Law

copyright

Leaked ACTA Treaty Will Outlaw P2P

ACTA—the misleadingly named "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement"—is the worldwide copyright treaty that's being negotiated behind closed doors, and that will create a sort of global DMCA if continues in its current state. Now Wikileaks has posted a draft of the treaty, and Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow gives his take:

Among other things, ACTA will outlaw P2P (even when used to share works that are legally available, like my books), and crack down on things like region-free DVD players. All of this is taking place out of the public eye, presumably with the intention of presenting it as a fait accompli just as the ink is drying on the treaty.

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3:25 PM on Fri Jun 6 2008
By Chris Walters
10,260 views, 141 comments

competition

L.A. County Tells Taco Trucks To Keep Moving

Peter writes to let us know that taco trucks in Los Angeles county now have to move to a new position every hour: "The county of Los Angeles has enacted some new legislation to prevent taco truck owners from staying in one spot, with penalties of a fine of up to $1000 or jail for failures to comply." Why such a weird law? Because area restaurants say they're stealing away customers. If you like your carne asada from the side of a truck, be prepared to start chasing them down as they circle through L.A. county in a weird Mexican-food carousel. More »

11:14 AM on Mon May 5 2008
By Chris Walters
5,011 views, 69 comments

Latest by synergy: I suspect that just like down here in South Texas, the people it impacts the most or who would care the most are the ones who vote the least. more »

taxes

New York State To Start Taxing Amazon Purchases

One of the budget-related changes voted in last week by New York State's politicians included a new "Amazon tax":

"Another $50 million will come from requiring online retailers like Amazon that do not have a physical presence in New York to collect sales taxes on purchases made by New Yorkers and remit them to the state.

New York's argument, based on a reading of the 1992 Quill vs. North Dakota U.S. Supreme Court ruling, is that because Amazon makes sales through affiliates who live in the state, it can be considered to have a physical presence there—which means the new law wouldn't apply to retailers who don't use affiliate programs. More »

11:34 PM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Chris Walters
5,274 views, 78 comments

Latest by n/a: I made the mistake of moving to a place that has a 10% sales tax. I think 7 of it is Alabama and the other 3% are the county/city. It makes me miss Virginia, even with the higher personal property more »

free parking

The Vast Majority Of Philadelphia Parking Tickets May Be Invalid

A CBS investigation has revealed that parking tickets stemming from 85% of the parking meters in Philadelphia are invalid. Pennsylvania law requires inspectors to certify each parking meter for accuracy once every three years, but the single inspector working for Philly's Licenses and Inspections Department, the city agency in change of certification, has visited less than 15% of all parking meters—but he has found the time to certify some meters 8 times while others go completely unchecked. As a result, thousands of parking tickets are invalid under state law. More »

11:37 AM on Sun Mar 9 2008
By Carey
8,474 views, 41 comments

Latest by arkitect75: I used to park in a restricted time residential area, once the restrictions were lifted. One day, I came out to find a ticket, issued during the non restricted time. So, I took a picture of the parking sign more »

law

Charges Filed Against Importers Of Toxic Toothpaste

On Tuesday, the city of Los Angeles and the FDA charged the heads of two U.S. importing companies with 14 counts each of "receiving, selling and delivering an adulterated drug," for their roles in importing and distributing over 70,000 tubes of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol (DEG) instead of glycerin. "Each count carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine." More »

12:04 PM on Fri Mar 7 2008
By Chris Walters
1,546 views, 16 comments

trademarks

Plastic Surgery Company Sues Consumer Site For Negative Customer Reviews

Lifestyle Lift claims it's a "minor one-hour procedure with major results," but a lot of customers who have paid for the procedure have been left unhappy, and they've consequently posted reviews about it on a plastic surgery review blog called RealSelf. Lifestyle Lift has sued RealSelf, claiming trademark infringement, and now RealSelf has countersued, claiming Lifestyle Lift padded RealSelf's site with shill reviews. More »

8:49 AM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Chris Walters
9,489 views, 31 comments

law

Exxon May Have Its Punitive Damages For Valdez Spill Cut In Half By Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to halve the punitive damages levied against Exxon for its massive 1989 oil spill from the Exxon Valdez tanker, from the current $2.5 billion to something more like $1 billion. Exxon claims the higher number amounts to excessive punishment. According to the New York Times, the decision may come down to a tie with four justices on either side; Justice Alito is not participating because he owns Exxon Mobile stock. The Exxon Valdez disaster "caused a 3,000-square-mile oil slick and still affects Alaska's fisheries after nearly 19 years." More »

12:34 PM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Chris Walters
4,369 views, 87 comments

Latest by n/a: Of course EXXON can't afford it now...they have to send that money to help pay for John McCain's campaign. You don't think a Republican Supreme Court would short change a Republican politician's chances of election ?? more »

corporate influence

House Passes Bill That Would Require Colleges To Practice Network Filtering

Last week the House voted 354-58 to approve a college funding bill that requires colleges to "make plans to offer some form of legal alternative to P2P file-swapping" and to implement some form of network filtering. Luckily for sane people everywhere, the White House has already made veto-noises at the bill for other reasons—but still, the MPAA came that much closer to forcing its admittedly false worldview on universities. More »

