then you stick them in a monkey and his testicles melt or his hair falls out
Military members are statutorily barred from suing the government for injuries arising in the line of duty. See here.
Government contractors are also immune from products liability suits, so long as the product in question was designed according to military specifications. See here.
Things the recruiter doesn't tell you... Hopefully the government tests carefully before using!
It is ridiculous that drug companies can spend billions of dollars on research for a drug patent that only lasts 20 years, while any pot-smoker with a guitar can write some song and the US government will grant him a monopoly that potentially extends well over 100 years.
Note: I am not 100% in support of drug patents in the current state, but the discrepancy between patents and copyrights is very dramatic.
Copyright law in the US started out pretty reasonable - 20 years from the date of registration. Walt Disney spent alot of money and lobbied the government for another 20 year period. Before this could expire, they lobbied to have copyright terms extended to the life of the author plus 20 years. As a result of the Sonny Bonno act, it was expanded to the life of the author plus 75 years. (NOTE: this is a very brief approximation of US copyright law history - it was actually somewhat more complex than this and with several more twists and turns). See here for a detailed explanation.
The functional result of this lobbying is that no US copyrighted work created since 1923 has lapsed into the public domain (unless the owner screwed up by not renewing the copyright at the appropriate juncture).
See that 3 in the title? That's just a number. Ignore it.
Highlander fans have this same problem, but we have to say "Ignore Movies # 2,4, and 5, seasons 5 and 6 of the TV show, and anything to do with The Raven."
Based on a cursory Westlaw search using the terms 'copyright' & 'fair use' & 'tattoo', this issue has not been litigated in the US. A personal tattoo does not fall into the listed categories of fair use such as criticism, teaching, scholarship, or research. See here.
Ordinarily, non-commercial uses that do not affect the value of the copyrighted work tend towards fair use. This limitation applies regardless of the medium of the purported infringement. In order to get some real closure to our tattoo debate, what we need is a porn star with a Mickey Mouse tattoo clearly visible in a video.
(warning: puns incoming) That would give us reproduction in a commercial context, and someone with deep pockets to sue./ducks
This is the question I came here to ask, but someone beat me to it. The copyright issues involved in getting the show done were probably pretty complex.
I had heard rumors that Sci-Fi was the end of MST3K.
Sci-Fi is where shows go to die. I have never seen a concept so promising completely fail to deliver in all respects, but the Sci-Fi channel is the penultimate failure of cable television. I love science fiction as much as anyone, but I intentionally and actively avoid that channel because the vast majority of the stuff they air is total crap.
Allowing your show to be put on Sci-Fi channel is the death knell of your intellectual property (prime example-- Highlander: The Source).
Judges are generally pretty cool people, but they also have an obligation to follow the law. For example, in the original article the author was the plaintiff. That means he has the burden of proof to show that the defendant committed the alleged conduct. If he doesn't meet this burden of proof, then the lawsuit is not allowed to go forward.
Specifically, he had to prove that the subject line of the email contained false or misleading information. Typically, in order to sue for fraudulent-type conduct one has to prove that the statement was intentionally false or made in reckless disregard of the truth. Second, that the statement was made for the purpose of inducing the plaintiff to engage in some sort of conduct to his detriment. Thirdly, the plaintiff must have actually acted in reliance on this statement and suffered harm as a result.
In the original article, his cause of action was based on the fact that the spammer attributed the domain name slashdot.org to him. While he is not in fact the owner of the domain name, there is nothing to indicate that this typo was done intentionally or maliciously. It was a request for mutual hyperlinking, which most likely would not cause harm to the plaintiff. And, the plaintiff did not actually act on the spam or suffer damages as a result.
If you'll notice, the text of the law provided by the original article contains no references whatsoever to "spam" or "automated mailing" or any similar terms. The law is simply designed to prevent con men from using email, regardless of whether they are spamming it or targeting it to individuals.
Judges are absolutely prohibited from giving legal advice. Absolutely. That means they must sit and listen to the arguments made, and then make a decision based on what they have heard. In addition, there are legal limits to what they can look at sua sponte (in other words, they can't consider arguments not raised by a party to the litigation except under very limited circumstances).
It's not that judges dislike pro se parties, it is just that there are legal limits to the amount of favorable treatment they can give. You are certainly entitled to represent yourself in a US court of law, but it is typically not a good idea. Conventional wisdom holds that even trained lawyers should not attempt to represent themselves.
