I am wondering whether an employer can hire two people under the same job title and pay but deny them equal working conditions.

For instance, it is common practice for Walmart to hire customer service associates under a vague job title, and thereafter assign more dangerous tasks (stocking heavy products) to the more physically capable associates and the safer tasks (stocking light products) to the less capable associates.

***More detail in response to comments***

The jurisdiction in California.

I am wondering if employees are protected by law if they refuse to perform the strenuous work because they've been assigned that task too much compared to others. For instance, let's say that Bob has had to spend 5 hours a week stocking the coolers and freezers and 10 hours a week stocking water for 2 years, while Adam who has the same job title as Bob has rarely had to perform such work in the same time period (assume less than 2% of total hours worked), instead Adam does the easier tasks such as stocking chips, cosmetics products, and diapers. The reason the employer provides for this allocation is that Bob is more physically capable of doing hard work.

It seems to me that in such a case, Bob is being mistreated. He deserves an equal share of the easier tasks as Adam, and if the employer wants Bob to do the hard work, they should create a separate job title for him that imposes higher qualifications that ensures that those under the same job title are able to share the work equally.

By denying Bob access to working conditions comparable to Adam's, the employer is essentially denying him a job for which he is overqualified. And in doing so, the employer is able to get Bob's more rare labor for the same price as Adam's less valuable labor.

Let's also assume Bob and Adam belong to the same protected classes.

As I understand it, Title VII and FEHA do not protect Bob from refusing, since he belongs to all the same classes as Adam.

This doesn't make much sense to me because if the employer had divided the tasks along protected class lines (i.e., gender or race) rather than by physical ability, then Bob would be protected.

The irony that I've noticed is that the very laws that were passed to protect qualified workers from discrimination now excuse discrimination against qualified workers.

Are there other laws that protect Bob from such discrimination that does not require a showing of discrimination based on protected class? Maybe an implied term in the employment contract?

Does VII help employers oppress workers, or are there other laws that compensate?


Please give me legal, black-and-white answer.

Winklevoss Twins say someone stole their idea for Facebook and Judge awarded them some millions.

But how could have Winklevoss Twins protected themselves from being cheated in the beginning.

What legal things could they have in place so

1. They are not cheated to begin with (hence get credit for their idea)
2. If programmer decides to cheat them anyway, the case is open-and-shut and Judge rules in their favor without case dragging for years.

On the flip side, let say programmer did in fact create Facebook.

How does programmer legally protect himself from people who claim idea was stolen, takes him to court, and ends up paying the accuser (even though the idea was his from the start)?

How Could the Winklevoss Twins Have Legally Prevented Anyone from Stealing their Facebook Idea


So I've been reading through the new copyright directive proposal and saw the pastiche exemption.

So take this hypothetical:

I forgot how anime.js worked to animate something.

I find a piece of example code on Stack Overflow that shows how it works to initalize it and to animate something to the left and then fade away

I write my own implementation without copying the original code in my codebase, that does a different animation, move to the bottom and fade in, inspired by the code example on Stack Overflow.

Would that be a pastiche? Or would that still fill under CC-BY-SA 3.0 because I took a work for inspiration, **not copied it though**, but created my own example inspired by that code, and am required to follow all requirements of the CC-BY-SA license?

The only references to pastiche I've been able to find have dealt with an artist reusing work for comedic or entertainment purposes from Britisch guidelines.

Miriam webster defines it as: **a literary**, artistic, musical, or architectural work that imitates the style of previous work.

Code is a literary work in my opinion. You write words in a document in a grammatically defined language, so theoretically with my interpretation, basing code upon someone elses code could interpret that as a pastiche.

I'm mostly curious because of this part from the final text of the former article 13 text:

<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0245-AM-271-271_EN.pdf>

>
> The cooperation between online content-sharing service providers and
>  rightholders shall not result in the prevention of the availability of
>  works or other subject matter uploaded by users, which do not infringe
>  copyright and related rights, including where such works or other
>  subject matter are covered by an exception or limitation.
>
>  Member States shall ensure that users in each Member State are able to rely
>  on any of the following existing exceptions or limitations when
>  uploading and making available content generated by users on online
>  content-sharing services:
>
>  (a) quotation, criticism, review
>
>  (b) use for the purpose of caricature, parody or **pastiche**
>
>
>

Answers relevant to the European Union please, and i'm mostly interested if there are actual precedents for these "outlier" cases?

When I am inspired by code on Stack Overflow, and make workable code on basis of that code, is that also pastiche?


If A and B are in a contract, with B liable to A, and a third party C takes over the liability of B to A without the consent or involvement of B, is the contract between A and C legal?

I tried looking under 'assignment' but can't seem to find any precedent for this situation.

Taking over liabilities/debt without consent


RED.com makes digital cameras for the cinematography industry and has tradermarks for "RED".

I would like to sell a product called called "something.red". The name of the product would be the domain name, something.red, .red is a gTLD recently introduced.

The product is not a digital camera, but a video transmission system. RED.com is not in the business of making video transmission systems, but their trademark is generic enough that I believe a video transmission system to fit in it. This is the registration I took a look at: <https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/010579043>

Am I looking for troubles using RED in a product name, even if RED is the gTLD?

Changing the product name now would be sort of a mayor problem, but it is still better than being forced to do it in a few months.

Usage of trademarked generic top level domain


My photographer's standard contract asserts ownership of all the images she creates, and allows me to create prints for personal use. But she also says she will delete all images 3 months after supplying them to me electronically. I will hold the only copies. Does she still own them even though she chose to discard them?

Does an author retain copyright of a work they have deleted?


In movies, it is often the case that we see police decline to proceed with a case because the victim "refused to press charges". Recently we saw this with the battery of Chris Rock by Will Smith on global TV that the LAPD refused to bring charges on as no complaint was made.

In my jurisdiction (Australia) law enforcement will prosecute offences regardless of the victim's views, based on the evidence available and as a "breach of the peace"

Is it the case that Police in the US are unable to proceed with a charge if a victim declines to "press charges" and if so, how are murder charges or even more pertinently, domestic violence charges, brought to court?

"Pressing charges" - is it needed to bring a charge?


If someone were to start using a trademarked company name with the word 'not' in front of it would it infringe their trademark?

e.g. a company is called 'foo' and their name is trademarked and another company comes along and calls itself 'not foo'.

Is it trademark infringement if you put the word 'not' in front?


Im building a simple website where people can save links and eventually share them with others.

When a user enters an url, I fetch the meta data to present the link.
The text, like title and description, Im just saving in a database however Im in doubt what I should do with the image.

Should I just always deeplink to the external image? Or can I save the image on my server? What are the legal options here?
I can see that facebook seems to save their own copy of images that are shared through them.

(The image will always be used in context with a link to the original link)

How to legally serve og:image


What can bind a party to a contract other than executing it by signing it by hand or electronically and delivering it? My question is only about this element in making a contract, not consideration or other elements. The other topic cited mentions that signing per se is not required, but something is, and therein is my question.

I'm thinking of a situation in which person A imposes a burden on person B and person B wants to be paid for fulfilling that burden, but person A would decline to sign a contract, claims the burden is mandatory when it's not, and might worsen the burden if asked, so isn't asked to.

Example: If someone visits a doctor for an office consultation, gets the consultation, and leaves and then the doctor sends a bill to the visitor, the fact that neither one ever discussed a contract or a price and that the office had no price posted would be irrelevant and a court would rule that the visitor owed. Maybe that's the case only for medicine and some other professions and not for, say, home party hosts, although I think that could be answered by establishing, somehow, that the service provider's service is commercially valuable and deserving of compensation even if the provider is not classified as a professional.

In one case, a jury was persuaded by a photo of a handshake. The parties were major companies, one well known and the other able to build or buy a factory for a big contract. I've also run into people who try not to sign anything due to a religious reason (I think), but they doubtless enter into contracts and execute them somehow, but I don't know how.

Hypothetical case: In the U.S., a person writes a letter to a carpenter known to make a living as a carpenter. (Any occupation will do for this purpose, especially one for which compensation is not always expected, such as house-cleaning.) Both are adult individuals. In the letter, the person asks the carpenter to make a chair. Assume nothing else is in the letter. The carpenter makes the chair and delivers it. The carpenter bills the person for the service. The person says there was no intention to make a purchase, just a thought that the carpenter would like to practice making a chair and seeing someone gladly sit in it. The person has sat in it, is glad for the experience, and happily accepts the chair as a gift. The carpenter never said anything about a gift. Would the person owe?

alternatives to other party signing a contract


I have had a Limited company UK contract, with an Agency and worked at their end-client.
After working for a few months, my role was suddenly terminated by the client (i.e. the end client, no reason given in writing). But she told (in writing ) that - they will be paying for the full notice.

