bob authorized to publish it, given that Bob hasn't written book X and doesn't own any right on it?

Book X was written and published in the United States, and Bob plans to publish the solution manual in the United States (either on Internet or on paper, and either free of charge or with a charge).

Am I authorized to publish a solution manual for a book I haven't written?


To keep it short, I’m an online personality and LLC. I keep my online life separate from my personal life for obvious reasons. However, I received an alarming message on my non-work account on instagram from someone stating that they know me in real life and is going to expose me. I know they’re not lying because they gave details on who they know I’m friends with. I ignored the message and have yet to respond so I don’t know what they want from me. Obviously, I’m assuming they’re trying to blackmail me because after I ignored the message they said “I guess you want to be exposed?”.

I don’t tell anyone what I do online and I don’t tell anyone online about my personal life. They’ve been tagging my work account under photos of my friends accounts exposing what I do online. Is there any legal issues at what this person is doing?

Legal issues regarding my personal information?


1. How does "indemnity" differ from "restitutionary/reliance damages"?
2. Why do these four textbooks all still write "indemnity", when the first textbook quoted below advises it's "more accurate to describe it as a personal
restitutionary claim"?

McKendrick. [*Contract Law: Text, Cases, and Materials* (2018 8 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contract-Law-Text-Cases-Materials/dp/019880816X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p 611.

>
> (e) RESCISSION AND AN ‘INDEMNITY’
> ---------------------------------
>
>
> A claimant who rescinds a contract may also be able to bring a claim for what is often referred
>  to as an indemnity, **although it is probably more accurate to describe it as a personal
>  restitutionary claim.** In *Whittington v. Seale-Hayne* (1900) 82 LT 49 the plaintiff entered
>  into a lease of a farm which he intended to use for breeding prize poultry. He was induced
>  to enter into the lease by misrepresentations made by the defendant that the premises were
>  in a good state of repair and in a sanitary condition. The premises were not sanitary and
>  the buildings were in a state of disrepair. As a result the plaintiff became ill and many of the
>  birds died. The plaintiff claimed that he was entitled to set aside the lease and recover an
>  indemnity in respect of the losses which he had suffered in the performance of the contract
>  before it was set aside. It was held that he was not entitled to recover an indemnity in respect
>  of the loss of his birds and the illness which he suffered. At the time at which the case
>  was decided damages could only be recovered in respect of a fraudulent misrepresentation
>
>
>

p 612.

>
> (see p. 596, Section 5) and the plaintiff could not establish that the defendant had made
>  the misrepresentations fraudulently. But the plaintiff was able to recover the rent paid and
>  the cost of the repair work that had been done pursuant to an order issued by the local authority.
>  These obligations were imposed on him by the terms of the lease. The reason for his
>  entitlement to recover these payments was that they had resulted in an enrichment to the
>  defendant (either through the direct payment of rent or by carrying out the work ordered
>  by the local authority) and, when the lease was set aside, the defendant became subject to
>  a restitutionary liability to repay to the plaintiff the value of the benefits which he had received
>  as a result of the plaintiff’s performance of his obligations under the lease. But he was
>  not subject to any wider liability to pay compensation to the plaintiff for the losses which
>  he had suffered.
>
>
>

[Richard](https://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/richard-taylor.php) and [Damian](https://www.slaughterandmay.com/who-we-are/partners/damian-taylor/) Taylor. [*Contract Law Directions* (2019 7 ed)](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/contract-law-directions-9780198836599?&lang=en&). p 185.

>
> ### Indemnity for expenses incurred under an obligation
>
>
> An ancillary order which can also be made along with rescission (even for innocent misrepresentation)
>  is the award of an indemnity. This is a monetary award but should not be confused
>  with damages as it is much more limited. It only covers expenditure which the
>  representee was obliged to incur under the terms of the contract which is being rescinded
>  and which has benefited the other party. It is a restitutionary rather than compensatory remedy
>  and is part of the restitution to the starting position which rescission is designed to
>  achieve. If money has been paid directly to the other party then of course it will be returned
>  as part of the remedy of rescission itself; the indemnity is instead concerned with payments
>  made under the contract to third parties. In *Whittington v Seale-Hayne* (1900) the indemnity
>  included money paid out in rates and to do repairs which the tenant was obliged to do under
>  the lease and which benefited the landlord directly, but it did not extend to medical expenses
>  and loss of stock which, although foreseeable, were not incurred under an obligation contained
>  in the lease. (These latter, and other items claimed, would only be recoverable if a right
>  to damages could have been established, which at the time would have meant proving
>  fraud—the increased availability of damages today would mean that the limited right to an
>  indemnity is less commonly relevant.)
>
>
>

Paul Davies. [*JC Smith's The Law of Contract* (2018 2 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smiths-Law-Contract-Paul-Davies/dp/0198807813/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p. 237.

>
> ### (b) Indemnity
>
>
> If a contract is rescinded, that means that the contract is wiped out from the start, so it is
>  logically impossible also to recover damages for breach of contract (which assume that the
>  contract was fully performed). However, a representee may be able to rescind a contract
>  and be paid an indemnity to cover expenses which would necessarily have been incurred
>  by the representor anyway. Otherwise, the representor would be unjustly enriched by the
>  representee’s expenditure.51 This is illustrated by *Whittington v Seale-Hayne*.52 The claimants
>  were induced to take a lease of a farm used for breeding prize poultry by the defendant’s
>  misrepresentation that the premises were in a sanitary condition and a good state of repair.
>  The claimants paid various rates and carried out repairs under the covenants in the lease
>  before rescinding the agreement. Farwell J held that they were entitled to an indemnity for
>  such expenses, since they would have had to be paid anyway by whoever had the farm at the
>  time. However, the scope of the indemnity was limited to expenses incurred which benefited
>  the defendant: the claimant received no indemnity for the loss of poultry, nor for lost profits.
>
>
>

[*Anson's Law of Contract* (2016 30 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ansons-Law-Contract-Jack-Beatson/dp/0198734786/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZW82SGPZDB8D0GKSVMV4). p 335.

