Английский язык для студентов юридических вузов и факультетов. Учебник

LESSON SEVEN

6. Translate the following sentences. to depend on (upon)

1)His decision depends on how soon he gets all the necessary documents.

2)Everything depends upon the committee.

to fall into

1) The crimes fall into several classes. 2) These magazines fall into three classes.

140

READING

to sue in

A person may sue in the tort of nuisance if he is injured, for example, by broken glass falling from his neighbour’s apartment.

to sue for

1) He sued the firm for damages. 2) He was sued for libel. to enter into

1) We are going to enter into dealings with this firm. 2) The parties have reached an informal agreement and should enter into a contract.

7. Answer the following questions:

1. What is tort? 2. What does contract law enforce? 3. What is the difference between torts and crimes? 4. What kinds of torts in Anglo-American law do you know? 5. How are contracts classified?

8. Make up derivations using the following suffixes.

-ness: reckless, careless, false, busy

-ity: active, sensible, probable, regular, responsible, moral, formal, valid -ship: author, citizen, partner, director, president, governor, judge -hood: mother, parent, child, false, author

-cy: candidat, diplomat, private -dom: official, free, king, criminal

TEXT 2

1. Memorize the following words and word-combinations: access — доступ

trade mark — товарный знак

design n. — 1. замысел, план; 2. цель; 3. творческий план, проект design v. — 1. замышлять; 2. предназначать; 3. составлять план, схему,

проектировать, конструировать impunity — безнаказанность

subpoena — вызов в суд; повестка о явке в суд search warrant — ордер на обыск

digital — цифровой

2. Read the following international words and give their Russian equivalents: manipulation; intellectual; medium; innovation; physics; patent; consensus; license; axiom; virus; identify; contour; texture; material; ornamentation;

reproduction; copy; individual; anonymity; accurately; pseudonimity; hacker; ethos; piracy; cable.

141

LESSON SEVEN

3. Translate the following family words.

close — disclose — disclosure; create — creativity — creation; invent — inventor — invention; improve — improvement; apply — applicable — application; appear — appearance; trade — trader; accept — acceptable — unacceptable; use

— user — misuse; employ — employer — employee — employment; secret — secrecy; profit — profitable4 know — knowledge — knowledgeable.

4. Analyze the structure and meanings of the following words:

copyright; broadcast; software; multimedia; willfully; instantaneous; uploader; downloader; coupled; to disregard; overlap; cyberspace; network; password; outpacing.

5.One of the developing spheres of law nowadays is intellectual property as it is often concerned with computers, new technologies and techniques. Answer the following questions to check what knowledge you have on issues connected with property.

1.What is the scope of computer crime? 2. Do you expect privacy when you use your personal computer? 3. Is there an essential difference between ordinary and computer crimes? 4. What difficulties can arise in investigation and prosecution of computer crimes? 5. Do users — senders or recipients — have the same expectations of privacy in e-mail as they do in physical mail? As in voice-mail? As in other documents? Are such electronic documents “records?” 6. Must the employee know of the confidential — and hence protected — character of the information in order to be guilty of a criminal offense? 7. Should the criminal law be used to enforce internal corporate computer use policies? Should someone go to jail for playing a computer game on a computer at work? Are corporate and governmental computer use policies consistent with policies on the use of other corporate or governmental resources? 8. What laws, to your mind, must be introduced to follow the changes in the developing technologies of crimes?

