California Entertainment Legal Questions

I have also seen those No Soccer signs in Los Angeles parks and I also think this is discrimination. It is also ironic, because Los Angeles has spent millions of dollars on a campaign against obesity, and yet, when people find a way that they like to exercise, such as soccer or skateboarding, the city is quick to ban it. I think you need to launch a citywide protest and probably a lawsuit seeking an injunction against these bans.... Read More

You should probably show up in court with a lawyer. Almost any lawyer will do and you may be able to find a friend or relative who is a lawyer who will do this for a very low price. In traffic court, you get treated way better if you have a lawyer. You should be sure the car is registered and has a valid license plate and insurance and that this is all on the record BEFORE the court date. Show up with all the official paperwork on that.... Read More

Depending on the court, you can check online records, or in some cases, you may have to go to the courthouse. It depends what court you are talking about and if the records are online or not. In some cases, you may have to pay or register to access a database. For example, is it state or federal court? What state? What county? What kind of case? Some types of cases have records closed to the public and the types of closed cases vary state to state. For example, in some states, divorce records are closed to the public. In all states, juvenile court records are closed to the public.... Read More

If the contract is still in effect, then it may have a provision regarding auditing. Sometime that provision is limited by time. For example, allowing an audit of no more than the last two years. If the contract does not permit auditing, you might be able to force the issue by working with an attorney.... Read More

It depends what it is a background check for. If the background check is to become a lawyer, everything little thing is considered. The same is true if you are trying to get security clearance for a job where you will deal with classified materials. If you are trying to get a job where the main concern is if you have any major crimes in your background, it may not be considered. It also depends if the citation is a local citation, a city citation, a state citation, or a federal ticket of some kind. If you were at an Indian, or Native America, casino, you might very well have been given some sort of federal citation. Or you might have been given a ticket that requires you to pay a fine to the tribe. You will probably be okay if you handled the citation, such as paying the fine or showing up at court, or whatever was required. The main thing is if you are asked about the citation, do not lie. Just explain what happened. Also, if you did not handle the citation, it is a good idea to go do that now.... Read More

This question is ultimately, is there a registered or unregistered trademark which I would be infringing upon if I put this symbol on a t-shirt? The answer to this question would require a search do by an attorney who is looking at relevant symbols in use trying to determine if your intended use would cause confusion in the marketplace with a symbol already registered or in use.... Read More

Your website would probably be a violation of the CFAA, the federal laws that make it a crime to have unauthorized access to a website or server. And yes, there would be multiple violations of copyright. Websites set up their own services and TOS how they want them. However, there are web app developers that gather around other services, but generally, they are only allowed to interact with a site if they are approved and nonharmful. If you want to have an app or service that interacts with a website, you have to strike a deal with the website, otherwise, you are likely criminally accessing their site and server. Your first one, about uploading different size photos to a website than the site itself allows: Most sites are designed how the site wants them to be. There may be other issues involved, such as the width of other things on the page, the desire to have all photos match in size for nicer layout, the desire to limit storage space, etc. So they probably do not want you monkeying with that. Your second example, of cloning peoples' photo albums, violates their copyrights, privacy, and other rights. It may also be a criminal violation of privacy laws. Your third example, of handing bonus points outside the system of the website, would be a violation of their TOS as well as unauthorized access under CFAA. My conclusion is that your plan would be civilly and criminally illegal in many ways. However, if you use the same technology to create desirable apps that interact with sites that approve of the interaction on their site, then you have a marketable plan. The apps are not likely to be legal if they violate copyright or privacy laws. If you are actually capable of developing such services, then work closely with a lawyer. Some apps are used by users of big sites, but do not actually interfere or interact with the site itself. But, it sounds like the ones you have mentioned would interact. For example, bitly came out as a link shortener and was widely used on Twitter. Twitter authorized its own automatic link shortener, but it is nowhere as nice as bitly and lacks the same features. One can still legally use bitly on Twitter because it does not interact with Twitter. Many app developers take the chance and impose their apps onto a site, but when you directly interact and interfere with the operation of a site, you are most likely going to get in trouble. ... Read More