>
>       The distinction between damages and an indemnity as it works out in practice may
>  be illustrated by the case of *Whittington v Seale-Hayne*,94 where the Court adopted the
>  narrower principle suggested by Bowen LJ:
>
>
> Poultry farmers had been induced to take a lease by the defendant’s non- fraudulent
>  misrepresentation that the premises were sanitary. This was not the case, and in consequence
>  of the contamination of the water supply, their manager fell ill and the poultry died. They
>  claimed rescission of the lease, and an indemnity to cover the value of the stock, loss of profit
>  on sales, loss of breeding season, medical expenses of the manager, rates, rent, and money
>  spent on outbuildings, etc. They had also been compelled by the local council to renew the
>  drains, and this item, too, was included.
>
>
> It was held that the poultry farmers were entitled to have the lease rescinded, and to
>  recover what they had spent on rent, rates, and the renewal of the drains, since these
>  were expenses incurred under the covenants in the lease or arising necessarily out of
>  the occupation of the property, and thus ‘obligations created by the contract’. Their
>  claim for payment in respect of the other items of loss was not allowed, since these
>  were damages, there being no obligation to carry on a poultry farm on the leased
>  premises.
>  In practice, an indemnity is a useful remedy only where the misrepresentation is
>  wholly innocent. In cases of fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation the claimant
>  may claim damages on the tort measure, in addition to rescinding the contract.95
>
>
>

Indemnity v. Restitutionary/Reliance Damages


I read the Q&A for "Can I make fan merchandise and sell it?", but I didn't see anywhere something about personal use. I was looking at merchandise for my favorite group, but it was so expensive. Could I make my own (not selling it) and not get sued/fined/etc.? It'd have their logo and name.

Can you make merchandise for personal use?


I want to take The Little Mermaid and remake it. I heard that the original story by the author was actually about how he liked another man, and incorporated that into The Little Mermaid. I want to remake The Little Mermaid into that story, but would it be illegal for me to do so? This is something that I don't intend to make money off of. I know that The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen is public domain, but I'm really inspired by Disney's version. Would it be wrong for me to take the script of The Little Mermaid and interpret it so it's somehow "my" own story?

Also willing to add more information if some parts don't make sense.

Would it be copyright infringement if I were to remake a whole movie?


According to the copyright act,

>
> Limited use of copyright work is permitted on the payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions.
>
>
>

What does this line mean. I think it states that

>
> If a buyer pays royalty to the original owner of the work and complies with statutory conditions then use of copyright acts is restricted.
>
>
>

Am I right in my reasoning?

Copyright act 1976


There's been a lot of attention lately to websites getting subpoenas to hand over user information, and then potentially getting a gag order as well for the subpoena. I'm wondering (just for curiosity's sake) if a website (or any individual/company) can be legally required to either violate a contract or a ToS agreement.

For example, if a service's ToS agreed to use a certain level of encryption for passing around private data, could a court require that encryption be changed or lifted? Or could it only subpoena the encrypted data.

Can a warrant, subpoena, court order, etc. require you to violate terms and conditions or a contract?


In April 2016 The DAO was launched (see <https://daohub.org/>, [The DAO on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO_%28organization%29)).
It enables people from all over the world to invest money in different projects. Those investments are regulated by "smart contracts" which may contain payment terms so that investors can receive a return on their investment.

One of the core features of DAOs is that they are not localized in a specific country / region but spread over an arbitrary number of countries while the whole "work" is done by the computer code behind it.

Another core feature is that those investments are made completely anonymously.

So when a group of anonymous investors gives money to a certain project / startup and this project refuses to return anything although it was fixed in the contract, what steps can be taken in order to enforce the terms of the investment?

Which law would apply in such a case? The law of the country the project is located in?

And for submitting the case to court some person or organization would have to step forward and do so. How could this be handled (without abandoning the anonymity of the investors)?

So what steps should be taken / what improvements should be made in order to make investments via a DAO safe?

How can DAOs assure the payout from successful investments as specified in smart contracts


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

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

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

>
> Decompilation.
>
>
> (1)It is not an infringement of copyright for a lawful user of a copy of a computer program expressed in a low level language—
>
>
> (a)to convert it into a version expressed in a higher level language, or
>
>
> (b)incidentally in the course of so converting the program, to copy it,
>
>
> (that is, to “decompile” it), provided that the conditions in subsection (2) are met.
>
>
> (2)The conditions are that—
>
>
> (a)it is necessary to decompile the program to obtain the information necessary to create an independent program which can be operated with the program decompiled or with another program (“the permitted objective”); and
>
>
> (b)the information so obtained is not used for any purpose other than the permitted objective.
>
>
> (3)In particular, the conditions in subsection (2) are not met if the lawful user—
>
>
> (a)has readily available to him the information necessary to achieve the permitted objective;
>
>
> (b)does not confine the decompiling to such acts as are necessary to achieve the permitted objective;
>
>
> (c)supplies the information obtained by the decompiling to any person to whom it is not necessary to supply it in order to achieve the permitted objective; or
>
>
> (d)uses the information to create a program which is substantially similar in its expression to the program decompiled or to do any act restricted by copyright.
>
>
> (4)Where an act is permitted under this section, it is irrelevant whether or not there exists any term or condition in an agreement which purports to prohibit or restrict the act (such terms being, by virtue of section 296A, void).]
>
>
>

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

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


I read a lot of books, and when I come across an interesting part, I take a photo and share it on my social media.

I also do book reviews on my blog which always includes some paragraphs from the book I'm writing about.

I also always do mention the name, and the author of the book in both cases.

Am I violating the copyright law?

Thanks

Am I violating copyright by sharing photos of pages of books I read or quoting them?


Recently, a `node` software developer asked that his packages be un-published from an index of software packages called "npm" when the developer was threatened with trademark infringement. The package un-publication caused a cascade of functionality problems with software dependent on one of these packages.

The developer had not explicitly revoked their license, this question is related but on a more general focus. What if the core open-source packages we depend on so critically were suddenly revoked and re-published with different terms, or none at all? Can we create a derivative work based on previously published terms? If we've already created a derivative work bound by the same license as the original author, are we infringing if they revoke the original license?

The specific [wording of the most popular licenses](https://opensource.org/licenses) do not explicitly grant for any particular term. Does that mean it's only valid until explicitly revoked, or perhaps it's valid perpetually/until copyright expires?

Possibly relevant cases:

* TV Globo v. Brazil Up-Date Weekly
* Rano v. Sipa Press
* Walthal v. Rusk

Duration of a license granted without specific bound


Can I use free Intellij IDEA Community Edition for the developing, if I'm working on the proprietary commercial product?

Intellij IDEA Community Edition - commercial proprietary software developing


How can somebody best ensure that when they enter into an agreement or relationship with somebody, that they won't later be able to complain that they were unable to understand the terms by reason of either some mental impairment or some disability or deficiency in learning?

How can you tell whether somebody is "competent" to agree with you or your terms?