6.Read the text. Consider the peculiarities of intellectual property and discuss if it needs the same legal protection as real property. Get ready to speak about: a) possible infringements of intellectual property law; b) the role of developing technologies in intellectual property infringements.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property, often known as IP, allows people to own their creativity and innovation in the same way that they can own physical property. The owner of IP can control and be rewarded for its use, and this encourages further

142

READING

innovation and creativity to the benefit of us all. The four main types of IP are the following:

•patents for inventions — new and improved products and processes that are capable of industrial application

•trade marks for brand identity — of goods and services allowing distinctions to be made between different traders

•designs for product appearance — of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product itself or its ornamentation;

•copyright for material — literary and artistic material, music, films, sound recordings and broadcasts, including software and multimedia

Computers in general and the Internet in particular may also be used to facilitate intellectual property offenses, which, if done "willfully" and for "financial gain," may be criminal in nature. The nature of the digital medium permits the instantaneous reproduction of perfect copies of copyrighted or protected materials, and permits these exact copies to be instantly transmitted to thousands or millions of individuals at the same time. The anonymity provided by the Internet permits offenders to commit these violations with impunity. Moreover, because of peculiarities in the law related to criminal copyright infringement there are circumstances in which neither the uploader or the downloader of this intellectual property may be guilty of an offense.

Moreover, the content of information contained on the Internet makes the possibility of copyright infringement not only more alluring, but potentially more profitable. Not only are text files available over the Net, but also photographs, video, music and other audio. Indeed, virtually every medium which can be transmitted is being transmitted. Finally, the anonymity — or, more accurately, pseudonymity — provided by the Internet is coupled with a hacker ethos that information (and consequently intellectual property of all kinds) belongs to the public, and therefore laws protecting intellectual property may be disregarded to the extent they interfere with a perceived First Amendment right. This anonymity has significant criminal law consequences. Not only does it make the task of detecting computer crimes and the offenders more difficult, it complicates the various proof issues presented at a computer crime trial.

Computers and computer bulletin boards have been used to facilitate child pornography and child abduction rings, software piracy, theft of cable services, theft of telephone services, computerized stalking, terrorist rings, narcotics dealing, as well as other forms of criminal activities including plain theft. As more white collar businesses become computerized, the process of collection of evidence — through search warrants, subpoenas and other discovery devices — even in the non-computer crime field, has increasingly required a detailed knowledge

143

LESSON SEVEN

of the technology involved in the collection, storage and retrieval of information. Indeed, virtually every type of crime which can be committed can be facilitated through the use of computer or information technologies. In many cases, the use of computers does not alter the fundamental character of the offense — bribery remains the same even if accomplished through e-mail or electronic funds transfers, although the use of the computer may affect the degree of the offense.

Computer hackers, acting on their own or for hire to others, are becoming increasingly sophisticated and knowledgeable, and therefore more difficult to detect and prosecute. The challenge of international cooperation and coordination of investigations, coupled with diverse, overlapping and sometimes contradictory computer crime laws, regulations and criminal procedures, make enforcement of criminal statutes even more difficult — especially when computer crime transcends national borders.

As computer technology changes the way we conduct business and interact with each other, it also changes the way crimes can be committed. Computer stalking, computer terrorism, computerized threats, cyberporn, electronic espionage and electronic extortion are all made possible by the advent of computers and high speed data networks. Legislation and regulation inevitably fail to keep pace with the imagination of motivated hackers. Hacking for fun is also being supplanted by hacking for profits as freelancers, businesses, governments and intelligence agencies turn to computer networks to facilitate both legitimate and criminal activities.

Such actions as downloading information from the Internet, taping music off the radio, videotaping shows off the television or photocopying portions of a book, magazine or newspaper for personal entertainment constitute infringement. Defenses to an action for infringement include challenging the claim that copyright exists in the work, challenging the ownership of the work, alleging that only an insubstantial part of the work was used, or alleging one of the exceptions to infringement such as fair dealing.

TEXT 3

1. Read the text to get a better understanding of what copyright is. Choose any book or work you can find and say if it protected by copyright law.

COPYRIGHT

The owner of a registered copyright enjoys the ability of blocking the unauthorized copying or public performance of a work protected by copyright. Depending on how old a work is, whether or not copyright was renewed, when the work was published (if at all), and whether or not it is a work for hire, the U.S. copyright term for a work

144

READING

may be 28 years, 56 years, the life of the author plus 50 years, 75 years from the publication date, or 100 years from the date of creation. The reader will appreciate that these terms are much longer than the 17-year or 20-year term of a U.S. utility patent.

