An industrial design right is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three-dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. Under the Hague Agreement Concerning t...
Aug 05, 2020•11 min•Season 2Ep. 8
The right of self-defense (also called, when it applies to the defense of another, alter ego defense, defense of others, defense of a third person) is the right for people to use reasonable force or defensive force, for the purpose of defending one's own life (self-defense) or the lives of others, including –in certain circumstances– the use of deadly force. If a defendant uses defensive force because of a threat of deadly or grievous harm by the other person, or a reasonable perception of such ...
Aug 04, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Preamble. The preamble to the Constitution serves as an introductory statement of the document's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. It neither assigns powers to the federal government, nor does it place specific limitations on government action. Rather, it sets out the origin, scope and purpose of the Constitution. Its origin and authority is in "We, the people of the United States". This echoes the Declaration of Independence. "One people" dissolved their connection with another, and ...
Aug 03, 2020•19 min•Season 4Ep. 6
An inchoate offense, preliminary crime, inchoate crime or incomplete crime is a crime of preparing for or seeking to commit another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is "attempt". "Inchoate offense" has been defined as the following: "Conduct deemed criminal without actual harm being done, provided that the harm that would have occurred is one the law tries to prevent."
Aug 01, 2020•6 min•Season 3Ep. 9
A contract is a legally binding document that recognizes and governs the rights and duties of the parties to the agreement. A contract is legally enforceable because it meets the requirements and approval of the law. A contract typically involves the exchange of goods, service, money, or promise of any of those. "Breach of contract", means that the law will have to award the injured party either the access to legal remedies such as damages or cancellation. In the Anglo-American common law, forma...
Jul 30, 2020•18 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Indigenous intellectual property is an umbrella legal term used in national and international forums to identify indigenous peoples' claims of collective intellectual property rights to protect specific cultural knowledge of their groups. It is a concept that has developed as an analog to predominantly western concepts of intellectual property law, and has most recently been promoted by the World Intellectual Property Organization, as part of a broader effort by the United Nations to see the wor...
Jul 29, 2020•22 min•Season 2Ep. 7
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. When the time specified in a statute of limitations passes, a claim might no longer be filed or, if filed, may be subject to dismissal if the defense against that claim is raised that the claim is time-barred as having been filed after the statutory limitations period. When a statute of limitat...
Jul 27, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In tort common law, the defense of necessity gives the state or an individual a privilege to take or use the property of another. A defendant typically invokes the defense of necessity only against the intentional torts of trespass to chattels, trespass to land, or conversion. The Latin phrase from common law is necessitas inducit privilegium quod jura private, ("Necessity induces a privilege because of a private right"). A court will grant this privilege to a trespasser when the risk of harm to...
Jul 27, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 11
A summary offence is a crime in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence).
Jul 23, 2020•7 min•Season 3Ep. 10
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour in British English) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty, or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines.
Jul 23, 2020•7 min•Season 3Ep. 9
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (for example, a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, acts as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a good reputation due to its geographical origin. Appellation d'origine contrôlée ('Appellation of origin') is a sub-type of ...
Jul 21, 2020•22 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions as used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual relationships. Types of consent include implied consent, express consent, informed consent and unanimous consent. Consent as understood in specific contexts may differ from its everyday meaning. For example, a person with a mental disorder, a low mental age, or under the legal age of sex...
Jul 20, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In some common law jurisdictions, contributory negligence is a defense to a tort claim based on negligence. If it is available, the defense completely bars plaintiffs from any recovery if they contribute to their own injury through their own negligence. Because the contributory negligence doctrine can lead to harsh results, many common law jurisdictions have abolished it in favor of a "comparative fault" or "comparative negligence" approach. A comparative negligence approach reduces the plaintif...
Jul 20, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress (Article I); the executive, consisting of the president (Article II); and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Cour...
Jul 20, 2020•20 min•Season 4Ep. 5
The term felony originated from English common law, from the French medieval word "félonie", to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods, to which additional punishments including capital punishment could be added. Other crimes were called misdemeanors. A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. Following conviction of a felony in a court of law, a person may be described...
Jul 14, 2020•15 min•Season 3Ep. 8
The legal principle of vicarious liability applies to hold one person liable for the actions of another when engaged in some form of joint or collective activity.
