Rebecca Tushnet
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rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet
@rtushnet.bsky.social
5.1K followers 79 following 1.9K posts

Trademark, advertising, and more

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Rebecca Tushnet is an American legal scholar. She serves as the Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law at Harvard Law School. Her scholarship focuses on copyright, trademark, First Amendment, and false advertising. .. more

Law 39%
Business 28%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by David Lazer, Will Jennings, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 3 more

klillington.bsky.social
Karlin Lillington @klillington.bsky.social · 4h
And here is my story: ‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September

www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...
‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September
Seamus Culleton has been in a detention facility in Texas for nearly five months despite having no criminal record
www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, Jean Burgess, Catherine Baker , and 9 more

bstaples.bsky.social
Brent Staples @bstaples.bsky.social · 8h
Bad Bunny has a consulting historian. news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller , and 1 more

laurahelmuth.bsky.social
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 13h
One of these days, people will look back on these sports betting ads like we do on the ads for patent medicines featuring cocaine.

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 14h
Exact copies can be transformative, politician edition
analiliafornj.bsky.social Analilia Mejia for New Jersey @analiliafornj.bsky.social · 17h
I’m Analilia Mejia and I approve this message.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

analiliafornj.bsky.social
Analilia Mejia for New Jersey @analiliafornj.bsky.social · 17h
I’m Analilia Mejia and I approve this message.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

marklemley.bsky.social
Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 17h
@rtushnet.bsky.social, @markpmckenna.bsky.social, and I filed an amicus brief opposing THQ's argument that Mar Vista can't make a horror movie called "Alone in the Dark" about, well, people who are alone in the dark because it made a video game with that name ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/doc1/0311469...
CM/ECF - California Central District
ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

wyden.senate.gov
Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 19h
When I wrote Section 230 I did so knowing it would be critical for protecting free speech online. 30 years later and it’s one of the last things standing in the way of Republican censorship of the internet. Here’s to many more years of defending this vital safeguard of free speech.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 20h
Stricter copyright laws might seem tough on big tech, but they just become new tools to enforce monopolies and bully artists. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Copyright Kills Competition
Copyright owners increasingly claim more draconian copyright law and policy will fight back against big tech companies. In reality, copyright gives the most powerful companies even more control over
www.eff.org

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

zbk.bsky.social
Sherman Booth stan @zbk.bsky.social · 23h
As always, the real money in a gold rush is selling shovels.
Ms. Hart has become an A.I. evangelist. Through her author-coaching business, Plot Prose, she’s taught more than 1,600 people how to produce a novel with artificial intelligence, she said. She’s rolling out her proprietary A.I. writing program, which can generate a book based on an outline in less than an hour, and costs between $80 and $250 a month.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Nandita Sharma, Peter Thorne , and 9 more

broadwaybabyto.bsky.social
Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 1d
Former Washington Post journalists have launched a GoFundMe to help repatriate fired staff members who are effectively stranded in foreign countries.

One of the richest men in the world fired them from the paper and didn’t even pay to ensure they got home.

Abolish the billionaire class:
Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee
Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees
www.gofundme.com

Reposted by Hilde Van den Bulck, Juan Cole, Robert C. Richards , and 10 more

eoinhiggins.bsky.social
Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 1d
Concentration camps:

“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick."
Exclusive: Detention Center Captives Are Throwing Lotion Bottles Wrapped With Notes to Organizers Outside Otay Mesa Facility ~ L.A. TACO
“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh," an Otay Mesa captive communicated through handwritten note. "We are all in one big room with no doors...
lataco.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

Sarah Rajec @sarahrajec.bsky.social · 1d
Looking for a listen that's about patents, but also pleasure and legality and changing social norms? @andrewgilden.bsky.social and I spoke to @kimkrawiec.bsky.social about "Patenting the Taboo: Sex, Drugs, and Abortion," on her excellent Taboo Trades podcast.
www.buzzsprout.com/1227113/epis...
Taboo Patents with Andrew Gilden & Sarah Rajec - Taboo Trades
My guests today are Andrew Gilden, Southwestern Law School, and Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec, William & Mary Law School. They join me today to discuss their recent paper, Patenting the Taboo: Sex, Dru...
www.buzzsprout.com

Reposted by Tom Clark, Kevin Carey, Melanie C. Green , and 4 more

cingraham.bsky.social
Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 1d
When Republicans do it / When Democrats do it
Left: Aug 20 2025 Wapo editorial The Texas gerrymander freakout What’s happening in the Lone Star State is not a threat to democracy. Right: Feb. 7 2026 Wapo editorial Brass-knuckled hypocrisy in Virginia Voters will get a chance to reject anti-democratic gamesmanship in an April referendum.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Smith, Rebecca Tushnet

rosesbloom24.bsky.social
RoseMarie @rosesbloom24.bsky.social · 1d
Two active cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of COVID-19 have been identified at a massive immigration detention center in El Paso, according to the local Democratic member of Congress.

www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Two tuberculosis cases detected at Camp East Montana ICE facility
Eighteen cases of COVID-19 were also identified. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar on Friday visited the 5,000-bed tent facility on the Fort Bliss Army base and said she saw many "chronic issues."
www.texastribune.org

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 1d
The trend of consumer protection cases using "ambiguity" to mean something different than it does in Lanham Act false advertising cases is not going to end well, I fear
"ambiguity" is taking hold in consumer protection class actions, but it's not the Lanham Act concept
Ramirez v. S. Martinelli & Co., 2026 WL 272621, No. 25-cv-07569-NC (N.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2026) Martinelli’s apple juice products’ front label...
tushnet.blogspot.com

