Chart of Assignments
Updated as of: April 18, 2024
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Day by Day:
Week No 1
MONDAY January 15
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
TUESDAY January 16
Class canceled by OU for weather.
Week No 2
MONDAY January 22
Class canceled by OU for weather.
TUESDAY January 23 No 1
1. About the Course
Please read the Syllabus if you have not already done so.
2. Orientation to Trademark Law and its Context
Read IPS-M chapter M-0.
Week No 3
MONDAY January 29 No 2
1. About the Course, continued
No additional reading.
2. Orientation to Trademark Law and its Context, continued
Read Grynberg Chapter 1, pp. 5-17.
Read IPS-M chapter M-1.
TUESDAY January 30 No 3
3. Policy and Theory
Take a quick look back at pp. 10-17 of Grynberg, which was previously assigned.
4. Distinctiveness
Read IPS-M chapter M-4.
Week No4
MONDAY February 5 No 4
4. Distinctiveness, continued
No additional reading.
5. Generic marks
Read Grynberg Chapter 3, pp. 37-64.
TUESDAY February 6 No 5
6. Non-Word Marks, Colors, and Trade Dress
Read Grynberg Chapter 4, pp. 65-91.
Week No5
MONDAY February 12 No 6
7. Trade Dress and Product Design
Read Grynberg Chapter 5, pp. 92-108.
Remember to mark passages in cases that would be useful in briefs or letters. In particular for these subjects, I recommend looking for passages useful for defendants responding to plaintiffs with claims that reach beyond trademark's core.
TUESDAY February 13 No 7
8. Functionality
Read the three-page span in IPS-M chapter M-6 that goes from page 122 to page 124. [Note: As previously posted, this page range was off by one. I apologize for the error. Fixed 2/13.]
Read Grynberg Chapter 6, pp. 109-133.
Same admonition as yesterday about looking for and marking passages.
Week No6
MONDAY February 19 No 8
8. Functionality, continued
No additional reading.
4. Distinctiveness, continued
No additional reading.
We will go over some other categories word marks that get distinct treatment on the distinctiveness table
TUESDAY February 20 No 9
9. Aesthetic Functionality
Read Grynberg Chapter 7 pp. 134-156.
Same admonition as before about looking for and marking passages.
Week No7
MONDAY February 26 No 10
9. Aesthetic Functionality, continued
No additional reading. We'll discuss finish our discussion.
10. Non-Traditional Marks
Read Grynberg Chapter 8, portion over pp. 157-167 (skip notes after Dastar), 168-172.
Same admonition as before about looking for and marking passages.
TUESDAY February 27 No 11
11. Obtaining Trademark Rights Through Use of the Mark
Read Grynberg Chapter 9 pp. 173-192 (stop reading at Illinois High School Ass'n).
Same admonition as before about looking for and marking passages.
Week No8
MONDAY March 4 No 12
12. Priority Issues
Read the span from page M-60 to M-61 in IPS-M (Burger King v. Hoots).
13. Trademark Ownership
Read the span page M-62 to M-71 in IPS-M (Bell v. Streetwise Records).
TUESDAY March 5 No 13
14. Trademarks and Geographic Protection
No reading for this topic, but recall Burger King v. Hoots (page M-60 to M-61 in IPS-M).
15. Abandonment and 16. Licensing
Read Grynberg Chapter 11, pp. 220-241.
Note: The reading for abandonment and for licensing is the same reading.
Week No9
MONDAY March 11 No 14
15. Abandonment, continued and 16. Licensing, continued
No additional reading. We'll discuss finish our discussion.
17. Registration
Read Grynberg Chapter 12, portion over pp. 242-267 & 276-277.
Note: This topic heading and Grynberg reading includes material that you may want to cross-reference from other parts of your outline (or abstract conceptual understanding of course content). We'll discuss.
TUESDAY March 12 No 15
Late breaking change:
In class on 3/11 I called an audible and decided to put the originally scheduled reading for today off until after Spring Break.
17. Registration, continued
No additional reading. We'll finish our discussion of the reading from yesterday.
