Legal Environment
A business firm has a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect its business invitees.
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A constitution is a primary source of law
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Company codes of conduct outline company policies on particular issues and how employees are expected to act.
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Congress or a state legislature establishes an administrative agency to perform a specific function.
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Controlling precedents are binding authorities.
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Corporate social responsibility links the responsibility of citizenship with the strategy and key principles of a business.
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Digital sampling can constitute copyright infringement.
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Duty-based ethics is based in the idea that every business has certain duties to others.
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Local governments, including cities, exercise police powers.
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State regulatory powers are often referred to as police powers.
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The Federal Trade Commission can effectively force a private company to consent to the agency's review of the company's privacy and data practices.
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The Fourth Amendment protects only against searches that violate a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.
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The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted to reduce the number of unethical business decisions by requiring the accountability of publicly traded companies.
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A resident of one state, when in another state, can be denied the privileges and immunities of that state for any reason.
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A secondary source of law establishes the law on a particular issue.
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A social media post cannot be used to invalidate a settlement agreement.
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A social media post is not subject to discovery in litigation.
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A state may not restrict certain kinds of advertising, even in the interest of preventing consumers from being misled.
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A state's prosecution of a crime prevents a separate federal prosecution relating to the same activity.
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A statute is a secondary source of law.
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A statute that prohibits theft by means of false pretenses usually applies only to goods, not to services or cash.
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Administrative law plays a relatively insignificant role in the regulatory environment of business.
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After a patent is issued, there is a nine-month limit before it can be challenged.
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All courts use the same test for legal insanity.
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An act intended to make another person fearful of an immediate physical harm is an assault if the threat is reasonably believable.
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An act of omission cannot be a crime.
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An appellate court will not challenge a trial court's finding of fact, even if the finding is clearly erroneous.
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An award of grossly excessive punitive damages is normally available in a suit involving gross negligence.
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An employer can use his or her power and control to engage in an intentional pattern of outrageous abuse against an employee without potential tort liability.
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An overemphasis on long-run profit maximization is a common reason for ethical problems that occur in business.
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An unauthorized reproduction must be exactly the same as the original, and reproduce the original in its entirety, for infringement of copyright to occur.
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An unusual or fanciful trade name is not protected under trademark law.
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Any court can exercise jurisdiction over any person.
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Any party who gives information to the Federal Trade Commission concerning possible deceptive conduct in a foreign jurisdiction is immune from liability.
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Anyone can circumvent encryption software or other technological antipiracy protection without penalty.
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Because the Internet is international in scope, no party to an online dispute resolution proceeding can appeal to a court at any time.
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Before a trial begins, the jury renders a preliminary verdict to indicate to the attorneys what they must attempt to prove during the course of the trial.
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Certain business processes are copyrightable.
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Congress does not pass laws based on ethics.
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Courts will not grant an equitable remedy unless the remedy at law is adequate.
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Crimes are sometimes prosecuted by crime victims rather than by a public official.
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Cybersquatting is legal when the person offering for sale a domain name that is the same as another's trademark intends to profit from the sale.
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Discovery is the process of serving a summons and a copy of a complaint on a defendant.
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Doing business within a jurisdiction is not enough for most courts to compel a defendant to appear.
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Embezzlement includes the making or altering of any writing in a way that changes the legal rights and liabilities of another.
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Employers are prohibited from taking actions against employees or applicants based on their social network postings.
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Even if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution, a state constitution is supreme within that states' borders.
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False imprisonment occurs only when a person justifiably restrains another.
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Federal law permits the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail to randomly generated e-mail addresses.
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For cause in fact to become a relevant issue in a product liability suit, a plaintiff must first establish proximate cause.
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If a product was delivered in a safe condition and subsequent mishandling made it harmful to the user, the seller is usually strictly liable.
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If a restriction imposed on speech by the government is content neutral, then a court will not allow it.
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If an appellate court affirms a jury's finding on one issue, the court cannot remand the case for further proceedings on another issue.
