Details

This course is designed for students who seek an introduction to and overview of those areas of the law traditionally associated with intellectual property. This course is also for students who wish to establish a foundation for pursuing other courses in intellectual property. In this course, we will explore trademark law, which relates to the goodwill associated with corporate identity and product recognition; copyright law, which pertains to the protection of literary, musical, and artistic creations; and patent law and trade secret law, which focus on the protection of technological works ranging from chemical formulae, to software, to biotechnology. We will also devote some time to the study of the theories of intellectual property, keeping in mind, throughout the course, the need to strike an optimal balance between incentives to create and commercialize intellectual creations on the one hand and public access to these creations on the other hand. This course will involve extensive collaborative work among students, including a collaborative class project that students will work on during the entire semester. This course will also involve class exercises that address issues relating to intellectual property that arise from actual and hypothetical examples and cases. Throughout the course we will discuss business issues that arise in relation to intellectual property and will discuss issues relating to licensing.