Chapters 8-11 Apply It

Donnell Enterprises is a U.S. Company operating in France. France decides to build a national highway that will run right through the real estate where Donnell Enterprises is located. Can France legally take the property from Donnell Enterprises?

Yes, France can legally take the property from Donnell Enterprises if France pays Donnell Enterprises just compensation

Evelyn is looking for a baby gift for her friend, so she visits an online social media site, Bundle of Joy, to get some ideas. Bundle of Joy is a social media site where expectant and recent mothers can visit and exchange ideas and concerns. It has a huge presence on the internet, almost as big as Facebook. Evelyn is always concerned about her privacy online, so she carefully reviews the company's privacy policy before she uses the website. The privacy policy clearly states that the site uses cookies to gather information from the user, but the information will be used only by Bundle of Joy to help the user connect with other users who share common interests. A week later, Evelyn begins receiving offers for baby items from multiple online retailers, each beginning with the words: "Because you visited Bundle of Joy....." Evelyn is enraged and complains to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Is there anything the FTC can do on Evelyn's behalf?

Yes, the FTC can sue Bundle of Joy if it has an agreement with Bundle of Joy that allows the FTC the power to review Bundle of Joy's privacy and data practices and it violates its own policies

Classics by Cathy is a United States company that sells upscale clothing worldwide. Classics sells clothes to Britain's Best Clothing in England. After a dispute arises between the two companies, Britain's Best sues Classics in England. Classics does not respond to the lawsuit, and a default judgment is entered against Classics. When Britain's Best brings the default judgment to the United States for collection, the United States court will

honor the default judgment under the principle of comity because this judgment is consistent with the law of the United States

Monica has created her own cleaning solution. Monica's friends encourage her to sell the cleaning solution; they think it is so fantastic they believe Monica will make a lot of money on it. They encourage Monica to apply for a patent on the cleaning solution formula so that no one can copy it, and so Monica will be the only one who can sell it. Monica likes the idea of making a lot of money but knows she will have to reveal her formula to obtain a patent, otherwise she would have to keep it a trade secret. If Monica decides to apply for and receives a patent on the cleaning solution...

she has revealed the formula, but has the sole right to produce it and sell it for twenty years

Benita has a food truck where she sells spicy fried gorditas. Benita has been making the gorditas for years, using her family's recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. Benita wants to protect her family recipe from being revealed to anyone else, so Benita considers the options available to her for the protection of her intellectual property. Benita knows if she files a patent application, she would have to include a list of her ingredients. Because Benita's main concern is protecting the recipe from being revealed to anyone else, Benita's best approach is to treat the family fried gordita recipe as a...

trade secret

Alfonso plays basketball for Hope County High School. His team makes it to the state tournament, where they play their archrival, Duvall County High. After an intense game where tempers run high, the Hope County team wins. While walking home from the basketball game, Alfonso is confronted by George, a member of the Duvall County team. George pushes Alfonso, causing him to fall to the ground. Enraged, Alfonso pulls a gun from his gym bag and shoots George in the chest, killing him instantly. Alfonso is arrested and charged with murder. Alfonso claims he shot George in self-defense. At trial, Alfonso's claim of self-defense is likely to be

unsuccessful, because Alfonso used excessive force

Arvitz purchases a copy of Wordsample 7.0 software, the newest version of the word processing program he normally uses. Arvitz wants to share a copy of the software with his friends Kim and Carrie, but the program was designed to only be copied once. Arvitz is a decent programmer, so after spending a little time with the program, Arvitz learns how to bypass the code that only allows the program to be copied once. Arvitz then makes copies of the program and gives these copies to Kim and Carrie. By copying the word processing program and giving the program to his friends, Arvitz has violated...

wordsample's copyright rights

Ahmed is an employee of Bristol Manufacturing Company. Bristol manufactures plastics, which creates large amounts of toxic waste that must then be disposed of. Ahmed is responsible for making sure this toxic waste is properly disposed of. To cut costs, Ahmed decides to divert the liquid waste into a local stream, instead of properly disposing of it. This is a direct violation of the Clean Water Act, a national law that protects the United States' waterways. Sanford is the director of the division in which Ahmed works and knows that Ahmed is doing this. When the authorities discover Ahmed's unlawful actions, can Bristol be held criminally liable?

Bristol can be held criminally responsible if Sanford knew of Ahmed's criminal actions

Beatrice runs a boutique clothing store called Jewel's Place. Beatrice's biggest local competitor is Andrea, who owns a similar shop called Rags to Riches. Beatrice makes several social media posts stating that Andrea purchases the clothing in her store from an overseas sweat shop that hires underage children and pays them only fifty cents per day. Beatrice's online posts...

constitute defamation if the statements are not true

Dakota's series of romantic novels is very popular in the United States, so much so that her publisher, Antwone, wants to begin publishing the novels in other countries as well. Antwone approaches a publishing house in Australia, and the publishing house is open to discussing a deal. Dakota is concerned that her copyright only protects her in the United States, so Dakota asks Antwone to research that for her. When Antwone researches that issue for Dakota, he will discover that...

