I've been following [an interesting Twitter conversation](https://twitter.com/mbeisen/status/710834488645816321) which raised the idea that merely *asking* a researcher for a copy of a paper they've written could be against the law. From the linked tweet:

>
> you would be soliciting the violation of the law by requesting access to a copyrighted work
>
>
>

I guess the argument is the following: in the process of publication, authors typically transfer ownership of the copyright in their paper to the publishing journal. Sometimes the copyright transfer agreement specifies that the author retains the right to distribute copies of the paper, and sometimes it does not. If the agreement does not have this provision, it is being argued that asking the author for something they do not have the right to distribute could be contributory copyright infringement. Especially if you (the requesting third party) know - or believe - that the author doesn't have the right to redistribute the paper. It's worth noting here that most publishers put the standard copyright transfer agreement they ask authors to sign on their website, and authors are typically somewhat familiar with the standard agreements used by the journals they read and publish in.

This sounds rather crazy. I find it hard to believe that a simple informal request (which the author is free to deny, of course) could be against the law. Then again, that doesn't keep it from being true.

I'm sure it will take a court to definitively decide this issue, but I want to ask here, is it even *plausible* that making such a request would, in fact, be found to constitute contributory copyright infringement or some other violation of that nature? Or is there no realistic way it would happen? I'm especially interested in answers that can cite relevant references, statute or case law or whatever, that would likely influence the decision in a hypothetical case testing the issue. As far as I know this has never actually come up in a case, so there may not be much to cite, but if there is, it would be a very satisfying answer. This question is as much about supporting the answer as it is about getting one in the first place.

Could asking an author for a copy of their research article be illegal?


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?


Everyone who plays Pokémon GO has come across websites like these

<https://phillypokemap.com/>

They're live Pokémon GO maps which shows the location of the Pokémon in the game. But I'm wondering, is it legal to use the images and names from Pokémon? And if it isn't, what's the difference between a website like this and a site like <http://www.ign.com/wikis/pokemon-go> ? The income of both sites is advertisements only.

Using Pokémon names and Images on Pokémon GO Map websites


If a comedian has a meltdown on stage & I Youtube that (just the meltdown, no material), can that comedian have said video pulled for copyright reasons?

Comedian takes down meltdown video


similar to this question - [Listing clubs and businesses](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6327/listing-clubs-and-businesses)

If i say created an android app that listed the names and locations of golf clubs and shops selling golf related things (without permission) that would obliviously be okay because there "facts", but what if I where to charge say $2 to download the app ? Would that not be considered as making money from there name/company, especially if it where trademarked.

What would the legal repercussions be of designing such an app and charging $2 for people to download it ?

I'm not actually considering doing this, Just interested in what the law is concerning things like this.

Is it legal to create a paid App that lists commercial businesses without their permission?


Can you tell me if there's a difference between "consulting agreement" and "sales representative agreement"? I've been asked to do a research on that but I don't know very much about the topic.

Can you point me in the direction of some paper on the topic/applicable laws?

The company is based in the USA and should market and sell products to an European end user. Thanks.

Consulting agreement vs sales representative agreement


I wonder if there are any legal reasons for that to be not ok?

There are many precedents, e.g. `Sinatra`, `Kafka`, `Shakespeare`, `Django` etc , so are there any limitations ? (living people etc)

Is it legally fine to name a project or a library with a famous person name?


If I leased an apartment in Texas but signed the papers in CA and faxed them to the apartment in Texas, when or where does the lease become legally binding? If I need to take them to small claims court could I do so in CA since the lease was signed in CA?

When does a lease become legally binding


When two parties end up in a dispute about what was agreed to in a written contract, how do courts generally resolve that? How do they determine if a provision is ambiguous? What evidence is used to determine the meaning of a provision if it is found to be ambiguous?

How are contract disputes resolved?


Amy has been working for Bill for 15 years. Despite the fact that Bill runs a very profitable company, and that Amy is a very productive employee, Bill has not given Amy a raise in 15 years. Bill has long promised he will give Amy a raise sometime in the future, but never does. Amy has threatened to quit, but Bill ignores this because he knows quitting and finding a new job will pose significant inconvenience to Amy.

So Amy goes to a third party, a signs a contract with the third party. The contract states that unless Amy has received a raise of $2.00/hr by January 1, the third party is entitled to all subsequent wages she earns from Bill.

The third party then gives the contract to Bill. Bill sees that if this contract is enforceable, then Amy must be very serious. Bill is a rational businessman, and calculates that the cost of giving Amy her well-deserved raise is much less than bringing on a new, untrained employee.

The only question is: Is this enforceable?

EDIT: Amy pays the third party a small fee. The third party is a business that specializes in these types of contracts.

(Amy and Bill are not real people, so they are having trouble contacting an attorney in their jurisdiction.)

Can one use a contract to enforce a bluff?


Creative Commons offers a series of licenses, some of which allow people to use your images commercially, while others prohibit commercial usage.

I have some images that lie somewhere in between. I don't want people selling them as postcards or putting them on mugs, T-shirts, etc. for sale. However, I do want people to feel free to post my images in media (including for-profit books) and on the Internet (as long as the images properly credit me, with a link to my website).

Since Creative Commons doesn't offer this type of license (as far as I know), what are my options?

Can I simply post my terms on my website, like this?...

>
> You can use this image for personal use but no commercial uses except
>  that you can include it in media (including books) and on the
>  Internet (as long as you include the proper credit and link to my
>  website).
>
>
>

It might be nice to have my images indexed by Creative Commons, but I haven't been able to find a license that meets my needs.

Semi-Commercial Image License


As the subject states, is it legal for a company to start offering preorders of an upcoming piece of software without an announced release date?

Follow-up, if there is a release date, must they sell it exactly on that day? What happens if they're late, or early?

Is it legal to offer preorders (of software) without an announced release date?


According to US law, if trademark 'ABC' has expired under 'Section 8/9' more than 10 years ago(2010), and has not seen any activity so far, can i trademark it?

Can i trademark a 10-year-old-dead-trademark?


Over the years I have built up a huge collection of VHD's and ISO's basically images of Microsoft's OS. Server 2003 and back. I was wondering if it could start some sort of public database of these for people to download free of charge. These images contain no product keys or other methods of activation, I was simply going to put them out there because I have been in the same position trying to track down media for a OS, because I lost my copy.

I have a very large library of older operating systems and was wondering if I could publicly distribute them


So it is now a matter of public record that [the President plans to defy all House subpoenas](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/donald-trump-subpoenas.html?module=inline).

1. Do I correctly understand that Federal employees, notably including the Armed Forces, pledge their duty first to the Constitution of the United States and only secondarily to carry out legal orders? And that they have no legal obligation to execute an illegal order? What process allows a subordinate to defy an illegal order if a superior gives the order? What legal protection does the subordinate have?
2. Suppose the Congress holds someone in contempt. The Congress, as I understand it, goes to a court to enforce the contempt charge. The court turns to Federal law enforcement to bring action. What if the President directs Federal law enforcement to ignore the court order? What if law enforcement complies with the President?
3. Suppose Congress orders fines. What is to be done if no one will enforce the fines?
4. Same scenario as 1 but this time it’s impeachment and conviction: the President defies any action to remove him.
5. What if the President simply barricades himself in the White House and orders security and military personnel to protect him? Is there a protocol in the U.S. military hierarchy to deal with this scenario?
6. What should common citizens do if any of these scenarios play out?

What if the President defies Congress and the courts?


As stated at the bottom of this page :

>
> site design / logo © 2017 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions
>  licensed under [cc by-sa 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) with [attribution required](https://stackoverflow.blog/2009/06/attribution-required/)
>
>
>

I would assume this also applies to comments.

The attribution part is what I think gets infinged upon when a comment is edited.

>
> Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the
>  license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any
>  reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor
>  endorses you or your use.
>
>
>

When a comment is edited by an user different than the original poster there is an small icon for it. And a tooltip pops up with the number of editions.

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jVQA8.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jVQA8.png)

But no mention that this is not the text by the original author is made.

Is this usage of the user posted comment in agreement with CC BY-SA 3.0? Are there other stipulations besides CC BY-SA 3.0 that apply?

Is editing a comment in SO copyright infringement?


Figuring out whether a work is in public domain can be quite complex as different countries have different rules and there are often a lot of (relatively) complex exceptions. There must however be a cut off point before which you can be sure beyond any reasonably doubt that the work is in public domain. Which year would this be? Or put differently: What is the oldest work which is not yet in the public domain?

And just for the record, I am aware that this might be a bit of a complex question, but it seems to be quite a reasonable question, especially if you would wish to use the work for some product that you wish to distribute internationally (e.g. [this question made me think of it](https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/105240/can-i-include-a-public-domain-book-in-my-game)). Now, I do realize that other issues can come up (trademarks, later editions and moral rights for example), but to keep the question reasonable just ignore those (though as an aside they are fine).

Works published before which year are internationally in public domain?


I'm curious about the following scenario. If a business hires people and pays them a commission, is the employer obligated to be neutral in how it directs sales to each employee, in cases where the employees have substantially similar skill, experience, and quality of work, or is equal commission rates enough?