A satisfactory copyright notice is (1) the C in a circle symbol (©) or the word “copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”, (2) the copyright date, and (3) the name of the copyright owner. Under U.S. law, it may be generally stated that the copyright in software (like that in any other work) is owned by the programmer (author) in the absence of a writing transferring ownership, and in the absence of a work-for-hire relationship. This presents a trap for the unwary company that, for example, hires a programmer consultant who is not a full-time employee of the company. Even if the company paid for the work, the company is not, generally, the owner of the copyright in the software, absent some written agreement on the subject.

TEXT 4

1. Read the text. Say if it is possible to prove mens rea in computer crimes using some information on motivation of the person. Discuss difficulties which can arise in the course of trial.

MOTIVATION FOR COMPUTER RELATED OFFENSES

The motivation for computer related offenses is as varied as the motivation for any other type of crime, and may run the gamut from personal enrichment, avarice, revenge or thrill seeking, to truly psychopathic behavior. In general, virtually any type of offense which can be committed without a computer can be committed with the assistance of computers, including terrorism, espionage, obscenity, murder and arson. However, there are a few characteristics which make computer crimes unique among criminal offenses. For example, computer crimes may be committed remotely and across geographic boundaries. They may be committed in many jurisdictions at the same time. They may have effects years or decades after they are launched or planned. They may or may not violate “traditional” criminal laws like trespass or theft statutes. They are difficult or impossible to investigate, and even more difficult to prosecute. Investigators, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and juries are frequently unfamiliar with the technology and its applications, further complicating the prosecution of such offenses.

TEXT 5

1. Memorize the following words and word-combinations. wage — заработная плата (рабочих)

staff — штат, штаты (служащих и т.д.)

145

LESSON SEVEN

in a row — подряд

self-employed — 1) обслуживающий свое собственное предприятие; работающий не по найму; 2) принадлежащий к свободной профессии (о

писателе, художнике и т.п.)

harassment — 1) причинение беспокойства; 2) домогательство pregnant — беременная

midwife — акушерка

2.Read the following international words and give their Russian equivalents: calendar; incident; gender; graffiti.

3.Read and translate the following family words:

ill — illness; calculate — calculation; question — questionnaire; fit — fitness; depend — dependant; victim — victimize; able — disabled — disability; penal — penalty — penalize.

4. Give the Russian for:

sick pay; statutory sick pay; working time; maximum average working week; calculation purposes; 17-week period; sick leave; schoolleaving age; to force staff to work more; to get two days off a week; free health assessment; employee’s fitness for night work; registered medical practitioner; health visitor; valid reasons; to give birth; trade union activities; a range of public duties; health authority; school governing body; to release an employee for jury service; national origin; verbal abuse.

5. Read the text. Make a list of employment law rules. Say if all of the terms of work included in employment laws should be mentioned in a labour contract.

EMPLOYMENT LAW

You must pay anyone who works for you at least the national minimum wage.

Staff who can’t work for four days or more because of illness are entitled to a minimum level of sick pay. You must pay statutory sick pay to employees who can’t work for four or more calendar days in a row because of physical or mental illness or disablement.

Rules on working time fix the maximum average working week for most workers at 48 hours. For calculation purposes, hours are averaged over a 17-week period, though this can be extended by agreement. This reference period must not include time spent on holiday or sick leave. For young workers — who are over the minimum school-leaving age but under 18 — the maximum is 40 hours.

146

READING

Staff have a right to 11 hours rest between each working day; young workers get 12 hours. You mustn’t force staff to work more than six days in every seven, or 12 days in every 14. Young workers should get two days off a week.

You must offer workers a free health assessment before they start working at night and repeat it regularly (typically once a year) after that. This will generally be in the form of a questionnaire, with a medical examination following if you have any doubts about the employee’s fitness for night work.

