Tom Field ---- Spring 2008
All pre-law backgrounds are relevant; none confer any particular advantage. Students who have completed courses covering the substance of U.S. copyright, patent or trademark law, however, may receive only S-U grades.
I. Objectives
A. To consider options for and limits to preventing others from copying, particularly in terms of cost-effectiveness.
B. To consider the use of and limits to trademark and related laws for preventing strangers from making source and other misrepresentations.
C. To help students learn to use key statutes and related materials.
II. Materials
A. Field, Fundamentals of Intellectual Property (Pierce Law 2007). The book may be purchased at Town & Country Reprographics, 230 N. Main St., Concord.
B. Selected IP & Unfair Competitions Statutes... (Statutory Supplement, West). You need the statutes at hand in most classes.
C. SOME students find Intellectual Property: The Practical and Legal Fundamentals helpful; it approximates the scope of the course.
III. Evaluation
A. Quizzes -- 30%; only the ten highest (of 13) scores will be counted. [Laptops OK.] Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 quizzes are available as samples.
B. Final exam -- 70%. [Open book; no laptops] Old exams.
IV. Methodology, Preparation and Attendance
Assignments are short; thoughtful preparation will therefore be expected. Students will be called on to brief cases, but voluntary participation will also be encouraged.
Beginning with the third class, quizzes will be conducted in the last ten minutes of odd-numbered classes and cover all material since the previous quiz. Unless excused in advance, people must remain seated for ten minutes. Those who are finished may then leave (quietly); those who are not will be allowed an extra five minutes.
Missed quizzes may not be made up. Dropped scores cover justified absences.
Prompt attendance is required. Anyone who misses more than two quizzes or three classes without medical documentation can be "disenrolled" without further warning.
Depending on enrollment, TAs may be available.
V. Assignments
Class Readings in Boo
1 Preface, Overview. Start patents: 1.1-13
2 1.13-24; 2.1-7
3 2.8-19 -- see the folding bed patents
4 2.20-41
5 2.42-46; 3.1-12
6 3.12-27 -- see the Eibel patent
7 3.27-42
8 Begin consideration of limits on patent rights (and preemption): 4.1-16
9 4.16-30
10 Start copyrights: 5.1-15 -- see one of the registration forms below
11 5.16-32 -- see the Degas paintings and Cellini saltcellar
12 5.33-42; 6.1-5
13 6.5-20
14 6.21-30; 7.1-4
15 7.5-23
16 7.23-36. Begin trade secrets: 8.1-6
17 8.6-24
18 8.24-32. Reconsider federal preemption: 9.1-8
19 9.9-25
20 9.25-29. Start trademarks: 10.1-11
21 10.11-29
22 10.29-40; 11.1-3
23 11.4-19
24 11.20-38 -- see the sample service mark registrations
25 11.38-45. Begin consideration of free speech issues: 12.1-9
26 12.10-27
27 12.27-46; 17 U.S.C. § 120(a). Begin review
28 Review and overflow
Supplemental materials:
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IP Curricular Advice
Revised Jan. 4, 2008
URL: http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/fip/fipsyll.htm
© Franklin Pierce Law Center