Jul 14, 2020•8 min•Season 3Ep. 7
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, (also known as ITPGRFA, International Seed Treaty or Plant Treaty is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims at guaranteeing food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as the recognition ...
Jul 12, 2020•14 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Assumption of risk is a defense in the law of torts, which bars or reduces a plaintiff's right to recovery against a negligent tortfeasor if the defendant can demonstrate that the plaintiff voluntarily and knowingly assumed the risks at issue inherent to the dangerous activity in which the plaintiff was participating at the time of his or her injury.
Jul 12, 2020•5 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Comparative negligence, or non-absolute contributory negligence outside the United States, is a partial legal defense that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim, based upon the degree to which the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to cause the injury. When the defense is asserted, the factfinder, usually a jury, must decide the degree to which the plaintiff's negligence and the combined negligence of all other relevant actors all contributed ...
Jul 12, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Trump v. Vance, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a landmark[1][2] United States Supreme Court case related to the New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s attempt to subpoena the tax records of President Donald Trump as part of the ongoing investigation into the Stormy Daniels scandal, which Trump has litigated to prevent their release. The Court held that Article II and the Supremacy Clause do not categorically preclude, or require a heightened standard for, the issuance of a state criminal ...
Jul 10, 2020•6 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, 591 U.S. ___ (2020) was a Supreme Court of the United States case involving the United States House of Representatives subpoenas to obtain the tax returns of President Donald Trump, which Trump has litigated to prevent but which had been cleared by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In a 7–2 decision issued in July 2020, the Supreme Court reversed the Circuit Court's decision, asserting that the court had not properly assessed the s...
Jul 10, 2020•7 min•Season 4Ep. 3
A database right is a sui generis property right, comparable to but distinct from copyright, that exists to recognise the investment that is made in compiling a database, even when this does not involve the "creative" aspect that is reflected by copyright. Such rights are often referred to in the plural: database rights.
Jul 08, 2020•7 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In criminal law, corporate liability determines the extent to which a corporation as a legal person can be liable for the acts and omissions of the natural persons it employs. It is sometimes regarded as an aspect of criminal vicarious liability, as distinct from the situation in which the wording of a statutory offence specifically attaches liability to the corporation as the principal or joint principal with a human agent.
Jul 07, 2020•9 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Trover is a form of lawsuit in common-law countries for recovery of damages for wrongful taking of personal property. Trover belongs to a series of remedies for such wrongful taking, its distinctive feature being recovery only for the value of whatever was taken, not for the recovery of the property itself.
Jul 04, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 8
The concept of copyright developed after the printing press came into use in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The printing press made it much cheaper to produce works, but as there was initially no copyright law, anyone could buy or rent a press and print any text. Popular new works were immediately reset and re-published by competitors, so printers needed a constant stream of new material. Fees paid to authors for new works were high, and significantly supplemented the incomes of many aca...
Jul 03, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Complicity is the participation in a completed criminal act of an accomplice, a partner in the crime who aids or encourages (abets) other perpetrators of that crime, and who shares with them an intent to act to complete the crime. A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of a crime if they purpose the completion of a crime, and toward that end, if that person solicits or encourages the other person, or aids or attempts to aid in planning or committing the crime, or has legal...
Jul 02, 2020•15 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Booking.com is an online travel agency, operating under both that name and at that domain name. The company sought to trademark its name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO had denied the application: it ruled that the term "booking" as applied to the class of travel services was a generic term, and that Booking.com had not shown how their mark had gained distinctiveness. Booking.com appealed to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, (TTAB), which upheld that "bo...
Jul 02, 2020•5 min•Season 4Ep. 2
A reference work with a list of legal terms from one or more languages, ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meaning, and sometimes containing information on its usage, translations, and other data.
Jul 01, 2020•30 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In Western jurisprudence, concurrence (also contemporaneity or simultaneity) is the apparent need to prove the simultaneous occurrence of both actus reus ("guilty action") and mens rea ("guilty mind"), to constitute a crime; except in crimes of strict liability. In theory, if the actus reus does not hold concurrence in point of time with the mens rea then no crime has been committed.
Jun 30, 2020•9 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Replevin or claim and delivery (sometimes called revendication ) is a legal remedy, which enables a person to recover personal property taken wrongfully or unlawfully, and to obtain compensation for resulting losses.
Jun 25, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 7