For instance, if two car salespeople were paid the same amount per sale, but the dealership sent the majority of the potential customers to one of the two, even though they had substantially similar skill, experience, and quality of work, would that alone violate the [California Equal Pay Act](https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/california_equal_pay_act.htm)?

To create a scenario, consider a garden center that pays a small wage, but for the most part, employees get their revenue from commissions. The owner hires on their daughter, and even though other employees do a lot of work in handling customers and making sure the shop runs smoothly, the owner directs customers to her daughter for the final sale, making it difficult for anyone to get commission. Technically the wage is the same, and the commission rate is the same. But the owner is ensuring a disproportionate opportunity to obtain revenue, for substantially similar work.

How does equal pay for substantially similar work (as per the California Equal Pay Act) apply to commissions?


A person on disability, supposedly can only make $1000/month without having to report that income to the IRS. If a person on the show is shown to make more than they should, revealed in a case before Judge Judy, does she report this to the IRS?

Tax fraud, revealed on the show


Marvel owns the rights to the Hulk character but the distributing rights belong to Universal. This prevents Marvel from releasing a standalone Hulk movie without the go ahead of Universal or paying out of their own pocket, so they've decided to get around this by including Hulk in the Thor movies. But what constitutes a Hulk movie? Is it screentime?

What defines whether a movie is considered standalone or ensemble in regards to character copyrights?


There are companies like Zerodium (Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerodium>) that buy "functional exploits" and sell them to "corporate and government clients". These are zero-day vulnerabilities, that is, vulnerabilities that are unknown to the developer of the software. Ethical hackers and professional security researchers typically report these vulnerabilities to the developer, so that they can be fixed. But companies like Zerodium buy these exploits and resell them to somebody else, we don't know who exactly. These people who buy the exploits from Zerodium are not going to use them legally, because as far as I know there is no reasonable way to use a zero-day exploit legally, other than reporting it to the developer (which they are not doing). Apparently the government is also buying the exploits from them, but that doesn't make it legal anyway.

Somebody might think that this is more or less like buying and selling guns, which is legal in the US. However, it's not really like that. First of all, guns can be used for several legitimate purposes, from fun to self-defense, while zero-days exploits cannot reasonably have such purposes IMO. And then, we don't really know who companies like Zerodium are selling the exploits to.

So how can all this be legal? Are there any specific laws in this field that allow it? Or are there any laws that would define this as illegal, or allow somebody to sue such companies in any way?

How can it be legal to buy and sell zero-day exploits in the US?


I am writing a novel in which the name of one of my characters is "Captain Quick" I recently found out that this name had been used by a video game as "Captain Quick Mercury" so can I still use this name?
Note: I may publish this book in future.

Can I use the name of a character used by a video game for novel


I could probably come up with a logical argument as to why individual religious beliefs and patterns of behavior should be protected in the same way as those which belong to a "recognized" religion, but I'm wondering what kind of case law exists on the issue. I'll separate this into two questions.

1. There are many cases where an individual practices a form of Christianity which is different from a generally agreed upon profile of the religion. For instance, essentially no Christian follows the idea that women are not allowed to speak in Church. It seems common for the layperson to argue that such "hypocrisy" precludes a person from being protected by the first amendment. What does the case law say on this?
2. Related to this, if a person happens to have an individual religious belief which again differs from the general profile of what is considered to be Christianity, is that belief still protected?

It would seem that protection of religion would be on an individual basis. In other words, so long as a person holds a specific religious belief or follows a specific religious pattern of behavior, then regardless of what religion with which the person identifies, the person would be protected in the exact same way as if the person somehow managed to "perfectly" match an expected profile of a given religion.

Does not following a religion "to the letter" disqualify you from protection of religious freedom?


James Madison in his speech to Congress in regards to what eventually would become the 5th amendment talked about 'infamous' crimes and how they should be handled. As far as I know he did not define what an infamous crime exactly is.

So, how exactly was term defined when the specific definition was required?

How has James Madison's term 'infamous crime' typically been defined?


Though similar questions have been asked before, I could not find one that answers this exact premise.

Say, there is a 3D printable file distributed under e.g. the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This license has a non-commercial clause.

Another question ([Does a 3D print of a CAD file constitute a derivative work?](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/7336/does-a-3d-print-of-a-cad-file-constitute-a-derivative-work)) already confirms that prints of 3D models are a derivative work of the file and thus still fall under the original license.

This would mean, one could not sell a print of a thus protected file.

But how does that relate to the First Sale Doctrine? (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine>)

The First Sale Doctrine says, that the copyright owner's exclusive right to distribute a particular copy ends once they make it's first sale. So e.g. a copyright owner cannot stop a buyer of a book of theirs from reselling this particular copy of the book, while still retaining the right to stop the buyer from copying the book.

Now, one could argue that distributing the file and allowing others to make physical copies from that file would be similar to a first sale and thus allow the owner of the physical copy of the object to resell it.

If that's not the case, what else can the copyright owner restrict the license taker restrict from doing? Would it be possible to restrict the license taker to only print the file e.g. using a specific brand of filament? Can the copyright owner dictate terms of use for 3D printed objects derived from their file?

How far does the derivative work copyright go for 3D printed objects?


I want to quote a line from a film in my novel. Specifically:

>
> "Don't ever lose your sense of humour, Dan. Don't ever lose your sense
>  of humour."
>
>
>

From About Last Night (1986). So, it's not a long excerpt, just two sentences.

I know I can't quote a single line from a song without incurring expensive permission fees. But, that's a short body of work. Does it apply to movies, too?

Does quoting a line from a film infringe copyright?


Are there any legal consequences if I use a copyrighted/trademarked logo for personal use? I am using the logo to make custom bumper stickers for my friend and I to stick on our cars. So the logo will be visible to other drivers behind our cars. It's strictly personal use and we don't want to distribute these stickers for profit to anyone else. I'm assuming this is fine, but I just want to make sure to be on the safe side.

Can I use a 3rd party logo for personal use?


So, it's common for the average person to no longer directly download and store a file that contains a movie/tv show but to listen directly from a website, as these files are not stored and not kept by the end user, what laws exist to "charge" these people, and can it be constituted as pirating if the file is stored bit by bit and deleted as soon as each individual bit is "read".

Legality of "viewing/listening" Illegally uploaded material


I went to sign up for a new Comcast account online. They asked me for some basic billing info, but *also* asked for my DOB and SSN, which I'd rather not give to them out of concern about identity theft.

[![Comcast signup info - billing](https://i.stack.imgur.com/STReo.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/STReo.png)

The claim is that they need it to run a credit check (ok, fair enough):

[![Comcast signup info - SSN](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mvihU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mvihU.png)

But then wait! There is an alternative - I can pay a $50 deposit instead. Or so I thought:

[![Comcast signup info - deposit](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vmvcl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vmvcl.png)

They *still* ask for my SSN! I thought that perhaps it was now an optional field, but as you can see from the validation message:

[![Comcast signup info - form validation](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aOn9k.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aOn9k.png)

So, it would seem that they are not giving me a choice here. Is this legal? Are they allowed to *require* my SSN just to set up service?

Is it legal for Comcast to (apparently) require my SSN to obtain service?


I want to know that, if a criminal conviction is dismissed due to it being considered "de minimis", can the person still be considered civilly liable for the actions that took place? Examples would make for a good answer.

Can a person be civilly liable for an action that was criminally deemed "de minimis"?


I am currently a college freshman living in a suite style dorm. As freshman like to do, two of my three roommates like to party and drink. At first there were just small gatherings, but as of late these parties have been getting bigger.

My main concern is that we are all underaged and sharing this dorm. While I have never touched alcohol and don't take part in these parties, can I still be held responsible for my roommates and possibly be charged with possession of alcohol as a minor?

My college's code of conduct only states that students may not be under the influence or in the possession of alcoholic beverages. And all of my research into state law does not seem to define what constitutes possession.

Basically I want to know:

1.What constitutes possession of alcohol by a minor in Texas?

2.Would I be held responsible for alcohol found in a common area?

3.Is there anything I can do in this situation to protect myself from charges should my roommates get in trouble?

What Constitutes Possession in a Shared Living Space?


Please let me know if this should be posted somewhere else! Sorry if it isn't in the correct location!

### Background

I am starting up a Web Development & Marketing Company in Ohio. I am not finished finalizing all of the small details, but plan to start taking client at the beginning of 2016. When filing for my LLC, what should I write down for my "Date of Formation"? I can only set it at a maximum of 90 days after filing. If I choose January 1st, 2016 is that going to work?

### "Date of Formation" Idea?

* September 16th, 2015?
* December 15st, 2015? (To ensure the effective date is within 90 days.)
* December 31st, 2015?
* January 1st, 2016?

### Forms

* [Limited Liability Company Certificate of
Amendment](http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/upload/business/forms/543a.pdf).
* [Articles of Organization for a Domestic
Limited Liability Company](http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/upload/business/forms/533a.pdf)

Thanks in advanced!

When should my "Date of Formation" be for my LLC Company?