6:09 PM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By Chris Walters
2,588 views, 26 comments

ada

Legally Blind Woman Sues Fast Food Restaurants For Rudeness

A legally blind New York woman sued several fast food restaurants for ridiculing her when she asked for help reading their menus, but a federal judge threw out the suit on the grounds that "ADA laws don't regulate 'rudeness or insensitivity' of workers." Last week, however, an appeals court overturned that ruling and now the suit—" believed to be the first of its kind—could go before a jury this year." More »

9:38 AM on Mon Feb 11 2008
By Chris Walters
8,657 views, 155 comments

renting

Answers To NYC Renters' Questions

How do you get your landlord to require the upstairs neighbors to put down carpets? A lawyer who "has practiced in the landlord-tenant arena for more than two decades" has been answering these sorts of questions on the New York Times' "City Room" blog. The advice he gives, while helpful and specific, is mostly based on what we imagine are NYC-specific problems and cites New York statutes, but it still might be helpful for renters elsewhere with similar problems. More »

9:32 PM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Chris Walters
4,720 views, 26 comments

Latest by grumpygirl: think owning make a difference, hah. i own a coop in a building that was converted in the 80s, and we have a tenant left over. a crazy, section 8, rent stabilized, screaming in the hallways kind of loon who, more »

great moments

January 1st, 1808: Slave Importation Banned In US

Considering we spend a good deal of time focusing on legislation that protects consumers and/or (usually or) businesses, we thought it appropriate to point out one of the big historical moments of trade law, not to mention human rights—tomorrow marks the "200th anniversary of Jan. 1, 1808, when the importation of slaves into the United States was prohibited." Hey, it didn't stop the madness, but at least it was a start. More »

6:06 PM on Mon Dec 31 2007
By Chris Walters
4,136 views, 41 comments

fraud

Second Jersey Scammer Who Claimed To Cure Lou Gehrig's Disease Imprisoned

On December 12th, the U.S. District Court of New Jersey sentenced Elizabeth Lerner, a.k.a. Elizabeth Cooperman, to 33 months in prison for "falsely claiming that she could cure amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly called 'Lou Gehrig's Disease.'" Her crime partner, former osteopath Charlene C. DeMarco, was sentenced to 57 months back in September. More »

3:31 PM on Fri Dec 28 2007
By Chris Walters
1,451 views, 16 comments

copyright

Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail

Remember Sony's cringe-inducing copy protection scheme a couple of years ago, where they secretly installed rootkits on millions of customers' PCs and then pretended it was no big deal? ("Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" — Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's President of Global Digital Business.) There's a new article (PDF) about to be published in the Berkely Technology Law Journal called "The Magnificence of the Disaster: Reconstructiong the Sony BMG Rootkit Incident." It's a very detailed and entertaining read that examines the conditions that led Sony BMG "toward a strategy that in retrospect appears obviously and fundamentally misguided." More »

12:09 PM on Tue Dec 18 2007
By Chris Walters
2,259 views, 27 comments

Latest by n/a: This has recently been a problem with Maxis/EA games with their new sims products as they have Sony's SECUREROM(sp?)as their copyright protection. Fortunately I never installed any of the products with that program, but many users are complaining of many more »

tv

Judge Judy's TV Court Isn't Real

We were operating under the misunderstanding that Judge Judy was a broadcast of an actual small claims court somewhere, but then our legal beagle intern Alex informed us that it's really just arbitration dressed up to look like small claims court. More »

1:46 PM on Mon Dec 17 2007
By Ben Popken
17,992 views, 80 comments

filesharing

RIAA Told To Provide Breakdown Of Expenses Per Each Downloaded Song

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, a Brooklyn judge made a defendant in an RIAA lawsuit very happy when he ordered the RIAA to document the actual expenses incurred per downloaded song. More »

5:33 AM on Tue Nov 27 2007
By Chris Walters
6,851 views, 30 comments

consumer advocates

Blogger Who Wrote About A Business Wins Defamation Lawsuit

Considering the lifeblood of The Consumerist is publicizing stories of bad businesses and bad business practices—including drawing attention to personal stories on other peoples' blogs—we were happy to read that blogger Philip Smith won the federal defamation and trademark dilution lawsuit brought against him by a company he wrote about on his personal blog. Although it doesn't guarantee that other angry business owners or their legal teams won't come after you for writing about your unpleasant experiences with them, it cheers us to know that, at least in this case, a federal judge felt that Smith should be protected from retaliation for telling his side of the story. "It's not about the title, it's about the content, said Judge Henry Hurlong, Jr.; a journalist turns out to be anyone who does journalism, and bloggers who do so have the same rights and privileges under federal law as the 'real' journalists." More »

3:40 PM on Fri Nov 9 2007
By Chris Walters
3,164 views, 13 comments

Latest by agb: @alk509: Thanks. :-) more »

laws we might like

Credit Card Late Fees Might Be Unconstitutional?

Over at the Consumer Law & Policy Blog they've posted the abstract of a article that considers the constitutionality of credit card late fees. Apparently, there are "constitutional constraints upon the imposition of punitive damages." Neat. The article by Seana Shiffrin and is called "Are Credit Card Late Fees Unconstitutional?"

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell articulated serious and specific constitutional constraints upon the imposition of punitive damages. Justice Kennedy's majority opinion announced that, apart from exceptional cases, punitive damages should not exceed nine times the amount of the actual losses sustained by the plaintiff and should usually be far lower...