Copyright Notes

Guess where I am... I am coming to you live from Intellectual Property class! I decided to bring my laptop computer to type my notes on, so I can actually see them. Professor Matthews still has not learned how to work the recessed lighting, so we are basically sitting in the dark. She's at it again today with her overhead projector and transparencies. As I sit here, basking in the glow of my laptop, I can't help but ponder an ongoing issue... How can I get one of those swanky laptops that allows you to watch DVD's?

Professor Mathews is currently embarking on her laps around the room. It bugs the heck out of me when she looks over students' shoulders to see what they are doing on their laptops. We have the Constitutional right not to pay attention in class. I'm sure I read that somewhere. In any event, her parading around the room isn't going to dissuade us from venturing onto the Internet or playing FreeCell. In fact, I am doing both as we speak. I have a FreeCell game going, I'm writing this email to send over the wireless Internet, and I'm taking good notes. Anyone know what page we're on??

Right now, we are staring at an overhead transparency that has a wiggly line across it. Is it a snake? No. Is it a bored law student's doodle? No. Here's a hint: it is supposed to have something to do with copyright. Oh, it's a bike rack. We are studying a bike rack. I think I have seen that precise bike rack outside of the public library back home, where I live up north. Does that thing have copyright protection?

Turns out, it doesn't. But the "artist" who "designed" the wiggly sculpture/bike rack actually went to court to try and get the judge to say he had copyright protection in the bike rack. Poor guy lost. It all boiled down to distinguishing between functionality and artistic expression. Is there artistic expression separate and apart from the functionality? Nope. Sorry, dude. Oh, well, the important thing is, the attorney still got his fee. The title of the case is: Bandir International Inc. v. Cascade Pacific Lumber Co. Here's the cite so you can go look it up: 834 F.2d 1142 (2d Cir. 1987). Bandir is the "artist," and Cascade is the evil company that had the audacity to sell a similar product.

Ooops, here comes Professor Mathews...she's walking down my row...Nope. She stopped. Looking over some guy's shoulder down at the other end. She's looking up and talking about the overhead transparency. Now, here she comes again... she's walking... she's walking... Thank goodness for the "Alt+Tab" feature where I can flip out of this email back to my notes real quick. Here she comes... Will she stop to see where Michele is shopping online today or come straight for me? Be right back...

That was a close one. I hit Alt+Tab and almost landed on FreeCell about the time she walked up behind me. I guess it probably wouldn't do much good to flip out of email just to let her see me playing game number 2162 on FreeCell. Wasn't that exciting, though? Thrills a minute in Intellectual Property.

I'm in a good mood this morning because I got to meet with Professor Tarkington before this class. At what point do I get to start calling him "Mick"? He, thankfully, didn't comment on yesterday's Sex Day lecture or the fact I attended it with the other Tarkington Groupies. He looked really tired, but he had a cup of coffee and the newspaper to help wake him up as I was walking in his office. I am sure he hit the comics as soon as I left...

Tarkington told me about the "theme" (I guess you would call it) for his law review article. It's about juvenile justice and sentencing, including the death penalty for juveniles. While I am extremely interested in the profiles of juvenile offenders from a psych point of view, I'm not in favor of the death penalty for anyone, but especially kids. Unfortunately, Tarkington appears to support the death penalty. Even for minors. It's a good thing he's hot, or I'd have a real problem helping him with this law review article. For background reading, he gave me his working outline and two law review articles that were written on a similar topic. He said he would like my feedback, comments, questions, etc. when we meet again Friday morning. Hey, guess what! I get to meet with him again on Friday. I love this job.

Let's see where Mathews is now... She's up at the rows behind me. I still have to be careful because I don't want her to see my computer screen from up there. She needs to come back and change the overhead transparency. I think we all know what the bike rack looks like now.

I wanted to give you a taste of what Intellectual Property class is like. I guess I should have told you to bring your pillow. Mathews pretty much reads the text to us, so it's a good idea to bring something else to do. Of course, for me, since I am just catching up on the whole law school thing, I usually try to take good notes anyway. Even it they are repeating the textbook, it still helps me understand the material. That, and I actually think Intellectual Property is interesting.