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.

This practice-based course covers international treaties governing trademark protection, national level trademark examination rules and practices, oppositions and cancellations, maintenance of trademark registration, worldwide portfolio strategizing including a comparison of national filings and Madrid Protocol filings, assignments of trademarks and related issue of differing national laws banning the trafficking of trademarks, ethics, legal representation rules, and information literacy for attaining and assessing national law changes.

This course introduces the fundamental analytical and writing skills used by practicing lawyers. Students learn how to: 1) Read, comprehend, analyze, and synthesize legal issues and authorities; 2) Apply facts to legal issues and authorities; 3) Organize coherent predictive analysis using conventional legal structure and format; 4) Understand and accurately use legal citation; 5) Write clearly and concisely; and 6) Participate as a professional in all stages of the writing process. Students research, write, and format several objective interoffice memos of varying lengths over the course of the semester. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.