Possible review bonus content:
If we have time after discussing the remainder of the reading under Topic #17, we may do some review.
Spring Break
MONDAY March 18
No class. Enjoy spring break!
TUESDAY March 19
No class. Enjoy spring break!
Week No10
MONDAY March 25 No 16
17. Registration, continued
No additional reading. We'll finish discussing incontestability.
18. Infringement (concentrating on the use requirement)
Read Grynberg Chapter 13, pp. 278-303 and the first two lines on p. 304. [← Note: Earlier, this didn't include the two extra lines of the case on 304. It has now been corrected.]
TUESDAY March 26 No 17
19. Likelihood of Confusion (the central test for infringement)
Read Grynberg Chapter 14, pp. 306-321. [← Note: As originally posted, the assignment erroneously included the nearly blank page 305 from the previous chapter. It has now been corrected.]
Week No11
MONDAY April 1 No 18
19. Likelihood of Confusion (the central test for infringement), continued
Read Grynberg Chapter 15, pp. 332-342 (we're reading just the Maker's Mark case in this chapter).
TUESDAY April 2 No 19
21. Domain Names
Read Grynberg Chapter 18, pp. 409-432.
Week No12
MONDAY April 8
Total solar eclipse. No class today.
I won't have class this day. There is a total solar eclipse visible along a path approximately 150 miles south, southwest, and west of Norman. (NASA, NSO) It is likely to cause mass absences and might encourage unsafe driving to try to make it back to Norman to attend afternoon class.
TUESDAY April 9 No 20
Note: Class moved to Bell Courtroom today!
We've been relocated for the day because of construction noise.
22. The Right of Publicity
Read Grynberg Chapter 27, pp. 606-627.
Week No13
MONDAY April 15 No 21 Normal class at the normal time
22. The Right of Publicity, continued
No new reading.
29. Trademarks and Merchandizing
Read Chapter M-8 in IPS-M (pp. 172-213).
MONDAY April 15 No 22 Special make-up class from 4:22 to 5:35 p.m.
Note: This is a special make-up class, held in Classroom 2. To be counted as present, you can either attend in person or watch the video recording, to be posted later on Canvas.
20. Trademark Procedure
No reading for this topic.
23. Trade Libel and Defamation
No reading for this topic.
24. False Advertising
No reading for this topic.
TUESDAY April 16 No 23 Normal class at the normal time
30.Broadened Theories of Confusion
Read Grynberg, portion of Chapter 16 over pp. 343-359 (stop at & don't read Merchandising), 365-374 (stop at & don't read Ambush Marketing).
TUESDAY April 16 No 24 Special make-up class from 4:22 to 5:35 p.m.
Note: This is a special make-up class, held in Classroom 2. To be counted as present, you can either attend in person or watch the video recording, to be posted later on Canvas.
25. FTC and Unfair Competition
No reading for this topic.
26. State Unfair Competition Statutes
No reading for this topic.
27. Antitrust Law
No reading for this topic.
28. Geographic Protection Revisited
No reading for this topic.
Week No14
MONDAY April 22 No 25
31. Secondary Liability in Trademark
No reading for this topic.
32. Dilution
Read Grynberg, portion
over pp. 433-437 (stop at & don't read Visa v. JSL); portion over pp. 463-471.
33. Fair Use Defense
Read Grynberg, portion
over pp. 472-479 (stop at & don't read Packman v. Chicago Tribune)
and portion over 492-502 (stop at & don't read the paragraph beginning "And now ...")
34. First Sale Defense
No reading for this topic.
35. Expressive Uses and the First Amendment
Read Grynberg, portion over pp. 463-471.
Note! This reading was included within the reading for Topic 32, above. Thus, there's no additional reading for this topic.
TUESDAY April 23 No 26
36. Dispute and Litigation Techniques
Please come to class with a list of five items for this. That is, five techniques that can be drawn from what you've learned over the semester. (See the bottom slide on p. 5 and top slide on p. 6 of the About this Course slide show.)
Review and discussion of the exam.
Suggested: Review the semester's worth of material.