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Entries from September 2009

People Who Died Now Includes Jim Carroll

September 13th, 2009 · No Comments

NYT obit here. below is an excerpt:
In 1973 Mr. Carroll left New York to escape drugs. He settled in Bolinas, an artistic community north of San Francisco, where met and married Rosemary Klemfuss in 1978. The marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by a brother, Tom.
Mr. Carroll’s music career started by accident when Ms. [...]

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Tags: Online Norms and Culture

Judging, On and Off the Court

September 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Tennis fans are still buzzing about the unbelievable scene that unfolded late last night at the US Open tournament.  Kim Clijsters faced Serena Williams in one of the semi-final matches.  Clijsters was dominating Williams, to the latter’s enormous and obvious frustration.  Clijsters was leading 6-4, 6-5, with Williams serving at 15-30.  On her second serve, [...]

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Tags: Ideas · Just for Fun

Housing Crisis in ‘Toon Town

September 13th, 2009 · 3 Comments

As a parent of youngsters, I spend a lot of my time being brainwashed by exposed to cartoons on Nick, Noggin etc.  It dawns on me that no one has yet noticed the apparent severity of the housing crisis in the world of cartoons.  For example, Wubbzy lives in a tree and SpongeBob lives in [...]

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Tags: Art and Politics · Just for Fun

IP, India, and Cultural Anthropology

September 12th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Before anything, I want to thank Michael and the others contributors for inviting me join in this creative collaboration.
For my first post to Madisonian.net, I’m focused on culture and norms and how they affect intellectual property policy. No doubt, this is prompted by being in Kolkata, India, where I was invited by a good friend, [...]

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Tags: Law & Technology

Making Silly Putty

September 11th, 2009 · 1 Comment

As a mom, I just love this recipe for (and history of) silly putty – from WikiHow.  (And just to be IP relevant, Crayola apparently owns the trademark…)

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Tags: Just for Fun

History, Literature, and … Patents

September 10th, 2009 · 2 Comments

First, let me thank Mike and his crew for having me here.  I’ve often read Madisonian and am honored to be among the new participants.
I thought I’d start off talking about my increasingly inaccurately referenced “summer reading list”.  In other words, I bought a pile of books over the summer, didn’t read them and am [...]

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Tags: Intellectual Property Law · Law & Technology · Patent Law

More Madisonian Expansion

September 10th, 2009 · No Comments

The roster of contributors to Madisonian.net is expanding again by three. Please welcome the following three law professors to the team, all of whom have overlapping interests in intellectual property law, technology law, and other things:
Jacqui Lipton, at Case Western Reserve, who also blogs at The Faculty Lounge,
Bruce Boyden, at Marquette, who also blogs [...]

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Tags: Admin

CBS claims copyright in open mike tape of Assemblyman Duvall

September 10th, 2009 · 1 Comment

In a story entitled “Recorded Sex Comments Cost Calif. Lawmaker His Job,” the Associated Press reports that California Assemblyman Mike Duvall resigned after his boasts about extramarital affairs were recorded by an open mike. The story mentioned that the tape had been posted to YouTube, and – like all dedicated academics with inquiring minds [...]

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Tags: Copyright Law · Intellectual Property Law · Law & Technology · social norms

Teaching and Learning in Law and Life

September 9th, 2009 · No Comments

s expected, last weekend’s NYT op-eds with advice to college students attracted commentary that points out how legal education is like, and unlike, college education.  Paul Horwitz at Prawfsblawg offers characteristically thoughtful analysis; Danielle Citron at Concurring Opinions is pithier but no less on point.
When I read that series of op-eds, I was struck not [...]

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Tags: Academia · Ideas · Law School

More Python, Fair Use, and Attribution

September 9th, 2009 · No Comments

So I had my iTunes open and on shuffle yesterday when Monty Python’s “Finland” came on. That was what prompted me to check YouTube for Python offerings. Now the Python chaps have offered their own channel. This video has the usual Python cheek as they talk about YouTube, being ripped off, and the open plea [...]

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Tags: Copyright Law · Intellectual Property Law · Online Norms and Culture

“Just YouTube Me”

September 9th, 2009 · No Comments

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Tags: Online Norms and Culture

Smart Choices

September 8th, 2009 · No Comments

From the NYT:
A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices.”
The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including — to the surprise of many [...]

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Tags: The Trouble With Trademarks · social norms

Connectivity Panics: In the Cloud and on the Ground

September 8th, 2009 · 1 Comment

The news media seem to be frothing at the news that the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, the single most vital ground transportation link in the Bay Area and a LANDMARK bridge, will be closed today. (There is a major crack in the bridge, requiring an immediate repair; the bridge was closed over the holiday [...]

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Tags: Ideas · Just for Fun

On Fidelity

September 5th, 2009 · 1 Comment

(Lots of interesting details are omitted from the anecdote below; in time, as circumstances permit, I may flesh them out!)
Ah, the perils of teaching timely topics.  Among the scenarios that I ran by my Trademark Law students at the beginning of this semester is a pending Intent to Use application to register a trademark.  The [...]

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Tags: Academia · Law School · Trademark Law

The NY Daily News Needs A Factchecker

September 4th, 2009 · No Comments

Because it turns out that this is a tall tale.

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Tags: Art and Politics · Law & Technology · Potential Exam Fodder

Some Weekend Music

September 4th, 2009 · 3 Comments

I fully laud Dave Hoffman’s encouraging folks to listen to Nina Simone’s Sinnerman. As the long weekend is upon us, I offer another tune to help get you pumped up, the B-52s’ Private Idaho (Rock Lobster may have been a great fit for beach goers but I could not find a good stream).
Enjoy (Remember these [...]

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Tags: Just for Fun

Copyright Irony, Of Royalty Boards and Google Book Deals

September 4th, 2009 · No Comments

Earlier this week Live365 filed a law suit arguing that the Copyright Royalty Board is unconstitutional. Today is the deadline for authors to opt-out of the class in the Google Book Settlement. The idea that this Settlement ought to approved is more than suspect. Others have noted the myriad issues the settlement raises. As Pam [...]

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Tags: Copyright Law · Intellectual Property Law · Law & Technology · social norms

Thought Police at the RIAA?

September 4th, 2009 · No Comments

The Recording Industry Association of American thumped music downloader Joel Tenenbaum at trial, and now the RIAA wants him to act the repentant sinner?  Michael Vick volunteered to do penance by helping with the anti-dogfighting campaign of The Humane Society of the United States, but if he hadn’t done so, would he have been back [...]

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Tags: Copyright Law

Tiny (Or Rather Shiny?) Bubbles: Apple Trademarks Dialogue Bubbles?

September 3rd, 2009 · No Comments

As Don Ho (and others) have sung:
Tiny bubbles
In the wine
Make me feel happy
Ah, they make me feel fine
Those tiny bubbles
Make me warm all over
With a feeling that I’m gonna
Love you till the end of time
The little charming talk bubbles all over the Internet communications have a similar warm effect. They remind me of comic [...]

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Tags: Law & Technology · The Trouble With Trademarks · Trademark Law

Thoughts on Beatles Rock Band and the Economics of IP

September 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

“The Beatles: Rock Band” is due for release a week from today, together with a newly remastered set of  CDs of the Beatles’ albums.   That’s news to just about no one in the entertainment field, whether on the consumer side, the producer side, or the observer side.
The game and the remastered CDs arrive at a fascinating [...]

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Tags: Art and Politics · Commons · Copyright Law · Ideas · Intellectual Property Law