It seems that - my agency signed me for 1 month (both way) on my contract but under the hood they seems to have signed 1/2 month with the client. And now agency is saying they are unable to pay for the difference as client’s only gonna pay for - what they want to pay— Since client is the supreme authority.

What can we do about it? Will I be able to dispute with the agency on hidden shorter notice period which wasn’t disclosed to me?

Cheers

Notice period fraud


"There is no refunds with this purchase. If you are a mentor or are affiliated with any other trade teams you will be removed and will not be refunded if found. Legal action will be taken on any members that share our content. Vertex Investing are not financial advisors, Following trade ideas and trading in general does have an element of risk. Please do not risk capital you cannot afford. Vertex investing are not liable for any losses incurred."

This is what is in my terms and conditions... Someone is trying to get out of paying (of course I will be writing a proper contractual agreement after this) but how valid is my argument for having them pay?

How specific must a contract be?


I have no background in law.

I capture drone footage as a hobby, and want to license it to my local church for use in some of their non-commercial video productions. I want to ensure that they are not allowed to resell it, distribute/share it, use without permission etc etc without obtaining permission from myself.

I am supplying the footage on a hard drive, and am including a copyright notice on the disk (I shall also be drawing their attention to it via email).

What can I do to ensure my footage is covered appropriately? Do I need to write a license agreement? Are you able to point me towards a fully formed license agreement template which I can use? Would it be better to just write an extended copyright notice which details that the footage may not be used without permission?

I am fully aware of the Creative Commons licenses, but these allow the footage to be used by others which is something I want to restrict (almost open-sourcing the footage).

Writing a license agreement for my stock footage - where do I start?


Let's say I make a website, using my own words, and simple facts (We will call it Simple Math, so the article is about the basics of adding and subtracting, and the facts are math facts).

As I make this website, I pay close attention to make sure that I am not copying mathsite1.com. After I publish the site, mathsite2.com sends me an email saying I infringed their copyright. When I visit their site, their article is similar, but not exactly the same (Using different words and explanations, but the same basic outline).

What would happen?

What happens if I unknowing copy an article in the US?


We were just having a discussion whether [Lush's naming of a mouthwash as "Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster"](https://uk.lush.com/products/new-products/pan-galactic-gargle-blaster) is benefiting from the popularity of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, which led to the intellectual property concerns behind this. My two questions are:
1. Could the Adams estate legally challenge Lush in any way, for use of this name?
2. Would Lush be able trademark the name, given they are actually trading a product with that name?

I'm in the UK, but I'm sort of interested whether there are any interesting interactions of this sort between IPR law and products in works of fiction anywhere in the world.

Can you trademark a proper noun from a work of fiction?


I'm a copywriter with a flair in creating games for children.

I'm working for hire to create a board game in the lines of Monopoly without using any of their copyrighted terms like "Go to jail" etc. The format is the same with 9 steps on each side and four square zones for special situations. And some play money (or value-cards) for trading.

However, my client does want to use the "poly" in the name.

I have a game named Earth-o-poly on the environment. I wonder if they have had to go through the process of obtaining written permission or paying royalty of some sort.

What if my client created an XXXXpoly game and have a regular board game where players don't have play money but some kind of cards to hold on to and pay taxes or pay fines etc.

So, summing up, here are my questions:

1. Is it a coypright infringement if the generic format is used and XXXXpoly is used?
2. What if the format is hugely modified/changed but we only keep the "poly" suffix?
3. Is it extremely expensive to negotiate and pay a fee to them to get the permission?
4. Is there anything else I should keep in mind and didn't ask here?

Thanks, in advance, for your responses.

Copyright laws regarding using the suffix of an established Brand name


The girls then uploaded a video of him being held down naked to Youtube and they weren't prosecuted, why is this?

<https://web.archive.org/web/20110604124555/https://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-06-01/Online-video-shows-Fort-Myers-boy-being-bullied>

In 2011 two 14-year-old girls held an 11-year-old boy down and stripped him completely naked


[The San Francisco 2004 same-sex weddings took place between February 12 and March 11, 2004](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_2004_same-sex_weddings), and were then “voided” on August 12, 2004.

But OBERGEFELL v. HODGES voids the voiding...

Could these couples have been prosecuted for filing single for tax years 2004-2014?

Were there retroactive changes to CA marriage laws about same-sex couples?


Stack Overflow (the owner of the Stack Exchange network) has been sold to Prosus.

Once the deal closes, does that means that "Stack Overflow" no longer exists as a company? Is the Stack Exchange network then just a product that Prosus now owns and operates, or does Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange still exist as a separate entity that Prosus simply entirely owns?

Stack Overflow has been sold to Prosus. Does it still exist as a separate legal entity?


The [Emoluments Clause](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/emoluments_clause) of the Constitution bars people holding office from *accepting* a title from a foreign state. But what about a pre-existing title? If, say, the President appointed a Duke to head the Department of Education, or if an otherwise-qualifying Count was elected as a senator, would they be forced to abdicate before they could take office? Or no?

It at least seems to me that since the never-ratified Titles of Nobility amendment *did* specify "accept, claim, receive, or retain" (even if that was drafted 20 years later), that the Emoluments Clause was intended purely to prevent accepting a title once in office, but searching around I can't find if this ever came up in practice, or any commentary on this hypothetical situation.

Could a person with a noble title take a federal office without abdicating that title?


In various nerdy gaming communities, it's common for folks to produce higher quality tokens, play mats, and such containing artwork from the games. And some people will sell some of their works to basically pay for their hobby.

Question 1: If someone digitally copies an image and prints it on a play mat without permission that's obviously not legal for them to sell, but is it legal for personal use under Fair Use?

Question 2: Would it be illegal to use symbols from the game on tokens you create and sell? See links for an example of what I mean. The first link is actual card board images from the game. The second is the higher quality tokens someone produced. The reproduced drawings are ever so slightly different. What if they were identical? Does that matter? Or how different would they need to be?

<https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/7a/47/7a474142-dd1a-4eb1-8c42-1f8e1e18efe1/l5c01_rings.png>

<http://www.brokenegggames.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/960x/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/2/0/20170825_115514.jpg>

Reproducing game art in various forms for personal use and/or selling to friends


I'm trying to start an app in the skin care category. I'm trying to come up with names, and one of the ones I'm considering is `Bree`.

However, when I search USPTO for "Bree", I see a ton of results: <http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4809%3Aux0o5h.1.1&p_search=searchss&p_L=50&BackReference=&p_plural=yes&p_s_PARA1=&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1%24LD&expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=bree&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA2%24COMB&p_op_ALL=AND&a_default=search&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query>

I even see repeats of "Bree". Does that mean I can start the app without having to worry about trademark issues?

The most active one is by bree.com, but that's selling bags: <http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:mdl1q0.2.26>

Trademarks: Can I start an app if an unrelated trademark already exists?


If I find a meteorite do I get to keep it? Does it make a difference if I find it in my own lawn or on public land? I am especially interested how law is in European countries.


I am writing a software license myself before I hire a lawyer.

Is it legal to copy a software license text from other companies to write my own?

I could not find anyone talking about the copyright of the software license itself. But many software licenses have the same text.

I found this post ([Is it legal to copy a website's terms of use?](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/7901/is-it-legal-to-copy-a-websites-terms-of-use)) but not sure if this applies to a software license


Several times has happened that the definition of mental disorders/ psychological-psychiatrist therapies/theories have been proven wrong. Yet they have been applied over people causing them problems and harm in their lives. Usually graduated psychologists/ psychiatrists are ignorant which is the supposed proof of these theories. They've been told they have been proven sometimes, sometimes they've been given some details, and they don't know they don't have a real basis behind them until it's massively accepted they are wrong. Personally, I see little to no responsibilities in them. In the other hand, governments and states promote these theories in secondary schools, they teach them and form professionals in national universities, and they hold the power to treat people in trials and to internate someone for being ill under these theories. Some other organizations, which I'm not very aware who they are, but I assume they might be colleges or agrupations of psychiatrists/psychologists regulate their professional's activities, and I assume they might be the ones giving the content to national universities for the formation of professionals under these theories. When one of these theories/therapies are proven wrong and have caused harm over people, who is the legal responsibility?

I assume there aren't many cases like this, but I make the parallelism with biological sciences. If an association or group produces a medicament which is proven harmful for people later, and that association teaches doctors to give this medicament to people, with the approval and fundings/places of national government created universities, it would be pretty much the same. Then, in the case stated in the topic question, who would be legally responsible for the application of these mainstream wrong psychological/psychiatrist therapies?

Who would be legally responsible for the application of mainstream wrong psychological/psychiatrist therapies?


I am a bit confused on what would constitute as an offer.

Is telling someone that they will be paid for their work at either $Y or $X be an offer?

