LEARNING GOAL

Introduce four key fields of intellectual property (IP) protection: trade secrets, patents, trademarks, and copyright. Appreciate that there are many other areas of IP law. Explore ways in which different forms of IP protection can overlap for a single product or client, along with differences and commonalities across the various IP regimes. Practice high-level IP issue-spotting through current events and other fun examples.

1. GETTING STARTED

Read through the getting started module, including the syllabus material.

TIPIf you are short on time before the first day of class, skip ahead to the first day’s readings, but make sure you come back to this before the second day of class.

1. BRING TO CLASS: IP "SHOW & TELL"

Bring to class something that you already own and explain how at least two forms of IP law relate to it. For example, if I brought in a bottle of Coke, I would point out that "Coca-Cola" is a protected trademark, while the recipe is a protected trade secret.

2. ASSIGNED READINGS

Estimated reading time: 45-90 minutes

PRIMARY CASEBOOK

James Grimmelmann “Chapter 1: Undeveloped Ideas” - pages 37-44

First, the Grimmelmann pages take a look at the underlying challenges that IP law is intended to solve. You do NOT need to brief or memorize the holdings of Desny or Apfel. These are more in the nature of fact patterns or stories to spur our thinking. We'll discuss the Problems in class.

QUICK OVERVIEWS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Next, a few short summaries that I hope give a clear, quickie overview of the four types of the major IP regimes.

Richard Stim: NOLO Patent, Copyright & Trademark - CLICK on "Sample Chapter"

Lisa Ouellette & Jonathan Masur, "Other US IP Rights" - pages 490-495

- Quickly download pages 490-95 only
- Access the full casebook via free download

Boyle & Jenkins, "Comparison of the Three Main Forms of Federal IP" - page 110

- Quickly download the assigned page only
- Access the entire casebook via free download

EXPLANATION

Intellectual property law is EVERYWHERE. You don't have to specialize in IP to encounter an IP issue in your practice.

The goal of today's readings is to give a quick and clear overview of various types of IP protection, and get us thinking about how they fit together.

Keep these big questions in mind throughout the readings and class discussion:

What type of thing does each of these areas of law deal with?
How are these various IP regimes similar and different?
What are companies looking to achieve by leveraging their IP rights?
How do IP rules and disputes affect consumers?