Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

Spotted on my bus ride to work today… ad for #AI for lawyers (featuring Jude Law)

I don’t know how many times I’ve had to say this: it’s TRADEMARK, not PATENT!!!!!

Full-funded (home or international) collaborative PhD studentship (Kew and Royal Holloway, University of London) available. Deadline 8 May. Topic: ‘Just acquisitions? Law and ethics over time in Kew’s overseas plant collecting history’ #Skystorians

Brian Frye is a pretty intimidating guy. If you're too nervous to speak with him, feel free to reach out to me--I am happy to do guest-hosted interviews!

I always wonder - usually in vain - just how big auction houses determine provenance information. Thanks to the Epstein Files, we can see exactly how a seemingly rock-solid provenance was built on shifting sands for this Hercules. 🧵

Mike Pence got totally owned here: Jewish plaintiffs won a ruling against Indiana's abortion ban, using the law he signed 11 years ago as governor to help evangelicals refuse to cater gay weddings and such. Now similar challenges could win in other red states. We tell the story at @forward.com.

Check out this important new paper by my colleague @design-law.bsky.social about a new form of judge shopping - where plaintiffs add or drop defendants in mass joinder #IP cases based on the judge they are assigned. She compares this to cheating maneuvers in #roulette!

“What makes it so special … is that you can walk to the coast anywhere in England, turn left or right, and walk beside the sea for as long as you like.” ❤️

Today in "Nope, Not Infringing": Parting Stone, Inc. v. Remember Me Pebbles LLC, Docket No. 2:26-cv-00931 (W.D. Wash. Mar 18, 2026). This patent covers a design for "solidified cremation remains," as show in in the drawing. Not any stone-shaped solidified remains. #ConceptFallacy

Ooh, you know that the originality rejection caught my eye.

Enjoyed sharing my latest project on The Copyrightability of Living Organisms with the engaging law faculty @californiawestern.bsky.social. Great feedback on my early stage project and SO MUCH SUN! 🌞

Religious organizations have long weaponized #copyright to silence critics. My new post on @ericgoldman.bsky.social’s blog breaks down RRT v Bawtinheimer - a suit by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church against an ex member - and why it feels like a classic case of “copyright silencing.” 👇🏽

Big #ScheduleA news: Last year, Dyson won an uncontested appeal on a Lanham Act remedies issue. That decision, Dyson v. David 7, made number nine on my wrap-up of the most important Schedule A developments of 2025: blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/202...

The weather in the Washington DC area in the summer is . . . well . . . anyway, this sounds like a cool opportunity! www.usajobs.gov/job/86114660...

Note that copyright already protects disembodied designs. So you don't *need* design patents for this stuff...unless your design fails to meet the low bar set by Feist. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Would you rather be perceived as likable or competent? Would you rather be “shrill” but finish your sentence or polite but interrupted by your male colleague? Would you rather shoot literal botulism into your face or look your real age, you hag?

"This $2,500 scholarship will support a woman+ who is currently enrolled in law school or graduate school studies in the fields of law, science, technology, engineering, or math and/or is a recent graduate thereof seeking professional testing/certification for the first time."

A triceratops skeleton that once greeted visitors at a Wyoming museum is heading to an online auction as dinosaur prices keep soaring.

Always appreciate 🙏🏼 @rtushnet.bsky.social’s blogging! So helpful to review feedback on my projects and catch-up on all the fascinating IP talks that I missed. Here’s a great summary of projects from #WIPIP26 Panel 6 @bulaw.bsky.social, including my early-stage project on copyright & living organisms

Enjoyed chatting with @ashleybelanger.bsky.social @arstechnica.com about Copyright x AI x Microsoft x Harry Potter 👇🏽 check it out below…

Wow.

I feel like I should add: This isn't just an IPLAC event. This event will be hosted by--and began as a program organized by students at--Loyola Law School Chicago.

If you’re in the D.C.-area on Thursday (Feb 12), and love nature or copyright law, come hear my talk @gwlaw.bsky.social! Details below 🐛

Join us for the first GWCLT Speaker Series of the semester: Professor @cathaysmith.bsky.social of @chicagokentlaw.bsky.social on “Copyrighting Nature”—when copyright should protect or exclude works created by nature, duplicating nature, or inspired by it. Lunch provided!

Same. ⬇️

You can pry my em dashes out of my cold dead hands.

Hundreds protested in the Loop tonight in the snow and frigid cold as part of a nationwide shutdown in response to federal immigration raids, and fatal shootings by federal agents, in Minneapolis. Read the full story soon @ blockclubchicago.org 📍 Chicago #OnAssignment for @blockclubchi.bsky.social

Version 2 of our open-access patent casebook is now available! - Free PDF copy available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... - Low-cost print copy available here: a.co/d/8vpSEQi And if you'd like to assign just one day on designs, we've got a supplement for that: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Puffery of the day, no reasonable consumer edition (h/t @zacharyschrag.bsky.social ) (FWIW my students tend to divide on Leonard v. Pepsico; maybe not with this one)

It's an exciting time to be doing IP at @chicagokentlaw.bsky.social! For a taste of what's been going on, check out our newsletter: kentlaw.iit.edu/sites/defaul... You can learn more about our Top-10 IP program here: kentlaw.iit.edu/law/academic...

The underlying work is part of Hiroshi Nagai’s Beachcomber series. Likely used without the artist’s authorization or consent.

Oh my god.

In the wake of this news from UNC, I'm seeing some talk about copyright ownership and faculty scholarship. If you're interested in the topic, here's a good explainer from from @authorsalliance.bsky.social:

Huge thank you to the fabulous Prof. @kristelia.bsky.social for the kind and thoughtful #JOTWELL review of my forthcoming article, Copyrighting Nature. I had so much fun writing this paper! 🪼 🦀 🪲 🦖 (draft article available here: lnkd.in/gASYd5_c)

All too often, it feels like law students think "the law" is a settled thing that profs can simply relay to them. But it's not. Especially in IP it's not. It's constantly changing and evolving.

🔥 BREAKING: A spokesperson for Kids Can Press, the publisher of the Franklin the Turtle books, messaged me today about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth using the likeness and image from the books to make light of killings in the Caribbean in his post yesterday on X.

"In a November 2025 guidance, new USPTO Director John Squires has rejected the Vidal approach and instead established a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for AI-assisted inventions creates a presumption of human inventorship so long as any natural person is willing to sign the oath."

I just wrote “death becomes copyright” and “Aristotle, blah blah blah” in the same paper, which is probabky a sign that it’s time for me to take a short break 😅

"The artist Anish Kapoor is considering taking legal action after border patrol agents posed for a photo in front of his Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago, saying the scene represented 'fascist America.'"

NEW: The US has deported a longtime Oregon firefighter who was arrested by Border Patrol while deployed at a major wildfire in Washington state. José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time: “I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"

Willamette is hiring for a tenure-track assistant professor of law position; there's more info at the link! If you are on the market, I highly recommend that you apply. I've been at Willamette a few months now and absolutely love it here. willamette.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Willam...

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

IP Law Profs: Check your email inboxes for an invitation (via IPProfs) to the 2025 Chicagoland IP Workshop, which will be held at Chicago-Kent on December 5. We hope you can join us!

ICE boats trawling the Chicago River. This is the DUMBEST thing I've seen in my entire life. No exaggeration. What's next? Humvees loaded with armed, masked agents patrolling Disney's Main Street U.S.A.? #Chicago

Transformative work of the day, I would love to get back to IP law edition