You must allow staff time off in a number of circumstances. If an employee is pregnant, she is entitled to time off for any appointments made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, midwife or health visitor. Valid reasons for taking time off include helping a dependant who falls ill, is injured or assaulted; arranging a dependant’s funeral; helping a dependant give birth; dealing with an unexpected breakdown in care arrangements for a dependant or dealing with an incident at a school attended by a child of the employee taking part in certain trade union activities; a range of public duties, including acting as a magistrate; a member of a local authority, police authority, health authority or National Health Service (NHS)1 trust or a member of a school governing body. If you don’t release an employee for jury service, you could be prosecuted for contempt of court.

You mustn’t discriminate against anyone who works for you (including selfemployed contractors) or treat them less favourably because of their colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex (including gender reassignment), status as a married or unmarried person, sexual orientation, religion or belief. There are a few limited exceptions to the rules — for example, some restaurants where food is served in a particularly authentic setting may be allowed to recruit from particular racial groups. Discriminatory harassment might include demeaning remarks, graffiti, jokes, verbal abuse or physical assault. You mustn’t victimize anyone who makes a complaint of discrimination against you.

You mustn’t offer less favourable contractual terms — including those covering pay and benefits — to staff because they’re disabled. Nor can you deny them access to promotion, transfers, training or any other schemes, facilities or services. You mustn’t dismiss staff on the grounds of disability or victimize anyone who makes a complaint of disability discrimination against you.

You mustn’t penalize employees for joining — or refusing to join — a trade union. You mustn’t base recruitment decisions on whether or not an employee belongs to a trade union. Staff don’t need your permission to belong to a union. You can’t dismiss or threaten to dismiss someone for being a member. You cannot take any other action to prevent, penalize or deter employees from belonging to a union — such as refusing to promote them. Nor can you make an employee join or stay in a union.

147

LESSON SEVEN

Note: 1 NHS — международная организация, занимающаяся вопросами здравоохранения

TEXT 6

1. Memorize the following words. conspiracy — заговор

to safeguard — защищать, охранять

to bargain — вести переговоры (об условиях договора, контракта и

т.п.)

wage — заработная плата (рабочих)

layoff — 1) приостановка или прекращение производства; 2) увольнение из-за отсутствия работы; 3) период временного увольнения; временная безработица.

2. Read the following international words and give their Russian equivalents: national; convention; delegate; authority; policy; officer; local; municipal; congress; act; to guarantee; practice; to organize; to determine; condition; pen-

sion; plan; company.

3. Translate the following family words:

to move — movement; to govern — governing; to consider — considerable; shoe — shoemaker; union — nonunion; rule — to rule; law — lawful -unlawful; peace — peaceful — peacefully; active — activity; to relate — relation; to collect

— collective — collectively; to employ — employer — employee; fair — unfair; to elect — election; to represent — representative; great — greatly; short — to shorten; to agree — agreement; profit — profitable; to except — exception; to reduce — reduction.

4. Read the following text trying to understand its main ideas.

LABOR UNIONS

“National unions are of great importance in the American labor movement. The supreme governing body of the national union is the convention, which is held every year or two. The delegates to the convention have the authority to set policy for the union. However, considerable power is exercised by the national union’s officers.

A national union is composed of local unions, each in a given area or plant. Some local unions have only a few members, but others have thousands.”1

148

READING

The unions in the U.S.A. began to form before 1800 but it was not until 1842 that workers in large numbers organized into labor unions. That year several union shoemakers in Boston were brought to trial and charged with refusing to work with nonunion shoemakers. A municipal court judge found the workers guilty of conspiracy. But a higher appeal court ruled that it was not unlawful for workers to engage in union activity.

“In 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which guaranteed the right of employers to form unions, to strike and to negotiate collectively with an employer. The NLRA also created the national Labor Relations Board (NLRB)...”2 The NLRB administers the principal U.S. labor law, the NLRA. The Board is vested with the power to prevent or remedy unfair labor practices and to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and determine through elections whether to have unions as their bargaining representative.

