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In a 4-3 decision, New York's State Court of Appeals decided that lap dances are not an artistic endeavor intended to promote culture.

While most states name their high court 'supreme,' in New York the supreme court is a lower level courthouse. The state court of appeals is the highest court, meaning Nite Moves's case will likely end here.

The state sales tax exemption doesn't apply to all performances, something the court noted in the opinion. It only exempts those intended to promote culture.

If you need more proof that determination pays off look no further than Kim Millbrook, an inmate in a federal prison in Pennsylvania, whose handwritten petition was granted certiorari by the Supreme Court.

That means his complaint is one of the few selected to be heard by the court, an honor that many immaculately typed petitions don't receive.

In his 31-years in prison Millbrook has filed many lawsuits but none have been successful. The one accepted by the court concerns a fairly technical legal matter but his petition likely wouldn't have been accepted without some unlikely assistance.

Several cities have tried to push through legislation banning the distribution of Yellow Pages phone books.

Proponents of such bans argue that Yellow Pages are environmentally wasteful and unnecessary in this age of the Internet.

However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently said that even the most unnecessary books deserve First Amendment protections, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The court overturned a Seattle ordinance that would have created an opt-out registry for the telephone listings.

The Supreme Court is back in session for its 2012 Term, with several rounds of oral arguments set to take place over the next few months.

As always, a few closely watched cases are getting the most attention. For the justices' fall term, this includes controversies such as warrantless DUI blood tests, university affirmative action, and international human rights.

Here are five Supreme Court cases that could have wide-reaching effects:

What's the top factor that determines how much interest you pay on your mortgage?

For most people, the answer would be your credit score. However, for some minority borrowers of Wells Fargo, the answer may have been the color of their skin.

Wells Fargo just settled a massive lawsuit for $175 million. The Department of Justice accused them of discriminatory lending practices. Wells Fargo said it was innocent, but opted not to fight the case.

Google has reached a settlement with the FTC over privacy concerns regarding Google's use of Apple's Safari browser.

This agreement comes several months after the FTC began investing Google's activities in response to a Wall Street Journal article. The article indicated that Google was tracking Safari users by circumventing the privacy controls using a special piece of code. They discontinued that practice after the article was published by the FTC launched an investigation into Google's privacy practices.

The alleged settlement amount is $22.5 Million. If that's true, it would be the biggest fine ever levied by the FTC.

The Supreme Court's 2011 term was a busy one as usual.

Several high-profile decisions were handed down, including one that may define President Obama's presidency.

Along with the Obamacare decision, other major Supreme Court cases involved state immigration powers, lying about military medals, prisoner rights, and GPS tracking. Here are our top five cases from the 2011 term:

It's a big win for liars: You are now constitutionally allowed to lie about receiving a military medal.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Stolen Valor Act that had made it a crime to lie about receiving military medals. The Court held that First Amendment free speech rights trumped integrity and honor when it came to such awards.

In a somewhat surprising decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the entire Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, by a 5-4 vote.

This landmark decision affirms one of the signature laws passed under President Obama, and the success of his presidency could be viewed in light of this law.

The decision was surprising as there were many controversial parts of the law. Had the Court struck down just one of these parts, the entire law would likely have been struck down. But that wasn't the case.

Facebook has settled a lawsuit over its "Sponsored Stories" advertisements and will pay $10 million to charity, Reuters reports.

Five Facebook members sued the social-networking site for allegedly using their names and images in "Sponsored Story" advertisements without their consent. That violates California's "right to publicity" law, their federal lawsuit claimed.

In a "Sponsored Story," an ad for a product appears on a user's Facebook page. The ad also shows which of that user's friends "likes" the advertiser, and includes those friends' names and profile pictures.