The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the only permanent international mechanism for prosecuting international crimes. Though the scope of its jurisdiction is limited, it has had a powerful presence in the development of international criminal law principles. The special tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and for Rwanda (ICTR), both UN-created ad hoc tribunals, have played a significant role in the aftermath of two international crises. This course will ground students in the jurisdictional scope of the ICC; the substantive definition of crimes within its jurisdiction; its procedural rules and the substance and nature of its rulings. The course will also ground students in the practice, procedure of the ICTY and the ICTR.

This graduate course examines select issues of intellectual property law in both an international and comparative context. The course introduces the basic contours of international principles, treaties and institutions regarding IP, including significant substantive and procedural differences between the United States and other countries (with a focus on the U.S., Europe, and Asia). The course explores why and how international and regional IP regimes have been created, and how they have been implemented, interpreted, and enforced. Students will become familiar with some of the most significant of these regimes in each area of IP. While the course assumes a general background in IP law, in-depth knowledge of IP law in the U.S. or in any other country is not required. Grading will be determined by participation in on-line discussion fora (which will require answering and discussing weekly questions), and by a final exam/paper.

Patent systems and patent laws exist to promote investment in and development of technology. The recently-enacted America Invents Act (AIA) and certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the last 5 years have brought the most dramatic changes to U.S. patent law in more than 50 years. This course focuses on the fundamentals of U.S. patent law including patentability, infringement, inventorship, and ownership. The course will also explore some of the underlying themes in patent law as well as the purpose of and justifications for a patent system. The course reading includes the patent statute (Title 35 of the United States Code) both pre-AIA and post-AIA and selected case law primarily from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The course will generally address both the procurement and enforcement of U.S. patents. Although this course will cover the legal principles underlying patent claim drafting and patentability, this course will not focus on patent practice and procedure.

This course, evolving since 1993, is a unique academic offering at any U.S. law school. It is a cross platform "consumer" survey course to search, mine and manipulate patent and non-patent literature data. It teaches transferable skills consistent with the UNH School of Law Information Literacy Plan. It is taught in collaboration with patent data vendors and related guest speakers. This is a hands on course. The work product is a novelty or patent landscape report. Themes of this course include: Multiplicity of sources Types of sources Applications Multiple access points to same data Who uses patent data sources Why use patent data sources Factors to choose access points Search approach Who drives the dollar chain for searches Free, low fee and premium patent sources In house and/or outsource searches Considerations as to who performs differing types of searches What is the standard of care for patent searches How to deal with questions of lack of integrity in patent documents The evolving role of the web in patent searching Eligibility: Open to all except 1Ls. Prerequisites: Lexis and Westlaw basic training.. Course enrollment is limited to 15 students. Course format: skills training. Grading: final exam, 30%; class prep. and participation, 10%; research paper, 60%. This course may be taken for an S/U grade.