Due to the efforts made by labor unions, conditions of America’s labor force have greatly improved. The length of working day has been shortened. Most agreements between employers and employees include such benefits as insurance, pensions, health care plans. Now many unions demand that the right to take unpaid leave, when female workers have babies or when a family member is ill and needs care, be granted.

“Some unions have decided that job security is more important than a pay increase. For the first time in their histories, a few have actually accepted lower pay to help save a company. This happened, for example, in Chrysler. Employees agreed to take a reduction in their wages to prevent large-scale layoffs and help the company to become profitable again (which it did). This, however, is much the exception.”3

Notes: 1 Mansfield E. Economics. Principles/Problems/Decisions. 7th ed. N.Y., L, 1992, p. 601.

2 Burnham W. Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States. St. Paul, Minn., 1995, p. 544.

3 Stevenson O.K. American Life and Institutions. Stuttgart, 1987, p. 66.

5. Based on the text say whether the following statements are true or false.

1. National unions are not of great importance in the American labor movement. 2. All local unions are numerous. 3. There were no unions in the U.S.A. before 1800. 4. Due to the efforts made by labor unions, conditions of American employees have greatly improved. 5. The NLRA was passed by the Congress in 1800. 6. As a result of the efforts taken by the labor unions the working day has been shortened. 7. All labor unions consider that it is better to reduce the number of employees and thus to increase wages.

149

LESSON SEVEN

possibility of introducing some changes to improve the schemes.

ORAL SPEECH PRACTICE

I.Mind Your Grammar When You Speak

1.Answer the questionnaire.

When were you born?

Where were you born?

Where were you educated?

What were you trained as?

Where were you last employed?

Are you married?

When did you marry?

2. Respond to the questions as in the model.

Model. A: What are you doing?

B: I’m reading an article about the new types of torts in Great Britain. I have been reading it for two hours.

Prompts: to look through the documents — an hour; to write a business letter — half an hour; to fill out the form — a quarter of an hour; to wait for Sam — an hour and a half; to translate an English article on criminal law — three hours.

3. Make up a dialogue between a detective and a suspect. The suspect will answer the detective’s questions in the negative.

Model. A: Have you ever been to that house?

B: No, I haven’t. I have never been to that house.

Prompts: to meet Mr. Smith, to receive money from Mr. Blake, to stay at that hotel, to see this gun, to see this document, to threaten Jane Smith, to have a red car, to meet the man you see in this picture

4. You are a detective. Give an account to your boss on the results of the examination of the suspect.

Model: He said that he had never been to that house. Use the prompts of exercise 3.

150

Exercises

1. Read the following flashes of conversation.

1.

A:I don’t think we should discuss this problem today.

B:That’s my opinion too. Firstly because some of the documents were not submitted to us. And secondly because we have not enough time.

2.

A:Could you explain the difference between libel and slander to me?

B:Certainly. Do you know the term “defamation”?

A:Yes, I do.

B:On the one hand, defamation can be written. Then it is libel. On the other hand, it can be oral. Then it is slander.

3.

A:As far as I know torts and crimes are similar because both focus on wrongful acts.

B:That’s right. However, there are significant differences between torts and crimes. First, many torts involve negligence, while most crimes require intent. Second, tort law focuses on the relationships between private parties, while

151

LESSON SEVEN

criminal law is concerned with wrongful acts against society. There are also some other differences between torts and crimes.

2.Make up dialogues based on the following assignments presenting a series of arguments.

Ask your fellow-student to explain the differences between: a) common law and statute law; b) torts and contracts

3.After reading a short text below, make up a dialogue including discussion of advantages and disadvantages of legal regulation of copyright and interconnected issues in the USA, European countries and Russia.