That being said, small claims court is designed to resolve controversies involving amounts that make professional legal representation not cost effective. If you decide to go, just make sure you are 100% truthful to the judge, that you bring evidentiary documentation to support your claims (as much as you can), and that you are very respectful to the court (ie: Don't open your mouth unless the judge asks you a question or gives you permission. Wear a suit and tie. Ask permission to approach the bench before handing stuff to the judge. Call the judge 'your honor'.)
And, as always:
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, there is no formation of attorney client privilege, this does not serve as an offer to represent you, your family, or anyone you have ever met, consult the advice of a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any action, the forgoing is for informational and educational purposes only, and any and all warranties inherent in this post whether express or implied are hereby disclaimed.
Based on your post, I reactivated my account and figured I would give it another shot. I am having more fun this time, but I still don't think I quite get it.
I have my hauler which generates $400k of money with two mouse clicks at 3 hour intervals (the boring mining thing). I also have a cruiser ship which can three-shot kill npc's in 0.8-0.5 space. This only generates about 100k isk per hour of active playing, most of which is spent trying to find npc's that someone else hasn't already killed.
Hey there's alot to be said for just having the balls to get up there and represent yourself. I originally went to law school because I was mad at AT&T for double-billing me for a cell phone and turning me over to a collections agency for not paying it.
$75k in tuition and three years of my life to get out of a $600 phone bill, but what the heck:)
A bit of advice on legal writing. Each paragraph should look like this:
State your conclusion. State the rule/law your conclusion is based on. Talk about other cases that have ruled on the same issue. Talk about how your case is similar/different from that case. Restate your conclusion.
Example: Dave battered Bob, resulting in serious head trauma. Battery is defined as harmful or offensive touching without consent. State law title ___ section ___. In the case of Scooby v. Shaggy, Shaggy struck Scooby on the head multiple times with a dog biscuit. Scooby v. Shaggy ____. The appellate court ruled that forcible head trauma with a processed snack food was both harmful and offensive, and upheld the battery verdict on appeal. Id. In the instant case Dave snuck up on Bob and bludgeoned him with a wet noodle. The attack in both instances was perpetrated with a carbohydrate-based weapon, and resulted in substantially similar injuries. Therefore, Bob should recover applicable damages from Dave under a battery cause of action.
Just use that structure, flesh it out a little bit, and add in the correct citations. Make sure that you have a legal citation for every source of authority you use.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, there is no formation of attorney client privilege, this does not serve as an offer to represent you, your family, or anyone you have ever met, consult the advice of a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any action, the forgoing is for informational and educational purposes only, and any and all warranties inherent in this post whether express or implied are hereby disclaimed.
More like: non-lawyer with too much spare time files an inartful lawsuit, blames the judge for his incompetence, then posts about it on slashdot to drum up publicity for his internet site.
The judge said, and I quote, "I am not familiar with those laws, so I am going to rule on the one I know."
I hate to break it to you, but the judge was probably just being polite. As a former judicial intern, I can say that most pro se litigants just get up and spout utter nonsense couched in legal terminology. Judges are prohibited from giving legal advice to litigants, so even if you are entirely off base the judge will just smile and nod periodically.
There is a reason lawyers go to three years of hell in law school, then the hoopla of getting admitted to a state bar. Once you accomplish all that, you are qualified to START learning about the practice of law. It is pretty hard.
That being said, it is not worth employing a lawyer for a $1600 dispute. Even if you win, it would probably cost you about that in legal fees.
They need to work on making the game more fun... The interface and graphics are nice, but 1) combat is boring; and 2) there is nothing to do but repetitively mine asteroids and wait weeks for your skills to increase. During the weeks I played, I managed to buy a ship with a huge cargo hold and a nice mining laser. I would just park the ship on a big asteroid and suck it all in, which takes about three hours. For a while I would get up in the middle of the night or during shows to be continually mining 24 hours a day.
Finally, I realized that it was pointless because I wouldn't even be able to fly the awesome ships for weeks or months simply due to the skill system. I would never buy a Warcraft character online because leveling is 3/4ths of that game. The only way to get even a semblance of parity in Eve is to ebay a character that has been in training for 6+ months.