Would replying to this invite and choosing $Y be acceptance?

offer in contracts


I'm currently looking to trademark a product name for my company. Through research, I've found that another company is selling a similar product under that name with no trademark whatsoever. Is it possible that I can continue to trademark my product name and have the right to send them a cease and desist; so that I may sell mine without any confusion?

Trademark infringement, cease and desist


I want to gather data on a catalog of types of products.
For example, lets say cars. I want to scrape a website (that is itself a catalog of information) for the different make and models of cars, parts, etc. All information that is factual and not opinion based or intellectual at all.

Even if they have a terms of service that speaks against it, I don't see how it could be illegal given the nature of the information?

If it is illegal, would someone explain to me why?

Legal to scrape data from a website if the data is not intellectual property?


I am writing a book on best practice branding for entrepreneurs and want to demonstrate my points using well-known (as well as our own client) logos.

The logos will be used for illustrative, educational purposes and shown in a good light. I can put a line at the start of the book explaining that the use of the logo does not imply any endorsement or sponsorship from these brands.

Will this be enough?

What are the laws on showing another company's logo in my book on branding?


I was recently charged a $5 fee in error by a California based tech company. I disputed the charge via app and they issued me a “refund” in credits for future use of their service. I have not been able to contact the company in regards to getting my payment method refunded. I’m upset at this shady business practice, because I am out of the $5 for their error no matter what and the only way I can experience the refund is if I use their service again. Personal feelings aside, I’m genuinely interested if this is a legal way to conduct business.

Can a company erroneously charge customers and issue credits as refunds instead of refunding the payment method directly?

Is it legal for a company to erroneously charge you and refund you in credits?


According to [IRS](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test), I was never a US **tax** resident.

But there is a US bank that thinks I'm a resident in the US. I didn't update my info after leaving. I did fill out W8. I also filled out after leaving, not sure if they received my fax.

Can being categorized as a `US resident` by the bank make me a tax resident in CA or US? Directly or indirectly.

I don't want to face any surprises in the future


My friend is facing the following problem:

Her boss left the computer open and she then looked at his screen, where the salary of a coworker at her level (who since has left the company) was displayed. As his salary was considerably higher than hers; she was shocked and told a coworker about it, and also to her boss who left the his computer open. In a preemptive strike he reported it to the management but says that she went through his email, essentially accessing his computer without consent.

Now human resources has written her an email, asking her to answer some questions next week. Her answers would then lead to a decision whether disciplinary actions would follow.

The questions are:

* How did you find out about the salary?
* Who did you share the information with?
* Why did you think it is ok to discuss this with the colleagues you discussed it with?
* What you expect to gain from discussing third-party salaries with colleagues

It is hardly illegal to look at somebody's screen. But is there an obligation not to disclose that information to colleagues? She is working for a company in the UK.

Seeing a co-woker's salary on his screen


Let's assume that I publish a German translation of a book in the public domain (because the author is dead for 70+ years) that hasn't been translated so far.

Do I own the copyright for the translation or is the translation automatically also in the public domain? Moreover, is someone else able to publish another translation? (I assume this is possible if it's substantially different, but I would like to know the exact rules.)

Can I own the copyright for a translation of a public domain book?


Let’s say I want to create a website that helps people troubleshoot a topic. I get my facts and information from site A, and use that info to write my own articles (Not copying word for word, but stating the same ideas).

Site A has this policy: "Any duplication or use of images, diagrams, or text, or other electronic or printed publications is not permitted without the prior written agreement by Site A."

Copyright.gov says this: "Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed."

So am I allowed to take the facts and information from Site A and use it on my own site? I will not take their images or interpretation of the facts, but just the facts themselves. And I will write my own articles and "fluf" based on the facts.

Note: I live in the US

---

EDIT:

I tried to add this as a comment but it was too long.

So my current understanding is that facts in lists of obvious order cannot be copyrighted, but their explanations or instructions can be.

So can I do this?

**SITE A:**

How to fix a black screen on your computer

Fixing a black screen can be quite easy! Just follow these simple steps.

1. Restart by holding down the power key for 5 seconds (This can help refresh the system if something is not working right)
2. Remove the battery, then replace it (This can help remove all background operations)
3. Throw it out the window because there is nothing else you can do to fix it

**My Site**

This guide will show you how to fix a black screen on your computer!

* Try holding down the power button for five seconds to reset the device.
* If that does not work, try removing, then replacing the battery. Doing this can help stop any tasks your computer may be running.
* If the above steps don't work, bring your computer to a repair shop for further analysis.

US Copyright Question


I'm creating a Christian game with KJV quotes which will be printed and published -via self-publishing- in the US. I understand the KJV is in the public domain worldwide, except for the UK. Could I have a problem if people from the UK bought the game and it was sent to them from the US?

If the KJV is still in copyright in the UK could I have a problem if people buy something quoting it from the US?


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?


As I understand it, Hitler's book *Mein Kampf* was originally copyrighted by Hitler, but, after the war, the Allies gave the copyright to Bavaria. (Was this legal? I guess I should post that as a separate question.)

I just learned that Bavaria's copyright expired in 2016. I'd like to learn if there are any English translations that are also in the public domain.

In particular, I suspect an English version published by the Germans in 1940 for the planned invasion of England might be in the public domain.

A copy is available online [here](https://archive.org/details/MeinKampf.StalagEditionOfficiallyAuthorizedByTheNSDAPIn1940ForTheInvasionOfBritain/page/n17). It is described as open source, contributed by the community, suggesting it's in the public domain. However, I wondered if the government of Bavaria could claim ownership of this work as a derivative of the original, German language edition.

So my specific question is this: Is the English-version edition of *Mein Kampf* linked to in the paragraph above in the public domain?

Public domain English translation of Mein Kampf


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?


Hypothetical Facts
------------------

1. U.S. company ("***A***") hires Canadian worker ("***B***") [to work as an unpaid intern](https://law.stackexchange.com/a/3739/794).
2. ***B*** never physically leaves Canada and does all her work by telephone, computer and internet.
3. ***A*** has a physical presence in the U.S. only.
4. The parties enter into an ***internship agreement*** that, among other things, (purports to) commit/s the entire arrangement to the jurisdiction of the U.S.

Questions
=========

1. Is ***A*** or ***B*** subject to Canadian employment law? (Will either party get into trouble with the Canadian government?)
2. If so, what enforcement (and/or punitive) mechanisms are available to the Canadian government to enforce their employment laws against ***A*** or ***B***?
3. Can ***B*** later (successfully) sue ***A*** in a Canadian court for back wages?

Are U.S. employers subject to Canadian employment law if they hire a Canadian to work remotely?


In the USA, suppose party A offers a contract to party B, who signs and returns said contract to A. The contract is a single document that has a few "sections" that each have a place to sign to show acceptance of that "section".

Now suppose that before any material action is taken by either party to proceed with the contract, A offers B what is essentially the same contract but with some minor amendments (e.g. change of start date), which B then signs and returns to A. Fullfilment of the contract proceeds on both sides using the amended terms (eg the actual start date of the contract is the start date as per the amended version).

Does the signed copy of the second version of the contract override/replace the first completely?

More specifically, suppose B initially opted to approve/accept a particular section in the first version, but decided *not* to opt for that section in the second version and so did not sign that section and further suppose that A did not notice the change in acceptance. Much later, after a lot of work has been done and delivered by both parties, A asks B to comply with the particular section, but B points out to A that B didn't accept that particular section in the second version and B refuses to comply.

Can A compel B to still accept the terms of the particular section because it was accepted in the first version and that section of the contract didn't change?

Or does the issuing and signing of a second version open the door to B accepting the sections differently, especially given that the behavior of both parties aligned with the second version - both A and B started fulfilling their obligations on the amended start date.

The section is question does not affect the way in which the main part of the contract is fulfilled. For example, it might be the notice period required to terminate the contract without penaltya, or similar "exit" terms that wouldn't be realized until B wanted to leave the contract.

Does a subsequent signed version of an amended contract/offer override previous signed versions?


I recently joined a large IT company, before joining I had concerns with my contract, it states that they own all rights over what I create (from ideas, software, you name it).

I love making my own games, and I have a game I've worked on for over 2 years (long before I joined their company), so I did not like this part of the contract and said I could not sign unless they confirm that they won't try to take my game from me.

I sent an email to the recruiter (who works for that company) and asked her to confirm that point X.x of the contract is only concerning products competing with the company.
I got the response:

>
> As previously highlighted you do not need to be stressed at all in
>  regards to below situation with your company. As I have explained to
>  you what we protect us against in the contract is competing business,
>  if that was the case with yours. So I hereby can confirm below is the
>  case – and that it would only be an issue if you develop a competing
>  product or use our inside know how to create your business products.
>  Hope that makes sense. So ALL is good.
>
>
>

I felt like this was enough, but now I'm about to release my game and I really don't like the wording in the contract. Will this email I have protect me from them trying to steal my game?