I run a fun page on social media. I want to create gif from movie clips and use it for creative memes, purely for entertainment purpose. Will it come under fair usage if I give credit to the source on my page.

Is it legal to create a 4 second gif from a movie clip?


I have signed assignment of inventions with my employer. The exact wordings is not available to me - however I remember vaguely that it dealt with all inventions by employees being company's property.

My question is if I invent a system or develop a product in my spare time (outside office hours) and using my own personal resources (laptop, devices, personal time and effort etc...) will that still be in danger of being attacked by assignment of inventions? Can I safely assume that such property will fully be mine?

(I am asking because I remember reading in a reputed book - Business Law for Entrepreneurs) that any invention/developed product can be claimed by employer even if it is produced outside normal hours of employment with personal resources - Since it is done during the term period of employment.

I would love see someone shed light on this aspect since the above sounds too draconian.

Assignment of Inventions with Employer


I had a bitter criminal legal struggle with a prosecutor that consistently showed no interest in knowing the truth (me meeting with him initially before I had any public defender), taking things fully out of context if possible, not standing by the plea bargain offer I later accepted, and numerous other very difficult treatment for me. As far as I can tell, he is prejudiced against me based on his on-going actions (which my now hired private attorney agrees).

It turns out, before I had private attorney, a woman working with and for one of the public defenders, took my increasing complaints that I emailed first to the court of it's wrongs (fairly numerous) and then to her later as a copy, and gave it to the prosecutor, who then literally desperately used it to try to do me more harm. My attorney told him he needs to immediately cease from reading these emails and place them in an envelope (and I believe return them to the public defender), because he was breaking attorney client privilege, and the prosecutor simply kept on and disregarded him. He then sought to inflict more punishment onto me using another angle if possible.

My attorney has "socialized" notifying the "disbarment agency" with him, however I want to know my rights in this matter. I don't particularly want this man/prosecutor harm, however there has been a gross miscarriage of justice in my case. Are there levels of discipline? I'd really like to just sit down with this prosecutor and get him to understand that he's really been endlessly attacking the wrong person in this situation. How does disbarment work overall? Are there "hand slaps" or various levels of discipline?

Disbarment or lesser discipline, United States


Somebody anonymous write a "scripture". It's at <http://getrichbangbabes.com> . It's filled with comedic political satire I think.

Anyone can edit and copy the book. The e-book contains many links to pictures. However, those links may not work too long. What would happen if the e-book copy and paste pictures to the e-book itself but give attribution?

What happens if latter the e-book is made commercial?

Is it okay to paste pictures to non commercial book with proper attribution


If for your job you use any Google services, chances are you are sending them a lot of personal data of your clients in emails, documents, etc. So technically you are the controller, and Google becomes one of your processors. Is Google's current privacy policy compliant with GDPR and also valid as the data processing agreement (DPA) between a controller (you) and a processor (them)? If not, then I guess it's illegal to use Google's services for professional purposes. If it is compliant, then I'd like to know what parts of their policy actually make it a valid DPA.

Edit: I just noticed that GDPR and DPAs are mentioned in the privacy policies of *some* of their products, like G-Suite and Google Cloud Platform, but I don't think this is valid in general for the privacy policy of all of their services, especially their free services. I'm sure there are millions of people who use at least one of Google's free services as part of their jobs, by the way.

Is Google's privacy policy compliant with GDPR for the data processing agreement between a controller and a processor?


My daughter wrecked her car years ago and totalled it. My wife co-signed the loan. The insurance check to pay for the car was sent and my wife mailed it off to the bank that financed it. A time later, the bank calls for payment and my wife states that it was mailed off to the bank for repayment. The bank has no record of it being sent. It has now gone into collections. We have no recourse that we know of. Looking for suggestions.

Financial responsibility of payoff of totalled car


With respect to the testimony of Acting Director of National Intelligence McGuire before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives on September 26, 2019, that as a member of the Executive Branch, Executive Privilege prevented him from sending the now infamous "Whistle-blower complaint to the Congressional Intelligence Committee's. By what legal theory does Executive Privilege override the plain wording of statute that:

"(c) Upon receipt of a transmittal from the Inspector General under subsection (b), the head of the establishment shall, within 7 calendar days of such receipt, forward such transmittal to the intelligence committees, together with any comments the head of the establishment considers appropriate."

This question is limited to the Directors responsibility to Executive Privilege and not other legal reasons opined by the Office of Legal Counsel in DoJ. Thanx

Does Executive Privilege override 5 U.S.C. App. §8H (c)?


The Prime Minister of Pakistan is facing an inquiry under a constitutional petition praying that the PM should be disqualified under sections 62 and 63 of the Constitution where a Member of the National Assembly must be, among other things, honest. Here is the full text of the April 20th judgement (which ruled 3-2 in favour of further investigation opposed to disqualification). <http://www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/user_files/File/Const.P._29_2016.pdf>

Further investigation, among many things, discovered that the Prime Minister had an employment visa in the UAE. On the visa application made by a UAE company he is a "marketing manager" and the chairman of a company (owned by his son) with a salary of 10,000AED.

The PM was required to disclose his income sources as "assets" on his election nomination papers. In a written reply to the Supreme Court, just after the Court has reserved its judgement, he says that he did not withdraw any salary and therefore was not required to disclose it.

None of the five judges have said many good things about the PM in their original judgement. However, the only power to disqualify the PM the Supreme Court has in this case is if they believe the PM was dishonest. The Court has already made it known that a criminal trial for corruption, forgery, fraud and perjury against the PM and family will follow but everyone (including the judges themselves) have reservations about the conduct of institutions that will eventually prosecute them.

The judges have already concluded that a false or missing declaration on the ECP form suggests dishonesty. Was the PM dishonest by not disclosing a salary that he was not withdrawing?

Panama Papers Scandal: Is a salary "withdrawn?"


Artist [Heather Dewey-Hagborg](http://deweyhagborg.com) has collected DNA samples from cigarette butts and chewing-gums found on the floor [to create realistic portraits of their former owners](http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/tech/innovation/dna-face-sculptures/).

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb78H.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Eb78H.png)

I find this project fascinating, and although there are still some caveats in the likenesses and the technology behind it, it opens doors to several questions about ethics and the age-old race between technology and laws.

Mostly, is this "discarded DNA" still "owned" by their owners after they flick it to the floor? (I am assuming that our DNA code belongs to us...)

Can someone use DNA samples that were scattered by their owners for commercial purposes?


A crime is a public offense, so I would think that anything that constitutes a crime has some kind of influence on one or more persons or property, i.e. it changes the public universe in some negative way.

According to a recent CA Criminal Justice exam of mine, "A person may be guilty of a crime even where his or her act has no immediate effect upon the person or property of another." "Immediate" is not further defined. If this is true, what are some examples?

What kinds of crimes do not affect persons or property?


Can a contract between a customer and vender without a cancelation clause be canceled without cause by the customer?

In other words... is an unmentioned clause open to do whatever anyone wants to do with it?

Canceling a contract without a cancelation clause


I am very pleased to have found this resource and am hoping I can be guided to some clarity on some points regarding processing of webserver access logs. I have not yet found these addressed here or elsewhere.

My partner and I host a number of websites for a range of clients. For some of those clients we consider we do not process any personal data - we set no cookies, use no analytics services, collect no data from the user via forms, and so on. We do however collect IP addresses in our webserver access logs.

It is clear from all I have read (particularly re *Patrick Breyer vs Germany*) that we need to consider IP addresses as personal data, however I have read (I have sadly mislayed the source) that the CJEU considered there were legitimate cybersecurity interests for recording them (though see comment below).

**My query:**
Collection of IP addresses in access logs is noted as normal operations for a web host, and GDPR outlines provisions for doing so to maintain security and investigate breaches. But because IP addresses are personal data, do we now need to create a new contract to outline how we will use this data?

**Additional info:**
I see from this resource that Article 11 has a provision for my query:

Article 11 (1) "Where, in cases referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the controller is able to demonstrate that it is not in a position to identify the data subject, the controller shall inform the data subject accordingly, if possible. In such cases, Articles 15 to 20 shall not apply except where the data subject, for the purpose of exercising his or her rights under those articles, provides additional information enabling his or her identification."

<http://www.privacy-regulation.eu/en/article-11-processing-which-does-not-require-identification-GDPR.htm>

This though would not exempt us or the Controller from having a contract for the collection of the IP address (unusable as it is for identifying a person, but recognised in law as personal data).

Contract necessary for the most basic processing under GPDR?


I own a app called "who is on my wifi?" which offers a functionality you can guess, giving you list of devices connected to your wifi router.

There is one similar app which is older than mine and own a domain [whoisonmywifi.com](http://whoisonmywifi.com) and claiming that it own a phrase and I can not use them in my app. I have following sub-questions.

1. Is "Who is on my wifi?" copyrighted?
2. I have gone through their site but there is no such copyright taken by them, so does just owning a .com domain mean have copyright?

Links:
My App: <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.speednethalvad.whoisinmywifi>
Their App: <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whoisonmywifi.agent>

Can the phrase "who is on my wifi?" be protected from use by others?


