In a 1992 decision, Quill v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that retailers are exempt from
collecting
sales taxes in states where they have
no
physical presence, such as a
store,
office, or warehouse.
(The
legal
term for this physical presence
is
"nexus.")
Although
the case dealt
with a catalog mail-order
company,
the ruling has subsequently been applied to
all
remote sellers, including
online retailers. The Court said that
requiring
these companies to comply with
the
varied sales tax rules and regulations of 45
states
and some 7,500 different
local taxing jurisdictions would
burden
interstate commerce.
Scott Thomas on 21 Apr 10Article discusses how the RIAA is issuing letters to suspected copyright infringing music downloaders and sharers and asking them to turn themselves in and pay a reduced fine, which will still be in the thousands of dollars, or else they will sue them for all they have or might ever have. Lawyer from University of Southern California talks about how letters are actually just "cease and desist letters" and that suspected offenders might not want to turn themselves in because the RIAA might not be able to find out their identities otherwise since many schools ISP's are not keeping track of or releasing students' names, personally identifiable IP addresses, or other information.