I am located in Scandinavia.

Signed a contract with employer stating they own all my IP; they sent an email saying its only for competing products. Should I be worried?


Mainly I'm interested in getting to know my ancestry, but I don't mind doing a lot of research on my own to classify it if I get raw results.

The thing that I do not want is my DNA being stored somewhere, or something associated with my name in any way stored anywhere. Is there a way to avoid that and just get the only copy of the results while being sure that the DNA sample wasn't kept as well?

I'm in Europe if that matters, but I've read you can usually send in samples. I can't afford something very expensive, but I am able to pay something (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be posting about it).

How can I get my DNA tested without the results being kept by third-party?


My brother and I bought a house together. I own 60% and he owns 40% (this is on the deeds). I live in the house and he does not. I have two lodgers living with me, who pay rent.

Typically one is allowed £7500 tax free lodger income if you live in the house. If you are joint owners you are supposed to split this 50-50 (£3750 each). Hence I would be eligible for £3750 income tax free, and my brother will be eligible for £0 tax free since he does not live in the house. But would we be able to split it 60-40, since we are 60-40 joint owners?

How to split Rent-a-Room scheme tax exemptions with joint owners


As I understand, J.K.Rowling owns right for characters, story, special words (like "muggle"), and so on. Warner Bros. has exclusive right to make movies based on the original books/stories.

[Here](https://www.quora.com/How-would-I-go-about-acquiring-the-licenses-to-produce-Harry-Potter-related-merchandise) is a discussion on acquiring a license to produce Harry-Potter-related products. But what about movies, based on alternative stories in the same universe with the same characters?

I imagine that one can just ask J.K.Rawling for her permission to make a movie based on a fanfic. Since it is not an original book/story, which can be filmed only by Warner Bros, it means that one can make a deal to produce a movie based on fanfic, and pay, say, 80% of revenue to the author, if author is agreed :)

But I suppose this only possible in the ideal world.

How to shoot a movie based on Harry Potter fan fiction?


Sav.com had latency in the month of October. Therefore, Domains were not posted in my account, but the amount debited from the credit card. The same is accepted in written correspondence by sav.com that I had no active domains in my account + they have also confessed that domains for which they have charged my credit card are also available open in the market to be booked by anyone. W

When I asked them why and how this happened they gave the hack theory that my account would have been compromised and domains would have been transferred or deleted. This is the case of complete fraud because the domains under question are still with a registry and open to be booked by any one in the market.

I am based in India, and the merchant is based in USA.

Is there any supervisory monitoring body that can ask domain registrar to process refund based on the relevant evidences.

Credit card charged but domain not booked by a domain registrar where should I go against an International Merchant


A standard way to license something under the GPL, is to grant a license to the "GPL version 3 or later", meaning that the recipient receives a license under the license terms of the GPLv3, or at their choice any later version of the GPL.

I have been told that in the EU, or at least Germany this is impossible because the license constitutes a contract, and it's not lawful to enter into a contract that has terms that are unknown to you at the time of entering it. Is this correct?

Legality of "Version x or later" licenses


>
> 2. The expression 'warranty' legally signifies? Please select all that apply.
>
>
>

>
> a term of a contract as opposed to a representation.
>
>
>

>
> [The term 'warranty' is used to distinguish between a term (warranty) and a mere representation, and also to distinguish between terms that give no right to termination upon breach (warranties) and terms that do (conditions). **Service contracts for electrical and similar items are not really good examples of the use of 'warranty' in the legal sense, although they are, of course, separate contractual agreements (for which one pays, often heavily), containing a number of terms providing for what will happen if a fault develops.**](https://learninglink.oup.com/access/content/taylor-directions7e-student-resources/taylor-directions7e-chapter-5-self-test-questions?previousFilter=tag_chapter-05)
>
>
>

>
> Reference: Sections 5.1.2, 5.4.1
>
>
>

If warranties legally don't signify service or maintenance contracts, which are misstated as Warranties, then how do the legal definition of "warranty" relate to service or maintenance contracts? Why did corporations start misnaming service or maintenance contracts Warranties?

Why are service or maintenance contracts called 'warranties', when they legally aren't warranties?


From the [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem) on the trolley problem:

>
> There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead,
>  on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The
>  trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance
>  off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the
>  trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice
>  that there is one person on the side track. You have two options: (1)
>  Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track.
>  (2) Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it
>  will kill one person.
>
>
>

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UJuc8.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UJuc8.jpg)

What are the legal aspects of finding yourself in a train yard in the United States when this happens? Is it a crime to pull the lever? Is it a crime to not pull the lever? Does it depend on if you're professionally qualified to pull the lever?

What is the legal take on the trolley problem?


Inspired by [this article](https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2021/10/19/auto-break-in-theft-retail-rewards-tourism-sfpd.html), how exactly is it determined who gets the bounty? Surely the police get many tips, do all informants get paid? Is the bounty split or do they all get the full amount? If it is split, how is it decided who gets what proportion?

I am interested in both this specific case and the concept in general.

When bounties are offered for information leading to a conviction, how is it decided who gets it?


My employer has recently undergone a number of changes internally, involving the move to different premises (with the argument about the new building being larger, however will accommodate roughly the same number of staff as the current building will occupy). As part of this, they have sent around an update to the employment contract which basically nullifies the flexible working hours which previously has been in effect. Many people I work with vary their working hours to fit in with their lives, and has been accepted - up to this point.

The business operated a core working hours of 10am to 4pm, but are changing this to 9am - 5pm, with a 30 minute "flexible start/end" that employees can start and end their working day (e.g; 8.30am to 5pm, or 9am to 5.30pm) - effectively removing the concept of flexible working hours completely. This affects many people's lives, and some of my colleagues are petitioning to retain their flexible working hours, of which are being met with strict rules surrounding a mandatory lunch hour/half hour, no option to work less than this to make up the time (despite being willing to), and one has been forced to drop their hours to 36/week.

They also put in a clause to the portion that they're wanting everyone to sign which says that everyone must specify when, between the hours to 12pm to 2pm, they will take their lunch, and must be rigid over this (unless a meeting is occurring, in which case that overrides your lunch hour and you must take it later). This was also met with protest, and they eventually caved and relaxed this rigidity slightly, then sent across some minutes from that meeting ratifying this. They will not, however, update the contract to reflect this as they've said that the meeting minutes ratifies it. However, we don't believe this would ever stand up in court if a dispute ever arose. Is this true?

The final part of this demands flexibility from the employee for the business's requirements (e.g; if a meeting runs late/starts early, the employee is expected to be there), but will not offer the same level of flexibilities to staff who currently have lives (unless they offer a rigid, business-valid justification for doing so). It's almost as if they're "offering" this 30 minutes of flexibility to save face because on paper the revision is a load of rubbish.

Many people do not want to sign this, as it significantly affects their lives (I myself work earlier in the morning to finish at 4pm to miss rush hour traffic in both directions, and so I have a little bit of daylight left at the end of the day - however I've been told that I would not be able to petition for flexible working hours with these reasons as they are not valid and would be rejected..and have also been told that I would be one of the worst affected by the change in rules). The move to the new building also offers no car parking space, so those that currently park on the company's property are effectively having to take a pay cut in order to pay for parking, or obtain an alternative means of getting to the office - usually at the additional expensive of significantly increased commute times.

My question is basically this - Can they legally do this? What are the options for employees if they disagree to the new rigid rules and will (or have) get a formal request for flexible working hours rejected because their reasons are not "valid" in the eyes of the business? If the company lets staff go as a result of not agreeing to these rigid terms, are there grounds for constructive/unfair dismissal?

Sorry I've rambled on a bit, but it's quite difficult to get a lot of this across. Hope someone can help.

Edit: sorry, jurisdiction is England & Wales. Company is based in England.

Employer forcing everyone to sign new contract which significantly affects working hours


Recently, [a vegan customer sued Burger King because a plant-based burger he bought at a Burger King franchise was cooked on a grill also used for cooking meat](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50486664).

This got me thinking: who would usually be liable for this sort of case?

Would it be...

* the franchisor (Burger King),
* the franchisee (the actual restaurant owner), or
* the employee

I'm interested in not only the answer in Florida, where this occurred, but in other places around the world too.

---

My question is not entirely specific to this example: I'm asking in general. If, for example, an employee cooked a vegan patty on a meat grill *even though it shouldn't have been done, as per company rules*, would they be liable , or the franchisee, or the franchisor?

Who is liable when a consumer sues a company?


My husband and I would like to complete a remodeling job on our home. The relationship between us and the contractor has gotten tense as there are many errors that need correction. We have sought estimates for repairs from other contractors. Before the original contractor will approve the estimates to be deducted from our final payment the original contractor is trying to force us to sign a non disparagement contract. Can they do this legally?

