This course will introduce students to fundamental principles of U.S. copyright law. The legal protection of "creative" content as an intangible property right has been statutorily recognized in the U.S. for over 200 years. While legal rights in such works are often seen as rooted in economic rationale, the law has changed over time, in response to technological challenges and international developments. The course will therefore also provide students with an understanding of how U.S. copyright law functions and adapts in this changing environment. Students with an interest in any branch of modern intellectual property law and how it responds to modern challenges will benefit from this course. Hybrid Juris Doctor students cannot take this course for an S/U grade.

Beyond the basics, the course explores underlying policy goals and conflicts among types of intellectual property, for example, the tension between patent and copyright protection or the tension between federal and state protection. It also considers goals and conflicts with other laws such as free speech. It also considers matters such as the extent to which various types of IP are "property," available remedies, sources of law, and responsibilities of the two main IP agencies as well as those of various courts. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.

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. Hybrid Juris Doctor students cannot take this course for an S/U grade.

Students will learn to draft patent claims that are acceptable to the US Patent & Trademark Office and to the United States courts. Students will become familiar with the statutes, regulations, practice and customs that guide the drafting of acceptable patent claims.