Meeting Time:
TTu 11:15-12:30
Instructor:
Robert P. Merges
438 Law Building (North Addition)
510-643-6199
rmerges@law.berkeley.edu
ASP Tutors:
David Haskel and Will McGinty
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 Thursdays from 8:45 am – 9:50 am in Room 100.
ASP Sessions: ASP sessions will take place Wednesdays from 8:45 to 9:45 am in Booth Auditorium.
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 10:30 – 11:50; or by appointment
Required Reading:
· Merges, Menell & Lemley, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age (4th rev.
edition, Aspen 2007) (IPNTA).
· Merges, Menell & Lemley, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age: 2008 Case and
Statutory Supplement (Aspen 2008) (Supp).
· Syllabus and Course Reader (CR) (available on course website)
· ASP Problems – Will be made available
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.
| Date | Topic | Materials; Statute; Problems |
M 1/12 PPT
|
Course Introduction Overview |
Casebook pages 1-31 |
PATENT LAW |
||
|
Tu 1/13 |
Patent Overview Subject Matter |
117-28 §101, 128-39 |
| W 1/14 | ASP – Introduction; Patent: Intro & Subject Matter Problem | |
| Th 1/15 PPT
|
Subject Matter | §101, Problem 3-1 139-42, 1061-74, In re Bilski (CR) |
| M 1/19 | Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday | |
| Tu 1/20 PPT
|
Utility Enablement |
144-58 158-169, §112 |
| W 1/21 |
ASP – Patent: Section 101 |
|
| Th 1/22 PPT
|
Written Description Novelty |
173-182; Problem 3-5 185-195; Section 102; Problems 3-6, 3-7 |
| M 1/26 PPT
|
Statutory Bars Priority Non-Obviousness |
196-206 ; Problem 3-8 206-212 212-224 |
| Tu 1/27 PPT
|
Non-Obviousness (cont’d) | §103, 224-237; 246-250, Ortho-McNeil v. Mylan Labs (CR), Problem 3-9 |
| W 1/28 |
ASP: Novelty and Obviousness |
|
| Th 1/29 PPT
|
Infringement Analysis Doctrine of Equivalents |
§271, 250-74 274-91 (problem 3-10, p. 303) |
| M 2/2 PPT
|
Infringement Analysis (cont’d) |
291-321, Problem 3-11 |
| Tu 2/3 PPT
|
Defenses Remedies |
321-31, §§273, 282, Problem 3-12 348-70, §§283-87, In re Seagate (CR) |
| W 2/4 | ASP – Patent Infringement | |
| Th 2/5 PPT
|
Misuse, Antitrust Defenses, and Exhaustion |
331-42; Independent Ink (CR) Quanta (CR) |
| M 2/9 PPT
|
Overview Requirements – originality |
383-92 392-402, 442-46, §§101 (definition of “created”) §102(a) |
| Tu 2/10 PPT
|
Requirements continued – fixation, formalities
Limiting Doctrines (idea-expression) |
402-11, §101 (definitions of “created,” “fixed,” “compilation,” “copies,” “phonorecords,” “literary works,” “motion pictures,” “audiovisual work,” “sound recording,” “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works”); §§401 -12 (skim) 411-21, Problems 4-4, 4-5 |
| W 2/11 | ASP – Copyrightable subect matter | |
| Th 2/12 PPT
|
Limiting Doctrines continued (useful article) Government Works Ownership |
421-31, §§101 (“useful article,” “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works,”), 102(b), 120, Problems 4-6, 4-7, 4-8 431-35, §105, Problem 4-9 446-54 §§ 101 (“work made for hire”), 201, 202 |
| M 2/16 | President’s Day | |
| Tu 2/17 PPT
|
Joint Works and Collective Works Duration and Renewal |
455-61, §101 (“joint work”), Problem 4-14, 465-69, §§302-05 Problems 4-18, 4-19 |
| W 2/18 | ASP – Copyright: Ownership and Duration | |
| Th 2/19 PPT
|
Ownership · Division, Transfer, and Termination of Transfers Infringement |
469-74, §§201(d), 203, 204, 205
474-82 |
| M 2/23 PPT
|
Infringement · Right to Copy |
482-500, Problem 4-21, 4-22, 4-23 |
| Tu 2/24 PPT
|
Infringement continued · Derivative Work Right Other Exclusive Rights |