You can only train skills on one character at a time, so in order to be truly efficient you have to buy two accounts so you can train a mining guy and a combat guy simultaneously.
The auction system and the player crafting are the strong points of Eve. The foundation is there to be a fabulous game, but they need to totally revamp character development.
My dream would be to combine the pre-jump-to-light-speed Star Wars Galaxies ground game with Eve's space system. It boggles the mind why Sony didn't just buy out Eve years ago and do exactly this. Then, you could do missions and skill up on the ground, AND enjoyably fly around in space (JTLS was vomit-inducing).
i'm an american you insensitive clod...
on
Lap Desks
·
· Score: 1
In China, there seems to be a trend that financial compensation to the victims will mitigate punishment in criminal cases. This is not common in the US, except for restitution-based payments for property crimes.
My analogy does not directly apply, since presumably any recovery by the workers would be had in US court rather than Chinese court. I just chime in to say that financial compensation might seem more appropriate to people from a different legal system.
Maybe I can put out a request for advice from a Chinese(!) lawyer on slashdot, that might provoke an interesting collection of responses.
the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands
The good ones will create things with economic value, thus ensuring their place in the world. People who just want "middle class jobs" due to their credentials get what they deserve.
The only professions truly susceptible to market forces are the parasitic ones, such as stock market speculators and realtors.
I learned html years ago from viewing the source on ESR's homepage.* The way he has it set up made the entire process seem obvious to me. I have no skills in programming real languages, but I imagine his more substantive code is equally good.
*ESR's site is not the best place to learn graphic design from, however.
Mind you, when I was 10-12ish, I was playing Gunship 2000, Eye of the Beholder, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe on the PC.
In my day we played Oregon Trail just for the hunting mini-game, and we were glad to get three turns in before dying of diphtheria.
Slashdot Mirror
then you stick them in a monkey and his testicles melt or his hair falls out
Military members are statutorily barred from suing the government for injuries arising in the line of duty. See here.
Government contractors are also immune from products liability suits, so long as the product in question was designed according to military specifications. See here.
Things the recruiter doesn't tell you... Hopefully the government tests carefully before using!
It is ridiculous that drug companies can spend billions of dollars on research for a drug patent that only lasts 20 years, while any pot-smoker with a guitar can write some song and the US government will grant him a monopoly that potentially extends well over 100 years.
Note: I am not 100% in support of drug patents in the current state, but the discrepancy between patents and copyrights is very dramatic.
Copyright law in the US started out pretty reasonable - 20 years from the date of registration. Walt Disney spent alot of money and lobbied the government for another 20 year period. Before this could expire, they lobbied to have copyright terms extended to the life of the author plus 20 years. As a result of the Sonny Bonno act, it was expanded to the life of the author plus 75 years. (NOTE: this is a very brief approximation of US copyright law history - it was actually somewhat more complex than this and with several more twists and turns). See here for a detailed explanation.
The functional result of this lobbying is that no US copyrighted work created since 1923 has lapsed into the public domain (unless the owner screwed up by not renewing the copyright at the appropriate juncture).
See here for a very nice review of US law regarding reverse engineering.
I wonder what "illegal reverse engineering" means under Nigerian law, seeing as how it is generally permitted in the US.
This sounds factually similar to the Robert Bork video rental disclosure issue. See here.
See that 3 in the title? That's just a number. Ignore it.
Highlander fans have this same problem, but we have to say "Ignore Movies # 2,4, and 5, seasons 5 and 6 of the TV show, and anything to do with The Raven."
Based on a cursory Westlaw search using the terms 'copyright' & 'fair use' & 'tattoo', this issue has not been litigated in the US. A personal tattoo does not fall into the listed categories of fair use such as criticism, teaching, scholarship, or research. See here.
Ordinarily, non-commercial uses that do not affect the value of the copyrighted work tend towards fair use. This limitation applies regardless of the medium of the purported infringement. In order to get some real closure to our tattoo debate, what we need is a porn star with a Mickey Mouse tattoo clearly visible in a video.
(warning: puns incoming) That would give us reproduction in a commercial context, and someone with deep pockets to sue.
This is the question I came here to ask, but someone beat me to it. The copyright issues involved in getting the show done were probably pretty complex.
I had heard rumors that Sci-Fi was the end of MST3K.
