Copyright Infringement

Because I'm a 1L and I have absolutely no idea what the fuck is legal anymore, I feel obligated to tell you that I may have 'accidentally' plagiarized the title of my blog. You see, as soon as I started to spend way too much library study time on Facebook, I started to think that it might be more prudent for me to create some sort of non-status-update forum for my witticisms. I prefer long-form anyway and maybe if I limit the 'updates' to an hour-long blogging session, I would actually use the six hours I've allocated to the library for studying instead of friend-surfing (affectionately referred to as face-stalking but that sounds mildly illegal).

Well, in any case, I took the name of my blog from some random FB post I made about my neuroticism and our crazy professors at the College of Super Public Interest Law (herein referred to as SPIL for the sake of anonymity) Sidebar: I considered naming it Super Public Law Interest Foundation--SPLIF--but figured that might offend some sensibilities. Anyway, my thought process:

'What sounds cool and sounds like a story or odyssey, but in parts?' I asked myself. 'Tales! Indeed, tales are stories and odysseys in parts! And tales are old school, so I'll get mad hipster props from my SF peeps!' (<--ironic) (=super-hipster)(=score).

So I incorporated my neuroticism and law student stuff with the tales. Lo and behold, "Tales of a Neurotic Law Student" was created!

A few days later, I passed by my super meager recessed bookcase with the six books I was able to carry on the plane from my collection back in NY. (Oh my loves! I look forward to seeing your thousand brothers and sisters in December! Maybe they can join you and our family will become whole again!) I caught the green cover out of the corner of my eye.

'Ivy Briefs. Martha Kimes. Great book,' I thought to myself. 'She totally laid law school out in truth. And she had a great sense of humor about everything. Who knew lawyers had a sense of humor? Ha! What's that? Oh no.' I walked closer to the bookshelf and saw, in large bold type underneath the title: "True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student." Fml. Seriously.

As a neurotic, mildly narcissistic law student, my first response was to think that, one day, Martha Kimes would grace my blog with her web presence and haul my ass to jail for plagiarizing her book title. And then I would get kicked out of SPIL and I would be forever doomed to be the ignorant, plagiarizing girl from the East Coast who tried to knock off the Ivy League author. Fail!

So I compromised with myself and with the hypothetical, surreptitious, blog-surfing Martha Kimes. IF I admit that I took her title by accident--you know, one of those subconscious-entering decisions--THEN she could not sue me BECAUSE, according to MLA citation methods which I am familiar with at this point in time, not having started with The BlueBook legal citation method, so long as I credit the plagiarized material to the correct source, I cannot possible be held responsible for copyright infringement.

I hope.