Fall 2025
Class meeting time in WH 2A: Monday and Wednesday 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Required Materials: (1) Version 12 of Professor Barton Beebe's casebook Trademark Law: An Open-Access Casebook (June 2025), which is available for free download at this link and (2) other materials posted on this webpage or on Canvas.
Reading Assignments
Introduction
8/18: Read pages 1-25 of the Beebe Casebook (CB); Check out the USPTO’s Trademarks webpage and review one or more videos on the Trademark Information Network webpage
I Establishing Trademark Rights
A. Trademark Distinctiveness
8/20: CB 26-51
8/25: CB 51-88
8/27: CB 72-111 (skip Elliot)
9/1: Labor Day Holiday - no class
9/3: CB 126-154
9/8: CB 154-190; Test yourself: Select a product brand that you use or like, search for that phrase or personal name claimed as a trademark by clicking “Trademark Search System” at this link, and review the information about the trademark registration(s) if there are any (first try General search, and then search using the Wordmark option). Then be prepared to talk in class about whether that mark is inherently distinctive (or not) and how to classify that mark for a certain good or service on the Abercrombie spectrum or based on any other rules we have discussed in class.
9/10: CB 154-190
B. Bars to Protection
9/15: CB 190-226
9/17: CB 216-259
9/22: CB 259-306
C. Use in Commerce as a Prerequisite for Trademark Rights
9/24: CB 306-327
D. The Trademark Registration Process
9/29: CB 327-358
E. Geographic Extent of Trademark Rights
10/1: CB 359-401 (skips ITC (2nd Cir.), ITC (NY), and Belmora)
II. Enforcement of Trademark Rights
10/6: CB 390-401 (geographic extent of trademark rights); CB 436-461 (trademark infringement) (skips Virgin)
10/8: Stone Brewing Co. v. Millercoors LLC, 445 F.Supp.3d 1113, 1113-1137 (S.D. Cal. 2020) (posted on Canvas in Additional reading materials folder in Files section); CB 471-499
10/8 at 10 p.m.: Answer to first writing assignment due to me via email.
10/13: CB 479-507 (skips Smack)
10/15: CB 515-545; CB 581-583 (skips reverse confusion and reverse passing off)
10/20: CB 584-606; CB 618-634 (trademark dilution) (skips Starbucks)
10/22: CB 635-661 (cybersquatting) (skips Uniform Rapid Suspension System and Facebook)
10/27: CB 649-661, 665-696 (cybersquatting cont'd; secondary liability)
III. Defensive Doctrines in Trademark Law
10/29: CB 697-727 (descriptive fair use)
11/3: CB 727-766 (nominative fair use; expressive uses of marks)
11/5: CB 766-811 (expressive uses of marks cont'd)
11/10: CB 811-824; CB 834-858 (abandonment, assignment in gross, and first sale doctrine; skips Freecycle)
IV. False Advertising
11/12: CB 859-872; CB 928-955 (false advertising; endorsements, testimonials, and reviews; skips some false advertising cases)
V. Right of Publicity
11/17: CB 956-1002
Note: I will send you the second writing assignment (the trademark question on the 2023 final exam) after class on Monday and post it in the files folder in Canvas. The right of publicity question in the 2023 final exam will be optional.
VI. Remedies
11/19: CB 981-1002 (In re NCAA case from 11/17); CB 1003-1023
11/23 (Sun) at 10 pm: Answer to second writing assignment due to me via email
11/24 (Mon; our last day of class): Review session; Discuss answer to practice essay exam'
12/9 at 1 pm: I will hold group office hours on Zoom to answer any questions you have about trademark law - anyone can join this meeting, and you can ask questions or just lurk and listen to other student's questions. I will send you a link via email to the email address you use with Canvas. I will also record the session and send you an email with a link to the recording after the meeting.