I am currently creating an online dictionary. All of my information is coming from hard copy dictionaries that I have found online in PDF form and other PDFs which I am not sure where the information came from. One dictionary that I am positive has a hard copy (as I own it) is this: [http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Manchu-English-Dictionary-Harvard-Yenching-Institute/dp/0674072138](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0674072138)

What do I need to do to use this on a website? Do I need permission? can I just put some type of works cited page?

any help would be great.

The dictionary is located here <http://www.domdit.com/buleku>

Legality of using pre made dictionaries in my online dictionary applet


Let's give this for an example:

Billy lives in Oregon. Somebody said something in a non-logged chat, and Billy wants to prove they said it. He adds a photo to his Google Drive without the person's consent and shares the link in the chat. Is this legal?

Are you Legally Allowed to add a Screenshot to Google Drive and Create a Sharing Link for Proof?


I would like to make a video where I teach something. My friend has a video camera and is willing to record me. Who would own the video?

I ask because I plan on uploading it to some sort of streaming service (or personal website) and would like to choose the correct license on there. Maybe I'm over thinking this but if I'm not the owner then technically I wouldn't have the right to grant a license?

For amateur recordings, who owns the video? The camera man or performer?


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

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


If you are having an on-going issue for more than a year and your landlord sends a text stating

>
> If you want to break the lease, you can forfeit your deposit and move out by the end of the month
>
>
>

is it binding?

Would it still be binding if you chose to break the lease and move out the following month when the same problem persists?

Is a text offering to cancel a lease binding?


I'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on this for me please. I've been doing alot of research about GDPR lately and how it is going to effect my websites using Google Analytics.

From what I can understand, any website which uses Google Analytics needs to first get the users consent before storing a cookie on their browser?

I have implemented this in a cookie notice when the user first goes to the site and by default no tracking is enabled. Once they click agree, the page reloads with Analytics tracking.

However, since I have implemented this onto my websites the drop in traffic is huge and really makes it hard to optimise and understand how the website is performing.

My question is, Is it ok if in my cookie notice text said something like this..

'By clicking agree or continuing to use this site you agree to our privacy policy'

This way if they completely ignore the notice (which a lot of people do) and navigate to another page, then at least I am able to track more visits.

Is this still considered clear consent?

GDPR - What's classed as an opt in for Google Analytics cookie and do I need to do it?


I'm interested in some of the legal issues around software licensing, but my question could apply to other copyrightable works too.
Most free and open source software is copyrighted but distributed under some license that grants others the right to use it.
Other authors instead opt to disclaim copyright entirely and dedicate their work to the public domain.
There is some debate about whether this is a good thing to do or not, see for example this [article](https://opensource.org/node/878) from the open source initiative.
In that article and others, I've seen a statement made that "Disclaiming copyright is only possible in some countries."

**In what countries can you disclaim copyright? In what countries can you not disclaim copyright?** For example, [this page](https://gettingthedealthrough.com/area/6/jurisdiction/11/copyright-germany/) seems to say that, under German law, copyright cannot be *transferred* from one person to another except by inheritance. Does that mean the dedicating a copyrighted work to the public domain is a meaningless statement in Germany?

In what countries can you *not* disclaim copyright?


1. How does Innocent Misrepresentation differs from Mistake?
2. *Scriven Brothers & Co. v Hindley (1913)* (quoted below) illustrates my bewilderment. Defendant made a false statement of fact, acted upon by Plaintiff, pre-contractually that definitely induced the P to contract. So isn't it obvious D made an innocent misrepresentation to P?
3. Thus why did the first 2 textbooks below discuss it in solely the chapter on mistake, not (again) in misrepresentation? The third textbook discusses it in solely Ch 2 on Offer and Acceptance, and never again, not even Mistake!

Poole, Shaw-Mellors. [*Contract Law Concentrate* (4 ed 2019)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contract-Law-Concentrate-Jill-Pool/dp/0198840446/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p 38.

>
> **FACTS:** The Ds mistakenly bid for bales of tow believing they were hemp. At the auction the Ds had
>  examined a sample, which happened to be hemp, and thought that all the bales were hemp because
>  they all had the same shipping mark. This was accepted as a reasonable interpretation but so too was
>  the auctioneer’s belief that the bales being sold were tow.
>
>
> **HELD:** There was no contract and the Ds did not have to pay for the tow.
>
>
> However, in *Tamplin v James* (1880) the purchaser mistakenly believed the lot of property being
>  sold included some garden but had failed to check the plan which indicated that no garden was
>  included. The purchaser was at fault and could not avoid the contract by citing his mistake.
>
>
>

[*Anson's Law of Contract* (2016 30 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ansons-Law-Contract-Jack-Beatson/dp/0198734786/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZW82SGPZDB8D0GKSVMV4). p 275. Note the 31st ed will be published in Apr 2020.

>
>         Similarly, if A makes to B an offer which is ambiguous in its terms, or is rendered
>  ambiguous by the circumstances surrounding it, and B accepts the offer in a different
>  sense from that in which it is meant, then unless an objective construction requires
>  otherwise, B may effectively maintain that there is no binding contract. In *Scriven Bros
>  & Co v Hindley & Co*:37
>
>
>
> >
> > S instructed an auctioneer to sell certain bales of hemp and tow. These bore the same
> >  shipping mark and were described in the auction catalogue as so many bales in different
> >  lots with no indication of the difference in their contents. H’s manager examined samples
> >  of the hemp before the sale intending to bid for the hemp alone. At the auction, the tow was
> >  put up for sale, and H’s buyer, believing it to be hemp, made a bid which was a reasonable
> >  one if it had been intended for hemp, but an excessive one for tow. This bid was accepted
> >  by the auctioneer, who did not realize the buyer’s mistake, but merely thought the bid an
> >  extravagant one for tow. S sought to enforce the contract by suing for the price.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> It was clear that offer and acceptance did not coincide. S intended to sell tow; H’s buyer,
>  misled by the auction catalogue, intended to buy hemp. The Court held that there was
>  nothing in H’s conduct which would estop it from pleading that the parties were not
>  in agreement as to the subject- matter of the sale— or, to put it in the language of the
>  objective test set out by Blackburn J in *Smith v Hughes*,38 H had not so conducted itself
>  that a reasonable man would believe that it was assenting to S’s terms. Accordingly, no
>  contract had come into existence, and H was not liable.
>
>
>

[*O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*](https://www.amazon.co.uk/OSullivan-Hilliards-Law-Contract-Janet/dp/0198807821/ref=dp_ob_title_bk) (2018 8 ed). p. 16.

