A coalition of US state attorneys general Wednesday announced a nationwide investigation into whether video-sharing social media platform TikTok’s design and promotion intensify physical and mental health harms for young users and violate consumer protection laws. In light of the anxiety, depression and social pressure faced by young people, a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general led [...]
France’s Court of Cassation Wednesday upheld a bar association’s ban on barristers wearing religious symbols alongside robes in courtrooms. In June 2019, the Lille Bar Council notified its members that they would be disallowed from wearing “decorations or signs” displaying “religious, philosophical, community or political affiliation or opinion” along with their robes. Sarah Asmeta, a trainee [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 opinion Thursday that mistakes of law—and not only mistakes of fact—could protect parties from losing their copyrights on grounds of inaccurate registration. Unicolors, a fabric design company, sued fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) for copyright infringement in 2020. While the jury ruled in favor of Unicolors, [...]
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) issued a set of guidelines Wednesday designed to prevent risk to users of crypto assets and related services. Titled the “Guidelines for Advertising of Virtual Digital Assets and Linked Services,” the guidelines prefer the term “Virtual Digital Assets” (VDAs) over crypto assets. They define a VDA as any [...]
The UK Supreme Court held Wednesday that a person under criminal investigation has a “reasonable expectation of privacy” with regard to information about that investigation prior to being charged. This judgment is anticipated to have a great impact on journalism. The respondent and the company he worked for (identified anonymously as “ZXC” and “X Ltd.” [...]
Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a request Tuesday to conduct a national referendum on modifying the criminal law to allow patients suffering from incurable illnesses or unbearable pain to exercise their right to die. Article 579 of the Criminal Code of Italy penalizes the act of killing someone even with their consent with a sentence of [...]
Following a three-year investigation, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Tesla Motors and fifty representatives Thursday, alleging its work environment violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and other laws with regard to Black employees. In a complaint filed at the Alameda County Superior Court, the DFEH alleged “unchecked racism” in [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Wednesday Uganda must pay $325 million in reparations to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for its involvement in the Ituri conflict two decades ago. In 2005, the ICJ ruled Uganda violated international law by engaging in military activities in the DRC after occupying the latter’s northeastern Ituri [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday “gross negligence” and violations of due process in the investigations of four politically sensitive murders that reveal donations failed to strengthen the rule of law in Lebanon. This comes a year after the assassination of pro-democracy activist Lokman Slim. The four murders were of Byblos Bank ethics department head [...]
Seven judges of the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled Thursday that claims against employers for statutory damages under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) were not barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA). In the 2017 case of Marquita McDonald v Symphony Bronzeville Park, LLC, the plaintiff filed a putative class action [...]