NATIONAL DIFFERENCES

IN PERCEPTION OF COPYRIGHT

There are fundamental differences in the perception of the rights given by copyright between the Anglo-Saxon countries (the United Kingdom and Ireland) and major continental European countries. In particular, the continental European countries tend to put much greater emphasis on the moral rights aspects of copyright and to require a higher level of creativity or intellectual input for copyright to subsist. Although moral rights are recognized in the Anglo-Saxon system (in the UK at least) the emphasis is on the economic dimension of copyright, the level of originality required is very low, and “sweat of the brow” investment is protected.

III. Polylogue

1. Read the polylogue.

Frank Jordan, an American professor, is on a visit to Russia. He discusses some problems of “tort crisis” and tort reform with the Russian law students.

F. Jordan: As far as I understood you’ve already got some idea of what tort law in the Anglo-American legal system is. The topic I want to dwell on today is “tort crisis” and tort reform in the U.S.A.

Anton: What do you mean when you use the expression “tort crisis”?

F. Jordan: Well, American society has become very litigious. The flood of cases into the U.S. courts has reached rather a high point. According to statistics tort filings prevail in the U.S. courts. One reason is probability because some people sue for compensation even if there is a slight hint of injury. Another reason is that a plaintiff in money damage suits doesn’t pay for bringing the case. The lawyer gets a certain percentage of the judgement, but if the case is lost the lawyer gets nothing. There are also some other reasons. For example, compensatory

152

ORAL SPEECH PRACTICE

damages have escalated and this is a serious impediment for the growth of business in the country.

Victor: And what aspects does tort reform touch upon?

F. Jordan: Different laws have been passed by some states to improve the situation. These statutory provisions involved some limits in the amount that can be recovered. Various reform bills have been proposed. They involve such problems as sanctions for unimportant suits, limits on certain types of damages, etc.

2. Say what you have learned from the polylogue about a) “tort crisis”, b) tort reform in the U.S.A.

IV. Topics for Discussion

A.Differences between civil and criminal law

1.Make a report on one of the following topics.

1)Differences between civil and criminal law.

2)Torts and contracts.

B.Computer crimes

2.Read the definitions of offences and discuss if these offences can be committed in cyberspace. Would there be anything specific in proof requirements.

Theft or misappropriation of trade secrets: the government is to demonstrate that the information at issue was, in fact a trade secret, and that there had been an agreement between the owner of the property and the defendant restricting rights to the information taken.

Trespass: an intentional entry onto the property of another without the express or implied permission of the owner or user of the property to so enter.

Burglary: presence of the additional elements that the entry be made by breaking and entering, into a building or a dwelling of another, sometimes at night, and with the intention of committing a crime therein.

Destruction of property: an offender equipped with a sledge hammer pummels a computer into an unrecognizable pile of bolts, chips, and wires, he clearly has committed the offense of destruction of property.

C.Marriage law

3.Discuss the differences in consideration of the following issues of marriage law in the USA and in the Russian Federation.

1.What is a marriage? Is it contractual relationship? A personal status recognized by the families or community? A religious status? A civil status?

153

LESSON SEVEN

2.Is there a natural right to marry? Is there a religious obligation to marry or remarry? Is there a social obligation to marry (e.g., an unmarried pregnant woman)?

3.What grounds, if any, are there for prohibiting marriage?

4.What are the elements of a valid marriage? Are preconditions for marriage — consent of the individuals age — mental capacity really important?

5.When does a marriage terminate “naturally” — at death or at some other point? Can physical or mental incapacity, impotence, sterility, addiction to drugs, alcohol, disease (AIDS, other forms of disease) terminate a marriage?

6.What economic rights and obligations exist between the spouses under civil and religious law? Is marital property held as “separate” property or “communal” property and by whom is it to be managed?

7.Considering the issue of domestic violence, what are the differences between cultural understandings and the requirements of religious law regarding each of the following topics: physical abuse, spousal rape, sexual harassment, mental cruelty or emotional abuse? Is domestic violence ground for separation, annulment, or divorce?