>
> 2.17 In *Scriven v Hindley* (1913), the claimant was selling bales of hemp and bales of tow at
>  auction. However, he did not make clear which lot was the hemp and which lot was the
>  tow. The defendant, thinking he was bidding for the lot that contained the hemp, actually
>  bid for the tow. It was held that there was no contract for the sale of the tow, because
>  the defendant’s apparent intent (to bid for the tow) had been caused by the claimant’s
>  carelessness in not making it clear which lot was which. Therefore, because the objective
>  principle did not apply, the court looked at the parties’ actual intention. The defendant’s
>  intention (to buy the hemp) did not coincide with the claimant’s intention (to sell the
>  defendant the tow) so there was no contract.
>
>
>

Innocent Misrepresentation v. Mistake


Today US Senator Elizabeth Warren released her family's tax returns, as [reported here by LA Times](https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-elizabeth-warren-tax-return-20190410-story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter). Article says that:

>
> Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has released her
>  tax return for 2018, reporting that she and her husband paid more than
>  $200,000 in taxes on a joint income of about $900,000 last year.
>
>
>

That comes down to about 22% tax rate. When I take into account marginal tax rate total tax comes up to about $275k = $164k+0.37\*$300k which is effectively 30%, following [this table](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/11/15/irs-announces-2019-tax-rates-standard-deduction-amounts-and-more/#3b321e6d2081):

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/soM5t.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/soM5t.png)

Is that calculation correct? Does it mean Senator's family got deductions worth $75k in taxes?

Why Elizabeth Warren effective tax rate is 22% and not 30% on $900k income


(Just for reference, this question is for a story I'm working on, and I wanted a realistic look at the law's side of things.)

So, a lot of fiction likes to play off the trope of a Vigilante. This person, (superhero or otherwise) often cuffs the baddies, and leaves them gift wrapped for the police, along with providing ***damning*** evidence to go with that. So my question is, does that actually ***help*** the police in any way?

These situations are almost always portrayed as:

* Acquiring evidence without a warrant
* Falsely imprisoning a person/criminal (This does not always involve the Vigilante seeing the crime happen, but they are usually acting like a police officer and pre-empting the crime.
* The Vigilante is generally unable to be present for the accused to 'face their accuser'.

So, if evidence came from a known Vigilante, can it be used in a court of law?

Can a vigilante be useful for a police department?


Many companies apply for multiple registrations for the same term and similar goods and services, is that worthwhile? For example, Starbucks owns dozens of registrations for "Starbucks" both as standard character marks and as stylized designs. It would seem that a single registration would already prevent others from using the name for related products and services. Why is it worthwhile to apply for many registrations for the same term in reference to similar goods and services?

Why register many similar marks?


In the US, there is an expectation of almost always tipping certain service providers like waiters and bartenders. Generally, it is expected that customers tip 15% for ordinary service, 20% or more for great service (or when in a large group), and even poor service is supposed to merit 10%. Tipping nothing is considered appropriate only for extremely bad behavior from the service provider.

Whenever the topic comes up, many people are enraged at the suggestion of not tipping. It's not unheard of for service providers to harass the customer or even throw them out for refusing to tip, and it is easy to find people claiming that they go further and sabotage the customer by spitting in their food, deliberately serving them very poorly, trashing their car, etc.

My question is 2 part:

* Is there any legal obligation whatsoever for the customer to tip? I know some businesses have a mandatory minimum tip or service charge which is clearly shown in writing, I am excluding these from my question.
* Is it legal for the employee to retaliate against a bad tipper? Even if the customer tipped nothing, they still paid the price of the service, part of which covers the employee's paycheck as well. What minimum level of service is a customer reasonably entitled to expect, legally speaking, even if they do not tip?

Legal consequences of not tipping in the US


1. While trying to modify as little as possible, how can I make the bilateral sales contract in Practical Example 1 unilateral?
2. What if I copy and paste Practical Example 2 and modify like it this?

>
> ~~Daniel~~ [Alex] offers (or promises) ~~a free watch~~ [a bicycle] to anyone who ~~three tokens from the packets of cereal he manufactures, together with a cheque for £5~~ [pays him £150].
>
>
>

But then doesn't my edit become a bilateral contract?

Poole, Shaw-Mellors. [*Contract Law Concentrate* (4 ed 2019)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contract-Law-Concentrate-Jill-Pool/dp/0198840446/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p 5.

>
> The key distinction: bilateral and unilateral agreements
> ========================================================
>
>
> Broadly, agreements will be one of two types:
>  • bilateral
>  • unilateral.
>
>
> Definition
> ----------
>
>
> **Bilateral agreements:** by far the most common in practice and consist of a promise in
>  exchange for a promise. Bilateral means both parties are bound on the exchange of promises,
>  although there has yet to be any performance of those promises.
>
>        A typical sale of goods agreement is bilateral.
>
>
> ### Practical example 1
>
>
> Alex offers (or promises) to sell his bicycle to Becky for £150 and Becky accepts, thereby promising
>  to pay £150. (We will use this as our example of a bilateral agreement and look at variations and additions
>  to the facts throughout this chapter.)
>
>
> Definition
> ----------
>
>
> **Unilateral agreements:** consist of a promise in exchange for an act. It follows that only one party is
>  bound at the outset by a promise. The other’s acceptance is the performance of the requested act.
>
>        For example, a typical unilateral agreement will involve an offer of a reward and may be
>  phrased as an ‘if’ contract: I promise to pay £50 to anyone who finds and returns my lost dog.
>
>
> ### Practical example 2
>
>
> Daniel offers (or promises) a free watch to anyone who returns three tokens from the packets of
>  cereal he manufactures, together with a cheque for £5. Emily accepts by returning the three tokens
>  with her cheque for £5. (We will use this as our example of a unilateral agreement and return to this
>  example later in the chapter.)
>
>
>

p 6.

>
> Making the correct distinction.
> -------------------------------
>
>
> It is not possible to accept a unilateral offer by promising to
>  find and return the lost dog or by promising to collect and return the tokens and the cheque. By
>  comparison, the agreement to sell the bicycle cannot be unilateral. Students sometimes suggest
>  that a simple sale contract is unilateral by interpreting the act of paying for the bicycle as the
>  requested act. This is incorrect since, as long as it is possible to accept by promising to buy (which
>  it is in the example), the agreement will be bilateral.
>
>
>

What's the tiniest modification necessary to convert a bilateral, to unilateral, sales contract?