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 1d
Here's a practice pointer: if the attorneys conduct dueling internet searches in a TM case, they can become fact witnesses.
conducting dueling internet searches converts attys into fact witnesses in TM case
Vicious Brands, Inc. v. Face Co., No. 24-cv-04996-LJC, 2026 WL 276178 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 3, 2026) (magistrate) Plaintiff, aka Saints & Sinner...
tushnet.blogspot.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, John Horgan , and 20 more

eoinhiggins.bsky.social
Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 2d
Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.
www.pressherald.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

jrakove.bsky.social
Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 2d
I have been musing about the hypothesis that the ultimate consequence of SCOTUS's opinion in Trump v. U.S. will be the destruction of the rule of law in the U.S. This gift article helps to explain why, in part by emphasizing the evisceration of the Dept. of Justice.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

legalminimum.bsky.social
17,273 words now (not including footnotes)! @legalminimum.bsky.social · 2d
As an IP lawyer by original trade, I would like even one company to learn that sometimes even in a commercial you can just fucking say “Super Bowl” and you don’t have to say “Big Game”. Are you talking about selling people a new TV to watch the Super Bowl? Then guess what you can say in your ad?

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 2d
Very fair point!
saraht74.bsky.social pop-up leftist supply depot @saraht74.bsky.social · 2d
I read this guy's newsletter, but...look, it is just *a choice* to write this after the "independent journalist" he's eager to defend from "class-based sniffing" essentially set off a still raging fascist assault on Minnesota that already has a body count. And I do not mean a good one.
jtlg.bsky.social James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d
"You cannot duplicate all of the shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave without first duplicating the entire world. Fraudsters, even quite talented ones, can’t do that."

www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/frau...

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 2d
Very much agreed.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

saraht74.bsky.social
pop-up leftist supply depot @saraht74.bsky.social · 2d
I read this guy's newsletter, but...look, it is just *a choice* to write this after the "independent journalist" he's eager to defend from "class-based sniffing" essentially set off a still raging fascist assault on Minnesota that already has a body count. And I do not mean a good one.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Dean Eckles , and 1 more

nateraymond.bsky.social
Nate Raymond @nateraymond.bsky.social · 2d
New: Trump's administration tonight told a Boston judge that his proposal that it issue a student visa to a Babson College student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order is "unfeasible" and said ICE declines to facilitate her return. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Trump administration won't let student deported to Honduras return
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday called a judge's proposal that the government issue a student visa to a college student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order "unfeasi...
www.reuters.com

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 2d
Amicus briefs at SCOTUS www.scotusblog.com/2026/02/how-...
How academic briefs shape Supreme Court decisions
Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making an...
www.scotusblog.com

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

newyorkstateag.bsky.social
New York Attorney General Letitia James @newyorkstateag.bsky.social · 2d
After our lawsuit, the Trump administration is dropping its threat to withhold billions in education funding if New York doesn't abandon our DEI and anti-discrimination programs and policies.

I'll always fight for our students and our schools.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Rebecca Tushnet, Daniel Kuehn

reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d
Federal judge: "The presumption of regularity that has previously extended to [the United States Government] that it could be taken at its word—with little doubt about its intentions and stated purposes—no longer holds."

This is in a case where the Trump admin sued Oregon.
While the Court’s decision granting Defendants’ and Intervenors’ motions to dismiss are firmly grounded on the application of law, Plaintiff’s conduct and written demands on states for disclosure of their highly sensitive voter information should not be ignored. Defendants’ and Intervenors’ expressed concerns about Plaintiff’s ulterior motives for seeking the sensitive data require attention. The presumption of regularity that has been previously extended to Plaintiff that it could be taken at its word—with little doubt about its intentions and stated purposes—no longer holds. When Plaintiff, in this case, conveys assurances that any private and sensitive data will remain private and used only for a declared and limited purpose, it must be thoroughly scrutinized and squared with its open and public statements to the contrary.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

seiupres.bsky.social
April Verrett @seiupres.bsky.social · 2d
WNBA players are mid union negotiations and I want to drop some facts for y’all.
NBA players make ~50% of league revenue.
WNBA players make ~9.3%.
These women aren’t asking for the same salary as their male counterparts, they are just asking for the same PERCENTAGE. Come on y’all.

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

dannagal.bsky.social
Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 2d
This is why they must be challenged every single time. Not accommodated. Not bargained with. Just challenged.
White House says it won’t withhold funding from NH schools with DEI programs
Lawsuits challenging New Hampshire laws that ban DEI initiatives and limit teaching about racism and discrimination remain unresolved.
www.nhpr.org

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

jtlg.bsky.social
James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d
"You cannot duplicate all of the shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave without first duplicating the entire world. Fraudsters, even quite talented ones, can’t do that."

www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/frau...
Fraud Investigation is Believing Your Lying Eyes
The financial industry has paid tens of billions of dollars in tuition on fraud detection. Here are some observations for investigators with badges, press cards, or GoPros.
www.bitsaboutmoney.com

Reposted by Kelly Smith, Rebecca Tushnet

dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social
Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 2d
A small but very deep thing that bothers me about generative AI as a shortcut to practice and work and skill is the basic assumption that it’s impossible to take pleasure in a creative pursuit that you aren’t very good at and I assure you that is not the case