The judge was for sure getting a little snarky, but “modicum” and “banal” are in fact terms used when discussing whether a work of authorship is protectible.

So actually, trademark and copyright are different. The main difference is that a trademark is used to identify the source of goods or services. So as long as Taylor is using that phrase in connection with good or services (assuming no one else has trademarked it, etc - there are many other complexities, but we’re…

Probably! You can have a copyright in the “selection and arrangement” of otherwise unprotectible material.

Hi! Friendly neighborhood litigator here! This isn’t so much a burn on Taylor as it is an accurate statement of copyright law. You can’t copyright short, commonly-used phrases, because that’s not really what the law is intended to protect, and the law shouldn’t be used to create monopolies on super-common phrases…

what a delicious little chunk!

I want to be excited for all the yummy perjury but I can’t be because I’ve lost all hope that this Congress will get off its ass to do anything about it. But like... I am 100% sure that he will lie about something that he and his lackey can’t spin, which is definitively and objectively false.

I’ve won a few cases as part of larger teams, but this week I won the first case that I handled all by myself, with minimal supervision! And the judge quoted heavily from my brief in his opinion!

Western Suffolk County is the general vicinity of where I went to summer camp! The north side and south sides of the island have different “feels” to them, so I would definitely recommend driving around different towns to see which appeals to you more. The north shore is on the Long Island Sound and has the reputation…

Long Island (especially the parts closer to NYC) is a lot of suburban sprawl — think planned neighborhood subdevelopments and strip malls. But there’s also a lot of beautiful beach/park land, and as you get out further from the city, wineries/farms/more rural stuff. The very eastern end (about 100 miles from NYC) has…

Aha, good to know - I’m a lawyer, though not in California, so I only have a passing familiarity with the contours of this particular law. Thanks for the info!

Hm. I’m not a California lawyer so that didn’t occur to me. Interesting.

Awesome! Thanks for answering :)

Legal nerd moment: I wonder if this will help people who were sentenced under the Three Strikes Law get their sentences adjusted if one or more of their “strikes” gets expunged.

I don’t have experience with this exact situation, but I have mental illness/suicide in my family, and it’s hard.

I love CoverGirl Clump Crusher in the green tube, the water resistant version.

I bought a refrigerator, with my adult dollars! A super basic cheap one but it’s hanging out in my kitchen and humming right now!

This was the thing that surprised me most about living in my first apartment after college (where I still am 8 years later) — that the “stuff” your parents just... like... have? You have to buy new ones to just “have” for your own adult house. Scissors? Batteries? That shit doesn’t just grow in your kitchen drawers!

But like... I want to know what a unilateral meeting is?

The federal court system usually stays open as well — most court employees are designated “essential,” and the courts usually have enough income from filing fees to stay open for a couple of weeks.

haha that person responded to my saying I wasn’t feeling well enough to go to the Women’s March by saying something like “good thing you’re not in a combat role” — I dismissed it, but I was very tempted to be like “lol yes? I would be terrible at that? what’s your point?”