Is a typical retainer's purpose to be a deposit for work to be done? IANAL and seeking to understand why and how the typical retainer works.

Is the a retainer simply a synonym for a deposit?


Can a person below 18 register copyright in India?

Can a minor get a copyright registered in India?


I am doing a YouTube video about the history of deep sea exploration. I want to show pictures from a 1934 book and I came to the conclusion that the book is public domain because of lack of copyright renewal in the US Copyright Office archives (thanks again to David Siegel for showing where to look in his terrific answer and even better comments!), and also because other people have already taken the effort, among others the Forgotten Books editors who are selling a reprint, and The Internet Archive who holds a scanned copy free for anyone to download.

Now, can I show the pictures inside that book? There is no additional copyright notice at the foot of any of them. All you can see in the book is the following 'courtesy note' at the beginning:
[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/v6StM.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/v6StM.png)

What now?

**EDIT** The author did the last (and only) copyright renewal in 1951.

Are the pictures inside an old book that became PD because of lack of renewal, also PD?


Suppose someone does something you don't like but isn't illegal. Can you
(a prosecutor) prosecute them for something illegal with probable cause not because of their illegal action but because of the legal action you didn't like? Does this fall under abuse of process? Is it against the due process doctrine as the defendant isn't actually being punished for what they're being punished for on paper? Is it at least against a prosecutorial code of conduct? If so, how seriously are such codes of conduct taken?

Example: Suppose someone cheated on their wife, can they be prosecuted for the possession of marijuana if the reason that the prosecutor is prosecuting them is the cheating?

Is it legal to prosecute someone for ulterior motives in the US?


Checking up here on a question that appeared on workplace.stackexchange.com: Someone signed a contract saying "If you leave the assignment without giving 15 days prior notice you will be liable to pay these days.". This is in the USA in an at-will employment state, which means the employer can fire the employee at any time without notice, and without these terms the employee could quit at any time without notice.

So the question is: In a US state with at-will employment, are contract terms enforceable that say the employee has to pay the employer if they leave without giving notice? (Extra question: Would it be enforceable if the contract just says that the employee has to give 14 days notice, and would it be enforceable if both employer and employee agreed that 14 days notice are required for each side?) Or does the state law that anyone can cancel an employment contract at any time without reason override this?

(Probably should have mentioned: In this case the OP posting on workplace had just started a low-paid job, figured out that for medical reasons she couldn't do it, wanted to quit, and then found this term in the contract. So Inaki's answer is very useful in general, while user662852's answer is most helpful in this particular case).

Paying to leave without notice in at-will employment state


The company I worked for paid salary every 28th day of the month. This was my first job so I am uncertain about how much they would have to pay me after I left. I left on September 16th. Which means I was expecting at least more than half a month salary to be paid into my account plus the remuneration for the holidays not taken. However, the pay I received appears to be only associated with holidays not taken. I have been trying to contact an HR person who is responsible for these calculations for around two weeks to no avail. Is it correct, that I should have received at least half of the monthly salary, and if so where can I seek a legal advice?

Leave pay - UK.


We're planning to purchase [this](https://www.kaplanittraining.com/certification/microsoft/mcsa-windows-server-2016) bundle from Kaplan IT Training by people more than one.

However, firstly, we want to know this kind of purchase is legal or not.

And if it is legal, how many people can use it at the same time?

Thanks for your help..

Is it legal to purchase Kaplan IT Training bundle by more than one people? If it is legal, how many people can use it at the same time?


Which law defines the fact that the capital gains tax is taxed at a different rate than the income tax? I know 26 U.S. Code Subchapter P defines what capital assets are and what capital gains and capital losses are, but I'm not sure where it's defined that capital assets are taxed differently.

Where is the capital gains tax defined in the law?


Let's say you're in California talking on the phone. Would it be legal to record just your part of the conversation without having approval from the other party?

For example, could you set up a recording device on the desk and have it recording what you're saying during the whole conversation assuming it's not sensitive enough to pick up what the other person is saying also?

Would it be legal to record only yourself on a phone call without the other party giving consent in California?


Paul Davies. [*JC Smith's The Law of Contract* (2018 2 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smiths-Law-Contract-Paul-Davies/dp/0198807813/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p. 6.

>
> On a slightly diﬀerent tack, but in a similar vein, Judge Richard Posner has written:17
>
>
>
> >
> > Suppose I sign a contract to deliver 100,000 custom-ground widgets at $.10 apiece to A, for use
> >  in his boiler factory. After I have delivered 10,000, B comes to me, explains that he desperately
> >  needs 25,000 custom-ground widgets at once since otherwise he will be forced to close his pianola factory at great cost, and oﬀers me $.15 apiece for 25,000 widgets. I sell him the widgets
> >  and as a result do not complete timely delivery to A, who sustains $1000 in damages from my
> >  breach. Having obtained an additional profit of $1250 on the sale to B, I am better off even
> >  after reimbursing A for his loss. Society is also better off. Since B was willing to pay me $.15
> >  per widget, it must mean that each widget was worth at least $.15 to him. But it was worth only
> >  $.14 to A—$.10, what he paid, plus $.04 (**$1000** divided by **25,000**), his expected profit. Thus the
> >  breach resulted in a transfer of the 25,000 widgets from a lower valued to a higher valued use.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> 17 R Posner, *Economic Analysis of the Law* (8th edn, Aspen, 2011) 151.
>
>
>

1. Pls see the emboldenings. Whence did the $1000 hail?
2. Whence did the 25,000 hail? This is B's quantity demanded, not A's?

Why's A's expected profit $.04?


In UK employment law what are the differences between being furloughed, laid off, and made redundant?

UK Employment law: differences between furloughed, laid off, and redundant


In the United States, how egregious does an employee’s actions need to be to override [Respondent superior](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respondeat_superior)/[Vicarious liability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_liability) and hold the company blameless?

A hypothetical example: Bob is a full-time employee of Acme Services, LLC. One of Bob’s responsibilities for Acme’s construction company clients is to verify that equipment rental invoices match delivery records before notifying the client to approve the invoices for payment. For all of the clients except one, Bob follows the procedures properly. For Client C, Bob does no verification and has the invoices paid as presented. Neither Bob nor Acme realize any benefit from this action. Acme conducts periodic audits of its client accounts (selected at random), and eventually the mishandling of Client C’s account is discovered. Bob is fired (his excuse for his actions is that he disagreed with the political views of the owner of Client C). A full audit of Client C’s account shows they have overpaid various vendors.

If Client C sues Acme Services for damages, can Acme (or their liability insurance carrier) in turn sue Bob (with a reasonable chance of prevailing)?