Contractor v homeowner. Disparagement clause


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

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


We are using some of my pre-existing, personally copyrighted open source software libraries at my employer. Recently they have asked me to "fix" the copyright so that it is theirs.

I have no objection to them owning a version of the code, i.e. that they own the copyright to, however I want to retain the ownership and copyright of the original code as it existed before I came here.

Is there a reasonably painless way to achieve this?

Thanks.

Cross-posted from Open Source, per a commenter's suggestion.
<https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/6230/can-i-assign-a-2nd-copyright-to-my-employer>

Can I assign a 2nd copyright to my employer


Granted, they screwed up: yesterday was the deadline for filing income tax returns, and the IRS web site for e-filing crashed for half a day. Because of that crash, the Secretary of the Treasury has announced that the deadline has been extended by one day.

Does the IRS have the legal authority to make this change?

Does the IRS have authority to extend the filing deadline?


A theoretical company existed which used to be registered in the United Kingdom and has since been dissolved.

The company was a SaaS(Software as a service) company.

The code was written by **Person A**, who was a minority shareholder director of the company.

There was no copyright, trademark or other license on the actual code files themselves and the original developer has access to the entire complete codebase.

**Question:**
Who 'owns' the code?
What freedoms does **Person A** have to use the code in a similar or project of their choice?

Who owns the software created by a dissolved startup company?


I have been in a number of discussions, which the other party described the contract terms verbally in a way to convince me to proceed with the contract. I want to ask if this is not fraud, and how to handle such situations. To clarify the point, what I mean is for one of the parties to state a definition of the terms which is not the same as the intuitive meaning of the definition of the content.

An example would be a number of intellectual property contents I have seen recently. On one occasion, the HR contact told me in email that they forwarded my concerns to the corporate attorney. The person then replied inline to comments stating that the content is meant to protect the information they shared with me. Given that I was not about to work on a research and development effort, this seemed like a lie to me. Can an organization, or an attorney be liable for such action. Given that the email did not contain the person's name, I would imagine this action is not ok at some level; but how illegal is it? And what would happen if such a signed contract is used to force someone to comply? Can a non-attorney claim that they were lied to, and produce the email in support of it?

This is probably an area, which I like to learn more about. That is interpretation of a content. I think is an strength in the legal profession, and I would greatly appreciate any content or keywords you can suggest to me.

Is it illegal to misinform someone about the terms of a contract


This question is with respect to tax law in India(you may also answer with respect to USA).If someone makes a software then popularizes it .The person has invested RS 100000 in making tghe software and RS 10000 on popularizing it.Now a person buys the software for Rs 10000000.The software developer files an income tax return for Rs 0 stating that because of popularization the price of it has increased to Rs 10000000.Will it be legal?How is the value determined?

How is value of intellectual property decided?


I'm a freelance web developer and I entered into a contract with a client in August 2018. The contract was set to end and product delivered by October 5 2018. However, due to the client changes in ideas and work in progress, we went way past that end date and now I am only going to deliver the final work in 2 days.

Given that there is a clause in the original agreement which states that in case of changes in ideas and the work takes more time at my sole discretion, then the client will allow more time to deliver. All of that is good.

However, I want to change the end date of the Original contract to November 2 2018 but I am not sure if that's possible, given it's already past October 5.

Can I actually amend the original contract now and say the end date changed to November 2nd 2018 and then amend some sections of the contract as well, to remove some sections and also to add some sections?

Can I amend a contract after end date


I am planning on writing a book that happens in a universe separate from Dungeons and Dragons universe but I want to have a character be a Kenku.

I know that they are copyrighted for use in other RPGs. But what about in books? Would I just have to change the race name, but can I keep all the attributes? The Kenku is going to be cursed to look like a human. They talk by mimicking things they hear. The main character is trying to fix the curse but doesn't know that the Kenku is a Kenku. The main character thinks the Kenku is a human cursed with some type of impaired speech which makes it hard to understand him.

How do I find what I am able to use and what I can't use? Would the be in the Open Gaming License? Or somewhere else?

Is it possible to use creatures from an RPG (like Dungeons and Dragons) in writing a book without infringing on copyrights?


In many countries of the European Union, abortions are performed on women after knowledge of down syndrome in the embryo. In some countries this disease has almost disappeared from the population. And according to MIT news in recent months, we are now on the verge of being able to detect other diseases such as some form of diabetes.

We must not forget that we can also already suppress HIV in births, even if for this virus, the probability of seeing it disappear from the population is much lower.

All this means that in a few years the countries of the European Union will be able to create populations almost disease-free at birth.

The definition of eugenics is :

>
> the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).
>
>
>

And we already know that [article 3 of EU charter of human rights prohibit "eugenics practices".](https://fra.europa.eu/en/eu-charter/article/3-right-integrity-person)

My first question is : Why does practices are not considered as eugenics practices following EU charter of human rights ? And my second question is : If it is proven that the constitution of human rights does not prevent such abortions, does this mean that it does not prevent abortions based on the probabilities of the height or IQ of the future child either?

Is abortion of children with Down's syndrome legal in EU?


This all happens in Minnesota.

Employee E worked for company A and had standard noncompete agreement. Agreement has an assignment clause assigning rights to any successor. Company B buys most business units of company A and hires most employees. Seller of A starts new company N. E stays with seller of A and works for new company N. Assume it's clear that language of noncompete contract assigned to B all rights of all of A's employees who now work for B.

A was in the business of providing medical billing services to hospitals. E worked in that industry when hired by A. During employment E developed a product to detect fraud within hospitals and stopped working on billing and started working on the product. When B buys A, it only buys the billing business. Seller of A starts new business explicitly to sell fraud product and invites E to come along. There is an implied option for E to stay on and work for B, but B does not express interest in E and has no contact with E before the sale. Seller has an explicit new agreement with B (it is specific to seller the person) that seller will not engage in medical billing business. E has no new agreement.

Seller commences new business N. E has no new agreement or paperwork with N. Not even a tax form. N is a small company and does not provide health insurance but since E received benefits under his spouse's employer there was no change in status in that regard. The only change is that auto deposit pay checks were now from N.

Hospital who previously worked with seller at company A contacts seller, asking for consulting work on a billing problem. Because of seller's agreement with B, the consulting contract is written between hospital and B, with N working under a separate agreement with B. Basically N does all the work while B prints invoices and sends 50% of money to N.

Seller goes to hospital and brings E along for the consulting job. In the course of the work, hospital offers E a job. Not just a job, the job - the one that's being filled by the contract work. Counsel for hospital sees no problem with the offer as it relates to hospital's actions and let's assume that's a correct assessment. But what about E?

Is there any legal doctrine whereby E's agreement with A continued to apply to E in his work for company N? What about B? Do they have any standing to block E's going to work for a B's customer? My thinking here is that E technically has a noncompete agreement with B but perhaps there is a generally accepted public policy theory whereby employers can't enforce agreements against former employees especially under these facts.

Reasonable minds may suggest that neither B nor N have an interest in blocking the employment. But let's assume seller is pissed bc now E won't be available to develop product for N and B is pissed because the hiring stops the gravy train and cuts off future potential work.

Noncompete, nonsolicit, nondisclose agreement company that was sold. But wait, there's more


If a contract contains both of the following clauses, how do they not contradict each other?

>
> 24.3 Each party agrees that it shall have no right or remedy (other than for breach of contract) in respect of any statement,
>  representation, assurance or warranty (whether made negligently or
>  innocently) other than as expressly set out in this Agreement.
>
>
> 24.4 Neither party shall have any liability to the other party, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory
>  duty, or otherwise, for any loss of profit, or for any indirect or
>  consequential loss arising under or in connection with this Agreement.
>
>
>

How to reconcile waiver and liability terms of a contract?


Let's suppose that a person, who has no longer anything to lose and willing to drag an innocent along with him, sends money to an innocent via bank, calls the innocent person by telling them "I sent you the money for [such and such illegal act]" and hangs out immediately and blocks the innocent's number.
The innocent of course, a per title, did nothing and every mean of comunication or electronic mean of the actual perpetrator is tracked, from bank accounts to phone number and social media, and the perpetrator does know this and by this is willing to involve this innocent person, and by the proper investigations, it is found that the perpetrator had contact with the innocent poor guy- What's the legal ruling on the innocent on this case? Can the innocent individual be dragged in court for messages and money he didn't ask for and for communications interactions not depending on him?

Hypothetical scenario in which an innocent person is involved and dragged in


If I contract a company from the U.S. is the contracted company bound by U.S. laws and also how can we insure that this company can be sued within the U.S. jurisdiction if they are located outside of the country. How does that work exactly?

Legal issue when contracting a company outside of the U.S


Is there a legal term or definition to use in an appeal when a lower court judge has set an impossible standard of evidence in his decision? In a property tax appeal,a judge has ignored higher court precedents and extrapolated other decisions to effectively eliminate the possibility of proving a non uniform tax assessment rate. I would think that such a decision would be invalid on its face.

