Note added 8/18/18: future assignments can be found on their normal pages. To go to the main Assignments pages for Fall courses, use the quick “jump links” in the upper right-hand corner of this website directing you to your course. Once at the home page for your course (Civ Pro or Branding), click on the link for your Assignments page.
Even if you are unable to obtain everything from the bookstore, the information below will give you everything you need to be well-prepared for the first day of class.
As you’ll see below, I find it important to provide as many reduced-cost, lowered-cost, and no-cost materials to students as possible. If you have any questions, email me at inathenson @ stu dot edu.
Civil Procedure, Section 2
Books
- Casebook: Brooke D. Coleman et al., Learning Civil Procedure (3rd ed. West Academic 2018). You must get the third edition. Prior editions contain outdated law and different pagination and will not be appropriate. The book is currently in the campus bookstore, though you will not need it for the first day of class.
- Supplement: Ira Steven Nathenson and Keith Rizzardi, Civil Procedure: Readings and Exercises on Law and Legal Analysis (Custom Edition Wolters Klower 2018). We put this custom volume of materials together because it was significantly cheaper to you than the full book upon which the supplement is based. It will be available shortly and only from the campus bookstore. The publisher is running later than promised, so don’t worry if you are unable to get a copy of the full supplement for the first day of class. (UPDATE Aug. 14: there are copies in the bookstore; let me know if they run out.)
- Other materials: Everything else is free, such as this website, my YouTube channel, a free statute/rule handout, and more to be provided later. We’ll talk about these in our first class.
Tuesday, Aug. 14: First-day assignment (reading cases)
- Read pages 1, 3-18 of the handout provided to you at orientation. If you need a copy of the handout, go to the Admissions Office, which has extras. Prepare answers to the exercises in the handout.
- Print out the Two Men and a Truck handout found here. Read and brief the case, and prepare answers to the discussion questions.
Thursday, Aug. 16: Second-class assignment (briefing cases)
- Two Men:
- Re-read Two Men and a Truck (found here).
- We will finish the study questions for the case (# 6 regarding “ex parte,” and # 7-9).
- Print and read The IFRAC Structure of Court Opinions, Case Briefs, and Essay Writing, found here. (PS, this may not print well for you; I’ve therefore formatted and printed clean copies that I’ll bring to class).
- Using the IFRAC method noted described nathenson.org, and using the template supplied here (DOCX download), re-brief Two Men. Bring two copies to class, one for me and one for you. You’ll see that my approach varies somewhat from the approach in the supplement. I think it’s good for you to see different approaches; eventually, you’ll develop your own.
- Nathenson & Rizzardi supplement:
- Assigned previously: I will lecture on chapters 1 and 2, and call on you to discuss your answers to the exercises at the end of chapters 1 and 2.
- New: read chapters 3 and 4, pp. 19-47.
- You do not have to do exercises 3-1, 3-2, or 3-3. This is because you’ll do the same thing using the more useful case of Two Men as noted above. (You may do them if you wish.)
- However, you should do exercises 4-1 through 4-4. Be ready to discuss them.
Other information
- Laptops and devices are not normally permitted during discussion, so make sure you have paper, pen, and copies of assigned materials, your notes, etc.
- However, you should still bring your laptops to class as we may use them from time to time.
Branding and Trademark Management
Books
- Casebook: Barton Beebe, Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook (v.5.0, 2018), available at http://tmcasebook.org/.
- Statute Book: Statutory Supplement: Selected Statutes & Treaties For James Boyle & Jennifer Jenkins, Intellectual Property: Law & The Information Society—Cases And Materials (2016), available at http://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/pdf/IPStatutes2016.pdf. Download it but don’t print it out.
Tuesday, Aug. 14: First-day assignment (intro to branding and TM)
- Download the full casebook legally and freely here.
- Print out and read pages 8-29 of the casebook (be careful not to print out all 700+ pages).
- Print out and read my “comparison chart” found here.
Thursday, Aug. 16: Second-day assignment (distinctiveness)
- Print out and read pages 30-53 of the casebook (found here).
- Starting next week, part of the class will serve as discussion leaders. Read my handout here regarding discussion leaders, particularly the section on “thought-provoking questions” (TPQs). If you will be absent on any particular days of the semester, please let me know ahead of time so that I do not schedule you to be a discussion leader.
- Do the following:
- Each class member should create at least one TPQ on today’s reading. Be prepared to share it.
- Be prepared to discuss the following TPQs of mine:
- Why do you think trademark law automatically protects brand names that are “inherently distinctive” (such as fanciful, arbitrary, and suggestive terms), but requires an additional showing of “acquired distinctiveness” for some types of marks, such as merely descriptive terms?
- From a broader perspective than just law, what is “branding”? Are you a brand?
Other information
- Always bring your laptops/devices. We will oftentimes use them during class for experiential learning. However, laptops cannot be used during normal discussion and note-taking, so also always:
- Bring paper and pen for note-taking; and
- Make sure that you print out all assigned materials
Revised Aug. 18, 2018 (re future assignments)