Can Client C sue Bob directly without also suing Acme?

Could Bob or Acme (or both) face any criminal liability?

Is a company liable if an employee intentionally ignores company procedures?


If I created an android/IOS app that listed the names of businesses/clubs (leisure such as golf, etc.) would I need the consent of each club/business or would I be able to list their addresses without any legal repercussions?

I am based in the UK but I guess international law would apply.

Listing clubs and businesses


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

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


Currently WhatsApp claims it uses end to end encryption.

However the app provisions users to switch on backups to Google Drive and other providers. So if I am in a group chat with a set of users and send out sensitive/personal information, I assume I can delete my chat at any time and make a request to WhatsApp to delete any information on me when I delete my account.

However if other users are backing up their chats to say Google Drive etc how can I ensure my data is deleted from everywhere?

I understand anyone can just screenshot or copy this data from their device and paste it somewhere. But the app itself provisions for these backups so does WhatsApp have a duty under Right to Erasure / GDPR to ensure they can also be deleted if a request is made for an individual?

Is WhatsApp GDPR compliant as it allows backups for group chat?


I am in the early stages of designing an online marketplace platform for professional services. In the context of specifying what happens when a user hits the "delete account" button, I am considering the following scenario:

1. User receives services from a provider
2. User receives services from a provider
3. User deletes their account and initiates a request for erasure under GDPR
4. Provider now has no way of contacting the client either on- or off-platform to pursue their money.

Is the situation as I see it possible? Would I have the right of passing along the info to the provider under these circumstances?

GDPR/right of erasure and online marketplaces/payment platforms


If I buy a DVD or Blu-ray, rent it to someone, and stream it to them for their personal/private use, is that permissible via the First Sale Doctrine?

Note that I'm not ripping the DVD or Blu-ray, but inserting the physical copy into the computer drive and streaming it to someone else.

Per the First Sale Doctrine, can I stream a DVD?


So I signup for a service with a 1-year contract. After a year the contact would be renewed on a month to month basis with 1-month notice to terminate the service. I have contacted the company and they refuse to end the contact claim I signed up 2 months ago. The date of the signup is stated in the contact. It is crystal clear that I should be able to terminate the contact. When going through this I noticed that a lot of people are complaining that they are pulling this scammy behavior, so I'm not the only one affected.

So I'm wondering if I can just legally cut off the payment to this company. They have had there noticed delivered if they choose to not accept it is the companies problem right? (All contact was done through email so I have a paper trail proving it all)

Stop paying for service after company refuse to end contact even on valid ground


I know that I can protect my code and website if I put "Copyright [my name, surname]", but could I protect my code and website if I put "Copyright [website name or address]"? Would this practice be considered valid?

Copyright name?


Suppose that a fully automated anti-cheat system (claimed by a company to be 99.99% accurate) wrongfully and permanently banned a player from a game that requires a one-time fee to begin playing, offers further optional in-game microtransactions, and has no offline functionality.

The support team for this game refuses to provide any *specific* information for the ban, such as

* the time "foul play" was detected by the automated system,
* computer information (e.g. modules injected into the game) that was relevant in the detection process, or
* other factors that caused the anti-cheat system to ban the player.

Furthermore, the support team refuses to investigate the ban in order to lift it or provide any monetary compensation for the player's loss despite the fact that it was entirely wrongful and absolutely no cheating was committed.

In the player/customer's perspective, he has just lost access to content he paid hundreds of dollars for for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

If no explanation is given for the ban (other than "you were cheating") and it was entirely wrongful, can the player take legal action by accusing the company of fraud until it can provide either compensation or an accurate explanation of what caused the system to trigger a ban?

Must the reason for a permanent ban for a paid online game be provided?


On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) [declared](http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=150642&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=888650) the [2006/24/EC Data Retention Directive](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32006L0024) (DRD) invalid because it violated the rights guaranteed by Articles 7 & 8 of the [Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT). The CJEU's [press release (PDF link)](https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054en.pdf) clarifies the retroactive effect of the invalidity in a footnote:

>
> Given that the Court has not limited the temporal effect of its judgment, the declaration of invalidity takes effect from the date on which the directive entered into force.
>
>
>

While the DRD entered into force in 2006, the Charter was only formally incorporated into the EU treaty framework on 1 December 2009. Though the Charter has existed since 2000, its legal status was [uncertain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lisbon#Fundamental_Rights_Charter) prior to incorporation.

**How can the DRD be retroactively invalid prior to 1 December 2009 when the invalidity is based on the Charter incorporated on that date?**

Trying to find the answer to this question led me down a number of related questions that may help, but I've not found a definitive answer to any:

* Is the press release incorrect? When CJEU invalidates a statute without specifying date, does that really imply complete retroactivity? While this decision is silent about it, is there other case-law that might help here?
* Has the Charter been determined to have legal force before its formal incorporation by the Treaty of Lisbon? Would that have been the presumably treaty-level force necessary to strike down a Directive?
* Recital 22 of the DRD specifically cites compliance with Articles 7 & 8 of the Charter, but are recitals a sufficient basis for invalidating the Directive's substantive Articles? The CJEU decision quotes the recital, but doesn't explicitly make use of it in its *ratio decidendi*.

Is the invalidity of the Data Retention Directive completely retroactive and what are the implications w.r.t. the Charter of Fundamental Rights?


Under the Firearms Act of Canada, the SVD Dragunov is banned as a variant of the AK-47. The SVD is a completely different design which shares no important parts (a single screw in the buttstock), and you'd be hard pressed to find a firearm expert who would agree that it's a variant of any Kalashnikov design.

Here is the text:

>
> The firearm of the design commonly known as the AK-47 rifle, and any variant or modified version of it except for the Valmet Hunter, the Valmet Hunter Auto and the Valmet M78 rifles, but including the:
>
>
> (a) AK-74;
>
>
> (b) AK Hunter;
>
>
> (c) AKM;
>
>
> (d) AKM-63;
>
>
> (e) AKS-56S;
>
>
> (f) AKS-56S-1;
>
>
> (g) AKS-56S-2;
>
>
> (h) AKS-74;
>
>
> (i) AKS-84S-1;
>
>
> (j) AMD-65;
>
>
> (k) AR Model .223;
>
>
> (l) Dragunov;
>
>
> ...
>
>
>

It seems to me this would be equivalent to say, a law banning steam locomotives specifically naming the Ford Mustang as a steam locomotive. While a Ford Mustang shares some common traits with a steam locomotive, such as being motorized transport that requires fuel, it's quite obvious that a Ford Mustang is not a steam locomotive.

