Moritz Legal Information Blog

If everyone in the world thinks terms of use aren't enforceable, why are they? Terms of Use (TOUs) are the contractual terms website visitors agree to when they go to a website. They're not quite the click-wrap licenses (e.g., the contracts where you click a box that states you agree when making purchases online) that require affirmative consent from the offeree, which are generally considered acceptable regardless of whether offerees read the license terms. Instead they are a little more of a grey area, but they're the foundation on which sites like Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube stake their liability for your use of their services. The biggest (i.e., most money-making) issue that keeps cropping up is liabilty for copyright infringement. For a few interesting articles on the headaches Pinterest has had related to copyright and its TOU, check out the following: Pinterest Hires Away A Google Attorney To Start Its Own Legal Department A Lawyer Who Is Also A Photogr

A bill proposed last month would allow Ohioans adopted between 1964 and 1996 to access their adoption files and original birth certificates through the Ohio Department of Health, rather than having to file a petition in probate court.  House Bill 61 Bill analysis of H.B. 61 Status Report 10TV Cleveland Plain Delaer (editorial)

Amanda Knox, the American college student studying abroad in Italy and tried for murder, must face a new trial following her 2011 aquittal. In the United States, the legal principle of double jeopardy would preclude a retrial. How can you find out where Italy stands on this issue? Here are a few good starting points: Law Library of Congress Legal Research Guide: Italy Globalex: Guide to Italian Legal Research and Resources on the Web Reynolds and Flores' Foreign Law Guide: Italy (available on campus only) Criminal Law in Italy

Naturally, the big news today is oral argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry , the Proposition 8 case.  But the Court also issued an opinion in the interesting case of Florida v. Jardines , involving a drug-sniffing police dog. SCOTUSblog has a great deal of coverage of today's oral argument, including two recaps , the transcript , and pictures from the court .

The lawyer-client relationship is unique. An attorney may be the only person the client feels he or she can trust in an adversarial proceeding. However, while you may learn the law and how to think like a lawyer in law school, you may feel ill-equipped to deal with the interpersonal aspect of working with clients. Combine this with your ethical obligations and the whole panoply of skills, emotions, psychology, and ethics can be confounding. Two recent examples of criminal defendants' in-court behavior brings an attorney's obligations to the forefront: T.J. Lane, recently convicted of killing several of his classmates, wore a t-shirt that said "killer" to his sentencing.  Penelope Soto gestured offensively at a judge during her arraignment and insulted him. What is or was the role of the attorney in these situations? How do you work with your client, act in his or her best interest, and maintain a working relationship with them so you can help them help themsel

Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in Butler County, Ohio , issued an indictment of adorable groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. A search of the Butler County Clerk's Office website did not turn up the case file, but the indictment itself can be found here . Dispatch Washington Post

In "why can't this sort of thing happen to me" news, a bowl bought for three dollars at a garage sale sold at auction for 2.2 million dollars.  Turns out the Chinese bowl is one thousand years old, a product of the Northern Song Dynasty and the only other one like it is housed at the British Museum. NBC Los Angeles Times BBC