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Legal Links – July 31, 2015
On Fridays, we compile and post Legal Links, a list of legal news, reported cases, community events and topics of interest to Lancaster residents and readers of the Lancaster Law Blog.
1. Bike Lancaster. Cycling is a sport (and popular alternative mode of transportation) near and dear to the hearts of Central Pennsylvanians. Lancaster and Harrisburg have each unveiled plans to make their streets more friendly to recreational cyclists and commuters.
This week on the Lancaster Law Blog, Matt Landis explored two of his three true loves (cycling and law) in his summary of Pennsylvania law as it relates to cycling: Share the Road: Cycling Laws in Pennsylvania.
In other cycling-related news:
Earlier this week, you may have passed an unusual sight on the roads of Lancaster County – “A white-whiskered Chinese man toiled up a hill on Route 462 between Columbia and Mountville on Wednesday afternoon, pulling a battered rickshaw behind him.” Read more about Chen Guan Ming’s Olympics-inspired journey here.
Lancaster City resident Lowell Brown won an essay contest about his commute to work by bicycle and Red Rose Transit. Congratulations, Lowell!
2. Social, Enterprising Entrepreneurs. Lancaster entrepreneurs whose businesses have a goal of solving a social or environmental problem (known as “social enterprises”) are competing in the 2015 Great Social Enterprise Pitch. The competition has just entered its crowdfunding phase, in which the community can vote online by participating in crowdfunding campaigns to support their favorite projects.
A quick side note – one of the 2014 competition winners is none other than The Common Wheel, whose mission is to encourage bicycling in Lancaster County. We promise, we’ll take it easy on the bike links next week.
3. Butt-Dialing Away Your Privacy. “Butt-dial” didn’t get added to Webster’s Dictionary this year (“photobomb” and “jegging” made the list), but that didn’t stop a Cincinnati federal appeals court from ruling that a butt-dialer had no expectation of privacy in a butt-dial situation.
Here’s a deeper look at the legal issues in this case from the National Constitution Center: Federal court’s butt-dialing decision no joking matter
Also, a sincere thank you to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for issuing this opinion and allowing us to write “butt-dial” six times on the Lancaster Law Blog.
4. Law Review – Happy Birthday! Edition. The song everyone knows and loves, “Happy Birthday to You,” is the subject of a lawsuit focusing on the unauthorized use of the song in a documentary.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog did a great job discussing the copyright issues here: Unwrapping the ‘Happy Birthday’ Legal Dispute