Most Popular
1500 questions
48
votes
5 answers
At what point is uploading a movie with heavy compression not copyright infringement?
My friend recently linked me a GIF of the entire Shrek movie in 60x60 resolution. At the time of writing this, it has 12 million views on imgur. This got me thinking, could a copyright holder technically sue over the uploading of this GIF? I'm…
MarcusOtter
- 553
- 3
- 9
48
votes
5 answers
Can a Resident Assistant be told to ignore a lawful order?'
Today I have an interesting question involving Police, Fire and university administration.
A little bit of background: for the past few years, my University has been involved in a small, awkward cold war with local emergency responders over…
bracec
- 566
- 1
- 4
- 10
48
votes
4 answers
Is it illegal to infringe copyright if your boss or your client ordered you to do it?
The first possible scenario is this: suppose you work in a company, and you need to install some software for a client. The software needs to be purchased, but the boss tells you to just download it for free illegally (infringing copyright). You…
reed
- 1,838
- 1
- 11
- 22
48
votes
8 answers
How is it possible for millions to use pirated software at home and never get arrested?
It's not like talking about using weeds that you tell your friends about but you don't go in public shouting about it. Instead people go to online forums sometimes posting with their real names- bragging about using pirated software.
What is exactly…
Ulkoma
- 1,319
- 2
- 14
- 27
47
votes
2 answers
Would Trump's defence work in other courts?
Donald Trump's defence against incitement is essentially the ambiguity of his language: he never explicitly told the crowd to violently attack Congress, but he did use ambiguous words such as "fight", which many in the crowd understood as an…
Paul Johnson
- 13,533
- 2
- 38
- 60
47
votes
11 answers
What if a law is literally impossible to follow?
This question originated from the Australian encryption debate, but I am mainly asking about the US. Just to keep things simple (if a bit absurd), suppose the US passed a law that says,
Every citizen is required to provide the government with a…
Anon
- 487
- 1
- 4
- 3
47
votes
6 answers
Can I forbid the government from using my patented invention?
(this is a purely hypothetical situation, for literary research)
I've filed a patent on a certain technology for facial recognition/analysis, and as the patent holder I want to use my exclusivity to ensure it's not used to harm anyone. …
anonymous
- 741
- 1
- 5
- 10
47
votes
4 answers
Do we have to take down the material for 14 days even if the DMCA notice is erroneous?
A very large site and my site are both licensed to use product images created and photographed by the same vendor. Now the large site comes after my site and sends a DMCA notice to my hosting provider, asking us to take down quite some of our most…
datasn.io
- 543
- 5
- 12
47
votes
3 answers
Can illegal aliens claim sanctuary in a church?
This tweet (as quoted in a Washington Post article), seems to suggest that illegal aliens can claim sanctuary in a church:
#GuadalupeGarcia attorney says @ICEgov has lied to him and he will advise future clients to seek sanctuary in churches.
(For…
user812786
- 513
- 1
- 5
- 10
47
votes
5 answers
If a signal person in California tells me to kill someone, do I have to do so?
According to California sample written driving test (problem 6):
You see a signal person at a road construction site ahead. You should obey his or her instructions:
A. Only if you see orange cones on the road ahead.
B. Unless they conflict with…
user8667
- 527
- 1
- 4
- 3
46
votes
5 answers
Can UPS really trademark the color brown?
So, today as I received an email from UPS, I read the disclaimer at the end and it said:
© 2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. UPS, the UPS brandmark, and the color brown are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights…
Délisson Junio
- 613
- 1
- 5
- 7
46
votes
2 answers
Can I sue a restaurant for serving me meat in vegetarian dish?
I am a vegetarian for religious reasons. I was at Chipotle on Saturday and ordered a sofritas rice bowl which is "vegan approved". To my surprise, I found a chunk of chicken in my bowl when I was halfway through eating it. Made me feel sick to the…
user559788
- 909
- 1
- 7
- 9
45
votes
13 answers
Is "legalese" a thing in languages other than English?
The idea of legalese needs little introduction. An archaic professional jargon that has developed in the English-speaking world over hundreds of years, it has been largely preserved and sustained by lawyers both due to inertia and a desire to speak…
Robert Columbia
- 3,733
- 4
- 23
- 46
45
votes
2 answers
What 'specific legal meaning' does the word "strike" have?
Over on main meta, on the post containing a statement from Stack Overflow about the current moderator action, there was a brief edit war over the inclusion (or not) of the word "strike" in the title. An SO staff member said :
While we recognize…
AakashM
- 1,054
- 7
- 12
45
votes
3 answers
If Congress passed a bill written in a language other than English, would it be valid?
Suppose Congress passed a bill written in Spanish and the President signed it. Everything about the bill and the procedures by which it was written and passed were completely normal, other than the language. (Assume everyone in Congress, as well as…
Someone
- 17,046
- 10
- 84
- 177