75
votes
Accepted
Is it illegal to infringe copyright if your boss or your client ordered you to do it?
There are two parts to copyright liability: civil and criminal. TL;DR: both cases are criminal offences, and it is illegal to break the law even when you are paid to do it.
In the USA criminal ...
- 12k
74
votes
Accepted
What are some possible law suits or civil actions the Las Vegas shooting victims could take?
You can sue anyone for anything. I will answer these on the assumption that the real question is whether there is a legal basis for such a suit.
1) Could someone open a civil action against the ...
- 129k
43
votes
Can I sue an app for enabling harassment?
There are legitimate apps that let you buy phone numbers. With the right app I can buy let's say a landline number in Kansas. I call you, and you will think it's some guy in Kansas calling you. That's ...
- 24.5k
37
votes
Can I booby-trap my property against police?
First off, you cannot booby trap your property, period. It is both illegal and tortious. But, as you noted, there are already questions/answers that deal with this issue.
Sure enough, if the police ...
- 10.9k
37
votes
Accepted
If a stolen item is stolen again, who has the liability?
You cannot pass on better title than you have
The fraudster (B) in this scenario does not have good title in the car and so the thief (C) doesn't either: 1) because they are a thief and 2) because ...
- 147k
34
votes
Accepted
How to mitigate the risk of getting sued by clients (web dev contracting)
Nothing gives you complete protection. You can (and should) have artfully drawn contracts with disclaimers and indemnification, but if the counterparties decline to comply with the contracts you may ...
- 19.8k
30
votes
Accepted
Has it been Legally Confirmed that A Website is not Liable if passwords stolen from it are used on other sites?
united-states
The argument you are making, restated in legal terms, is roughly as follows:
Users have a duty to not reuse passwords.
When a user reuses a password, and their password is subsequently ...
- 1,750
28
votes
Is it illegal to infringe copyright if your boss or your client ordered you to do it?
I'm in the UK. I have been put in both these scenarios in times past. For the first I stood up to the boss and point-blank refused to do it, giving reasons. The atmosphere was tense for a couple of ...
- 389
26
votes
Accepted
What legal liability does one's participation on Stack Exchange carry?
I imagine that under English and Welsh law, the relevant tort would negligent misstatement, as there is no contract between the parties. From Practical Law:
A claim for negligent misstatement may ...
- 1,318
24
votes
Accepted
How do free-speech protections in the United States apply in public to corporate misrepresentations?
It is legal to be wrong, it is legal to say false things in public (leaving out defamation), and it is legal to buy and manufacture signs that say false things. Moreover, the sign does not make a ...
- 156k
23
votes
Can I be liable for vandalism if I have posted a political sign on the property?
The only avenue for tenant liability would be if the tenant is responsible for the damage. The courts have not assigned responsibility for damage resulting from other people's disagreement with a ...
- 156k
23
votes
How do trademarks apply to Open Source?
Being or not being open source makes fairly little difference in trademark law.
If a commercial firm (Yoyodyne, say) had used the name "Portable Network Graphics" and the abbreviation "...
- 89.2k
21
votes
Accepted
Neighborly liability?
You can start here, with the attractive nuisance doctrine, which is aimed at children and the fact that they don't have adult common sense. The extent to which you are at risk depends on your ...
- 156k
18
votes
Accepted
USA: Is "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer generally necessary?
What you are talking about here is the tort of negligent misstatement, a subset of the tort of negligence.
First, there is no presumption in any jurisdiction that I am aware of that anyone is or is ...
- 147k
17
votes
Accepted
Liability for explosive theft prevention
Yes. This sounds equivalent to the famous case of Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1971). A shotgun trap was set up in an abandoned house owned by Edward and Bertha Briney. A thief broke in ...
- 1,243
16
votes
Is homeowner liable for police injury during raid
Even if the authorities aren't injured, the homeowner may well face criminal charges. Many states make it illegal to set booby traps; for instance, California makes it a felony in section 20110 of the ...
- 20.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Can a website incur liability for linking to a funding campaign for a lawsuit against it?
Yes
The directors of a company have a fiduciary duty to act within the law for the benefit of their shareholders - not to their customers, not to the government, not to the environment and not to the ...
- 147k
15
votes
Can I be liable for vandalism if I have posted a political sign on the property?
You will not be legally liable. You are not responsible for other people's irrational or even violent reactions to your protected speech. If you could be held liable for other people's irrational or ...
- 2,627
14
votes
If I accidentally leaked my school's IP address and someone attempts a DDoS attack on my school am I at fault?
tl;dr- I don't see how you can "leak" a large organization's IP addresses given that they seem to be very public information. However, misusing an organization's network services or/and ...
- 247
14
votes
If a stolen item is stolen again, who has the liability?
Everything may theoretically vary by jurisdiction, which you haven't specified.
Stolen property remains the property of the lawful owner.
Assuming that Person A can demonstrate their lawful ...
- 351
13
votes
Has it been Legally Confirmed that A Website is not Liable if passwords stolen from it are used on other sites?
If the customer is in the EU (or UK or EEA) and services were offered, targeted or marketed to that area, the GDPR applies. If the organization running the site has an establishment in the EU, the ...
- 89.2k
12
votes
How to mitigate the risk of getting sued by clients (web dev contracting)
You can never prevent someone suing you
Your contract with your client is about risk allocation - who assumes the risk and who pays for the risk.
In general, the least cost solution for everybody ...
- 147k
12
votes
Can I be liable for vandalism if I have posted a political sign on the property?
There's a material question here, but you worsen your situation only slightly by acknowledging receipt of the communication, and you worsen it greatly by stating in writing that you agree with the ...
12
votes
Liability if someone is hurt on my property
Kansas evaluates these kinds of cases, known as premises liability cases, under the general law of negligence (which is a common law claim governed by case law in Kansas, rather than a statute, except ...
- 129k
11
votes
Accepted
What is "unjust enrichment?"
Unjust enrichment is an equitable theory of recovery that provides a fallback, for lack of better words, avenue of recovery for situations where no contract actually exists between two parties, but ...
- 658
11
votes
Accepted
Do warranty disclaimers in software licenses carry any legal weight?
Some jurisdictions provide for statutory warranties on fitness and merchantability of goods. The effect of these exclusion clauses will vary between jurisdictions, so I will briefly examine two ...
- 11.6k
11
votes
Is saying "Sorry" assuming fault?
Your thinking that an apology might be understood as admitting fault hasn't gone
unnoticed by lawmakers in some countries. I know you're asking about the USA, but I thought to mention (as I ...
- 216
10
votes
Can I booby-trap my property against police?
...the police decide to press on with their search and an officer is injured or killed, can I be held criminally or civilly liable for that casualty?
I didn't read through all of your links so I'll ...
- 8,272
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible