Oct

12

Roman Polanski and the Rule of Law

Posted by: David R. Papke | October 12, 2009 | 3 Comments

I’ve been struck by the differing views in Europe and the United States regarding whether filmmaker Roman Polanski should be extradited. Polanski drugged and raped a thirteen-year-old girl in Los Angeles, and he then fled the United States in 1978, just before being sentenced. He lived openly in Paris and traveled and worked in Europe [...]

Sep

14

More on Literary Characters and Copyright Law

Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | September 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

This blog has seen an extended discussion on the topic of literary characters and copyright law.  It began with my post here, discussing the ongoing court case brought by J.D. Salinger over the unauthorized use of his Holden Caulfield character from The Catcher in the Rye, (Salinger v. Colting) and using a comparison to the [...]

Sep

7

Law School and the Hero’s Journey

Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | September 7, 2009 | 1 Comment

Most law school professors are conflicted about their own experiences as law students.  We remember law school as an exceedingly unpleasant place, filled with crushing amounts of work and a hostile professoriate.  It is not surprising that law school is often depicted as a de-humanizing experience in the media, whether in books like Scott Turow’s One L [...]

Aug

27

I Am the Author

Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | August 27, 2009 | 8 Comments

Your faithful blog committee moderates posts and comments on  a rotating basis.  I was  ”on call” on Tuesday evening and, returning home in despair after a night at Miller Park,  inadvertently published posts by Professors Greipp and Papke under my own name. The mistake was fixed in the morning.
But I found the latter error intriguing. [...]

Aug

25

What Is an Author?

Posted by: David R. Papke | August 25, 2009 | 4 Comments

I greatly enjoyed last week’s exchange among colleagues Bruce Boyden, Ed Fallone, and Gordon Hylton regarding literary sequels and the general purposes of copyright law. It is my impression that most blog posts do not purport to be “scholarly,” but the posts by Boyden, Fallone, and Hylton had the length and depth necessary for that [...]

Aug

16

Caufield Meets Quixote

Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | August 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, a brief was filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of Salinger v. Colting.  This lawsuit, alleging breach of copyright, has received a great deal of attention because the plaintiff is the reclusive author J.D. Salinger.  He sued Swedish author Fredrik Colting in New York over [...]

Aug

14

Does Baseball’s Antitrust Immunity Extend to Baseball Card Contracts?

Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | August 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

The baseball antitrust exemption has turned out to be one of the great anomalies of American law.  First recognized in the Supreme Court’s Federal Baseball decision in 1922 at a time when “commerce” was understood much more narrowly than it would be in the post-New Deal world, the exemption took on a life of its [...]

Jul

31

The Beer Summit-A Restorative Justice Experience?

Posted by: Janine P. Geske | July 31, 2009 | 3 Comments

As I listened to the political pundits argue about the “beer summit” that occurred at the White House yesterday, I am amazed by the debate as to whether President Barrack Obama, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Lieutenant James Crowley really gave us “a teachable moment.” There is no doubt in mind that they did. [...]

Jul

30

Lawyer in Your Living Room

Posted by: David R. Papke | July 30, 2009 | 1 Comment

I enjoyed serving on “the jury” chosen by the American Bar Association to pick the top 25 law shows during the history of prime-time television.  Our list and sketches of the shows just appeared in the August, 2009 ABA Journal.  I was pleased but surprised that “The Defenders,” a fine series from the early 1960s [...]

Jun

27

Michael Jackson v. Prince: Thinking About Copyright, Intellectual Property, and the Age of the Eighties

Posted by: Kali N. Murray | June 27, 2009 | 3 Comments

Irene’s recent post on why we love intellectual property gets at its certain power–its ubiquity in everyday life. The recent death of Michael Jackson speaks to that particular ubiquity. What was necessarily powerful about his death was that for kids of a certain generation (maybe if you were born between 1972 [...]

May

26

Professional Responsibility: One Marine’s Example

Posted by: Peter Heyne | May 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As I was driving home the evening of Memorial Day, I happened upon Terry Gross’ Fresh Air. She was interviewing former Marine Donovan Campbell. From the NPR site:

Campbell served three combat deployments, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. In Iraq, he commanded Joker One, a platoon of new Marines that he trained and transformed [...]

Apr

7

Thoughts on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision

Posted by: Sean Samis | April 7, 2009 | 25 Comments

First, let me thank Prof. Slavin for inviting me to contribute to the blog.  I shall try not to be dull, and in that effort, I begin my blogging stint with a controversial topic, the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
My take on same-sex marriage begins with my [...]

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