Calling Bulls**t on the Lanham Act: The 2(a) Bar for Immoral, Scandalous, and Disparaging Marks

As the Lanham Act approaches the age of 65, it is a good time to take stock of its application to, and place within, the object and purpose of trademark law. Trademark law seeks to promote fair competition by reducing consumer search costs and preventing confusion in the minds of consumers as to the source of goods and services. However, Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act prevents registration of marks that are “immoral,” “scandalous,” “disparaging,” “deceptive,” or which “create a false association” with persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols. The 2(a) bar expands trademark law well beyond its basic goals. While a bar to registration for marks that are deceptive or create a false association is related to the overall object and purpose of trademark law, we argue that the bar to registration for marks that are immoral, scandalous, or disparaging is not, and that the 2(a) bar is — both in definition and application — ineffective, inconsistent, and vague, and that it should be removed from the Lanham Act

A Space for Women in the Law

In our society, gender plays an immeasurable role in shaping individual lives, experiences, and opportunities; thus, it is my contention that justice requires the law to utilize a gender-specific, reasonable woman, or reasonable abused-women, standard in cases dealing with workplace sexual harassment and in cases in which women who have been abused by their spouses for extended periods attack or kill their abusers in non-confrontational settings

Fathers\u27 Experiences in Early Intervention: Marooned in the Kitchen or Member of the Team

Little research about fathers with young children with developmental disabilities or delays and their participation in early intervention/Part C programs is available. This study adds to existing scholarship through a narrative inquiry into the experiences of six fathers with children who have participated in early intervention services. Emergent themes within and across fathers\u27 narratives include high levels of father engagement prior to entering early intervention, overall positive feelings about early intervention due to children\u27s developmental progress, feelings of stress and frustration throughout participation in early intervention, varied relationship quality between fathers and early intervention service providers, an overall lack of understanding of the early intervention process, and varied levels of father capacity to help their children make developmental progress after early intervention ends. These themes are analyzed in the context of Bronfenbrenner\u27s bioecological systems model. This study provides insight into how fathers perceive their experiences in early intervention programs and how those experiences impacted them

Media Rape:Press Coverage of Sexual Assault Cases

In 1989, a female jogger was raped, beaten and left for dead in New York City’s Central Park. Two years later, a woman was attacked on a beach in Palm Beach, Florida. She reported to police that she had been raped. Both cases were covered extensively by the media, but the press treated the victims very differently. Throughout their analysis, reporters painted the Central Park jogger as an innocent victim, while the woman who accused Smith of rape was depicted as a deserving tramp. Assuming a primarily qualitative approach, this research used frame analysis to examine The New York Times coverage of the Central Park jogger and Smith rape cases. The study begins by discussing how news coverage divides female victims of male violence into two categories: innocent women; or women who provoked their own suffering. The study then analyzed why some rape victims are treated with reverence, while others are vilified. The theoretical premises of framing theory, focusing on the complex intertwining of race, gender and class, was then examined. The study developed through a systematic search for descriptive words and an analysis of the content of the selected articles looked for evidence of rape myths. Finally, the number of female and male reporters was discussed. In an effort to decide if media coverage is responsible enough to warrant openly naming rape victims without their consent, the study ends with five conclusions. First, The New York Times articles about the Central Park jogger case and the Smith case did contain sexist descriptive words, though they did not appear as frequently as expected. Second, substantial e vidence supported the belief that reporters rely on rape myths to cover this crime. Third, there were so few females reporters covering these two cases that the researcher determined that a strong comparison between female and male reporters’ use of descriptive words and rape myths was not possible. Fourth, the researcher determined that female victims of rape are either treated like a “virgin” or a “vamp” by the news media. Finally, the study determined that the media is not responsible enough to warrant openly naming rape victims without their consent

Unravel

Unravel is a short story collection with strong female protagonists, both children and women. It is about family, especially mother and daughter relationships, but in particular about the secrets that they keep and the inevitable death that occurs around and within the family unit. The collection explores the raw emotions that burst through when confronted with both betrayl and the passing of loved ones. One story in particular, Unravel, shows the journey of a woman who is so consumed with grief and pressure after a miscarriage that she steals a baby from another family. Another story entitled Land Mines deals with a character becoming preoccupied with abnormal feelings of her heart after finding out about a family history of heart disease while dealing with a rocky family dynamic. While a few stories are connected to each other, each story stands alone as they delve into the psyche of those wrestling with the fact of having and losing power and control