8.Who has custody of children after death, divorce, or dissolution of marriage? Is the religion of the parents a relevant criterion in custody cases? Does the gender of the parents affect their custody rights? Is the sex or age of the minor child a factor? What are the rights of the parents to joint or exclusive custody in the case of divorce or separation? Are the rights of the husband and wife equal? What economic rights and obligations exist between the spouses under civil and religious law? How does the approach taken by religious law differ, if at all, from the approach taken by civil law?

4.There are people who believe someone is only contributing to a relationship if he or she is bringing home a paycheck. The partnership theory of marriage, a theory most courts follow, acknowledges that a spouse who does not work still contributes an equal amount of value to the marriage. In almost all states, you cannot disinherit a spouse in your will. Why do you think the law would force someone to leave something to a spouse? Discuss marital money matters including property, community property, debt, taxes, and credit.

5.Organize a round table discussion to learn the opinion of all members of your group on some important issues of marriage and divorce law.

What are the biggest problems that families deal with? What are the reasons of people who choose divorce? Can you suggest any ways that families can try to work through their problems? Why were mandatory waiting periods before divorce introduced?

154

ORAL SPEECH PRACTICE

Must adoption records be kept open or closed? Is protecting the anonymity of the birth mother or giving information to the adopted child more important?

Should surrogacy be allowed? What do you think the surrogacy laws should be?

6.Imagine you are a lawyer consulting a person who is going to seek divorce. Try to find out if some of the following causes were the grounds for divorce. Define the line of defense for this person.

Poor communication Financial problems

A lack of commitment to the marriage A dramatic change in priorities Infidelity

Failed expectations or unmet needs Addictions or substance abuse Physical, sexual or emotional abuse Lack of conflict resolution skills Expectations about household tasks Communication with spouse Parents or in-laws

D.Copyright

7.Read the following pieces of information on a number of exceptions to copyright. Say whether they are reasonable.

Research, criticism, review or newspaper summary is allowed if source and author’s name are cited;

A person may read or recite in public a reasonable extract from a published work;

A person may make or publish, for the purposes of news reporting or news summary, a report of an address of a political nature given at a public meeting;

Churches, charities, colleges, schools and religious charitable and fraternal organizations can perform music in a public performance if the goal is to further a religious, educational or charitable object.

8.Discuss the issues relating to intellectual property protection.

1. Do patent, trademark and copyright laws apply to computers, the Internet and related activities? 2. Does a link to a site violate copyright law? 3. Are on-line activities private, even if between two people? 4. What about computers in the workplace — can your boss watch what you are doing? 5. A person in the USA has completely copied your website, word for word, text for text, including articles, advice, pictures, and several other works. The site is hosted by a Russian

155

LESSON SEVEN

company. What can you do to notify this person and the webhost provider about the copyright infringement? 6. My wedding photographer says that I cannot post copies of my wedding pictures on the Internet, claiming that he retains the copyright. There is no clause in the contract that states who holds the copyright. Since I hired him, don’t I own the copyright?

9. Say if the circumstances mentioned below connected with the Net can result in infringements of some rights.

Use of Others’ Trademarks as a Fan. The problem: a fan of your company or product is so enthused that the fan creates a web site to pay tribute, but inevitably there appears on the site your intellectual property, perhaps your trademark (or some copyrighted material).

Use of Others’ Trademarks as a Critic. You may find at some internet sites the use of a trademark in connection with critiques of products or services associated with the marks.

Invasion of privacy.

An employer might discover that potential employee was involved in a Usenet newsgroup addressing a specific type of chronic health problem. Perhaps the employer would conclude that the employee or a family member had the health problem and might choose not to hire this employee over concerns that the employer’s health insurance costs might increase.

A former employee of X company, a defense contractor, now works for some other company, a competitor. His former employer has never deleted his computer account, and he accesses that computer to obtain valuable competitive bid information which he uses for the benefit of his new employer.

A computer hacker, through “social engineering” determines that your login name is your initials, and your password is your spouse’s first name. Armed with this knowledge, the hacker logs in with your user id and password, and examines files on your computer. (Note the absence of a particular computer crime statute).