I am a software developer and i am working on a mobile app, in which i am using images.
I took all these images from a website, and according to this website, they all have a Creative Commons Zero (CCO) license, so i am sure i can use them.

I ended up downloading them and using them in my mobile app.
However i have a feeling that it's not enough.

Let's imagine someone wants to sue me saying the images i use don't have license, how can i proove him i am right ?
Just sayin "i read the website and drag and dropped" seems a bit messy to me.

Is there any legal document i should do or any best practices, so i will be sure i won't get sued ?

I want to be sure i can proove i am in my right

How to use CC0 license?


A few years ago, I made a science study guide for a specific chapter of a textbook for some people I was tutoring. I would like to sell it now, but unfortunately I used a ton of separate sources from the internet and from separate textbooks. I also used a few diagrams from the internet. If I specify that I only wish to be paid for the time that it took to set up the study guide, can I sell it as long as I don't claim to have made the material? Or can I claim the purchase as a donation to keep my blog going?

Can I sell my study guide?


What is the legal basis for the prosecution to use ones private journal against them in the court of law.

If so why is this not a violation of the right not to testify against oneself.

If i have this wrong point it out.

to clarify, in state and federal proceedings.

Could using Private Journals be a violiation if used against someone in the court of law?


I'm developing a website that displays quotes, similar to [brainyquote.com](http://brainyquote.com)

All the quotes (around 10,000) are also displayed on different websites.

So how do copyright laws affect me in this situation?

How copyright laws apply for commonly public things?


I applied for a position as an independent contractor with a well-known tutoring company. Using their platform would have been an excellent opportunity for me.

Unfortunately, my application was denied without any reasonable explanation or additional details on their part. I'm a highly qualified ACT tutor who scored in the 99th percentile in every subject area on the exam. I have experience with another nationally recognized tutoring company and received excellent reviews on their platform. I submitted a thorough and engaging profile and know I could have helped dozens of students succeed on this life-changing test.

However, I can provide countless examples of approved pages on their site with typos, blatant grammatical errors, and lack of detail. The grammatical errors are particularly disturbing considering these tutors are supposed to be experts in the conventions of standard English. I can find no reasonable explanation as to why my profile was denied and these were approved other than negligence on the part of their content review team. I believe I'm being discriminated against and arbitrarily being denied an opportunity to make a living.

Can carelessness and lack of consistency in the hiring process be considered a form of discrimination?


I designed some apparel for the swimmers at my high school, that was approved, which was going to be produced by my school's clothing manufacturing partner, but (long story short) the company was unable to make my design.

I found another company that has no relation to my school that can produce my apparel. I want to repurpose the apparel for the entire student body, take on this project by myself, and sell the apparel personally, but it contains my school's logo in the design. Would it be illegal to sell apparel to my fellow students if it has my school's logo on it and is not strictly approved or managed by my school? Does making a profit versus just selling them to break even change anything either? I go to a public school in the US by the way.

Copyright infringement


Mostly hypothetical subpoena duces tecum.

How would I ask a company for the contact information and whatever else that I would need in order to prepare for a subpoena for data, documents, & records related to my account/interactions with that company?

Would I need to talk to someone in the legals dept? Some executive officer? who has the authority to divulge company information and records?

What is the extent of the information that I would be able to obtain? *I assume this would be just the documents related to the court case at hand?*

*I reside in California.*

Subpoena Duces Tecum - who to contact regarding disclosure of company records


I'm especially interested in books that do not have any commercial value (i.e. the cost of publishing is much higher than any foreseeable return).

I know that the answer may vary depending on country.

What happens to copyright owned by a defunct publisher company?


Suppose a person has been granted permanent residence in Canada. Further suppose residency was granted partly on the basis of the person's academic degree. Now suppose the degree is revoked by the university that issued it. (The university is not in Canada.) Will Canada revoke the person's permanent residence?

Can a revoked degree cause problems for permanent residence?


Specifically, if the website itself has legal disclaimers to protect itself from litigation arising from legal advice provided on it, would a similar disclaimer claiming to disclaim authors of content on the website protect those authors?

Does a boilerplate legal disclaimer protect authors of content on a website?


Say that I write a computer game that involves a number of characters. I choose to trademark some of the characters I think are more marketable, and copyright my game. To my surprise, fans discover that it is possible to glitch the game in such a way that a new character is created (perhaps it's a Frankenstein-type character of other parts). It rises in popularity and becomes fairly recognizable.

Does the fact that it was an unintentional creation still mean it is eligible for trademark or copyright protection?

For reference, this sort of thing happened in *Pokémon Red Version* and *Pokémon Blue Version*. It is possible to glitch the game to create what appears to be a Pokémon called "[MissingNo.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MissingNo.)", which was clearly unintentional. It became pretty popular and is rather recognizable among those who played the games. To have a more specific version of the question, could Nintendo theoretically choose to trademark "MissingNo."? Is it protected under copyright?

Can an unintentional creation due to a software glitch be trademarked or copyrighted?


I would like to make an Android app which replicates a puzzle board game played as a small side feature within a popular action video game.

* Am I allowed to create such an Android game with the same rules as the original game and publish it to the Google Play Store?
* If so, am I allowed to use the same texture graphics from the original game?
* I plan on making this app free to download anyway. However I'm curious, is it necessary to make it free to avoid copyright infringements? But what if the app has in-game ads which generate income?

Does making a mobile app using textures/content from a video game violate copyright?


If I write a book and I cite the works of other authors, what are the legal requirements for the citation? For example, I want to take about 1 or 2 sentences verbatim from the book titled 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'

I assume that I have to include the name of the author and the name of the work, which I am citing. What else must be included?

Citing other works within my book


Location: California, USA

My friend is resigning as an employee of a large corporation. During his time there, he used the company's tuition assistance benefit program which covered the cost of obtaining an M.S. degree at a local university.
Before enrolling in the program he signed an agreement that includes this wording:

>
> In recognition of the financial commitment that XYZ is making towards
>  the employee's education, the employee agrees to stay employed at XYZ
>  for a minimum of two years after his/her coursework is taken or
>  completed. If the employee should voluntarily leave prior to the end
>  of this 24-month period or while still working on the degree, the
>  employee will reimburse XYZ for all costs associated with this degree
>  program.
>
>
>

Further, there is no verbiage outlining consequences should the employee fail to pay this assistance money back.

The agreement does not say anything about withholding wages from paychecks and I have read that in CA it is illegal to do so without employee consent anyway.

Does anybody know if either federal or state law prevent this type of agreement to be enforced? Anybody with experience either way on this type of agreement?

Employer tuition assistance clawback upon resignation


There are 2 individuals, Person A and Person B.

Let's say that `A` is hellbent on ruining `B's` life, but not in the way some/most people would think.

`A` has stolen pretty much all of `B's` personal information, (SS#, emails, texts, etc)

`A` also wants to make sure no one suspects him to be involved in the slightest.

How does he do this?

As a promoter/marketer, he knows that if he were to promote something in `B's` name, no one would ever think that someone else is doing it.

Instead, `A` fabricates content making it appear to come from `B` and purposefully spreads it around under the lie that `B` does not like to talk about his personal life and other lies to make it seem legitimate.

Basically, he is pretending to be `B` and is narrating his life and promoting things as if it were coming from him.

Let's say that he's created this whole false persona that he's gotten even `B's` family and friends to believe it.

An example would be spreading false content about `B's` friend and causing them to believe there are issues between them, when none existed in the first place.

**QUESTION**

Let's say all of this is true. `B` is living his life having knowing that he has never done anything to promote himself in any way, he has never written, spoken, etc about his life or his family/friends in any way.

But because of `A`, no one believes `B` and as a result, no one will help him because they think he is lying.

What kind of recourse or maximum punishment can be dealt to the perpetrator, if and when any/all evidence if found?

Let's say this is in the USA.

Impersonation/False portrayal of character - maximum punishment?


Mindy Chen-Wishart. [*Contract Law* (2018 6 edn)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contract-Law-Mindy-Chen-Wishart/dp/0198806353/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). [p 557](https://i.stack.imgur.com/orjAy.jpg).

### Counterpoint

>
> 1. The current level of damages awarded is the outcome of balancing the various policies
>  identified in Chapter 13. If we accept the validity of policies such as the avoidance of waste
>  and undue harshness to defendants, and the desirability of mitigation of loss by the claimant,
>  then under-compensation to that extent is inevitable. Such policies should not be
>  evaded by simply choosing specific performance.
> 2. On one view, automatic specific enforcement may amount to ‘over-compensation’, because
>  **[2.1]** it allows the claimant to sell the right to specific performance for **[2.2]** *more than* the *true* value
>  of the performance to him or her (Lord Hoffmann in *Cooperative Insurance v Argyll Stores*).
>
>
>

1. How's 2.1 true? I'm assuming that contracts ordinarily don't allow either party to sell the right to specific performance, if the contract doesn't stipulate such selling.
2. How's 2.2 true?

How does automatic specific enforcement allow claimants 'to sell the right to specific performance for more than the performance's true value to him'?