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In a criminal case, the defendant must convince the court that based on the evidence it is more likely than not that the defendant is not guilty.
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In a criminal case, the object is to obtain a remedy.
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In a criminal case, typically only three-fourths of the jurors need to agree in order to convict the defendant.
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In a successful tort suit, an individual is awarded compensatory damages to put him or her in a better position than the party who committed the tort.
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In most states, a merchant can use undue force to detain a person suspected of shoplifting without liability for false imprisonment.
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In posting statements or photos to a social media site, a person clearly has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
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In some jurisdictions, defendants who agree to waive formal service of process receive a reduction in the amount of an ultimate finding of liability.
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In the American governmental system, applying the laws to specific situations is the essential role of Congress.
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Independent regulatory agencies are not subject to the authority of the president.
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Information that cannot be patented, copyrighted, or trademarked cannot be protected as a trade secret.
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Intentional deceit for personal gain may be unethical but it does not give rise to liability for fraud.
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It is not a crime to use income obtained from racketeering activity to buy an interest in a legitimate enterprise as long as the deal is otherwise legal.
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Judging a job applicant based on what an online search reveals about the applicant's activities outside the workplace universally is viewed as ethical.
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Judicial review is the process through which Congress approves or rejects judicial appointments.
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Larceny involves force or fear, but robbery does not.
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Liability is imposed on a manufacturer for a manufacturing defect only when the manufacturer's quality control efforts were "reasonable."
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Making ethical decisions is most often best done by analyzing objective standards (such as profit or number of people fired) instead of subjective impacts on stakeholders.
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Misconduct by the participants in a trial can cause the judge to grant a motion for a new trial.
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No court has held that it is legally acceptable for law enforcement to set up a phony social media account to catch a suspect.
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On appeal of a court's grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment, the appellate court must defer to the trial court's ruling on the issue.
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Once a company has investigated any foreign suppliers, it is unnecessary to continue to monitor those suppliers.
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Once a law is passed to codify an ethical requirement, the ethical aspect of the action is no longer important.
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Once a manufacturer's trademark is established, another manufacturer may use it without permission.
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One of the purposes of criminal law is to compensate the victims.
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Online conduct gives rise to only a narrow variety of legal actions.
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Only big businesses face potential liability for the products they sell.
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Privacy rights receive no protection under federal law.
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Rationalization is the process of making a logical decision based in evidence and an analysis of the ethical dimensions of the decision.
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Service marks are not protected in the same way as trademarks.
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State governments do not have any authority to regulate interstate commerce.
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Tapping into a competitor's computer to obtain confidential business data is not a theft of trade secrets.
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Testimony by a party in court in support of a statement made by someone else who testified is referred to as gainsay evidence.
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The European Union's copyright rules limit the royalty protection for musicians to ten years.
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The Fifth Amendment allows persons to be deprived of property without due process of law.
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The U.S. Constitution divides powers among four branches of government.
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The United States can prosecute foreign counterfeiters under U.S. law.
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The attempt to influence a public official to act in a way that serves a private interest is no crime.
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The commerce clause has never been held to support the federal regulation of noncommercial activities that take place wholly within a state's borders.
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The federal courts are an independent system of courts superior to the state courts.
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The free exercise clause prohibits the government from passing laws that have any impact on religion.
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The law does not prohibit the creation or shipment of counterfeit labels unless they are attached to products.
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The manufacturer of a product may incur liability when a defect causes injury to a user but not when the defect causes property damage to a bystander.
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The registration of a copyright is not evidence that the copyright is valid.
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The rights secured by the Bill of Rights are absolute.
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The study of business law does not involve an ethical dimension.
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The term moral minimum is best defined as the highest degree of ethical behavior expected of a firm.
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The uncertainties of the litigation process are lessened by the fact that any judgment will be enforceable.
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There are no international conventions or treaties to assist in the enforcement of arbitration clauses because their enforcement is a national domain.