500-10 §§101 (“derivative work”), 103, 106 510-22, Problem 4-26, §§106,106A, 501, 109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 119, 1101 |
| W 2/25 | ASP – Copyright: Rights and Infringement | |
| Th 2/26 PPT
|
Defenses: Fair Use |
522-55, Problems 4-29, 4-31; 555-569, Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley |
| M 3/2 PPT
|
Indirect Infringement Remedies |
569-80, Problem 4-32 625-32 |
| Tu 3/3 PPT
|
Computer Software | 986-89, 1007-1034 Copyright Act §101 (“computer program”) |
| W 3/4 | ASP Problem – Copyright: Software and Digital Works | |
| Th 3/5 PPT
|
Open Source Licensing |
1054-61; Jacobsen v. Katzer (CR) |
| M 3/9 PPT
|
Digital Copyright | 580-615, §§512, 1001-10, 1201-03, Perfect 10 v. Amazon, Problem 4-37, Problem 4-38 |
TRADEMARK LAW |
||
| Tu 3/10 PPT
|
Introduction Establishing TM Protection |
633-40 640-64, Lanham Act §§ 45 (“commerce,”“use in commerce,” “trade name,” trademark,” “service mark,” “certification mark,” “collective mark”), 43(a), |
| W 3/11 | ASP – Trademark Problems | |
| Th 3/12 PPT
|
Establishing Protection (cont’d) |
664-76 |
| M 3/16 PPT
|
Priority | 676-95, Problems 5-1, 5-3 |
| Tu 3/17 PPT
|
Trademark Office Procedures Incontestability |
695-708, Problem 5-5 709-15 |
| W 3/18 | ASP Session – Trademarks | |
| Th 3/19 PPT
|
Infringement |
715-37, Problems 5-7 |
3/23 – 3/27 |
Spring Break
|
|
| M 3/30 PPT
|
Dilution | 737-55; Haute Diggity Dog (CR) |
| Tu 3/31 PPT
|
Extension by Contract Domain Names and Cybersquatting Indirect Infringement; False Advertising |
755-58 759-77 777-87 |
| W 4/1 | ASP – Trademark Problems | |
| Th 4/2 PPT
|
Defenses Remedies |
787-833, Problems 5-11, 5-12 838-51 |
State Law: Trade Secret, Contract, Misappropriation, Right of Publicity |
||
| M 4/6 PPT
|
Trade Secret – Overview Preemption Trade Secret — Requirements |
33-39 947-57 39-49, Problems 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 |
| Tu 4/7 PPT
|
Trade Secret — Requirements continued Misappropriation of Trade Secrets |
49-62, Problem 2-5
62-80, Problems 2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-11 |
| W 4/8 | ASP – Trade Secret | |
| Th 4/9 PPT
|
Departing Employees |
80-100; Problems 2-13, 2-14 |
| M 4/13 PPT
|
Remedies, Criminal Liability | 100-115 |
| Tu 4/14 PPT
|
Introduction, Misappropriation Clickwrap Agreements |
853-866 866-873 |
| W 4/15 | ASP – Trade Secrets | |
| Th 4/16 PPT
|
Clickwrap Agreements (cont’d); Idea Submissions | 873-894 |
| M 4/20 PPT
|
Idea Submissions (cont’d); Right of Publicity | 894-917; Problems 6-1, 6-2 |
| Tu 4/21 PPT
|
Right of Publicity (cont’d); |
918- 933; Problem 6-3 |
| W 4/22 | ASP – Trade Secret and State Law Problems | |
| Th 4/23 PPT
|
Trespass to Chattels |
933-47; Problem 6-4 |
| M 4/27 PPT
|
Preemption of State Law |
952-956; 965-969; Problem 6-5 |
| Tu 4/28 PPT
|
IP and Anticompetitive Conduct |
1127-1149 |
| W 4/29 |
ASP Review Session |
|
| Th 4/30 | Review | |
Exam |
Supplemental Materials
In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346 (Fed. Cir. 2007)
In re Comiskey, 499 F.3d 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2007)
Leapfrog Enterprises v. Fisher-Price, 485 F.3d 1157 (Fed. Cir. 2007)
In re Seagate, 597 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2007)
National Academy of Sciences, A Patent System for the 21st Century (2004)
Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 448 F.3d 605 (2d Cir. 2006)
Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com, 487 F.3d 701 (9th Cir. 2007)
Louis Vuitton v. Haute Diggity Dog, 507 F.3d 252 (4th Cir. 2007)