275.3 - Introduction to Intellectual Property
Meeting Time:
MTuW 11:15-12:30
Instructor:
Robert P. Merges
438 Boalt Hall (North Addition)
510-643-6199
rmerges@law.berkeley.edu
Admin. Assistant:
Chris Swain, 793 Simon Tower (642‑0503)
This course is intended both for students who are interested in a general overview of intellectual property and as a gateway to Boalt's Law and Technology program. The course begins with an analysis of the competing policies underlying the intellectual property laws. It covers the basics of patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets (and other state IP-related areas of) law, as well as some of the salient controversies in intellectual property law, including patent protection for software and business methods, the challenges to copyright law posed by filesharing technology, the role and difficulties of protecting trademarks on the Internet, and the application of common law doctrines to the Internet.
Class Meeting Times:
The class will meet on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 11:15 am - 12:20 pm in Room 100.
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1 – 2:20; or by appointment
Required Reading:
- Merges, Menell & Lemley, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age (5th rev. edition, Aspen 2010) (IPNTA).
- Merges, Menell & Lemley, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age: 2009 Case and Statutory Supplement (Aspen 2009) (Supp).
- Syllabus and Supplementary Course Reader (CR) (available on course website)
Course Web-Site:
· Updated Syllabus
· Course Reader
· Casebook website, which contains summaries of recent developments in intellectual property law
Grading
Grading is based primarily on an in-class open book examination. The exam will be divided into three sections: Part I will comprise a series of multiple choice and/or short answer questions where you will be asked to fill in your answer on the examination form; Part II will present a conventional fact pattern and questions for which you will be required to prepare a concise memo explaining your analysis; Part III will be a policy-oriented question. Examples of the types of questions for which you will be responsible are contained throughout the casebook in the form of problems and in the ASP materials. Class participation will be used as a factor in determining grades for students who are near the P/H and H/HH borderlines. In addition to the casebook, supplement (Supp.), and course reader (CR) assignments, students should be sure to review the relevant statute sections and carefully work through the problems listed for each class session.
Syllabus
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Date |
Topic |
Materials; Statute; Problems |
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Course Introduction Overview |
Casebook pages 1-31
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PATENT LAW | ||
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Subject Matter |
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W 1/20 |
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M 1/25 |
Novelty and Statutory Bars |
§ 102; 209-216; 216-224 |
Tu 1/26 |
Priority |
230-235 |
W 1/27 |
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M 2/1 |
Infringement Analysis |
§271, 267-294 |
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M 2/8 |
Overview Requirements - originality |
411-420 |
Tu 2/9 |
Requirements continued - fixation, formalities |
431-441, §101 (definitions of “created,” “fixed,” “compilation,” “copies,” “phonorecords,” “literary works,” “motion pictures,” “audiovisual work,” “sound recording,” “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works”); §§401 - 12 (skim) |
W 2/10 |
Limiting Doctrines continued (useful article) |
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President’s Day |
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W 2/17 |
Ownership · Division, Transfer, and Termination of Transfers Infringement |
508-518, §101 (“joint work”), (“collective work”), §201(c) |
M 2/22 |
Infringement |
527-557, §§201(d), 203, 204, 205 |
Tu 2/23 |
Infringement continued · Derivative Work Right Other Exclusive Rights |
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W 2/24 |
Indirect Infringement |
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M 3/1 |
Defenses: Fair Use (cont’d) |
606-634 |
Tu 3/2 |
Digital Copyright I
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652-664; 666-684
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W 3/3 |
Digital Copyright II |
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M 3/8 |
International Issues; Remedies
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713-722; 722-732 |
TRADEMARK LAW | ||
Tu 3/9 |
Introduction Establishing TM Protection |
733-740; 740-764 |
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M 3/15 |
Priority |
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Tu 3/16 |
Trademark Office Procedures Incontestability |
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3/22-26 |
Spring Break |
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M 3/29 |
Dilution |
838-853 |
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Domain Names and Cybersquatting Indirect Infringement; False Advertising |
855-859; 859-878 |
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Remedies |
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W 4/7 |
Trade Secret – Overview Trade Secret -- Requirements |
33-39 |
M 4/12 |
Trade Secret -- Requirements continued |
49-58 58-84
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Tu 4/13 |
Departing Employees |
85-111 |
W 4/14 |
Remedies, Criminal Liability |
111-123 |
M 4/19 |
Introduction, Misappropriation Clickwrap Agreements |
963-976 |
Tu 4/20 |
Clickwrap Agreements (cont’d); Idea Submissions |
985-1001 |
W 4/21 |
Idea Submissions (cont’d); Right of Publicity |
1012-1020 |
M 4/26 |
Right of Publicity (cont’d); |
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TBA |
Review |
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Exam |
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