I read this quote in a Guardian article a while back and have been questions the legality ever since.

>
> You can look at Nixon’s returns at the Presidential Tax History Project. You can look at Trump’s 1995 returns at the New York Times. If you can somehow see Trump’s later returns, feel free to send copies along to our offices at 222 Broadway, New York.
>
>
>

It is the last part of this that is of interest

>
> If you can somehow see Trump’s later returns, feel free to send copies along to our offices
>
>
>

According to law.cornell.edu

>
> (c) Disclosure of returns and return information to designee of taxpayer ----------------------------
>  The Secretary may, subject to such requirements and conditions as he may prescribe by regulations, disclose the return of any taxpayer, or return information with respect to such taxpayer, to such person or persons as the taxpayer may designate in a request for or consent to such disclosure, or to any other person at the taxpayer’s request to the extent necessary to comply with a request for information or assistance made by the taxpayer to such other person. However, return information shall not be disclosed to such person or persons if the Secretary determines that such disclosure would seriously impair Federal tax administration.
>
>
>

Now, according to California Law, actively encouraging/calling for the committing of a crime can be considered a crime itself. To me, asking someone to divulge confidential information is calling for the committal of a crime.

Issue of my post: I only know the California Law because that's what google gave me first.

Would a newspaper calling for an illegal act be illegal itself?


If someone hacks a server from country(A) using a vpn from country(B), law enforcements from country(A) must obtain logs from the vpn company or the vpn isp from country(B) inorder to find the person of interest, how a case like this is handled, can law enforcements force the vpn company or the vpn isp to hand over the logs?

Can law enforcements from country(A) request or force an isp or a company from country(B) handover its logs?


Are patents the only type of IP right that applies to physical, functional things, or can copyright and trademark also apply?

For example, say a third party wants to manufacture and sell a purely functional part of a car, like part of the engine, not something like a badge or hood ornament that's likely trademarked. If the part is not covered by a patent, are they in the clear? Or could some other type of IP right apply to, say, a bolt hole pattern?

IP law governing physical, functional things


I've been trying to figure out a name for my new videogame company - and just when I thought that I got the perfect idea, a quick google search shows me there is a small business in the UK with that name, but they are completely unrelated to videogames (they manufacture signs/adverts/etc).

If both companies work on completely unrelated industries, would they be able to share the same name?

And what if there are two companies from the same industry (videogames), but one is just a publisher and mine is just a developer?

Can two companies have the same name if they are from unrelated industries?


I just read about [a story](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/6da5v7/til_a_man_almost_went_to_jail_for_child_porn_on/) where a guy was charged with visiting child porn sites and was later found innocent.

>
> Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees.
>  They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their
>  car.
>
>
>

That's really scary - When this kind of story comes up, I always wonder, if I'm ever met with bad luck and end up spending everything, going bankrupt even, in legal fees to fight the charges and am finally acquitted, is there any safety net in the legal system to recoup all financial damages including interest on any loans I had to take out?

The situation I cited involved criminal charges but I'm interested in both criminal and civil. Also, what about indirect financial damages, like losing your job because of the charges?

It seems like if you're wrongly charged by a crime by the government and suffer extreme financial burden because of that, if proven innocent you should be free from punishment - including financial.

Is there any way to recoup financial damages after spending everything you have on defense and being found innocent?


Is it possible to copy Multiple choice questions from different sources to make a compiled book without violating copyright laws. If one modify few options, in that case still copyright law violated? For example here is a question

1) Which country to host the 2017 Arctic Energy Summit (AES)? [A] Uruguay [B] Finland [C] Ireland [D] Zambia

Now if one changed it to

1) Which country to host the 2017 Arctic Energy Summit (AES)? [A] Uruguay [B] Finland [C] Ireland [D] USA

Still it is under copyright? Please let me know

Multiple choice questions Copyright laws


Is it legal/ right if I create a texture pack of about 20 downloaded textures and 20 normal maps, and then sell it on an online store? All the textures are CC0 licensed.

Sell cc0 images


I often help people out on different stack exchange websites and never have any issues whatsoever. I usually answer questions on the Apple stack exchange website.

I was wondering, if I give out incorrect advice and someone damages their computer or device more, can I be liable in anyway for those damages? I'm not that familiar with the law, so I though I would ask before I answer certain questions, that I'm not 100% sure on.

I understand if they don't follow the advice I'm not liable, but if they willingly follow my advice themselves and if my advice was slightly incorrect, causing more damage, could they attempt to sue me for the damage it causes?

Can I be liable for damages for wrong advice I give on a Stack Exchange site?


Source: [*A Brief Introduction to Law in Canada*](http://emond.ca/a-brief-introduction-to-law-in-canada.html) (Mar. 2017). p. 39 Bottom. Box 2.3.

>
> ### "Common Law" and "Civil Law": Alternate Meanings
>
>
> As we have seen, some legal expressions have different meanings in different contexts. It addition
> to referring to legal systems, the phrases "common law" and "civil law" can have other meanings, too.
>
>   The phrase ***civil law*** is sometimes used as a synonym for ***private law***—in other words, laws governing the relationship between persons (as opposed to ***public law***, which deals with the legal relationship between a state and its individual members). Private and public law are generally
> recognized distinctions in both common law and civil law systems (except perhaps in some so-cialist countries). Therefore, somewhat confusingly, there could be a reference to civil law (where
> the context means private law) and its application in a common law jurisdiction. Adding to the
> confusion is the fact that in many civil law countries, their civil codes are primarily concert\*d with
> private, or civil, law matters as opposed to public law ones. Criminal law and other areas of public law are frequently dealt with in other "non-code" statutes. However, the key features of civil law
> systems—such as the inquisitorial approach of judges and the lack of precedent—usually apply
> to these legislated areas as well.
>
>   The phrase ***common law***, apart from its reference to the legal system that originated in England.
> can also refer to decisions by courts exercising their "common law" jurisdiction (used in contradistinction to decisions by courts exercising their "equitable" jurisdiction), and to case law generally
> (used in contradistinction to legislation, or enacted laws).
>
>
>

This polysemy of 'civil law' (e.g. [our "civil-law" tag](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/civil-law)) can be easily untangled, if 'civil law' is restricted to mean only private law OR only continental law, or if 'civil law' is abandoned and overriden with the latter two terms.

So why haven't jurists (lawyers and judges) done so?

Why haven't jurists corrected the ambiguity of 'civil law'?


I received an offer letter for a job and they want me to give them a response very soon. I'm still waiting to hear back from other offers. If I sign the offer letter but later on I receive another offer, can I call them back and decline the offer? I've heard of other people doing this before and had no issues. I've found articles saying that you can decline an offer after accepting it, but they don't specify what they mean by "accepting" the offer. Any thoughts?

Can I decline an offer I have already signed?


Let's say I copy a scene of 10 to 30 sentences from a book of another language to use as an example to teach vocabulary and explain sentence structure to my website. Can this fall under fair use? I could even copy passages from books or samples which are already made publicly available by the publisher online and I would credit the source as well.

Edit: I'm in Canada

Edit 2: I forgot to ask if it makes a difference whether the content of my website is publicly accessible for free compared to offering it as a course for paid members (with a free trial/sample available).

Thank you for the help.

Would it be legal to copy a small passage from a book to a website for language teaching purposes?


My company is changing my 401k from Fidelity to Principal in the process I am not allowed to make an exchange for 30 days is this legal

blocking exchanges in a 401-k


A month-by-month security contract was severed in writing on the last day of the month of May. The security business continued to charge the monthly fee on June 16 of the following month. When contacted, the security firm said the billing department received the cancelation notification June 1 and by that time, the new billing cycle had started. A refund retroactive to June 16 would be issued in July. I queried why the refund would not be retroactive to June 1 to which the response was "well that's the process".
Is the compamy allowed to charge for this additional two weeks of service after the service was canceled?

Can a business charge for the time it takes the business to cancel a service?


**Background**: For decades, Jazz musicians have relied on a series of illegal sheet music publications known as either a "Real Book" or a "Fake Book". These are illegal because they contain the melodies of famous songs and are sold without paying royalties to the songwriters. Until 2004 there was no legal version of these books available anywhere, yet it was impossible to be a professional jazz musician without one. So people copied and/or sold them illegally. Hal Leanord and Sher Music now publish legal versions that do pay royalties where required (which includes more than 95% of the tunes).

I am looking for a way to legalize an old (originally illegal) copy of a Real Book, but I don't want to pay as much as one penny to either publisher because they are part of a "music industry" that I do not want to support. There are many reasons, for example the "industry" artificially narrows the focus of popular music to increase profit while reducing production costs. There are also practical reasons, for example the publishers changed the repertoire in the new legal versions of the books, so some of the old tunes are missing. Is there a way I can pay royalties where they are due, without conceding any benefit to these publication companies?

Paying royalties without purchasing a publication


I am planning to write a novel in which the name of one of my character is Agent X but I found out that it has been used as a name of a TV serial.

Can I use the name of a TV serial / movie for my novel


What are the options for a landlord when he/she finds out that the tenant has been doing a business in the house with a licence obtained fraudulently?