What Remedy When a judge sets an impossible standard of evidence?


I was just informed of this situation that occurred somewhere by a co-worker, and was wondering what the legal ramifications are (U.S. Law). To be clear, the scenario is as follows:

* I tell my boss I've been offered a position at another company.
* My boss later comes to me with a counter offer of a raise, if I choose to stay with them
* I accept the counter offer, and inform the other company that I have chosen to stay with my current employer
* After a week, my boss then informs me that I'm being let go, and that this should serve as a lesson to not mess with him.

For the above scenario, regarding U.S. law, do I hold any legal grounds against this? What options would I have to defend myself (and my family) from being blatantly told that I was fired because I was willing to accept another offer without some other counter-offer from my current employer?

>
> As for the chap this did happen to, I'm informed that he contacted the company who originally gave him the offer, and they were still willing to bring him on-board. So, yay (somewhat) happy ending to an otherwise terrifying situation. However, I'm specifically asking about the scenario in which he was forced to be unemployed for some period of time, while looking for another job (i.e., the other company no longer had the position open)
>
>
>

Do I have legal rights against a company that offered me a raise to not leave, and then promptly fired me after turning down the other offer?


![Screencap of a Simpsons episode showing Sprawl-Mart](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lA8bY.png)

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

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

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

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


I have the permission of the authors to create an audio version of a book published in 2015. The audio version would be licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The book is published by [Routledge](https://www.routledge.com/) under the following conditions:

>
> © 2015 selection and editorial material, Giacomo D’Alisa, Federico
>  Demaria and Giorgos Kallis; individual chapters, the contributors. The
>  Introduction, Epilogue and chapters 14 and 36 are subject to copyleft
>  licensing.
>
>
> FROM THE CONTRACT
>
>
> 3 Copyright
>  3.1 The copyright in the Editor’s part in and to the Work and any Contribution written by the Editor for inclusion therein will remain
>  the property of the Editor but nothing in Clause 3.1 (this clause)
>  shall affect any rights separately granted by Contributors to the
>  Publishers. The copyright notice to be printed in the Work will be in
>  the name of Giacomo D’Alisa, Federico Demaria and Giorgos Kallis for
>  selection and editorial material and in the case of Contributions, the
>  name of the copyright owner of the particular contribution with year
>  of first publication.
>
>
> (a) In consideration of the payment to the Editor of the fee and/or
>  applicable royalty percentages of the Publishers’ receipts set out in
>  Clause 9, **the Editor grants to the Publishers the sole and exclusive
>  right and license to adapt, produce and publish**, and to license others
>  to adapt, produce and publish, the whole or any part of the Editor’s
>  part in and to the Work and any Contribution written for inclusion
>  therein or any abridgement, adaptation or translation of the Editor’s
>  part in and to the Work, **in all forms and media**, in the English
>  language only throughout the world for the full term of copyright,
>  (including all renewals and extensions of that term). …
>
>
>

Am I allowed to create an audio book from a printed book published by Routledge?


Hypothetical situation:
Miss X, a software developer with 10 years of experience, has obtained a new job. On her first day she logs into her desktop computer and the operating system requests that she chooses a password.

A few minutes later her line manager comes to talk to her and asks her to write the password to a piece of paper, place it inside an envelope, and seal and sign that envelope. He explains that if he needs access to the account when she is unreachable, he will open the envelope and use the password.

In USA, can Miss X legally decline the request for her password?

Can my manager request my password?


Suppose I have a firm named Blue. I signed a contract with a firm, named Green, to manage our fleet of motorcycles. The contract states "Green shall solicit and negotiate contracts with qualified independent contractors approved by Blue owners for repairs to the property motorcycles".

Does that statement prevent our firm, Blue, from contacting and negotiating contracts directly with contractors to repair our motorcycles?

Does "shall" in a contract preclude the other party from performing a task?


So if I lend a friend/family like 5k$, do I have to pay tax on that money when my friend/family pays it back to me?

A more concrete example: my brother in the USA would send us let's say 5k$ for some stuff. He's in the USA and we're in another country (Romania). After we send the 5k$ back, will he have to pay tax back on it?

We're talking about bank to bank transactions.

Do you have to pay tax on money received after a friend/family repays money you lent them?


Some time ago, a few people set up a fundraiser to solicit private people to give money to fund a government project that was *not* meant as a gift to reduce the debt of the public. The campaign went sideways (embezzlement and fraud in the inducement are alledged), but I am more interested in the original idea, which I heard was illegal or even unconstitutional:

* Why can't the federal government (the executive!) take the money raised by private citizens to fund a project they started? or phrased differently: What's the law that regulates it?
* What is the *legal* difference between such a campaign (private citizens wanting to *gift* money to the government to fund a program) and war bonds?

Is it legal to give money to the Federal Government to fund specific projects?


this question is for the jurisdiction of the united states, Washington state, pierce county, tacoma city.

i am planning to sell some stuff on a phone app called "offer up" and one of the main features of the app is that it can show you items that are for sale within driving distance, and as such, you can drive to people, or people can drive to you, that day, exchange cash for the goods, then be on your way.

my question is If i sell something on a web app, and the person pays me with a counterfeit bill, and i don't recognize the bill as counterfeit, will i be held criminally liable when i take it to the bank? or do i have to "knowingly possess" the counterfeit bill, will the fact that i was scammed hold up and not get me arrested, charged, or convicted?

thanks.

If i sell something on a web app, can i be held liable if they pay with a counterfeit bill and i take it to the bank?


Apparently the Ronald Reagan Institute claims to own Ronald Reagan's image and [claims the ability to prevent the use of his image for commercial gain](https://www.chron.com/news/article/RNC-Trump-campaign-told-to-stop-using-President-15434408.php).

I am pretty sure I am allowed to sell pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy for profit. But I can't sell images of Ronald Reagan for profit?

At what point does a person's image enter the public domain?

At what point does a dead person's image enter the public domain?


I play this online web browser game, and I created a bot that I use to automate in-game actions. Of course using scripts/bots is prohibited in game rules and leads to banishment if detected.

So my question is: legally speaking, is it illegal to sell this bot to other players? Or charge them a monthly fee for using it?

If marketing it is legal, is there anything else that's illegal when dealing with online games and botting ?

Creating Online games bots


I've Googled this question but I haven't found any exact details or reliable sources.

I'll keep this as broad as possible so the question isn't specific to my situation but I will answer any questions that are needed to give context if the answer depends on situation.

If a client were to pay a business $X for a service can the business pay the employees a percent of the clients payment if the employees only duties involve providing the service the client payed for?

I know that each employee would need to be paid minimum wage so if the minimum wage is $10 and they spend 10 hours providing the service the business would need to pay no less than $100.

I ask becuase not all contracts are even for a service based business. A small project could charge $2,000 and a large project may charge $6,000 but an employer may want to pay the employee more for that large project.

For example:

20 hours at the $10 rate would be $200 for that contract but if the employer could pay per project then the employer could pay something like $500 which would average out to $25/hour which may be too much for an employer to pay for smaller projects.

Can a business legally pay employees per project?


I am a student just doing some freelance work over my summer break. I call myself a web "designer" as people in my country are more used to that term when they want a website created. I develop websites according to my client's needs using free GNU licensed themes. I let my clients know that I use free templates and do not charge very much. In my website, I want to show the work I have done in my portfolio (somewhat claiming that I designed the websites). However, I did not design any of the themes I use. Is this illegal? Will it still be illegal if I state that I did not design any of those websites myself but I'm merely a developer using themes? Thanks!

Web Developer Portflolio Using Themes


I live on a private non-city-maintained road. There are ~30 houses, and I'm roughly in the middle, it's a dead end road. There's no HOA and since we get snow there's one neighbor who has done the job of asking everyone to chip in for snow plowing, and then another neighbor got a quote for repaving and most of the residents paid that too. It's an old road and no one on the street is interested in doing the work and expense of getting it town-maintained. On the county's parcel viewer the road itself is not owned by anyone.

About a year ago a neighbor moved in that drives very fast on our small little street. He's almost hit me, and more importantly I have two little kids who I'm terrified are going to get hit by a car. I called my police officer friend (in this city) and he said there isn't much he can do. There's no speed limit since it's not a town road. We've talked to the neighbor several times and he always just says "I drive fine, I slow down when I see the kids, I can stop fine." He's really a jerk, to be honest. My wife and I, and another neighbor with small kids, is genuinely scared of him hurting out kids.

I went out and bought some speed bumps, like actual industrial versions that can be bolted to the ground. They're yellow and black with little reflectors in them, the kind a condo complex would install. They're removable so I can pull them in the winter for snow plows to operate.

