Intellectual Property Fundamentals

1.5 Credit Hours

This course will introduce the laws that create and delimit property rights in intangible goods such as inventions, expressive works, brand identifiers, or information. Collectively, these laws are known as "intellectual property law," an umbrella term which includes patent law, copyright law, trademark law, trade secret law, among other areas. The course will cover the fundamentals of several specific areas of IP law: the subject matter protected, the threshold requirements for protection, the rights granted to IP owners, the ways of enforcing those rights, and the many exceptions to and limitations on IP protection. The course will emphasize both the commonalities and the contrasts among the various branches of IP. Students will learn about some of the specialized language of IP and the government and private institutions that are practically important in each area. Developing a familiarity with IP fundamentals-getting the lay of the land-is the main goal of the course. An important secondary goal is for students to see how IP law generates both constraints and opportunities from the perspective of business strategy.