Business Licence obtained with fraud


What exactly does **otherwise** mean? What are the **other wises**? [wise](https://law.stackexchange.com/q/47147/25327) means manner/extent.

[*O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*](https://www.amazon.co.uk/OSullivan-Hilliards-Law-Contract-Janet/dp/0198807821/ref=dp_ob_title_bk) (2018 8 ed). p 106.

>
> 5.55 Furthermore, there are several more general problems with the decision in [[*Roffey*]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_v_Roffey_Bros_%26_Nicholls_(Contractors)_Ltd):
>
>
> • Fear of duress might not be the only reason for the rule in *Stilk v Myrick*: it may
>  also operate to encourage parties to price their contracts properly in advance.
>  As O’Sullivan (1996) points out: ‘Why should any contractor bother to estimate
>  his price accurately or supervise his staff, now that the law is willing to treat his
>
>
>

p 107.

>
> difficulties in performing his contractual obligations as a sufficient “reason” for
>  enforcing a subsequent promise to pay him more than the contract price?’
>
>
> • Those who criticise a consideration requirement in this context point out that many
>  contracts, rather than embodying a one-off transaction, are in fact long-term relational
>  arrangements, which must be allowed to develop with the parties’ relationship
>  over time. In such cases, the requirement of consideration for each variation
>  is unrealistic and, it is said, should be modified to meet commercial reality. One
>  response is to say that, if properly drafted, such relational contracts can contain
>  their own mechanism for alteration over time (like a rent review clause in a long
>  commercial lease). But more fundamentally, of course, the point is that *Roffey* was
>  not such a contract anyway—it was a one-off job for a price.
>
>
> • Commercial parties need certainty. Supporters of the *Roffey* approach say that it is
>  nonsense that a contractual variation is enforceable if the other side’s obligations
>  are altered in a trivial way, **but not otherwise**. But that is at least a fairly straightforward
>  way of making the variation work, allowing for clear legal advice at the
>  time and thus avoiding litigation later.
>
>
> • Finally, it should be noted that those who advocate the abolition of consideration
>  for contractual variation do not necessarily agree with the approach in *Roffey* that
>  practical benefit suffices for consideration. For example, the New Zealand Court
>  of Appeal has since gone further and decided that contractual variations, once
>  relied on, do not need consideration at all (see *Antons Trawling Co Ltd v Smith*
>  (2003), noted by Coote (2004)).
>
>
>

Why's it nonsense that a contractual variation is enforceable if the other side’s obligations are altered trivially, but not otherwise?


From what I understand, the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service is an exception to this question. Its rate of winning convictions is something like 80%, and about half the remaining cases are settled on terms favorable to the IRS. So it loses only a statistically inevitable "handful" of cases, where there might have been unexpected exonerating circumstances.

This varies in different parts of the United States, but from what I understand, prosecutors in some parts of the country sometimes pursue weak cases, usually against poor defendants. They have to prove "guilty" beyond a reasonable doubt," but it seems to me that the level of proven "guilt" in many of these cases is less than in the IRS cases. And it seems that most districts' prosecutions have higher rats of acquittal and/or wrongful convictions than the IRS.

What could be the reasons for this? Could it be that the IRS is a "national" organization while districts are "local" Does the IRS do a better job of picking "guilty" parties than district attorneys because they know that potential defendants have the money and attributes to defend themselves?

(From what I understand, the IRS rejects potentially meritorious cases that come below the 80% threshold, while some district attorneys seem to prosecute based on "probable cause," and get many acquittals, or wrongful convictions.)

Why do prosecutors sometimes chase "weak" cases?


I own a engineering company in which I design products to serve as a proof of concept for companies to use to gauge commercial interest and funding. I also design products that may either in the exact same design, or similar are manufactured by the company, and sold commercially. **I never manufacture or sell end products**

I typically work on products that have little to no risk of injury, but recently have changed to more "dangerous" products. Such products have lithium batteries, high voltage systems, ect..

In either of the cases I described (me doing initial prototype, or design to be manufactured) am I/my company held liable for damages caused by my designs?

If so, will having the client (their company) sign a release of liability form help protect myself? Considering I don't manufacture, market, sell, repair, ect the product.

Product design liability


Does the idea of using plastic for making roads and generating electricity using plastic, come under the intellectual Property Rights ?

How can one protect their product if it's not under the Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual Property rights


Suppose I have a message in my email client with full headers, but the message isn't available in Gmail anymore. In a copyright infringement dispute or something similar, can that message be used as some kind of proof? Can headers prove that the message and its content are legitimate?

Can a deleted Gmail message be used as proof?


I was trying to cancel my gym membership because I had a surprise surgery that put me out of physical activity for a few months, and I couldn't leave the house for one month, but they told me that no matter what I need to come in to cancel without exceptions.

Can they say this? Now they're trying to charge me for the months that I was unable to attend for but still "had a membership" because I "never canceled".

I regret not trying to email them after the phone call, I would have much preferred to have a record of this.

Canceling gym membership while in recovery


I got a termination contract that should be signed by 3 parties - me and 2 others. Basically, it is about the termination of initial contract. Thing is some specific agreement with id number is mentioned within the termination contract as follows:

>
> The Contract is carried out within the Cooperation Agreement No X-XX/AA/XXXX, dated 01.10.2018
>
>
>

When I asked where I can access this agreement, I was told that the agreement is solely meant for other 2 parties and cannot be disclosed because of its confidentiality.

Do I have a right or should I demand to disclose this agreement? In the end, I have to put my sign. That is why I think I should know what is inside but not sure about legal side of it. Will be very thankful for your advice!

Signing a contract where some agreement is mentioned but not disclosed?


[Richard](https://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/richard-taylor.php) and [Damian](https://www.slaughterandmay.com/who-we-are/partners/damian-taylor/) Taylor. [*Contract Law Directions* (2019 7 ed)](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/contract-law-directions-9780198836599?&lang=en&). [BAILII](http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2000/43.html) has *Alfred McAlpine Construction Limited v. Panatown Limited* [2000] UKHL 43. p 349.

>
> ### Benefits in construction contracts
>
>
> The House of Lords confirmed in the complex case of *Alfred McAlpine v Panatown* (2001) that,
>  outside the social/consumer contracts where the contract is made by one party for the benefit
>  of others as a matter of convenience and simplicity, there is no general rule allowing a contracting
>  party to recover a loss on behalf of a third party.
>
>
> McAlpine contracted with Panatown to construct a building on land owned by UIPL, a company
>  in the same group as Panatown. McAlpine also provided a ‘duty of care deed’ to UIPL directly
>  whereby they agreed to use all reasonable skill, etc. in constructing the building.
>
>
>

p 350

>
> The project did not go well and the costs of repairs for the alleged defects plus damages for
>  delay were estimated to be tens of millions of pounds. **The decision was made by the group of
>  companies to sue under the main contract between McAlpine and Panatown rather than under
>  the duty of care deed between McAlpine and UIPL. [I boldened.]** McAlpine argued that Panatown, as opposed
>  to UIPL who was the owner of the defective building, had suffered no loss. Panatown
>  argued in the House of Lords: (i) that it was entitled to recover the loss suffered by UIPL on its
>  behalf; and (ii) that in any event it had suffered a loss itself in that it had not received what it
>  bargained for even if it was itself financially no worse off.
>
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8zd3I.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8zd3I.jpg)
>
>
> On the first point relating to recovery of loss suffered by a third party, the House of Lords was
>  clear, as has already been said, that there was no general rule permitting such recovery. The real
>  issue here however was whether Panatown could rely on a special rule traceable back to *Dunlop
>  v Lambert* in 1839 and referred to in *The Albazero* (1977) by Lord Diplock in relation to contracts
>  for the carriage of goods. This rule was then developed by the House of Lords in *Linden Gardens
>  v Lenesta* (1994) so as to apply to contracts for the construction of a building.
>
>
> The *Dunlop v Lambert/Albazero* exception applies to contracts whereby the claimant is the
>  original consignor of goods to the defendant carrier, it being contemplated that the ownership
>  of the goods will be transferred on by the claimant to subsequent purchasers whilst still being
>  carried by the defendant. The subsequent purchasers are therefore the ones who are, by the
>  time of the breach, the owners who suffer the actual loss or damage to the goods but who have
>  no contract with the defendant carrier. The exception recognizes that the claimant can recover
>  damages even though he suffers no loss personally and that he holds the damages on behalf
>  of the subsequent purchasers who have suffered loss.
>
>
> This exception was applied by the House of Lords in *Linden Gardens v Lenesta* (1993), or more
>  accurately in the second case heard and reported with that case, *St Martin’s Property Corporation
>  v McAlpine*.
>
>
>

Why did McAlpine (M) sue under the main contract between M and Panatown, rather than under the duty of care deed between M and UIPL?


Metric compatible fonts (typically open-source) copy certain metrics from a (typically copyrighted) "source font". "Advance width" at least, and maybe other metrics (I have seen discussions of copying kerning data). Why is this not copyright infringement? Presumably the designer of a metric compatible font is not printing the source font and measuring it. They are using the *exact* metrics to achieve exactly the same horizontal spacing.

