Letter of Credit is issued by the( )for importer benefits.
A:buyer'sbank B:seller's bank C:bank D:investor's bank
Locked in a vault within the North Carolina Department of Revenue is a bit of Kafka: a government-issued stamp that is expected to remain unpurchased, but which users of illegal goods must, by law, affix to substances they are not allowed to possess.
North Carolina is one of about 20 states that tax illegal drugs. The cost varies by state and weight, as does the stamps’ appearance (Nebraska’s, with a skull surmounting a syringe and joint, looks like Grateful Dead tribute art). Penalties for non-payment also vary, from being classed as a misdemeanour in Georgia to 200% of the tax plus $10,000 or five years in prison in Louisiana.
Few, if any, drug users actually buy the stamps. Most of those sold in Kansas, for instance, go to collectors. And according to a Mobile newspaper, the director of investigations for Alabama’s revenue department said the state never expected actually to sell stamps to drug users. Instead, the tax exists to further punish those arrested for possession by making them liable to penalties for tax evasion if their drugs are stampless, as they almost invariably are. And those penalties can be lucrative: over the past decade Kansas has collected $10.3m.
If legislators feel that drug users get off too lightly, they could simply increase the criminal penalties, rather than creating a new class of crime that requires the involvement of another government agency. As it is, these laws are not merely complicated, but have often been found unconstitutional.
In 1994 the US Supreme Court ruled that because Montana’s illegal-drug tax was a second punishment for a single crime it amounted to double jeopardy. Other states’ drug-tax schemes have also been challenged on constitutional grounds. In response some states have abolished or modified their schemes, usually by allowing buyers of the stamps to remain anonymous or by forbidding revenue departments from telling law enforcement when someone buys the stamps.
The concept of taxing illegal drugs punitively dates back to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This did not ban the drug completely; it subjected anyone who dealt in it commercially to a nominal tax but a heavy array of regulations and criminal penalties for non-compliance. Bureaucracy lives on.
We may infer from the first paragraph that ______.
A:Kafka is locked in a vault within the North Carolina Department of Revenue B:The government-issued stamp may not be welcome C:Users of illegal goods must purchase stamps everyday D:Users are not allowed to possess the stamps
Text 2 Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its “one-click” online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box. Now the nation’s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz the U.S. court of Appeals for the federal circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski , as the case is known , is “a very big deal”, says Dennis’D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of law. It “has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents.” Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the federal circuit itself that introduced such patents with is 1998 decision in the so-called state Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive pinhts to specific types of online transactions. Later, move established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice. The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should” reconsider” its state street Bank ruling. The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the supreme Count that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for “inventions” that are obvious. The judges on the Federal circuit are “reacting to the anti_ patent trend at the supreme court” ,says Harole C.wegner, a partend attorney and professor at aeorge Washington University Law School.
We learn from the last two paragraphs that business-method patents()A:are immune to legal challenges B:are often unnecessarily issued C:lower the esteem for patent holders D:increase the incidence of risks
Over the past decade, thousands of patents have seen granted for what are called business methods. Amazon. corn received one for its "one-click" online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.
Now the nation’s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it would use particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski, as the case is known, is "a very big deal", says Dernnis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of Law. It "has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents". ?
Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging Internet companies trying to stake out exclusive pints to specific types of online transactions. Later, more established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.
The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should "reconsider" its State Street Bank ruling.
The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the Supreme Count that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for "inventions" that are obvious. The judges on the Federal Circuit are "reaction to the anti-patent trend at the supreme court", says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
A:are immune to legal challenges B:are often unnecessarily issued C:lower the esteem for patent holders D:increase the incidence of risks
Statistics issued in New Jersey suggested that ______.
A:many drivers have not reached the legal driving age B:young drivers were often bad drivers C:more people took to drinking in the 1960s D:the legal drinking age should be raised
A:Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Birthday B:Coins Issued with Metal Content in 1909 C:Coins in Honor of Abraham Lincoln D:Collectible Coins for Abraham Lincoln
Mate’s receipt is issued by the forwarder to the shipper. ( )
Letter of Credit is issued by the()for importer benefits.
A:bank B:buyer'sbank C:seller'sbank D:investor'sbank
A mate's receipt is issued by().
A:the mate/the master B:the shipowner C:the shipper D:the consignee
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