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There is one right answer to every legal question.
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Those who do not make goods, but only sell or lease them, cannot be held liable for harm caused by those goods to a consumer.
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To gain a share of a market, a businessperson can interfere in another's business, even if the behavior is predatory.
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To maintain a claim of trademark dilution, the products involved must be similar.
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To meet the standard of proof of preponderance of the evidence, a party must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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To use arbitration as a method of dispute resolution, the parties must agree to arbitrate any dispute before it arises.
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Trademark dilution cannot occur online.
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Under the Communications Decency Act, Internet service providers are liable as publishers of defamatory statements that come from a third party.
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Under the First Amendment, every U.S. citizen has a right to be forgotten with respect to outdated personal information otherwise searchable online.
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Under the principle of rights theory, the key factor in a decision is how the result may harm the rights of the company to make money.
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Warrants are required for searches of businesses in highly regulated industries.
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When profit maximization is the goal, a company does not benefit from ethical behavior.
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With a motion to strike, a party asks a court for permission to delay the start of a trial in protest of certain aspects or conditions of the plan of litigation.
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A corporation's compliance with the laws of any jurisdiction in which it does business is complicated by the fact that those laws can be very different.
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A defendant's motion for a directed verdict, if granted by the court, can end a trial before the defendant presents witnesses.
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A descriptive term is protected under trademark law if it acquires a secondary meaning.
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A false statement about a person's business can give rise to liability for defamation.
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A landlord is expected to use reasonable care to ensure that his or her tenants are not harmed in common areas.
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A law that that limits a fundamental right may be held to violate substantive due process.
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A license may limit the use of a software application to a specific device.
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A local ordinance commonly has to do with a matter concerning only a local governing unit.
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A mistake of fact can often excuse criminal responsibility.
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A motion for summary judgment can assert that the plaintiff failed to state a claim for which the court can grant relief.
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A motion to dismiss asserts that a claim has no basis in law.
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A patent applicant must demonstrate that an invention is useful to receive a patent.
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A person who accesses a computer online without authority to obtain protected data is subject to criminal prosecution.
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A product will be considered defective when the omission of reasonable warnings renders the product not reasonably safe.
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A question of law is generally the focus of an appellate court.
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A trade name is used to indicate all or part of a business's name.
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An Internet service provider that terminates subscribers who infringe copyrights can qualify for a "safe harbor" under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
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An act intended to make another person fearful of an immediate physical harm is an assault if the threat is reasonably believable.
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An economically injurious falsehood about a business's product can support a tort action for disparagement of property.
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An illegal act committed by a business using nonviolent means to obtain a business advantage is a white-collar crime.
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An online retailer can track a user's web activities with cookies without violating the person's right to privacy.
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As part of the IDDR approach described in the text, it is important to list many possible actions and analyze them using several different ethical theories.
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Because the Internet is international in scope, it raises international jurisdictional issues.
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Because the courts have defined interstate commerce broadly, arbitration agreements only slightly connected to interstate commerce may be enforced.
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Before a lawsuit is initiated, a plaintiff should consider whether the defendant is able to pay the damages sought.
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Each member country to the TRIPS agreement must include in its domestic laws broad intellectual property rights and effective remedies for violations.
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Ethics is a branch of philosophy that focuses on morality.
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Every criminal statute prohibits certain behavior.
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Federal guidelines allow a company to disclose material information about itself through social media as long as investors are notified in advance.
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In a product liability suit based on negligence, the plaintiff must show that the defendant's conduct was the "cause in fact" of an injury.
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In a response to an allegation of a defendant's negligence, the defendant's assertion of the plaintiff's negligence is an affirmative defense.
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In deciding a claim of design defect, a court can consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of an alternative design for a product.
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In entering personal information to a banking site online, a person may have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
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Intellectual property is property resulting from intellectual, creative processes.
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Intent can be transferred when an individual intends to harm one individual but unintentionally harms another.
