1. MEMORANDUM
TO: Junior Associates (N-Z)
FROM: Senior Partner Goering and Senior Associate Muir
RE: New Client
DATE: September 30, 2008
Yesterday we were retained by a new client. Sarah Palin has just learned that
cartoonist Garry Trudeau has published a series of Doonesbury comic strips that include
her image in the form of a “Sarah Palin action doll.”
It seems that a Connecticut corporation, HeroBuilders.com,
recently began manufacturing and selling Sarah Palin look-alike “action
dolls” on its internet website. As you might imagine, given the instant
celebrity status Palin recently acquired as John McCain’s vice-
presidential running mate, the dolls are selling like hotcakes. In fact, I
just logged on to the company’s website and learned that the company
has received so many orders that prospective purchasers who order after
September 24 are being advised to expect a six-week delay. (Check it
out for yourself: http://www.herobuilders.com/08.htm). The dolls sell
for between $27.95 and $29.95 (depending upon the doll’s outfit and accessories), so you
know the company must be making a tidy profit.
Although HeroBuilders.com also manufactures look-alike action figures of other
nationally known celebrities, similar companies generally secure license agreements to
produce look-alikes of others. For example, Palin told me that her good friend Arnold
Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, recently settled a lawsuit against an Ohio
company that manufactured a “Terminator” bobble-head doll. As part of the settlement,
the company agreed to redesign the doll and donate the sales proceeds to one of
Schwarzenegger’s favorite charities. But in this case, the company has neither sought nor
obtained permission from Palin to market the “action figure” dolls. Obviously the
company was in a big hurry to profit from her instantaneous celebrity status before the
upcoming election, so it must have decided to take its chances and skip negotiations with
her for a license agreement.
As you probably already know, many bloggers and newscasters have referred to
Palin pejoratively as the “Barbie doll of the GOP” since McCain surprised the country on
the eve of the Republican National Convention by naming her as his running mate. She is
particularly upset by the dolls and the comic-strip because she does not want to be type-cast
to the country as the Republican “beauty queen,” which she believes amounts to gender
discrimination. Not only does she want HeroBuilders to stop producing the dolls, but she
also wants to know whether she can sue Trudeau for damages for exploiting her image in
the comic-strip series.

2. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
Palin is worried that the publicity Trudeau’s comic strip is giving the action-figure
doll manufacturer is just making things worse. And she has no idea whether Trudeau plans
to continue mocking her in the comic strip. She wants to know whether she has a legal
right to put a stop to HeroBuilders’s doll marketing efforts before the presidential election
on November 4. Also, if the McCain-Palin ticket doesn’t win the presidential election, can
Palin recover damages from either HeroBuilders or Garry Trudeau, or both, for exploiting
her image? (By the way, did you know that Trudeau is married to Jane Pauly? I guess it’s
a small world in the broadcast news business. Like Pauly, Palin got her start as a television
news broadcaster.)
Please research the legal issues. Specifically, does Sarah Palin have a legal remedy
against HeroBuilders.com for using her name and three-dimensional likeness without her
permission to produce and market the Sarah Palin look-alike doll? Second, does Palin have
a legal remedy against Garry Trudeau for featuring the doll in his copyrighted comic strip?
In case you need to know, HeroBuilders.com is a Connecticut corporation, so Connecticut
law will apply to an action against HeroBuilders. Garry Trudeau lives and works in New
York City, so New York law will apply to any claim against Trudeau. Don’t overlook the
possible application of federal law as a defense to either or both claims. Please assume that
Palin will file her complaint in federal district court in Connecticut.
I have a followup meeting with Sarah Palin scheduled (at an undisclosed location,
of course) on Friday, October 24. Therefore, I will need a draft of your memo no later than
Thursday, October 23, at 5:00 p.m., in order to have enough time to read it over and think
about it before our next conference. I have attached part of HeroBuilders.com’s internet
advertisement, including a photo of the Sarah Palin dolls, and a copy of the Doonesbury
comic strip series for your information. Thanks so much for your help. Oh yes -- you may
enjoy the following video spoof of the Sarah Palin action dolls, which I just found on the
internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCSonCYCN9Y&feature=dir
You may discuss the assignment with any of your first-year law school classmates
in this section. However, it is a violation of the Honor Code to show your written work to
anyone except me or Jared Muir, my senior associate. Please review the attached
guidelines regarding the Honor Code. If you have any questions about whether certain
conduct violates the Honor Code, you are expected to consult Jared or me for guidance.
Attachments:
• Herobuilders.com Website Advertisement for Sarah Palin Action Figures
• Doonesbury comic strip, September 21-27, 2008
• Honor Code Guidelines for Graded Memos and Briefs

3. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
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4. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008

5. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
Friday, September 26, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008

6. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
Honor Code Guidelines for Graded Memos and Briefs
Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing I and II
Q: Who is allowed to see my memo or brief?
A: You may not show your memo or brief to anyone except me and Jared Muir,
my teaching assistant.
Please understand that this requirement is indeed as limited as it sounds. You may
not show your paper to your spouse, sweetheart, best friend, mother, significant
other, or anyone else, even "just to proofread" or "just to see what she thinks." This
applies even if you've "always had so-and-so proofread all my papers."
Q: With whom may I research and discuss my memo or brief problem?
A: You may research and discuss your memo and brief problems only with fellow
members of the A3 Section, Washburn Law School librarians, Jared Muir, or
me. Reading your memo or brief to another individual is not discussion and is not
allowed.
Please understand that this requirement is, again, as limited as it sounds. This
means you may not discuss your problem or your paper with students from other
classes or other LARW sections, with mentors, with tutors, with attorneys, with
other professors, with parents, with siblings, or with any of your friends who are not
Section A3 students.
Q: What should I do if I have a question on what is permissible and what is not?
A: Ask me in class, come see me, e-mail me, phone me, or drop a note in my
mailbox in Room 203. You must check with me before doing anything else.
Q: How long do these restrictions last for any particular assignment?
A: Until I announce in class that they are lifted.

7. Professor Goering
LARW I and II, Section A3
Q: What should I do if I know that somebody is violating these rules?
A: Under the Honor Code, you have a responsibility to come to me with names and
details, so that I can begin an investigation. I will vigorously pursue an
investigation of any violation for which I have evidence. However, please
understand that I can do nothing with rumor or innuendo.
Q: So, is cheating a common problem?
A: No, it is not. It is rare, in my experience both as a student and a professor. Most
students who are intelligent and disciplined enough to get into law school don’t
need any rules at all, because they abide by the simple rule that it is unfair to do
anything on a graded assignment that would give them an unfair advantage
over fellow law students. But cheating has happened before, and therefore I am
spelling out the rules to assure you that anyone who breaks these rules is either
too ignorant or too unethical to belong in the legal profession.
Q: Don't these restrictions defeat some educational benefits?
A: Yes, indeed, they do. In legal practice, it is beneficial to talk about a memo or
brief problem with anyone you think may be able to help, subject to your ethical
duty to keep your client communications confidential. But law school is not
"real life." Requiring you to write a memo and a brief entirely on your own is
intended to be of great benefit to you, but that is not the only purpose. The other
purpose of graded assignments is to test your ability to apply legal research,
analysis, and writing skills you learn through reading, exercises, and class
discussion.
So, in the weeks to come, please remember:
THIS IS A TEST.