A friend of mine said that by installing them I'm introducing liability on myself because if anyone has an accident right there they can blame the speed bumps. I'm trying to figure out if I have legitimate legal exposure, and what I can do to mitigate it. I'm planning on putting them (two of them, about ~5 apart) in front of my property on the road so I can put signs up. I can write letters and hand deliver them to every neighbor. I can put a public notice in the local paper yearly. I don't really care what I need to do, but I have to get this guy to slow down before he kills someone.

**Cliffs: I want to put down speed bumps on a private road that I live on to slow down dangerous driving and don't want to get (successfully) sued for it.**

Any advice would be appreciated.

Speed bumps on private non-hoa road (California)


I just watched John Oliver's latest show on "Wrongful Convictions". And boy oh boy was my opinion of the US justice system way too generous! And if the US justice system was this bad, imagine the situation in other countries!

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpYYdCzTpps>

Wrongful Convictions: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

***Why do people on this forum, and lawyers in general, behave as if their profession is so objective, unbiased, etc? Is it all just an act?***

Is the concept of "rule of law" just a bad meme?


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?


We just awarded a new janitorial services contract and sent a termination letter to the old contractor. The old contractor produces a near 10 year old agreement/contract signed in 2009 with an automatic renewal provision signed by a previous HOA director that only had the authority to obligate the the Association for one year at a time (2009-2010). Our bylaws limit our authority to obligate these type of contracts to one year. We did not know the contract even existed. The contract value is $2,100 per month. We cover the board with professional liability insurance. Enforceable? Professional Liability Coverage Claim?

Is Automatic renewal of Custodial Contract signed 10 years ago by board member that only had one year authority enforceable?


As an employee of a software company they own my personal time projects, this is not in question. That said, my employer is quite reasonable about said things and at least verbally quite willing to review something and say "this isn't related to our work, you can have it."

It being a small shop, verbal acknowledgement has been all they used before; they have no form for assigning a particular projects IP back to an employee. For a project I want to make and open source I would like something in writing. My employer is receptive to that but they want me to provide the form.

I have been looking for either a template or some resource to help me write a little thing that they can sign that says something like: "The company transfers back all rights related to this project to employee, and we cannot take this back later."

I suspect I don't know the correct terms to search because all I find are templates for employers to have new hires sign that assign their IP to the employer or articles talking about how really the employer owns all IP anyways.

Is there a particular term I can search for this? Do such templates exist?

Resources for assigning employee intellectual property back?


I want to create a website in UK where people can share what they pay for rent at the address they currently stay. This would be community-driven and work like glassdoor (a website for sharing your salary). It would help tenants decide if a landlord is asking too much and landlords to decide their rental price.

Would you see any legal problems with that? You would input an address and get a history of rental prices (if there are any in the database).

Sharing rent information


Are math questions copyrightable? I am thinking it is, but to what extent and what are the limitations? Because some question like 2+2 are too basic to be copyrightable, but some other mathematics question in calculus 1, 2 and 3 are easily copyrightable, or at least should or might have to be. I am asking, because some people may copy other people's questions and put them in their text or textbook.

Are mathematics questions copyrightable?


I watched many American movies in which they tell about a person who writes a personal real life story of his best friend without his acknowledgement.

And the movies said that person is wrong and in some cases his best friend can sue him to the court.

Is writing a real-life story about a person is illegal in USA?

If so, does it matter if that person changes the names of the characters in the story, so that no-one can have an evidence that he was writing about his best friend?


I understand that a contract can be created by the actions undertook by the involved parties. When you visit a website you agree to the ToS by using the website (regardless if you read it or not). Related to my [previous question](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/50775/can-an-employer-charge-employee-contractor-a-processing-fee-for-payment?noredirect=1) I had an employer deduct a small fee to process my payment, they argued that they were allowed to because it stated they would on the website I had to use for the job. Does this even form a contract?

Another example, I went to a library and started using a computer. The librarian came up to me and pointed out a sign saying I had to pay before using the computer (which is uncommon where I live). Is there a contract formed by just having a sign? Hypothetically could the library sue me for not paying?

Further, if there was a sign on the door to a private building saying you have to pay $20 to enter, if you didn't read the sign and entered, could the owner demand $20 from you?

Can reading a something mean agree to to a contract?


Some universities do not provide solutions/mark-schemes to exam papers. If someone (e.g. a student) was to upload online (e.g. via a blog or in a document) solutions that they themselves have made would this be legal?

**Additionally**

On a very related topic what about uploading the answers to problems in textbooks that do not come with answers only problems?

Providing exam solutions?


Under what guise of law, would state actors (UK, US, etc.) be able to issue secret (unpublished) subpoenas that require industry / utilities to provide government **access** to their systems? Examples of **access** include [phone companies, which were forced during the Clinton administration to build digital networks that government agents could tap.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/attorney-general-calls-on-facebook-to-limit-message-encryption-plans-11570130636?mod=hp_lead_pos2)

The modern day version of "tapping" is dismantling end to end encryption of messaging systems such as Facebook or WhatsApp

Is there precedent of secret subpoena that compels government access?


Usually when a contractor creates some new solution for their client it is understood that “tools of trade” used by the contractor are owned by the contractor, while any *new* IP created for the client is owned by the client.

What happens when the client wants to own ***all*** the IP? Does this ever make sense?

Wouldn’t that make it impossible for the contractor to build anything similar for other clients? How would the contractor grow their business if they stopped using tools of trade? Do these things even get enforced legally (how would one prove the solution was repeated elsewhere and thus infringing on IP rights?)

Is it normal for the client to own all IP for work created by a software contractor?


There's a maker of toys on the market and they only produce physical toys which are quite peculiar, unique and distinct from everything else. Suppose I have an idea to buy several toys from them, make photographs and drawings of those and sell that art on my website. Is there a general law (in the US) that could prohibit me from doing that or is it decided strictly by the producer of the original product?

Could a copyright even apply to works like these? And is it enforceable? There may be different variations of it, such as: a specific toy appearing amongst other objects in a busy image, or a very stylized type of art that is only broadly reminiscent of the original object that inspired it.

My question is not "how different can it be before copyright kicks in...", it's about two different representations of a product, different mediums. I.e. I'm not comparing a painting to a painting reproduction, rather I'm trying to understand the relationship between a physical three-dimensional object intended for play and leisure and its representation in 2D intended by me as "art".

How broad can a copyright be in case of a graphical representation of a physical object


MAGIX likes to sell sound packages that they proclaim as "license-free and royalty free content for non-commercial use only" (e.g <https://www.cloudswave.com/creative-tools/s/magix-soundpool-dvd-collection-20/compare/magix-video-slideshow-sound-archive-8/> ). Sometimes they offer products that they advertise as "completely license and royalty free" but if you inquire they still tell you they are for non-commercial use only. I would have thought that prohibiting commercial use inherently require a license, and that "license-free" inherently meant that the content could be used commercially. Is my assumption incorrect?

How can sound assets be "license and royalty free" but also "non-commercial use only"?


What does the law state about the legality to purchase an objectively legal good or service from a marketplace that also sells objectively illicit goods?

As far as I know, it is legal:

1. To physically browse items at a store in a bazaar that sells legal items (eg authentic Nike shoes) and also illegal items (eg counterfeit Rolex watches)
2. To [create an account and browse](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/55096/is-it-illegal-to-make-an-account-on-darknet-marketplaces-which-provide-illega) darknet markets, which sells legal items (eg Bitcoin magazines) and also illegal items (eg Cannabis chocolate)

[Darknet markets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet_market) (e-commerce websites that sell goods via anonymizing networks like [Tor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(network)#Onion_services) or [I2P](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P)) are fairly new. The earliest darknet marketplace that I'm aware-of is the now-defunct [Silk Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)) (2011-2013). In 2021, there are numerous marketplaces on the darknet.

Are there any legal precedents or laws that specifically address the legality of using a darknet market to purchase an objectively legal good or service?

If not, what does the law or historical precedent say about the analog of purchasing an objectively legal good/service from a physical marketplace that also sells objectively illegal goods/services?

Is it legal to purchase something from a marketplace that clearly sells illicit goods? (silkroad, darknet markets)


To save on textbooks in college, I intend to borrow someone else's and take pictures of the pages, and then read the pictures. However I do not intend to at any point publish the pictures, and would only use them for personal use.

Is this technically copywrite infringement, because I am not supposed to be able to read text that I did not pay for? Or is this allowed, because I am not distributing copywrited material? This is somewhat equivalent to renting a movie and recording it so I can watch it whenever I want for only the rental price.

What is the legality of this? I do not see how the government would *know* if I did these, unless they are spying on the contents of my camera somehow, but is it technically illegal?

Is it copyright infringement to take pictures of textbooks for personal use?


I like goodreads but it lacks many features, i want to develop an app that view quotes in more modern way with more advance filters and features .The app is free with the option to pay for extra features.
Is that legal or illegal?