Sci-Fi is where shows go to die. I have never seen a concept so promising completely fail to deliver in all respects, but the Sci-Fi channel is the penultimate failure of cable television. I love science fiction as much as anyone, but I intentionally and actively avoid that channel because the vast majority of the stuff they air is total crap.
Allowing your show to be put on Sci-Fi channel is the death knell of your intellectual property (prime example-- Highlander: The Source).
Judges are generally pretty cool people, but they also have an obligation to follow the law. For example, in the original article the author was the plaintiff. That means he has the burden of proof to show that the defendant committed the alleged conduct. If he doesn't meet this burden of proof, then the lawsuit is not allowed to go forward.
Specifically, he had to prove that the subject line of the email contained false or misleading information. Typically, in order to sue for fraudulent-type conduct one has to prove that the statement was intentionally false or made in reckless disregard of the truth. Second, that the statement was made for the purpose of inducing the plaintiff to engage in some sort of conduct to his detriment. Thirdly, the plaintiff must have actually acted in reliance on this statement and suffered harm as a result.
In the original article, his cause of action was based on the fact that the spammer attributed the domain name slashdot.org to him. While he is not in fact the owner of the domain name, there is nothing to indicate that this typo was done intentionally or maliciously. It was a request for mutual hyperlinking, which most likely would not cause harm to the plaintiff. And, the plaintiff did not actually act on the spam or suffer damages as a result.
If you'll notice, the text of the law provided by the original article contains no references whatsoever to "spam" or "automated mailing" or any similar terms. The law is simply designed to prevent con men from using email, regardless of whether they are spamming it or targeting it to individuals.
Judges are absolutely prohibited from giving legal advice. Absolutely. That means they must sit and listen to the arguments made, and then make a decision based on what they have heard. In addition, there are legal limits to what they can look at sua sponte (in other words, they can't consider arguments not raised by a party to the litigation except under very limited circumstances).
It's not that judges dislike pro se parties, it is just that there are legal limits to the amount of favorable treatment they can give. You are certainly entitled to represent yourself in a US court of law, but it is typically not a good idea. Conventional wisdom holds that even trained lawyers should not attempt to represent themselves.
That being said, small claims court is designed to resolve controversies involving amounts that make professional legal representation not cost effective. If you decide to go, just make sure you are 100% truthful to the judge, that you bring evidentiary documentation to support your claims (as much as you can), and that you are very respectful to the court (ie: Don't open your mouth unless the judge asks you a question or gives you permission. Wear a suit and tie. Ask permission to approach the bench before handing stuff to the judge. Call the judge 'your honor'.)
And, as always:
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, there is no formation of attorney client privilege, this does not serve as an offer to represent you, your family, or anyone you have ever met, consult the advice of a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any action, the forgoing is for informational and educational purposes only, and any and all warranties inherent in this post whether express or implied are hereby disclaimed.
the systems in place to reverse erroneous lockdowns are manual and unresponsive
Anyone who is married knows how much of a dilemma this presents...
Based on your post, I reactivated my account and figured I would give it another shot. I am having more fun this time, but I still don't think I quite get it.
I have my hauler which generates $400k of money with two mouse clicks at 3 hour intervals (the boring mining thing). I also have a cruiser ship which can three-shot kill npc's in 0.8-0.5 space. This only generates about 100k isk per hour of active playing, most of which is spent trying to find npc's that someone else hasn't already killed.
Any advice on better ways to make money?
Hey there's alot to be said for just having the balls to get up there and represent yourself. I originally went to law school because I was mad at AT&T for double-billing me for a cell phone and turning me over to a collections agency for not paying it.
$75k in tuition and three years of my life to get out of a $600 phone bill, but what the heck
A bit of advice on legal writing. Each paragraph should look like this:
State your conclusion.
State the rule/law your conclusion is based on.
Talk about other cases that have ruled on the same issue.
Talk about how your case is similar/different from that case.
Restate your conclusion.
Example: Dave battered Bob, resulting in serious head trauma. Battery is defined as harmful or offensive touching without consent. State law title ___ section ___. In the case of Scooby v. Shaggy, Shaggy struck Scooby on the head multiple times with a dog biscuit. Scooby v. Shaggy ____. The appellate court ruled that forcible head trauma with a processed snack food was both harmful and offensive, and upheld the battery verdict on appeal. Id. In the instant case Dave snuck up on Bob and bludgeoned him with a wet noodle. The attack in both instances was perpetrated with a carbohydrate-based weapon, and resulted in substantially similar injuries. Therefore, Bob should recover applicable damages from Dave under a battery cause of action.