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Intentional physical contact with another is not a battery unless the contact is unexcused, harmful, or offensive.
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Jurors must decide a case based only on the information that they learn during the trial.
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Liability for injuries based on proportionate negligence is allowed by most states.
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Manufacturers are commonly held liable when their negligence causes users of their products to be injured.
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Many states require the sender of an e-mail ad to tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future e-mail ads from the sender.
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Most crimes require an act of commission.
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Often, more than one rule of law will be applicable to a case.
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Only if a state legislature adopts a uniform law does that law become part of the statutory law of that state.
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Outcome-based ethics determines what is ethical by looking at the potential benefits and harms of a given action.
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Parties to international business transactions should include certain clauses, including arbitration clauses, in their contracts to avoid added complexity in related legal proceedings.
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Phishing is a distinct form of identity theft and cyber fraud.
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Picking a jury is an important aspect of litigation strategy.
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Preemption occurs when Congress chooses to act exclusively on a subject over which the federal government shares power with the states.
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Sanctions for spoliation of e-evidence can include the entire cost for restorative recovery efforts.
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Some business processes can be protected as trade secrets.
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State law may protect individuals from having to disclose their social media passwords to potential employers.
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Taking personal property from its owner, without permission or just cause, is trespass—retaining it is conversion.
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That a favorable court decision will be likely to remedy an injury is an element of standing.
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The United States Supreme Court has held that a constitutional right to privacy is implied by several of the amendments in the Bill of Rights.
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The basis of a civil law system is a written code of laws.
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The doctrines and principles announced in court decisions govern all areas not covered by statutory or administrative law.
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The effect of the minimum-contacts standard is that a business firm has to comply with the laws of any jurisdiction in which it targets customers.
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The elements of an action in strict product liability include that a plaintiff must have incurred harm by the use or consumption of a product.
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The first step in making an ethical decision is to understand the problem.
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The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are commonly known as the Bill of Rights.
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The need to protect intellectual property is recognized in the U.S. Constitution.
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To obtain copyright protection under federal law, a work must be original.
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Under a state long-arm statute, a court can exercise jurisdiction only over certain nonresident defendants.
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Under the Ninth Amendment, people have rights in addition to those specified in the Constitution.
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Under the federal law protecting trademarks, "bad faith intent" is one element of a claim of illegal cybersquatting.
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Using another's trademark as a meta tag may be permissible.
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Voir dire refers to the jury selection process.
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When making ethical decisions, a business should evaluate the financial implications.
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When religious practices work against public policy, the government can act.
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When someone suffers injury because of another's failure to live up to a required duty of care, negligence occurs.
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With respect to a patented process, all steps or their equivalent must be copied for infringement to occur.
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A product made in conformity with a manufacturer's design specifications is not considered defective regardless of a flaw in the design.
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A business cannot use puffery without liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.
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A request for admission can lengthen a trial because the parties have to take the time to prove facts on which they may already agree.
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A person who wrongfully hurts another's good name or reputation orally may be liable for libel.
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A choice-of-law clause permits a party to choose which nation's law to apply to a dispute arising under an international contract.
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A citation is a regulation enacted by a city or county legislative body.
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A court should overturn its precedents unless there is a compelling reason not to.
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A court's review of an arbitrator's decision is the same in scope as an appellate court's review of a trial court's decision.
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A default judgment is a judgment entered by a court in a case in which neither party prevails.
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A defendant cannot be liable in an intentional tort action if he or she did not intend to cause harm to the plaintiff.
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A false statement made with actual malice can constitute defamation, unless the statement is about a public figure.
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A federal statute applies only to those states that agree to apply it within their borders.
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A manufacturer does not need to inspect and test any purchased components used in the final product to avoid product liability.
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A person who enters into a risky situation, knowing the risk involved, can nevertheless recover for a resulting injury or harm for reasons of public policy.
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A person who is injured by a defective product can bring a negligence suit only if he or she was the one who purchased the product.
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