Law 402 - Patent Law
Public policies underlying various invention protection systems are analyzed as background for understanding the fundamental concepts of U.S. patent law. The nature of patentable subject matter in the U.S. and the statutory requirements of utility, novelty, and nonobviousness are examined in detail. Students also consider the process of obtaining and enforcing patent rights. Such consideration includes an overview of the disclosure, enablement and claim requirements for a patent application, as well as the scope of protection granted to the owner of an issued patent. The interpretation of patent claims is covered, with special emphasis placed on construing claims under the evolving doctrine of equivalents. Remedies for patent infringement are also reviewed, as well as the defense of patent misuse. Three credit hours.
Law 405 - Copyright Law
This course is a detailed examination of the entire range of copyright law, including protection for literary, musical, artistic, and other works of authorship. The course is centered on a consideration of the 1976 federal copyright statute, as amended by several recent pieces of legislation, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the DMCA). Topics covered include what kinds of work are protected by copyright, ownership of copyright, and the rights and remedies provided by copyright law. In addition to exploring basic questions about the purposes, nature, and scope of copyright raised by the federal legislation, this course gives special attention to current controversies concerning the extension of traditional copyright principles to the online environment, the legality of peer-to-peer networks, protection for computer programs, Internet service provider liability, the constitutionality of new and greater forms of copyright protection, the interaction of copyright and free speech principles, and the effect of international treaties upon U.S. copyright law. Three credit hours.
Law 237 - Law of Trade Secrets
This course examines trade secret law, a fourth intellectual property regime. It will include the common law development of trade secrets as well as the philosophical underpinnings in contract, property, and tort law, and the development to the present through the Restatement and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. It will also examine the relationships between federal and state trade secret law, the relationships between trade secret law and the other three intellectual property regimes, and the relationships between trade secret law and other areas of law, such as employment law and law governing business relationships. Three credit hours.
Law 416 - Trademarks and Unfair Competition This course covers the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of trademark rights, as well as related forms of protection under principles of unfair competition law. The course includes an examination of the public policies and economic considerations underlying trademark law, as well as all the basic issues (such as the prerequisites to trademark protection, the registration process, the grounds for excluding signs from protection or registration, the scope of trademark rights, restraining the distribution of imitation and counterfeit goods, and remedies available in trademark litigation). The course will also cover protection available under the general rubric of unfair competition law (including prohibitions on false advertising), as well as publicity rights afforded by state laws. In addition to these basic issues, the course will address issues of current interest, such as: protection of non-traditional subject matter such as product designs or colors; conflicts between trademark protection of non-traditional subject matter and the copyright or patent laws; protection of trademark rights against dilution, and the conflicts with free expression that this and other protection might precipitate; licensing of trademark rights; and reconciling the rights of competing users of trademark terms. Throughout, the course will address the application of trademark principles in new as well as traditional media, and will consider the problems raised by online use of trademarks (in such contexts as metatagging, hyperlinking, sale of keywords, domain name warehousing, and cybersquatting). Three credit hours.
Law 283 - Intellectual Property in the High Tech Era This is a survey class in intellectual property law in the context of the current high tech era. It covers all four intellectual property regimes - copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret. Questions related to the use of intellectual property with the current technologies will be explored, including, for example, issues of the availability of generic drugs to developing countries and the relationship to the patented pharmaceuticals, the use of peer-to-peer file transfers across the internet, re-broadcast of copyrighted works through internet streaming as well as new digital satellite technologies, and the relationships among the regimes to protect a variety of products. This course will meet August 7-August 20, 2004, starting at 5:30 p.m. (all day on Saturdays). The course is a survey of intellectual property law for students who are not pursuing the Intellectual Property certificate; we do not expect or advise I.P. certificate students to take the course. However, certificate students are not prohibited from taking the course. Students who take the course and later decide to pursue the I.P. certificate may take any I.P. course in the future. This course will not, however, count towards the credits needed to earn the certificate. Three credit hours.
Law 687 - International Patent Law U.S. Patent Law is increasingly influenced and modified by international treaties and considerations. This seminar will provide an in-depth look at patent laws on the international level. Issues that we will explore include prosecuting patents pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the extraterritorial reach of U.S. patent law. We will also examine recent efforts at patent harmonization through the TRIPS Agreement and the dispute resolution proceedings available under that regime. We will take a comparative look at U.S. and foreign patent laws and systems. Finally, we will consider current controversies surrounding patents on the international arena, such as access to medicines and the Doha Declaration that interprets TRIPS, the appropriation of gene patents through the use of isolated populations abroad, and the appropriation of indigenous knowledge and skills. Patent Law or International Intellectual Property are prerequisites. These requirements can be waived only with the permission of the instructor.
Law 236 - International Intellectual Property This course examines issues of intellectual property law raised by the exploitation and use of creative and commercial products in an international environment. General topics covered include: the negotiation and conclusion by states of different types of agreements prescribing standards of intellectual property protection under national law; efforts to create supranational intellectual property rights; resolution of disputes between states regarding compliance with obligations imposed by international intellectual property law (primarily under the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization); the interaction of trade policy and intellectual property laws; and the private enforcement of intellectual property disputes involving international components. Under these general headings, the class will address both fundamental principles underlying the international intellectual property system and issues of current interest and debate. For example, in the latter category, the class will discuss the extent to which states can ensure access to essential medicines (such as HIV drugs) through compulsory licensing of patented drugs; the effect of the Internet on territorial copyright and trademark laws;institutional reforms designed to facilitate faster international intellectual property lawmaking; treaty provisions requiring protection under national law of technological measures designed to restrict access to copyrighted works; restrictions imposed upon the availability of so-called parallel imports; cross-border infringement litigation in a single court seeking relief against conduct in several states; extraterritorial protection of intellectual property rights; and proceedings by trademark owners before ICANN-authorized dispute settlement panels to recover domain names under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. Prerequisite: any one of Copyright Law, Trademarks and Unfair Competition, or Patent Law. This requirement may be waived only with permission of the instructor. Pass/fail not available. Three credit hours.
