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Sarah Fackrell

@design-law

Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Tech. Teaching Property, Patents & Design Law. Currently writing about #ScheduleA litigation. Scholarship: https://ssrn.com/author=1616651

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Latest posts by Sarah Fackrell @design-law

Ugh this submission season is rough! I'm trying to distract myself from my zero offers

07.03.2026 00:08 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Federal Prosecutor Used Fabricated Quotes in Court Filing An assistant US attorney in North Carolina filed a response with the court that included β€œfabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings” and then made β€œfalse or misleading statements” of ho...

NEWS: A Justice Dept. line attorney in North Carolina fabricated quotes in court filing, causing judge to order hearing to consider sanctions and holding entire US attorney’s office jointly responsible.
Pro se defendant flagged the errors.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

06.03.2026 22:50 πŸ‘ 233 πŸ” 101 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 22

That's a fun one. Enjoy!

06.03.2026 23:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Listening to La LΓ©gende du Roi Arthur

06.03.2026 23:24 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

www.oyez.org/cases/1999/9...

06.03.2026 23:09 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And watching color analysis draping videos on YouTube

06.03.2026 23:08 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm reading Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

06.03.2026 23:08 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1

Happy weekend, friends! What are we reading, watching, listening to, or otherwise doing for fun (or distraction)?

06.03.2026 23:08 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 3
Bloomberg Law - Product Log In Sign in to Bloomberg Law for access to our comprehensive legal research software.

icee & slush puppie are litigating over trademark infringement

might get messyyyy

www.bloomberglaw.com/document/XM4...

06.03.2026 23:00 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Gotta think of a good design law "Easter egg" to put in my Property midterm. Last year, it was a cocktail shaker shaped like a penguin.

06.03.2026 22:33 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
image says AI-generated art can't be copyrighted

image says AI-generated art can't be copyrighted

i've seen this kind of headline a few times and just want to note that it's...not correct. SCOTUS declined to hear an odd case that insisted that an AI had *created* a work of art. it wanted the copyright to go *to the AI.*

06.03.2026 22:07 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Congratulations!

06.03.2026 20:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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2026 Lawsky Entry-Level Hiring Report Call for Information Gather key details for the 2026 Lawsky entry-level hiring report for entry level law professors. Find out how to contribute and access past reports here!

Please contribute information to the 2026 law school entry level hiring report. prawfsblawg.com/lawsky-entry...

06.03.2026 18:45 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

In my forthcoming book, I discuss how we had elections during the Civil War. The Civil War.

06.03.2026 18:48 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Hundreds of former judges sign on to an amicus explaining the obvious, namely that unexplained shadow docket orders can't create binding precedent. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25....

(Because of course they can't. What's the ratio decidendi??)

06.03.2026 19:16 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations!

06.03.2026 20:10 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Postscript:

06.03.2026 19:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

N.B. - The Examining Attorney accepted OpenAI's claim of acquired distinctiveness, and so the application will proceed to publication for opposition.

06.03.2026 17:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2

So, the real issue before the Board was inherent distinctiveness. Perhaps the Board should have said that.

06.03.2026 18:14 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Little girl denied passport because her name is "trademarked" Read more after a girl was denied a passport and missed a trip to Disney Land because her name is "trademarked".

little girl initially denied a passport in the UK because her name is khaleesi, which the passport office said is "trademarked by warner brothers" 🀨

en.newsner.com/news/little-...

06.03.2026 17:51 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 11

Like...canons of design patent claim construction?

06.03.2026 18:20 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Ugh, sorry. Very clearly not what you meant

06.03.2026 18:12 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

No. It means they don't have a registration (yet)

06.03.2026 15:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

What metrics? The factors are pretty favorable if you have a successful product

06.03.2026 15:13 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

To me, the biggest surprise is that they're not claiming acquired distinctively

06.03.2026 15:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

"Why didn't OpenAI claim acquired distinctiveness?"

I would also like to know.

06.03.2026 14:56 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ‘€

06.03.2026 14:54 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

TTAB Deems CHATGPT Merely Descriptive of Chatbot Software
thettablog.blogspot.com/2026/03/ttab...

06.03.2026 14:51 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

This, but for scholarly writing:

06.03.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 39 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
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Censoring Courses Isn’t the Law in Texas. Public Universities Are Doing It Anyway. Teaching restrictions were removed from Senate Bill 37 after β€œrelentless” lobbying, but board members and administrators have since enacted strikingly similar requirements.

"Censoring Courses Isn’t the Law in Texas. Public Universities Are Doing It Anyway"

www.chronicle.com/article/cens...

(Censorship laws rarely flatly ban speech. They routinely achieve their censorship through less direct or explicit means) 🀐

06.03.2026 14:17 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0