Betty was in a booth of the safe deposit room of Dollar Savings Bank when she discovered a $100 bill in an advertising folder that the bank had placed in the booth. She turned the money over to the bank. A year later after the money had not been claimed by its true owner, Betty asked for it. The bank refused. Betty sued. Who prevails? Dani worked as a server at Shift’s Place, a restaurant and bar. Patrons frequently left things in the bar or cloakroom. Dani was responsible for closing Shift’s. Closing required her to clean all the rooms and tables and lock the windows and doors before leaving. In closing, she discovered a full length fur coat in the cloakroom and one diamond earring under a bar stool. The fur coat had a label sewn into it with the name, address, and phone number of Tonya. Who is entitled to possession of the fur coat? The earring? Dani, Shift’s, or Tonya? Yvette gave her nephew, Jake, 100 shares of stock in Gold Stake Oil Co. for his sixteenth birthday. She handed the shares, worth about $2,000, to Jake right after Jake successfully blew out his candles. Two days later, Gold Stake discovered a large oil field. The value of the stock increased 100 times to $200,000. As a result, Yvette demanded the return of the shares. Must Jake return the stock?

Foskett owned a piece of property upon which sat a mobile home Foskett owned a piece of property upon which sat a mobile home. Commercial Credit Corporation had a mortgage on the property. When Foskett filed bankruptcy, his trustee in bankruptcy claimed the mobile home as personal property, while Credit Corp. claimed it was real property and part of what was mortgaged. Is the property real or personal property? Explain. Roberts had an above-ground swimming pool installed on his land. It was not permanently attached to the realty and could be easily disassembled and moved to another location. Then Roberts received a real estate tax assessment bill with an increased assessed value because of the pool. Roberts sued for a deduction, claiming that the pool was personal property. Will he prevail? When you admire your friend’s portable CD player, your friend replies, “I’ve got another one just like it that you can have. I’ll give it to you at school tomorrow.” Two days later, you learn that your friend gave the player to someone else. Was the player a gift to you?

Basic Books, Inc. includes all major New York publishers who allege that Kinko’s infringed upon their copyrights when Kinko’s photocopied excerpts from books whose rights are held by Basic. Basic Books attests that Kinko’s did this without their permission and without the payment of fees and then sold the copies for a profit. Kinko’s admitted that it photocopied the excerpts, put them into course packets, and sold them to college students. Kinko’s claimed that it did so under the fair use exception to the Copyright Act. Is Kinko’s photocopying protected by the law? Explain. Bonnie wrote a poem that was recited in the school play. A writer in the audience copied down the poem and published it under his name. Can Bonnie reclaim her poem? Explain your answer. David is writing a book about great British authors. He plans to quote from several of Shakespeare’s plays. Would David need to obtain permission or pay a fee to use those quotations? Why or why not?

Tommy Hilfiger, a noted designer traveled to New York City to attend a designer show. During break, he strolled down 42nd Street and observed a vender selling “Tommy Girl” sweaters. The vendor’s sign read: “the sweaters are genuine and cost $10.00 per sweater.” Mr. Hilfiger purchased one. He called his lawyer immediately to say that the sweaters were imposters. Can the vendor legally sell the imposters stating that they are genuine? How long does a trademark last? What do you think Mr. Hilfiger’s lawyer will advise? Do you think it is fair for the manufacturers to sell imposters? Can you tell the difference between a real Tommy product and a fake one?