V.Case Study

1.Read the following explanation.

Anglo-American tort law defines special liability situations. One of them is vicarious liability, that is liability on behalf of someone else. An example of vicarious liability is “the liability of the owner of an automobile for the negligence of persons driving the owner’s car with permission.” (Burnham W. Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States. St. Paul, Minn., 1995, p. 416)

156

WRITING

2. Read the following case and comment on it.

2376. Highways — car driven by another for owner’s purposes

In order to fix vicarious liability for the negligence of the driver of a motor-car on the owner of the vehicle, it must be shown that the driver was using it for the owner’s purposes under delegation of a task or duty. When H and W married they each owned a car, but H sold his car and thereafter the family owned only one car, which was changed from time to time but always registered in W’s name. It was treated as a family car and was used mainly by H who worked seven miles from the matrimonial home. Occasionally H had a drink on the way home, and W had asked him not to drive the car himself if he was not sober. On one occasion H had a great deal to drink, and asked С to drive him home.

There were three passengers in the car together with H when a collision occurred through the negligent driving of С. H and С were killed. The passengers sued W as the owner of the car, claiming that she was vicariously liable for the negligent driving of С. Held, that to fix vicarious liability on the owner in such a case, it must be shown that the driver was using the car for the owner’s purposes under delegation of a task or duty, and on the facts, that was impossible to hold (Decision of Court of Appeal, sub пот. Launchbury v. Morgans [1971] C.L.Y. 7865 reversed; Hewitt v. Bonvin [1940] 1 K.B. 188 approved).

MORGANS v. LAUNCHBURY [1972] 2 W.L.R. 1217; [1972] 2 All E. R. 606, H.L

(Current Law Year Book, 1972. L, 1973)

WRITING

Structuring an Essay

Introduction

This is a threeor four-sentence paragraph which contains a strong opening statement summarizing the main ideas or reasons for the opinion and the importance of the topic.

Body Paragraphs

Present the main idea in a topic sentence. Contain other sentences supporting the main one with details, facts, examples, etc.

Conclusion

Restates, but not simply repeats, the main ideas you have stated in the body paragraphs.

157

LESSON SEVEN

Exercises

1.Write an essay on the following topic: Law as an ever-changing phenom-

enon.

2.Exchange essays with your fellow-student. Analyze them. Introduce any improvements you can.

3.Study the following chart and write an essay giving your reasons on the statistics on the popularity of different professions.

OPINIONS OF VARIOUS PROFESSIONS

Source: ABA Journal, Vol. 79, Sept., 1993, p. 62.

158

LESSON EIGHT

GRAMMAR: 1. Subjunctives and Conditionals (Revision). 2. Inversion and Emphasis.

WORD-BUILDING: 1. Prefixes with the Negative Meanings (Revision). 2. Prefix со- (Revision).

READING AND ORAL SPEECH: Legal Environment of Business and Youth Employment.

CONVERSATIONAL FORMULAS: Making Suggestions.

WRITING: Writing a Business Letter.

GRAMMAR

The Forms of Subjunctives

It is important that he come.

I suggest that it (should) be done.

It is time we started discussing the draft resolution. She talks as if she knew it.

I wish he were here.

They wished they had had some information about it at that time.

If he had been there, he would have spoken to them.

If she had asked me to do it, I could have helped her.

Inversion

Инверсия — обратный порядок слов. В предложениях с инверсией сказуемое или его часть стоит перед подлежащим.

Инверсия употребляется а) в вопросительных предложениях (Is he a lawyer? Does he study law?); б) в предложениях, начинающихся с оборота there + be (There are a lot of proprietorships in the U.S.A.); в) в повествовательных предложениях после слов и выражений never, little, hardly, rarely, seldom, not until, under no circumstances, only after и др. (Hardly had I finished looking through accounts when my boss called me. — Едва я закончил про-

159