Federal intellectual property law and state law protection of trade secrets, patents, and trademarks.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Graduate law students will not be doing any extra work beyond that required of the Juris Doctor students. J.D. students are
post-baccalaureate students and the workload expected of them is the same workload expected of post-baccalaureate graduate students. Law students are professional students, not undergraduate students. Graduate law students are primarily international lawyers seeking expertise in the American legal system. This expertise is gained through exposure to Juris Doctor courses.
Athena Title
IP Survey
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in JURI 5050E or JURI 7050E
Prerequisite
Students must be enrolled in the School of Law to register for this course
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will understand the conditions in which each of the four forms of i.p. protection—a trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark—is applicable and validly available.
Students will analyze how each form of i.p. protection can be enforced validly.
Students will construe i.p. statutes in light of policies for encouraging innovation while protecting freedom of expression and robust competition, including imitative competition.
Students will analyze cases, both to comprehend and to critique lawyer arguments about and judicial analyses of i.p. laws and policies.
Topical Outline
1. Introduction
a. Economics of information markets
b. Exclusion rights to promote information creation
2. Trade secret law
a. Protectable subject matter
b. Enforcement of rights
3. Patent law
a. Protectable subject matter
b. Enforcement of rights
3. Patent law
a. Protectable subject matter
b. Enforcement of rights
5. Trademark law
a. Protectable subject matter
b. Enforcement of rights
6. Limits on IP rights
a. Federal preemption of state law
b. First sale/exhaustion doctrines
