Friday Links
- We here at Abnormal Use are not sure where we come down on the issue of the possible posthumous pardon of long-dead former Doors frontman Jim Morrison. If you missed this story in the news, Florida governor Charlie Crist is considering a pardon for Morrison for a 1970 conviction for indecent exposure and profanity. That’s a bit puzzling to us. Sure, we could offer you some righteous editorial about currently neglected injustices which are in greater need of attention, but it’s Friday, and we’re too tired to offer such a harangue. We could say that the only reason this made it to the Governor’s desk is that it involves a world famous rock star wrapped in his own bizarre mystique and that petty offenders in the jails receive no such acclaim or calls for assistance. But surely somebody else is going to say that, and our hearts aren’t really in that argument, anyway. But here’s the deal: That criminal conviction is so much a part of the Morrison legend that as fans of rock and roll music we must let it stand. Whether the 1970 conviction was faulty, or whether we as a society have simply come around in forty years to see the underlying conduct as being protected by the First Amendment, let’s not dilute the Doors story with a pardon. (See also The New York Times ArtsBeat blog’s coverage here).
- If you’re not following Tweets of Old on Twitter, you’re certainly missing out. Here’s how they describe what they do: “We attempt to reveal the lives of our predecessors through the tweets of yesteryear: mostly one-line brevities from old newspapers, as they appeared –or close.” Whatever the case, last week, they tweeted this report about an unusual event at an Oklahoma trial presided over by one Judge Trimble in 1935. Ouch!
- This week, The Daily Gamecock – the official student newspaper of the University of South Carolina – began a three part series on the University of South Carolina’s law school. The other components of the story are here and here. (Hat Tip: The Faculty Lounge).
- The 1709 Blog reports on contest pairing Shakespeare and the modern day perils of copyright law. Get this:
“Music and Intellectual Property” is the title of a one-day conference which CLT Conferences is running on 8 December in Central London. Subtitled “Identifying, Protecting and Enforcing Rights in Music”, the programme features a double input from the 1709 Blog: Ben Challis (General Counsel, Glastonbury Festivals Ltd) speaks on “The Glastonbury Tales: the Practicalities of Festival Life and IP“, while Jeremy Phillips takes the chair for the day. There are some other excellent speakers too, and the day promises to scintillate. You can see the full programme here.
There’s a competition running along with this conference, the prize being complimentary admission — and the fabled free lunch. It goes like this. Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night opens with Duke Orsino saying
“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it”.Your task is to complete the following sentence:
“If music be the food of love, then copyright is …”We here at Abnormal Use love contests, so we are going to use this installment of Friday Links to enter (and attempt to win). Our submission: “If music be the food of love, then copyright is the gastric bypass.” Aren’t we clever? Now, if we win the contest, how are we going to convince our managing partner to let us go to London?
- Feeling nostalgic for law school? Check this out quip from a law student’s blog: “The probability of getting called on in class is inversely related to the degree of preparation spent on said class,” first year law student Tanny writes here at her blog, The Learning Hand, apparently realizing for the first time that lesson we here came to know so long ago.
- We’re big fans of Rick Hasen’s Election Law Blog, which has been around since 2003, the early days of the legal blogosphere. We are pleased to see that he’s in our part of the country today for a conference. He’s in Atlanta, just two hours south of us, so we recommend he find time for a burger at the The Vortex Bar and Grill, if time permits.
- Finally, congratulations to our own Stephanie Flynn, blog author and partner at our firm, are in order. This very day, she’s in New York, New York for the ABA Section of Litigation’s 11th Annual Women in Products Liability Workshop. Stephanie will be co-moderating a panel discussion entitled “Legal Marketing: What Technology Works?” beginning at 4:00 p.m. today. It will center around social media and how it can be used to assist in client development and networking. The panel includes Mercedes Colwin of Gordon & Rees, LLP, Kelly Jones of Harris Beach, PLLC, and Jim Smyth of Ezults L.L.C.
