Shoot first, cross-examine later

For readers not in law school, there's a specific way that we law students study. Your course notes are great, but the real help is in someone else's notes, specifically, things called CANs - "Condensed Annotated Notes." A good CAN synthesizes the facts in the most efficient way, and sums up the main point of the case - the "ratio" - simply but correctly.

That's a good CAN. A great CAN does all that with a Western drawl and a wicked sense of humour. While flipping through a CAN for my Intellectual Property class, I came across this summation of a trademark case, where the Gucci family was suing their estranged son for using their name on his own products and where this particular law student was trying to make things interesting. Some excerpts:

Meubles Domani's v. Guccio Gucci Spa

Facts: Now, Paolo Gucci had split off from the rest of the Gucci clan some years back. After settlin' down, he figgered he could make him some money offa that famous name. So, he set about making him some furniture to sell - Gucci style. Now, the rest of the Guccis weren't too happy about ol' Paolo using their trademark on his chairs, and set about tryin' to put a stop to all the nonsense...
One thing was for sure... ol' Paolo was banking on gettin' some of that Gucci consumer goodwill...
Well, Paolo lost this one.

Apparently I'm not the only law student taken to watching a Western while studying.