Goodreads app (Scraping quotes) is it legal?


Or is there, in other words broad leeway for when a judge or a court can decide based on all of the other materical circunstances, when or when not he should enforce an otherwise unenforcable promise?

I don't have access to my college business law textbook for reference, so I can't check. What I remember is this: the affected party has to have reasonably relied on that promise and have incurred some sort of economic loss or damage from that RELIANCE.

It is obvious that not all promises are contracts. but what raises questions to me is, the distinction between estoppable and unenforcable promises seems to be so narrow that you could argue the only party bringing a claim to court of a broken promise would almost definately be those who have suffered damages.

but admitting there are matter of factly unenforceable promises and limiting my question only to those others, what basis does the judge or court have in determinging their enforcability. taking into consideration that what I have already said that most people probably could claim they have a remedy at law (including those who friviously went out and incurred the economic loss (or whatever) with the sole purpose of fitting this narrow definition). To me the distinction beween enforcable contract and estoppable promise seems to be so vague that the only real difference it would make is if the judge was granted broad discretion, i.e. the decision to actually issue the order to estopp the promise was soley his perrogitive....)

This is something that has always been at the back of my head.... but since i don't recall the textbook delving into this level I wanted to ask to be sure

Do all estoppable promises have to be estopped?


Is it a crime if someone is aware a device looks like a bomb and brings that device to a public place?

Is it a crime to bring a device that resembles a bomb to a public place such as an airport?


Suppose there is open conflict between an executive administration and the federal judicial branch. The executive branch wants to curtail judicial power, but is hopefully limited by the Constitution in what it can do. Presumably there is also a certain precedence and decorum that discourages such conflicts from escalating. That said, were such a situation to escalate, would the executive have actions they could take that would weaken the judiciary? Likewise, does the judiciary have any proactive defenses against such measures?

My understanding is that Article III judges are fairly well protected from retaliation by their lifetime appointment. Rude remarks aside, are there actions that could, in practice, weaken their powers or imperil their jobs?

Executive/Judiciary Separation of Powers: Weaknesses?


I'm thinking about making my own games / applications and trying to make money from it.

I have two questions related to this:

1. I'm not sure if I should become a sole trader or create a business. I know the pros and cons of both of them, and the extra commitment is a bit of a turn off when it comes to creating a business. On the other side I'm also scared of getting sued so I want to protect myself as much as possible. Which option do people typically choose for the type of work I'm trying to do? I'm not sure if I'm over thinking the possibility of getting sued and I should just save myself time and effort and go the sole trader path, or if this fear is genuine in this line of business and I should put the time and effort into protecting myself as much as possible.
2. If I was to become a sole trader am I allowed to create a company alias to make it look more professional? So on the website I could say "Created by so and so studios" rather than "Created by insert name"? Even though technically the "so and so studios" doesn't exist.

Sole trader / business for app/game development


The ["Petite" policy](https://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-2000-authority-us-attorney-criminal-division-mattersprior-approvals#9-2.031) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Jeopardy_Clause#%22Petite%22_policy)) is a set of criteria (based on policy, not the Constitution or statute) the federal Department of Justice (USDOJ) has for prosecuting when there has already been a state trial on the same issue. The general rule is that the federal government will *not* prosecute in such a case, but there are exceptions.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was convicted by a California state court of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which carries a sentence of 16 months to 3 years. [1](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/kate-steinle-murder-trial.html)

The USDOJ has now charged ([announcement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/jose-inez-garcia-zarate-face-federal-firearm-charges-northern-district-california), [indictment](https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1015981/download?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery)) Garcia Zarate with two crimes:

1. Felon in Possession of Firearm and Ammunition
2. Alien in Possession of Firearm and Ammunition

*1* seems to be essentially the same charge, and *2* seems pretty close (there's only one criminal transaction).

Is this compliant with the "Petite" policy?

I'll put an answer, but I'm looking forward to seeing other answers and comments.

Is re-charging Jose Ines Garcia Zarate compliant with the "Petite" policy?


In relation to the definition of ‘sexual activity’ I am wondering if explicit/nude photos would be classed as "sexual activity" under [S4 SOA 2003](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/4)?

Is it classed as sexual activity?


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?


Is it illegal to sell something on craigslist without adding a regions value added tax?
Say for example GST is 10%, and I sell my bike for $100; do I technically have to charge $110, and send $10 to the government?


If someone reported someone else for sending ‘abusive messages’ to them under the Mal comms act.

Would unsolicited pictures of certain body parts be classed as abusive?

The act is ‘send communication/ article of indecent/ offensive nature’.

Malicious communications UK


*A Dictionary of Law* (9 ed. 2018). Edited by Jonathan Law.
[Quantum](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-3181?rskey=KW3ZdB&result=1)

>
> quantum *n.* (of damages)
> =========================
>
>
> The amount of money awarded by way of damages.
>
>
>

[Damages](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-1006)

>
> damages *pl. n.*
> ================
>
>
> A sum of money awarded by a court as compensation for a tort or a breach of contract. Damages are usually a [lump-sum award](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-2351#) (see also [provisional damages](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-3122#)). The general principle is that the claimant is entitled to full compensation (***restitutio in integrum***) for his losses. **Substantial damages** are given when actual damage has been caused, but **nominal damages** may be given for breach of contract and for some torts (such as trespass) in which no damage has been caused, in order to vindicate the claimant’s rights. Damages may be [aggravated](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-149#) by the circumstances of the wrong. In exceptional cases in tort (but never in contract) [exemplary damages](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-1474#) may be given to punish the defendant’s wrongdoing. Damages may be classified as unliquidated or liquidated. **Liquidated damages** are a sum fixed in advance by the parties to a contract as the amount to be paid in the event of a breach. They are recoverable provided that the sum fixed was a fair pre-estimate of the likely consequences of a breach, but not if they were imposed as a [penalty](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-2829#). **Unliquidated damages** are damages the amount of which is fixed by the court. Damages may also be classified as [general and special damages](https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198802525.001.0001/acref-9780198802525-e-1671#).
>
>
>

I'll cite some uses of 'quantum'. [*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 432.

>
>       Where the covenantee has a legitimate interest which it is entitled to protect, the
>  restriction must not be longer in point of time, or wider in area, or otherwise be
>  more extensive in scope than is necessary to protect that interest. The answer to this
>  question in any individual case, however, must necessarily depend upon the interest
>  to be protected, the nature of the contract and the relative positions of the contracting
>  parties.159
>
>        The **quantum** of the consideration which the covenantor has received in exchange
>  for the restraint is relevant to the determination of the reasonableness of the contract.160
>
>
>

[*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 242.

>
> Gardner has put
>  forward the following ((1999) 115 LQR 438, 452) as a possible hypothesis for the remedial
>  regime for proprietary estoppel:
>
>
>
> >
> > The approach is
> >  – to vindicate the plaintiff’s expectations (care being taken to achieve the best match between
> >  the details of the plaintiff’s expectations and the possible legal responses);
> >
> >  – to vindicate those expectations in specie if practicable, but otherwise in a monetary
> >  form; but
> >
> >
> > – to resort to some other **quantum**, not more generous than the expectation measure, if it is
> >  impracticable to give relief in the expectation measure; and
> >
> >  – to resort to some other **quantum**, with no ceiling at the expectation measure, in the presence
> >  of another factor from a limited range recognised as meriting a departure from expectation
> >  relief.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

p 608. Hoffmann LJ in W*illiam
Sindall plc v. Cambridgeshire County Council* [1994] 1 WLR 1016.

>
> Damages under section 2(2) are therefore damages for the misrepresentation as such.
>  What would be the measure of such damages? This court is not directly concerned with
>  **quantum**, which would be determined at an inquiry.
>
>
>

pp 727-728. Robert Goff J.

>
> In other cases, however, the actual benefit to the defendant may be considerably more than the appropriate or just sum to be awarded to the plaintiff, in which event the value
>  of the benefit will not in fact determine the **quantum** of the award. I should add, however,
>  that, in a case of prospecting, it would usually be wrong to identify the discovered mineral
>  as the benefit.
>
>
>

p. 817. Lord Lloyd in *Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v. Forsyth*
[1996] AC 344.

>
> Mr Forsyth was, I think, lucky
>  to have obtained so large an award for his disappointed expectations. But as there was no
>  criticism from any quarter as to the **quantum** of the award as distinct from the underlying principle,
>  it would not be right for your Lordships to interfere with the judge’s figure.
>
>
>

Differences between Damages and Quantum


Can you get patents invalidated without launching a civil lawsuit against a company? Can a person or a company let's say Samsung get a patent from Apple invalidated without launching a civil lawsuit? Is it also possible to hide your identity while doing so? Samsung wouldn't want Apple to know what it's doing and would want to get rid of the patents Samsung think it's invalid before Apple sues Samsung.