Expert Witness Blog

Ever contemplate why driving at twilight is difficult? In Visibility of SMV Signs during Twilight, visibility expert witness Raymond L. Lee, Jr., Ph.D.,writes:

During the darker half of civil twilight, low levels of natural illumination make slow-moving-vehicle (SMV) signs less visible. Their visibility decreases then because drivers must rely more on luminance contrast than color contrast, and a SMV sign’s fluorescent orange actually reflects less luminance than does a white surface. Furthermore, about 10%-15% of drivers do not use their headlights during twilight’s darker half, and this behavior renders ineffective the red retroreflective edge of the SMV sign. My spectroradiometric measurements show that adding a white border (reflectance = 90%) to the SMV sign would make its contrast exceed the threshold contrast (and thus make the sign detectable) during more of twilight, even for unalerted drivers who do not use their headlights. This added margin of safety for farmers, farm workers, and motorists suggests a simple, but significant, improvement to current SMV sign design.

In BUYING A FRANCHISE VERSUS STARTING AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, attorney and franchisees expert witness Kevin B. Murphy writes:

AVOID ILLEGAL DISGUISED FRANCHISES CALLED A LICENSE An increasing number of unscrupulous companies that don’t fly straight or play by the rules are selling licenses that are really disguised, illegal franchises. Instead of providing a comprehensive FDD Franchise Disclosure Document that meets stringent federal and state legal requirements, these companies go a different route. They present a “license agreement” or a distributor agreement” with no disclosures, no audited financial statements, no background of the principals, no investment requirement details, etc. The franchise versus license situation is one that I often consult on as a franchise expert, after clients have lost their life savings, retirement accounts, etc. investing in a license or distributorship that is an illegal disguised franchise. Don’t go down this dangerous path.

Read more:ezinearticles.com.

Electric utilities expert witnesses may opine on high voltage lines, public utilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and more. In 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated $4.5 billion to the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. These “Smart Grid” funds are to be used to develop a nationwide plan to modernize the electric grid, enhance security of U.S. energy infrastructure and ensure reliable electricity delivery to meet growing demand.

In 2010 The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) initiated a rulemaking (R.08.-12-009) to consider policies for California investor-owned electric utilities to develop a smarter electric grid in the state. The proceeding will consider setting policies, standards and protocols to guide the development of a smart grid system and facilitate integration of new technologies such as distributed generation, storage, demand-side technologies, and electric vehicles.

Read more: ferc.gov.

Media expert witnesses may opine on film, content theft, royalties, motion picture distribution, copyright for movies, and more. In Types of Content Theft, the Motion Picture Association of America writes:

OPTICAL DISC THEFT Optical disc theft – also known as “bootlegging” – is the illegal manufacturing, sale and/or distribution of movies in hard copy or disc format. Bootleggers sometimes have elaborate operations where they replicate DVDs and then distribute them to vendors who sell them illegally on the streets. There is strong evidence that many of these operations are run by the same organized crime networks that traffic in drugs and human beings. Others may have small operations in their homes and even in their places of work. These illegal goods can be sold anywhere: on websites, online auction sites, via e-mail, by street vendors and in flea markets around the world.

Read more: mpaa.org.Types of Content Theft

Utilities expert witness John P. Nelson writes “There are many hazards associated with the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.”

The following is a list of a few of those hazards:

• Contact with energized parts • Electrical arc flashes • Auto accidents involving power poles • Drowning in water associated with hydroelectric plants.

In BUYING A FRANCHISE VERSUS STARTING AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, attorney and franchise disputes expert witness Kevin B. Murphy writes:

A CHANCE TO GET RICH, BUT ALSO A CHANGE TO GET STUNG Just as franchising represents a chance to get rich, it’s also a chance to get stung. Everyone knows the big blue-chip names like McDonalds, KFC, Radio Shack, etc. But they’re the exception and not the rule. Many lawyers owner wannabes sign on with far smaller, lesser-known or unknown names that may not have a clue about helping operators make money.

Regrettably too many over-eager, first-time buyers leap into buying a franchise without using a franchise attorney who understands the in’s and out’s of relationships, the viability of the industry or company under consideration, and the long-term legal consequences of the contract they are signing.

Media piracy expert witnesses may opine on film, content theft, royalties, motion picture distribution, copyright for movies, and more. In Types of Content Theft, the Motion Picture Association of America writes:

PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) THEFT A peer-to-peer (P2P) network is a system that enables Internet users through the exchange of digital files among individual computers or “peers” to (1) make files (including movies and music) stored on their computer available for copying by other users; (2) search for files stored on other users’ computers; and (3) transfer exact copies of files from one computer to another. P2P technology itself is not illegal and may be useful for many legal purposes, but people often use the technology to illegally exchange copyrighted material on the Internet. While people may believe their files are being exchanged among only a few “friends,” these files can be accessed by millions of people around the world who are part of the same P2P network.

If you download movies using illegal peer-to-peer sites, you are often also distributing illegal content, as the default setting of most P2P networks ensures that individuals downloading files from the network are simultaneously uploading files and thus distributing illegal copies of works to other peers in the group, who in turn distribute the files to yet others.

The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics, answers the question, What stages are involved in the reverse engineering process?

The second stage, disassembly or decompilation of the original product, is the most time-consuming aspect of the project. In this stage, reverse engineers attempt to construct a characterization of the system by accumulating all of the technical data and instructions of how the product works.

In the third stage of reverse engineering, reverse engineers try to verify that the data generated by disassembly or decompilation is an accurate reconstruction the original system. Engineers verify the accuracy and validity of their designs by testing the system, creating prototypes, and experimenting with the results.

In BUYING A FRANCHISE VERSUS STARTING AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, attorney and franchising expert witness Kevin B. Murphy writes:

As a franchise attorney who has owned and operated a successful franchise, I can say buying a franchise represents a different approach to starting a business. Millions of people dream about owning their own business. Having the independence that being your own boss brings, the security that no one can fire you, hopefully enjoying a good income – and for the most successful – the accumulation of wealth and prosperity.

Unfortunately, the cards are stacked against a new small business making it big – or making it at all. An endless stream of problems makes competition from large, sophisticated chains just too intense. Most new start-ups end as failures.