I'm specifically looking for examples in common-law countries where this sort of thing has been challenged or ruled on instead of being ignored.

What is the effect of a law which relies on false statements?


If a toy company has a registered trademark, does it stop an app developer from creating a social app using the same name which has got nothing to do with any toy products whatsoever?

Would this even come under "confusingly similar"?

Trademark infringement between product and software


I am an indian. I need copyright in my documents. So where and how to get copyright ?

>
> the document is also in digital formet
>
>
>

Where and how to get copyright on document


Registering for a U.S. copyright:

1. I saw that no where during registration you actually tell what your work does, you only fill up details, how exactly is it protecting you if you don't specify? For example I have a computer program/website that do something, how exactly the copyright protects you if you did not specify about it?
2. If I am a non-us citizen, do I need to select in State "Non-US", or leave it blank on "Select"? Because it allows me to complete registration with either.

US Copyright registration questions + Non-US citizen


Does [Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon) intentionally [derailing Vietnam peace negotiations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Chennault#Paris_Peace_Accords) in the run up to the [1968 elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968) constitute treason?

>
> Nixon campaign ... sought to block a peace treaty in what one long-term Washington insider called "activities ... beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat." [Anna Chennault] arranged the contact with South Vietnamese Ambassador Bui Diem whom Richard Nixon met in secret in July 1968 in New York.... Republicans advised Saigon to refuse participation in the talks, promising a better deal once elected.
>
>
>

PS. See also [Nixon’s alleged treason 1968](https://history.stackexchange.com/q/41074/1979).

Does Nixon derailing Vietnam peace negotiations in the run up to the 1968 elections constitute treason?


A group decides to cover a protected piece of music. In this example, lets say "[Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nGx4DX83U)".

* Is the act of playing this song violate any copyright law?
* Does it make a difference if they make money off playing a cover?

Is it illegal to play a cover song?


Can someone be convicted of being an accessory to a crime while a principal is acquitted? By definition an accessory helps conceal evidence or persons involved in a felony. If a principal is not charged as a felon, but the crime is still a felony, then doesn't that require there being another principal who is the felon, or can we have a felony without a felon?

Can we have an accessory while a principal is acquitted?


What should I do? I would like to serve on a jury if I can.

Ive passed 2 background checks since the jury duty notice. If i recall correctly the notice misspelled my name.

Got a jury summon last year, forgot about it, just remembered


I have seen an book [Chemistry Essential for Dummies](http://images.pcmac.org/Uploads/JeffersonCountySchools/JeffersonCountySchools/Departments/DocumentsSubCategories/Documents/Chemistry%20Essentials%20-%20The%20Most%20Basic%20Guide.pdf) on web which says that

>
> No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
>  form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,
>  except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act
>
>
>

Is it legal to download this book under the sections 107 or 108 of the [Copyright Law](http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html)?.I couldn't understand the sections since it's too lengthy and hard to interpret.Could anyone explain it in simple words.

Section 107 and 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act


Google sells access to their TTS service at <https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/>. They advertise that you can use it for free, if you use less than 4 million letters (1 million for WaveNet voices).

I couldn't find any information regarding the license terms of the generated audio files. So, what may I do with the generated sound files? I mean often you need the same sounds again and again. May I cache the sound files? May I play them to the public? Redistribute them with my app? Offer them as a download? Sell them?

To use the TTS service you have to accept the Google Cloud Platform Terms of Service (<https://console.cloud.google.com/tos?id=cloud>). I think the most relevant part is the following section:

>
> 5.1 Intellectual Property Rights. Except as expressly set forth in this Agreement, this Agreement does not grant either party any rights,
>  implied or otherwise, to the other’s content or any of the other’s
>  intellectual property. As between the parties, Customer owns all
>  Intellectual Property Rights in Customer Data and the Application or
>  Project (if applicable), and Google owns all Intellectual Property
>  Rights in the Services and Software.
>
>
>

Can I use the sound files, generated by the Google Cloud Text-to-Speech freely?


My Father was murdered by a bullet to the head using Desi katta (country-made gun). He was a business man. I saw this all this in front of my eyes. The reason he was murdered was a property dispute.

I filed a FIR. I saw the person who committed the crime and know who he is. So the FIR was filled along with the name of the primary culprit.

The culprit is a person who is very much involved in illegal activities and all his money is black money. As soon as he committed this crime he went on the run. Police are searching for him. 3 months are already over and the police haven't found him. But the thing is his businesses are running fine. He is constantly in touch of his people (workers and all). He is constantly sending letters to police in which he tries to proves his innocence.

Police told us that they are with us and they will help and they will catch him soon. But instead of catching him, police officials are going to verify the evidences which he is sending in order to prove that he was not present at the spot where the crime was committed(As I was present there and I had seen him and the shooter). What I think is, he is out there forging and creating fake evidences and police is with him. Therefore, I want to know
What legal procedures can I use to question the Inspecting Officer about the case and their efforts?

What is the procedure to get answer from police related to a case?


We live and work in Boston, Massachusetts. I work for Company A in computers and my wife for Company B in medicine, both of us with clauses for intellectual property ownership in our employment contracts. Hypothetically, if I had a medical patent idea generated solely by me, would I need to take any precautions before discussing it with my wife to avoid giving her employer any claims to it? Or are there general protections because we're married?

Any protections or precautions for discussing a patent idea with my spouse if she has IP clauses in her employment contract?


Under [California PC647(i)](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=647.&lawCode=PEN),

>
> Except as provided in paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) and subdivision (l), every person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor:
>
>
> ...
>
>
> (i) Who, while loitering, prowling, or wandering upon the private property of another, at any time, peeks in the door or window of any inhabited building or structure, without visible or lawful business with the owner or occupant.
>
>
>

The language in this section suggests the space must be occupied at the time the act is done, because of the term "inhabited." Is this a valid interpretation or can "inhabited" simply mean "owned/rented", e.g. it may be that the occupant has gone to the market but *does* currently live there.

Inhabitance requirement for peeping


I'm curious as to whether public facilities in the United States (i.e. federal, state, county, and/or municipal grounds) are required, by law, to adhere to the Flag Code as defined in Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code. It is my understanding that the Supreme Court has upheld the unconstitutionality of enforcing the Flag Code on private citizens or organizations as it conflicts with their First Amendment rights (*United States v. Eichman*), but are public facilities such as a public schools or police stations required to adhere to the flag code? Are those acting in an official capacity in those facilities legally required to adhere to the Flag Code as they are operating a public facility?