Dakota's novels will be protected if both the United States and Australia are signatories to the Berne Convention

Gordon Enterprises is a United States company that operates in Brazil. The Brazilian government confiscates Gordon Enterprises' assets. If Gordon Enterprises files a lawsuit in a United States federal court to recover its assets from the Brazilian government...

Gordon Enterprises is unlikely to be successful unless the confiscation was in violation of a treaty that prohibits confiscation

Hallie has worked at Blue Stone Insurance Company for twelve years. Hallie has never had a discipline problem and has always excelled in her job as a human resources specialist. Yesterday, Hallie's supervisor Kimberly contacted her and told Hallie that she was being let go because of some controversial Facebook posts that Hallie had made that violated Blue Stone's media policy. Hallie had posted on Facebook pictures of herself smoking marijuana and made statements that Blue Stone's random drug testing policy was unfair. Hallie also listed the names of Blue Stone employees who were scheduled to be drug tested in the next week. Hallie wants to sue the company for unlawful firing; she believes that her First Amendment rights have been violated because Blue Stone accessed her Facebook account and fired her based on her posts. Does Hallie have a valid claim for wrongful termination?

No, Hallie does not have a valid claim for wrongful termination because her posts violated the company's social media policy

Oscar is a excellent computer programmer who has been asked by a local university to teach a course in computer sciences. As part of the curriculum, Oscar teaches students how to bypass certain security features of popular software programs. During one class lesson, Oscar opened a homework grading software and demonstrated to students the exact steps to uncover all the correct answers. Is Oscar's conduct a violation of the DMCA?

No, because it was done for educational purposes

For some time, the police have suspected Abbie of selling drugs out of her apartment, but the police have not been able to gather any concrete evidence with which to prosecute Abbie. One night, the police decide to try a knock-and-talk procedure, where the police just knock on Abbie's door and see if Abbie will allow them inside. Abbie refuses to give consent for the officers to enter after they knock, but the police officers push past Abbie anyway. Once the officers are in the apartment, the officers see drugs in plain sight, so the police seize the drugs and arrest Abbie for possession with intent to sell. At Abbie's trial, can the drugs be entered into evidence?

No, the drugs cannot be admitted into evidence at trial because they were illegally obtained

Josef grew tired of making minimum wage at a local fast-food restaurant, so he decided to pursue a more lucrative venture. Josef started selling marijuana and meth, and soon built up a substantial business. Josef then posts about his success on Facebook, displaying a picture of himself surrounded by his "product" and fanning out a big stack of cash. After local law enforcement learn of the post, an officer friends Josef online to learn more about his contacts, so they can find out who his customers and suppliers are. Any information obtained through this online "sting"

can be legally used

Chloe is taking a botany class at the local university, so she purchases the textbook from the bookstore. Several of Chloe's friends are also taking the botany class. Chloe decides to make some money on her purchase of the textbook. Chloe scans the book into her computer and then sells the digital copies to her friends for 25 percent of the price they would have paid for the textbook. After selling her digital "product" to six friends, Chloe not only has more than recovered the cost of her textbook, she can still sell the book back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. Genius! By scanning and selling the textbook, Chloe has...

committed copyright infringement because her actions are not permissible under the first sale doctrine

Bart works as an accountant for Good Times Restaurant. He is responsible for not only keeping the books current but also for making daily bank deposits for Good Times. Bart has been struggling financially, so he decides to put some of the daily bank deposits for Good Times into his personal account, instead of the bank account of Good Times. Every day, for one month, he takes ten percent of the cash receipts from Good Times and deposits them into his personal checking account. When the manager of Good Times discovers what Bart is doing, she contacts the police, and Bart is arrested. Bart can be found guilty of...

embezzlement

Angelina and Sophia attended a professional development retreat at Ferncliff Camp. They met at a downtown location and traveled to the camp by bus. After three days of team-building exercises, Angelina and Sophia returned on the bus to their respective cars. When Angelina arrived at home, she discovered the camp employee who unloaded the bus had given her Sophia's luggage by mistake. She called the camp to explain what happened and hopefully get her luggage back. Angelina can be charged with the crime of...

nothing, because she did not have the mental state required to commit a crime

Falcon Air manufactures stealth fighter jets for the United States government. The Ukrainian government wants to purchase stealth fighter jets from Falcon. Falcon agrees to sell ten stealth fighter jets to the Ukrainian government. Once the purchase is complete, the Ukrainian government fails to make the complete payment. Falcon can sue the Ukrainian government...

only if the Ukrainian government voluntarily waived its sovereign immunity