Why does the creation of a metric compatible font not constitute copyright infringement?

Why are Metric Compatible fonts not copyright infringement?


I was arrested and placed in the back of the cop car. They didn't put on my seat belt. They ran 7 red lights and went in speeds of 97 miles an hour on the freeway. When is it crossing the line? Is there anything I can do?

if im arrested and in the back seat how far can the police break traffic laws?


I was a student at a university and i was provided free Microsoft applications through Microsoft Imagine. I have graduated but i still have those applications especially Visual Studio Enterprise 2015. I would like to know am i permitted to use this application and can i publish the applications developed using this software.

Can Visual Studio Enterprise 2015 for students be used to publish commercial products?


There are two parties to a contract. Call them Party1 and Party2. The contract will take effect when Party1 meets [condition precedent](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/32384/what-is-a-condition-precedent) A, and Party2 meets condition precedent B.

Party1 meets condition precedent A. Party2 does **not** meet condition precedent B.

My understanding is that Party1, having met his obligation, condition precedent A, can now enforce the contract against Party2. But Party2 can't enforce the contract against Party1 because he hasn't met condition precedent B.

Is this, in fact, the case?

Is there such a thing as a "one way" contract?


For me my **Website(A)** works as a Platform for Users to share Videos, Images and Links from Other Websites, Lets take for example **Youtube**

User(A)`of my Website` copied an Embed Code of Illegal Copyrighted Video Hosted on Youtube.

User(A) logged to my Website and used this Embed Code to show the Video.

so the steps are

```
Illegal 3rd-Party Embed Code Copyrighted (YT) Video
-Uploaded By-> User(YT)
-Taken By-> User(A)
-Shared at-> Website(A).

```

Does my Website(A) takes any responsibiltiy of that 3rd-Party content?

I didn't host the Content or anything on my Website, It is hosted by Youtube, And Youtube allows me to take Embeded Codes of their Videos to share it on my Website.

Platforms and 3rd Party Content


I'm considering in regards to freedom of expression, is it permitted for a company to reveal a persons dept for a service provider, is it contrary to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), I know that Uber and AirBnb are rating their customers, my question is is it legal to share the customer experience and their payment with other service providers, or can they claim lawsuits as a violation of privacy or what.

would it be legal for a company to rate clients, and customers exprience share the info with other companies


I live in New York State. I have created an LLC in Wyoming. The "Principal Office Address" for the LLC is listed as my registered agent's address in Wyoming. The "Mailing Address" for the LLC is listed as my home address in New York State.

The LLC does not have any employees or office space. The LLC only exists to license intellectual property to a manufacturer.

I will be opening a bank account for the LLC at a Chase Bank in my local town in New York State. I will be receiving royalty checks from the manufacturer, and depositing them into this Chase bank account.

Do I need to register as a foreign LLC in New York State? If so, why?

Am I required to register as a foreign LLC in New York State?


Suppose a private party were to pay for the production of a theatrical play in England, and one of these performances was filmed, with the intention that the filming would be later edited into a DVD. There are therefore several interested parties:

* The party that paid for everything
* The person who filmed and edited the performance (the same person in this example)
* The actors
* The venue

To which of these parties (or any others) do rights belong in the recording and DVD? Do these rights differ if the DVD is (a) publicily sold for profit, (b) privately sold for profit (e.g. just to those associated with the production), (c) privately distributed for free?

IP Rights in Recordings


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 have read a couple times now that Websites are obligated to provide an alternative login page when their login form uses Javascript. I have not been able to find much resources on the matter though. (Google likes to present me with websites that discuss legal information that happen to have a login feature.)

Are there any legal requirements for a website to have an alternative to a Javascript login form? I'm interested in answers from all over the world.

Are websites legally obligated to provide a non-javascript login page?


Is there a concept or known word to describe a text in a legal agreement that is not binding.

We would like to annotate an agreement with sections that explain the intended consequences without themselves being the basis for it.

**Example:**

One part of the agreement says:

>
> Service A can be cancelled with 6 months notice.
>
>
>

Another part says

>
> Service B can be cancelled with 12 months notice.
>
> **Note that service A only has 6 months notice.**
>
>
>

Say I change the first part to be only 4 months notice for service A. but I forget to update the added note in the second section.

A **workaround** being non specific:

>
> Note that service A may have a shorter notice.
>
>
>

Non binding section in a legal agreement?


I don't fathom the emboldening.

1. Who is **he** and **him**? The creditor or debtor?
2. Pls see title.

Paul Davies. [*JC Smith's The Law of Contract* (2018 2 ed)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smiths-Law-Contract-Paul-Davies/dp/0198807813/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). p 89.

>
>       [*MWB*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Advertising_Ltd_v_MWB_Business_Exchange_Centres_Ltd) has now been [~~appealed to~~] [decided by] the Supreme Court. Perhaps the most unsatisfactory
>  outcome would be for the Supreme Court to seek to reconcile the two lines of case law. It
>  is suggested that the Supreme Court has a clear choice to make: it can either depart from
>  *Foakes v Beer* and endorse the ‘practical benefit’ approach in *Williams v Roffey Bros*, or it can
>  uphold the principle in *Foakes v Beer* and overrule *Williams v Roffey Bros*. Overruling *Foakes
>  v Beer* was recommended by the Law Revision Committee in 1937 but was not acted on by
>  Parliament. Indeed, departing from *Foakes v Beer* might be thought to undermine the doctrine
>  of consideration. But this is not necessarily so. It may be that a distinction could evolve
>  where consideration is required for the formation of contracts, but not for their variation.68
>  In any event, the essence of the doctrine of consideration would remain intact. A person
>  who agrees to pay an increased price in order to induce another to fulfil his contractual duty,
>  or to take a lesser sum in full satisfaction in order to induce his debtor to pay something, is
>  making a bargain. He asks for something in return for his promise to pay more—or not to
>  sue for the balance, as the case may be—and gets what he asks for. **It might even be thought
>  that to hold him bound, far from impairing the basic rule that bargains are binding, would
>  be to abolish an exception to that rule.** Lord Blackburn recognised this in *Foakes v Beer* but
>  was dissuaded by his brethren from dissenting on that ground. However, the actual result in
>  Foakes v Beer may be unaffected because there was probably no bargain and no intention to
>  release any existing rights. And even in situations where there is a bargain, that would not
>  always be enforceable, since the outcome would depend on whether the party surrendering
>  his contractual rights did so under economic duress.69
>
>
>

Why would binding someone abolish an exception to the rule that bargains bind?


I run a home boarding dog business. As part of their home check for licensing conditions the local council demanded to see my customer records. As these include names,addressees, telephone numbers and email details as well as details of their pet dog I refused saying this was against the Data Protection Act to do so without the customers' written permission. The council employee told me it was her right to see the records under the Animal Welfare Act.

Am I correct to refuse under the Data Protection Act? I showed her the blank forms of the information the customer provides but not the actual completed forms, which she demanded to see.

Would someone be able to advise me of my and more importantly my customers' legal rights in this situation please?

Does showing the county council my customer records break the Data Protection Act?


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?


Background: For roughly 2 decades I've run my own private email infrastructure for myself, open source projects, and a few other individuals over business internet service intended for such usage. I've recently run into a major German ISP blocking my site (this is a new thing; I used to send to their customers with no problem) and interrupting communication with one of their customers I need to correspond with.

After a few weeks of back-and-forth with their email engineering contact giving me moving-goalposts/bait-and-switch about what they want me to do to get unblocked from their system, they are now insisting that I publish legal name and physical street address for the responsible party (that would be me personally) on the web as a condition to access their service.

Is this sort of requirement legal under the GDPR? I could understand (while strongly objecting to, but that's not part of the legal question here) "sorry, we won't open our service to you", but making an offer to provide access but making it conditional on what amounts to doxing oneself seems like it should not be legal. Is this (demanding I publish it publicly rather than give them the same information privately) some loophole for skirting around the GDPR? Is there anything else legally sketchy about the demand?

I am not in Germany; the other party involved is.

More details copied from clarifying comments I posted on an answer (sorry, some of this is technical and may not be useful to non-IT folks):

>
> The data was requested after a long series of individual email exchanges with their email engineering department (which has its own separate mail system that's not blocking my site). No emails were flagged as spam and no spam has ever been sent from my site to their mail system. (Fewer than 50 total emails have ever been sent from my site to them.) They seem to have instituted their own in-house policy for IP addresses to accept from based on IP block ownership data (note: not using any of the well-run RBL/DUL type lists) and allow-listing well-known sites.
>
>
> Rejection takes place before the SMTP session even begins (error message prior to EHLO, giving the address of the email engineering department which I then contacted). Initial request was that I provide "full contact info" on webserver associated with domain the IP address reverses to in order to be unblocked, with no indication of what that would entail. Eventually after being (apparently intentionally) vague for a long time they started insisting that include physical street address.
>
>
>

Basically, the actionable thing I want to know is whether I have grounds to say something like "The offer to accept mail from my site under the conditions of having published physical contact information constitutes a solicitation for personal data protected by GDPR, and if you are soliciting such personal data, you are required by law to accept it via a secure and private channel."