Just use that structure, flesh it out a little bit, and add in the correct citations. Make sure that you have a legal citation for every source of authority you use.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, there is no formation of attorney client privilege, this does not serve as an offer to represent you, your family, or anyone you have ever met, consult the advice of a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before taking any action, the forgoing is for informational and educational purposes only, and any and all warranties inherent in this post whether express or implied are hereby disclaimed.
More like: non-lawyer with too much spare time files an inartful lawsuit, blames the judge for his incompetence, then posts about it on slashdot to drum up publicity for his internet site.
The judge said, and I quote, "I am not familiar with those laws, so I am going to rule on the one I know."
I hate to break it to you, but the judge was probably just being polite. As a former judicial intern, I can say that most pro se litigants just get up and spout utter nonsense couched in legal terminology. Judges are prohibited from giving legal advice to litigants, so even if you are entirely off base the judge will just smile and nod periodically.
There is a reason lawyers go to three years of hell in law school, then the hoopla of getting admitted to a state bar. Once you accomplish all that, you are qualified to START learning about the practice of law. It is pretty hard.
That being said, it is not worth employing a lawyer for a $1600 dispute. Even if you win, it would probably cost you about that in legal fees.
here
Also note the status of the bill, it has just been introduced.
They need to work on making the game more fun... The interface and graphics are nice, but 1) combat is boring; and 2) there is nothing to do but repetitively mine asteroids and wait weeks for your skills to increase. During the weeks I played, I managed to buy a ship with a huge cargo hold and a nice mining laser. I would just park the ship on a big asteroid and suck it all in, which takes about three hours. For a while I would get up in the middle of the night or during shows to be continually mining 24 hours a day.
Finally, I realized that it was pointless because I wouldn't even be able to fly the awesome ships for weeks or months simply due to the skill system. I would never buy a Warcraft character online because leveling is 3/4ths of that game. The only way to get even a semblance of parity in Eve is to ebay a character that has been in training for 6+ months.
You can only train skills on one character at a time, so in order to be truly efficient you have to buy two accounts so you can train a mining guy and a combat guy simultaneously.
The auction system and the player crafting are the strong points of Eve. The foundation is there to be a fabulous game, but they need to totally revamp character development.
My dream would be to combine the pre-jump-to-light-speed Star Wars Galaxies ground game with Eve's space system. It boggles the mind why Sony didn't just buy out Eve years ago and do exactly this. Then, you could do missions and skill up on the ground, AND enjoyably fly around in space (JTLS was vomit-inducing).
I just rest my laptop on my belly.
In China, there seems to be a trend that financial compensation to the victims will mitigate punishment in criminal cases. This is not common in the US, except for restitution-based payments for property crimes.
See here for an extreme example
My analogy does not directly apply, since presumably any recovery by the workers would be had in US court rather than Chinese court. I just chime in to say that financial compensation might seem more appropriate to people from a different legal system.
Maybe I can put out a request for advice from a Chinese(!) lawyer on slashdot, that might provoke an interesting collection of responses.
is coming out on PC, too.
Intel's laboratories in the California town of Folsom, the birthplace of the 45nm CPU
So that's what they make those software CEO's do in prison after back-dating stock options...
No more making license plates I guess!
the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands
The good ones will create things with economic value, thus ensuring their place in the world. People who just want "middle class jobs" due to their credentials get what they deserve.
The only professions truly susceptible to market forces are the parasitic ones, such as stock market speculators and realtors.
I learned html years ago from viewing the source on ESR's homepage.* The way he has it set up made the entire process seem obvious to me. I have no skills in programming real languages, but I imagine his more substantive code is equally good.
*ESR's site is not the best place to learn graphic design from, however.
How do you like it so far? I am finishing law school in May and was thinking about dropping an application with you guys.
Mind you, when I was 10-12ish, I was playing Gunship 2000, Eye of the Beholder, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe on the PC.
In my day we played Oregon Trail just for the hunting mini-game, and we were glad to get three turns in before dying of diphtheria.