Any defamation suit for libel is going to run into California's anti-SLAPP laws. Under Anti-SLAPP which is a law protecting free speech on matters of public importance a lawsuit against them will not be easy. However there is an exception to commercial speech and when the audience is not intended to be the public at large. But whether the reviews are commercial speech is another matter and I cannot say without looking and reading the reviews of your company. If your lawyer can pass the anti-SLAPP hurdle you will have a stronger case. What they're doing is interfering with your business relationships and potentially illegal as an unlawful business practice if they are indeed posting fake reviews. Anti-SLAPP problems though will need to be ironed out though.... Read More

I did find the City of Tulsa Oklahoma Municipal Code Penal Code Chapter 28 Curfew Hours for Juveniles. Curfew starts at midnight on Friday and Saturday and is 11 pm the other nights. It is illegal for a juvenile to be out on the street or in a for-profit private establishment during those hours. The common areas of schools are considered public places. There are 9 defenses, including " 7. Attending, going to or returning home, without any detour or stop, from an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults or an event sponsored by the City of Tulsa, a civic organization or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the juvenile."... Read More

Your daughter should be able to get most if not all of her deposit back. The restaurant owner has plenty of time to find another party for that date. However, the owner may wish withhold some of the deposit to cover the expenses of advertising the availability again of that date for the ballroom.... Read More

First of all find out how much insurance is going to cost you if you go ahead with this event! Yes, you'll need permits from the city, law enforcement, building and safety, possibly the health department, and probably several other departments. Be prepared to write lots of checks to cover all the fees. Call the city information number and ask who to contact. "Burlesque" covers a number of possibilities - make sure your dancers are legally attired and the dancing area is properly set up. You'll need a special liquor license and may need to go through a already-licensed bar or liquor store to get it. You'll need licensed servers and some way to guarantee that only those of legal age can be served. You're talking about a major event and it would be wise to meet with professional event organizers before making any commitments. There's a lot more to this sort of event than you can imagine.... Read More

If I understand what you are saying correctly, the players are not actually gambling but where is the incentive to play. Since they all get 100 percent of their money to buy goods they are not even exchanging money among themselves, unless the prizes they might win exceed the amount being gambled. In that case, losers have gambled - assuming they are playing games of chance. Net winners have gambled, too, and if the markup is too high, you won't get any players.... Read More

Titles cannot be copyrighted. Other movies can have the same title. This happens all the time. If your movie ever gets made and you want it to have a unique title, after it gets made, do some research to find a name that has not yet been used, and use that as the title. Other movies can still come along and use your same title after that. If you have a trademark involved as part of the title, that might prevent others from using the trademarked part of the title, for example "Harry Potter."... Read More

Your question is specific to Minnesota. I hope a lawyer from Minnesota will get on here and reply. If they don't you can probably go to the local police and ask them if that kind of knife is legal or not. There could be State, city, and county laws that might apply. Just call the police and ask.... Read More

In almost every city and county, there are strict regulations on so-called outcall adult entertainment services. They generally require licensing and include operating regulations. When such businesses have been shut down, it more often than not is because of alleged prostitution, which is the most important issue.... Read More

Do you mean a video game console emulator? If this is what you mean, yes, it is legal. It might be illegal if the console emulator is unauthorized, but that is more a matter for the makers of the original model to assert their patent or copyright claims. By the time you have it at home, it should not be your problem. How else are you going to play your favorite old games on your new system?... Read More

This depends what you mean as "government entity" and if your movie is meant to be fiction or nonfiction. Generally, you can have characters in a film be fictitious government officials, or public figures. For example, you can have a fictional TSA agent and give them any name you wish and have them do anything, in your fictional movie. You can also have any public character, such as any president, and have them do anything in your fictional movie. If the public figure person is alive and if you are defaming them, then you may have problems, especially if you are acting maliciously or with reckless disregard for the truth. If it is parody or satire of a public figure, that may be okay. You can also do parody or satire of a fictionalized non-public character and not using any real name, such as a TSA agent. Where you also run into trouble is if you take a non-public character, such a someone who may be a government employee, but who is not an elected official, and use their name, image, etc. This is the difference between public figure and non-public figure. The rules are quite different. If by "entity" you mean something like the FBI, NSA, DOJ, sure, people make fictionalized movies all the time where there is an FBI headquarters and agents, etc. If, on the other hand, you want to portray a real FBI agent, using his or her real name, and either revealing personal information or creating false information. you will have a problem, because an FBI agent is not a "public figure" for most purposes, other than in the specific context of a news-reported event. ... Read More