For example, Section 6, Clause g states, "The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse." If a school were to fail to display the flag, would that be considered a crime? Who would be responsible if it were a crime?

Are public facilities required to adhere to the Flag Code as defined in Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code?


Isn't all fraud technically criminal, and whatever you can sue for civil fraud could also be sued by the government as criminal fraud? Is it just a matter of whatever the government decides to prosecute?

What I am asking is, isn't all fraud illegal? Regardless of whether it is prosecuted or who.

Just answering the definition of civil vs criminal fraud doesn't answer the question.

Isn't all fraud criminal?


I'm referring to this article: [Blizzard sues overwatch "cheat" maker for copyright infringement](https://games.slashdot.org/story/16/07/04/206228/blizzard-sues-overwatch-cheat-maker-for-copyright-infringement)

Does the German company have to come to court in the US? What if the German company couldn't afford to come to the US and refused?

How does a US company sue a German company for copyright infringement?


I have a complaint about the way I've been treated by a charitable body. In the fallout from some problems, they have chosen to respond to the financial concerns of a majority customer group, while ignoring a smaller group with the same concerns.

Essentially the situation is this: they were selling tickets for a two-day event, which they have had to change significantly. Those who have one-day tickets are being offered refunds or the option of a free upgrade to a two-day ticket. Those who bought two-day tickets are being ignored.

In terms of contract law, they are watertight: they did not need to respond to any of these concerns. Instead, they've chosen only to look after those in a particular situation. A cynic might conclude this is a purposeful attempt at damage limitation to save money. It is also manifestly unfair - the sums involved run to the hundreds of pounds.

Either way, splitting their customer base like that is manifestly unfair. I am curious to know if there are any further legal principles I could use to take a complaint forward?

Are there any generalised concenpts of "fair treatment" in UK law?


There's an extensive selection of [public domain feature films](https://archive.org/details/feature_films) available, but video quality is universally extremely poor as users generally prefer low filesize over high bitrate. Some of the films ("Night of the Living Dead", Charlie Chaplin catalogue and Christopher Lee's "Horror Express" as notable examples) have been released on Blu-ray. Is it allowed to create a lossless copy of a Blu-ray disc and spread the film all over the Internet as a video file? I won't share "extras" (commentary tracks, making of documentaries) which may have been created and owned by the publisher, subtitles, menus and foreign or alternative audio tracks to avoid legal issues.

I don't know if all Blu-ray discs and DVDs have DRM (circumventing may be allowed under some jurisdictions) — DRM is out of the scope of the question as it is uncertain if restricting material free of intellectual property rights is in turn legal.

Is it legal to distribute any version of a public domain film?


If an employee relocates to the USA for a short period of time and ships their belongings from their home to their new residence in the US, are there any duties that need to be paid ?

Do you pay tax on belongings you bring with you to the US?


I can understand getting sued for starting a train company called Greyhound, but I want to the alter ego of one of my characters to be Greyhound – a reference to the quickness of the canine. However, there is a bus carrier chain that has a similar name called Greyhound Lines Inc. Will I be sued by the bus company or do companies have a nominal monopoly on animals?

Can I name my character 'Greyhound'?


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

Our hypothetical case
=====================

So, some ToS's explicitedly have statements like

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

taken from the [YouTube ToS](https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms&gl=US). So let's assume our theoretical service has those as well possibly even explicitly addressing adblockers. Note clearly that I am not saying that the quoted statement is the best legal way of putting this, it's purely an example.

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

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

Is it illegal/unlawful to use an adblocker?


On a webpage we would like to have a background image demonstrating our product on different devices. The current images we have contain an Intel logo and an iPad (logo not visible but clearly an iPad). Is it OK to use these images without permission?

What are the laws on showing another company's logo in commercial photos?


An assault can be defined as anything which is perceived as injuring or threatening. A kidnapping is anything perceived as limiting someones movement. Since an assault necessarily involves a limitation on movement, for example you move someone by punching them, aren't they the same? Is it just a matter of severity and discretion and aren't all violent crimes degrees of kidnapping?

Is the difference between the most and least severe violent crimes subjective?


I'm actually developping a "zen reading mode" (I don't know if there's a distinct way to say it in english) like [Pocket](https://getpocket.com/) for web articles in my own website.

Right now, I only save basic data on my database (Article title, thumbnail, author and URL) and when a user selects an article to be read, my website is performing a request to retrieve the article and then processes it to display it in "zen reading mode". I don't actually have the "zen" version of the article in my database.

But for performance issue, I'm wondering if I could just save the full "zen" version in my own database instead of querying the original URL of the articles.

Of course, either way, there are links to the original article and the author (if there's not, it's the domain it was published in) is displayed.

So I was just wondering if there was any laws or guideline about "copying" articles on the web and this kind of stuff.

Thanks.

Saving web articles in own database


Is it allowed to publish a game(or app) based on a famous movie, in which are used real photos of the actors? Will it be rejected because of some author rights issues (US territory) ? If yes, what modifications should be done in order to get approved? I ready looked for this information on apple’s website but could’t find anything related.

Publishing a game based on a famous movie to AppStore


I have utilized GlassDoor and ZipRecruiter in the past to look for and apply to new jobs. It was mostly a reasonable experience: I would apply for jobs I was interested in, and the companies would contact me via my email. I stopped looking several months ago and haven't visited these sites since.

Today, I was contacted by a company I did not apply for (which was obvious from the fact that they were halfway across the country), claiming that they received my resume and were moving forward with the interview process. I contacted the company they informed me that my resume was submitted on behalf of a referral company.

I know I didn't specifically sign up for any referral companies, and definitely did not apply settings for automatic resume submission.

Is what they are doing illegal?

Referral Company submitted resume on my behalf without permission


If a person dies whilst in a rolling contract, and payments are still taken from the account for a few months,would the company be legally forced to return the money to the account?

What happens with the decedents' estate when a person dies whilst in a rolling contract?


A company in Europe has temporarily given some of its computers with licensed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Premium to a company in Asia. The European company is the client of the Asian company and the software is used for developing a web application for the client.

Microsoft now insists the Asian company is making unauthorized use of the licensed software because the licenses are country specific and geographically limited.

Microsoft now demands a separate purchase of the licenses by the Asian company; just uninstalling isn't good enough. This will cost $5999 per user.

Can licenses really be this limiting?

I edited my old question, because it was seeking specific legal advice. I hope its fine now.

Is it legal to lend out your computer with licensed software installed on it?