Is it GDPR-compliant to require *public* publishing of personal info as condition for access to a service?


[Richard](https://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/richard-taylor.php) and [Damian](https://www.slaughterandmay.com/who-we-are/partners/damian-taylor/) Taylor. [*Contract Law Directions* (2019 7 ed)](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/contract-law-directions-9780198836599?&lang=en&). p 356.

>
> ### Application [of [Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/31/contents)] to case law
>
>
> The first reported case on the Act, [*Nisshin Shipping v Cleaves* (2003)](http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2003/2602.html) makes it clear that the onus
> is on the contracting parties to make it clear that they do not intend the party benefited by a term
> to be able to enforce it under the Act. If the contract is neutral on this point then the third party is
> permitted to enforce the term. In that case, the charter contract between the shipowner defendant
> and the charterer stated that the claimant brokers were entitled to a 1 per cent commission.
> Coleman J held that the brokers were permitted to sue the shipowner for the commission due
> even though the broker was not a party to the contract. Further, the broker was bound by s.8 of
> the Act to bring its claim in arbitration as the right to commission fell within the arbitration clause
> in the contract; see also [*Fortress Value Recovery Fund I LLC v Blue Skye Special Opportunities Fund
> LP* (2012)](https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/367.html) which reaffirmed the principle that a third party takes the benefit of rights subject to any
> arbitration clause in the contract, although in that case the court rejected the defendants’ attempt
> to stay proceedings brought in the Commercial Court in favour of arbitration because the contract
> conferred on them ‘defensive’ rights under an exclusion clause and, in any event, the defendants
> had not pleaded such a defence (presumably because the **relevant clauses contained a carve out
> in the event of fraud** (which formed the basis of the allegations against them)). The substantive
> claims brought were therefore not ones which arose pursuant to the Act (unlike the claim for
> commission in *Nisshin*) and so s.8 of the Act did not bite and the defendants were not entitled to
> be treated as though they were parties to the arbitration agreement.
>
>
>

I read the case, and the clauses cited by Coleman J cited don't moot or use the noun 'fraud'. The judgment also doesn't contain the noun 'fraud'.

Meaning – relevant clauses contained a carve out in the event of fraud


The gay or trans panic defence, also known as the Portsmouth Defence, is where someone claims that they were temporarily not responsible for their actions due to extreme shock. The shock results from discovering that someone is gay or transgender, or some action related to those factors such as a straight person being invited to participate in a homosexual relationship.

I know of at least once incidence in the US where a transgender woman was murdered after her sexual partners discovered she was not a cis woman. Has the gay/trans panic defence ever been successfully used to avoid conviction or to significantly lessen punishment?

I'm interested in all jurisdictions, not just the US. I believe that the name "Portsmouth Defence" comes from the city of Portsmouth in the UK, for example.

Has the gay/trans panic defence ever successfully been used in court?


Consider for example the starship enterprise (registry NCC1701) from the star trek tv series. If someone takes a picture of the ship from the tv show and sticks it on a poster, it is clearly a derivative work. But what if they only show part of the ship? What if they only show a small enough part that it is not recognizably from the enterprise? Or what if they just produce a gray (the starship enterprise is gray) image, with "NCC1701" written on it?

Is that a derivative work? Would it matter if it used a different font, or a different color background? Would it make a difference if it was less iconic, e.g. a reproduction of a different ship that only appeared in one episode?

My question is not specific to start trek, but regarding any works which have distinctive subcomponents (e.g. the monolith from 2001, the rebel alliance symbol of from star wars, the one ring from the lord of the rings etc.) - how much of an original work needs to be reproduced for it to infringe the original copyright?

How much of a work needs to be used for it to be derivative?


I am currently working on a trivia game. I have written more than 2000 questions thanks to Wikipedia. Because there are a lot of general questions, I am worried that another board game, a video game or a TV show in the world has registered an identical question.

If in my game I have a question such as "what is the difference between perfume and cologne?", maybe someone has registered the same question in a game. This could happen by chance and because Wikipedia is a very good website to read and create questions, and everyone can access it.

Although the questions were obviously be written differently, perhaps someone wrote "What is the characteristic that distinguishes the perfume of the cologne?", if the context is similar, is this reportable?

To what extent does copyright cover the questions in a quiz game?


I have never used WhatsApp so I have never shared my phone’s contacts with them or consented to their terms. Many of my friends and family do use WhatsApp and they will all have me in thier contacts under the same name and phone number. Therefore I must have node WhatsApp’s social graph?

It might be only my name and number that they have, but It’s certainly enough for them to tie it to my Facebook account and to infer a profile of me by analysing the activity of the social graph around me.

If this is the case do I have any right to ask WhatsApp to delete my node as I’ve never consented to be included? (I live in the UK).

If I’ve no WhatsApp account am I still a node on their social graph? And if so can I request to be deleted?


CA Penal Code 632 sets forth that all parties must be notified that a conversation is to be recorded.

I have a person whom I'd like to assist in a proceeding, possibly, given the situation is correct.

I live in a different state, Texas, which is not a dual consent state.

Am I correct in thinking that I can record a phone call with a California resident, while I'm located in Texas? The product of which would eventually be used in a California court if all goes well.

EDIT for better context:

1 - The phone call would be made from Texas, by a Texas resident;

2 - The phone call would be made to the wife of a family member (who both live and are married in California);

3 - The recording would be given to the husband's attorney, who would then try the divorce/custody case in the State of California with the recording as evidence (if admissible, granted I'm not stepping on any laws)

I'm not concerned that I'd get in trouble as a Texas resident. I'm concerned about admissibility in California Family Courts.

Dual Consent Laws of California Relating To Residents Of Other State's


Charlie Sheens are told to pay $50k a month for his child. What about before conceiving babies Charlie said, "Look, if I knocked you up, I would only spend $2k."

In theory, a girl may have to choose 2 options. $2k a month from a billionaire or a $1k a month from a welfare king. She may prefer the former and may agree to sign contract to get knocked up and get paid $2k a month child support. Say her next alternatives is picking much poorer man.

Is it legally binding?

Can men in various countries make pre conception child support deals?


I have created two images of a horse and an elephant from scratch based on Shutterstock images. I have changed some colors and added some more details but at the bottom line it looks very much the same.

I want to use those images in my website, can I do it without risking being sued for copyrights violations?

Creating an image derived from a stock image


I live in Germany and have ordered a part for my Angel Juicer from an online shop (cca. 100 EUR). The part is not available on the online webshop directly, so I contacted the seller. The seller said that he must order it and then is able to deliver. I then confirmed my order and waited. It took longer than expected and in the meantime I got the part from elsewhere. The seller contacted me today that he is able to deliver, but I refused and tried to cancel the contract.

The seller is now saying that I can not do that, because the part was ordered directly for me and there is no "Widerrufsrecht". It's not a personalized part.

I ordered from Germany, the seller is in Austria (Wien).

Can I send back the part if I receive it and cancel the contract (in written form)? I tried to cancel the contract via email.

Cancel contract ordered from online shop via email in Germany


What does `BY` refer to in the context of this license name please: <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/>

I'm sure it's something really obvious that I'm missing.

What does the BY in CC BY and CC BY-SA etc mean?


I'm currently writing a companion to the popular game Overwatch, and have realized early into development that I don't want to put time into this and then find out I can't use it for legal reasons.

My program will contain information that is copied from different sites and locations, including Overwatch itself, as well as several websites. I am fully willing and even eager to include the authors of the information, but I'm worried that Blizzard will try to murder me legally for attempting to use data from their game.

It will not cost anything, and I will not make any money except for donations. How legal, if at all, is this?

Legal Binding on a Game Based Companion


My brother was recently employed full time in a very specialized (and sensitive) job in South Africa for a company based in the US. There are less than 300 people in the world suited for his job.

His employer was so anxious to get him to sign the contract that things were rushed a little it seems. My brother signed the contract he had been given (already signed by the employer) and noticed that the salary they had agreed on per year, was stated in the contract as the salary per month.

My brother, informed the employer and an amendment to the contract was signed.

Due to the nature of the job, very advanced notice (minimum 6 months) is required by both parties for terminating the contract.

What would the implications be if an employee were to refuse signing an amendment and insist on what was stated in the original signed contract, even if he/she knows it's a mistake?

What are the implications of an obvious mistake in a signed employment contract?


The testarossa badge is a beautiful work of art and its a shame that no one has made a font based on it.

I am going to guess, someone may have, but Ferarri shut them down - as they are known to do, as they agressively like to to protect their brand.

However, I imagine creating a font that is similar to it in style would not constitute copyright, otherwise Arial wouldn't exist.

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P8wne.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P8wne.jpg)

I noticed the Boohoo logo has a very similar font style to it, without the inline.

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mfb3w.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mfb3w.png)

My question is then, could I create a font based on the testarotta logo, so it looks similar?

Can I create a font based on the Testarossa badge font?


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?