Faculty
Assistant Professor Robin Herr and guest lecturers

Course Coordinator
Assistant Professor Robin Herr

Every successful business, whether in marketing, product design, services or any other industry, must make strategic use of its intellectual property. Intellectual property law can be used to promote company brands, capture value for inventions, protect product designs and reap benefits from creative works. The bottom line is that strategic use of intellectual property spells money for a company.

This course is designed to teach the legal basics of intellectual property law and of how the law can be used not just to protect but to promote a business. Students will first learn the principles and legal rules of how to qualify, protect and promote trademarks, patents, copyrights and industrial designs. For example, a fancy pen with a pattern of an artistic work could involve industrial design for the apearance of the product, copyright for the artistic work, patent for any invention and trademark if a logo is used.

Once a grounding in legal basics has been achieved, the class will learn how intellectual property can best be utilized whether by the company itself, through various forms of licensing, or through joint ventures. In this section of the course, students will learn how to make critical choices regarding how best to maximize the returns on intellectual property. Such strategic issues include the following:

- IP Audits: What steps should be taken to ensure that a company’s IP is best utilized?

- Patents: How and when should businesses act to protect the knowledge arising from an innovation?

- Trademarks: How can trademark law be used to better promote the brand experience?

- Copyrights: Should pirates be sued or co-opted as customers?

The teaching will take the form of lectures (including guest lecturers) and interactive forms of teaching such as negotiating, advising clients, resolving business problems and arguing cases. The aim is to go into depth to familiarize students with concrete solutions to legal problems businesses confront when seeking to maximize returns from their intellectual property. As a supplement to the lectures, students will be asked to form groups and select a case company which will form the basis of their mini project. For each stage of the course, students will be given specific questions in order to explore the relevant legal and strategic issues central to their company. Thus, the mini project will both deepen students’ understanding of intellectual property law and their ability to successfully exploit their intellectual investments.

Individual oral exam on the basis of a group mini project.

The final reading list will appear in the semester plan.