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1500 questions
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5 answers
Could the right to "life" in the constitution be used by the supreme court to reject a federal law forbidding abortion bans?
I saw a question on here asking about how hard it would be to pass a Federal law that prevents states from banning abortion, and the discussion was mostly about whether the federal government had the jurisdiction to create a law that supersedes laws…
Steven Sagona
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How are any gun restrictions constitutional?
The Second Amendment says (emphasis mine):
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
How are any laws restricting the "right of the people to…
Someone
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16
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What happens when a will conflicts with a new law (a law made after the testator has died)?
What happens when a will conflicts with a new law (a law made after the testator has died)?
Suppose I have been bequeathed the family farm and the testator specified that the farm must be run in accordance with how it was traditionally run (this is…
Natasha
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4 answers
Can I viably sue for damages caused by bugs in freeware?
Freeware is software released free of charge. Often times freeware is written by a hobbyist or academic who is looking to create a tool for their field, but is either not interested in profit or thinks that profit is not viable.
I know that in some…
Daniel Goldman
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1 answer
What is the effect of lost and recovered prior art on patent validity?
Normally, the existence of prior art containing matters for which a United States utility patent makes claims to patent rights prevents a patent from being issued for those claims, and if a patent somehow issues anyway, it provides a defense to a…
ohwilleke
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16
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1 answer
Algorithm generated fines
In the UK, there was recently a case in the press about a driver that was issued a fine for driving in a bus lane. The photograph the Local Authority supplied as "evidence" was of someone wearing an item of clothing with wording that was similar to…
Lefty
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16
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1 answer
How long does a GPL licencee have to respond to a source code request before it becomes a GPL violation?
I have requested source code for a product that contains software licensed under GPL 2. The product includes a written offer to provide source code if you send a written request by email. The offer is valid for three years. But I have gotten no…
Богдан Туренко
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16
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3 answers
How close to, or how far from, copyright violation is the movie "Gattaca"?
In 1942 a novel appeared: Beyond This Horizon by Robert Heinlein.
The setting is a future time when it has become standard that people's genes are chosen from among their parents' genes by doctors, who try to pick the best among those available,…
Michael Hardy
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2 answers
Do corporations have any constitutional rights?
An existing answer establishes fairly well that corporations in the United States do not have Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
That leads me to wonder, do corporations in the US have any Constitutional rights at all?
For example,…
Robert Columbia
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2 answers
Is it illegal to implement a patented algorithm or method and take advantage from it?
I have been working on an SW project that combines image processing and IMU data since 2019. (Mobile platform)
Unfortunately, a company got a patent on the same method that I have been working on and started selling their product last year…
Chanoh Park
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4 answers
Is it illegal to ask someone to commit a misdemeanor? What is this called?
In my Googling, I learned that (at least in most of the U.S.) a defendant cannot be an accessory to a misdemeanor. What about someone just nagging and insisting on it?
Frungi
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2 answers
How is a person residing abroad subject to US law?
I am reading this press release of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The attorney states that:
Mason Sheppard, aka “Chaewon,” 19, of Bognor Regis, in the United Kingdom, was charged in a criminal complaint in the…
robertspierre
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What law makes a Movie "Nicht Feiertagsfrei"?
Top Gun, Life of Brian and Heidi (2001) don't seem to have anything in common, but in Germany they are all declared "Nicht Feiertagsfrei" and may not be shown in a cinema on some days. Among them is the Friday before Easter (Karfreitag),…
Trish
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16
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2 answers
Are "anti-exclusive" contracts legal?
Is it legal to have an "anti-exclusive" contract?
By anti-exclusive, I mean a contract that says, for example:
"This software can be used on any platform EXCEPT for X"
For a real life example, would it be legal to create software and say it is…
Sir Jobo
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16
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3 answers
Are juries able to ask questions during a trial?
One thing I keep seeing on TV crime dramas like Law and Order is that the defense and prosecution ask questions of those at the bench for the sake of the jury, at times trying to trigger emotional responses to sway a jury's opinion (i.e. trying to…
Memor-X
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