Curriculum

Virginia’s courses cover not just the basic forms of intellectual property — patent, copyright and trademark — and common issues of unfair competition, but also the challenges posed by international law and the Internet. Advanced colloquia in property rights offer students a chance to explore theoretical and practical issues.

The following courses have recently been offered, or will be offered in the current academic year. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered: 2007-08 courses are coded (8); 2008-09 courses are coded (9); and 2009-10 courses are coded (10).

COURSEs and seminars
Bioethics and the Law (8,9,10)
Communications Law (8,9,10)
Copyright Law (8,9,10)
Entertainment Law (8,9)
International Patent Law and Policy (8,10)
Law and Technology Policy (8)
Patent Law (8,9,10)
Survey of Patent, Copyright, Trademark (8,9,10)
Trademark and Unfair Competition Law (9)

SEMINARS
Computer Law (8)
Current Issues in Patent Law (9,10)
Cybercrime (8,9,10)
Intellectual Property Law Policy (8)
International Patent Law and Policy (9)
Privacy and Surveillance (9)
Property Theory (8,9)

clinics
Patent and Licensing Clinic I (8,9,10)
Patent and Licensing Clinic II (8,9,10)

Principles and Practice Offerings
Emerging Growth Companies and Venture Capital Financing (8,9,10)

short courses
Advanced Issues in Intellectual Property Policy (9)
Art Law (9)
Cultural Property (8)
Trade Secrets: History, Theory, and Practice (8,9,10)

 
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

ADVANCED ISSUES IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY This course reviews foundational topics in intellectual property policy, namely intellectual property’s desirable duration and scope, fostering innovation, and the merit of alternatives to the intellectual property system. Students assess the law and current policy suggestions in light of the theory and available evidence.

Art Law This interdisciplinary course explores how the law shapes and constrains visual expression. The focus is on the censorship of contemporary art. The reading draws extensively on non-legal texts as well as on an array of first amendment materials. The class considers recent art controversies and the special problems presented by the interpretation of visual images to explore a series of First Amendment topics including: obscenity law, child pornography law, the feminist anti-pornography movement, the critique of racist hate speech, public art and government funding of the arts. Ultimately we use the problems presented by visual art as a means to probe the meaning of "speech" for purposes of the First Amendment.

Bioethics and the Law This course explores the intersection among medicine, technology, and the law. Topics include human reproduction and birth (including actions for wrongful birth, wrongful life, and wrongful conception), human genetics and the privacy and ownership of genetic information, death and dying, research involving human subjects, organ transplantation, and public health and bioterrorism.

Communications law This course surveys the field of electronic communications, from the telephone to broadcast media to the Internet. Communications law is driven by a series of conflicts over control of both a “scarce” resource (indeed, there is a conflict over whether it should be defined as “scarce” at all) and the markets in which that resource is allocated. There are conflicts between firms and between different media; conflicts between competition and monopoly (and the role of regulation and antitrust in creating both); conflicts between free speech and regulation; conflicts between regulators and the companies they regulate; and even conflicts between different regulators (federal, state, and local).

Computer Law This seminar explores the various problems that traditional legal constructs encounter in cyberspace. Included are such subjects as intellectual property rights, the sale and licensing of software, personal jurisdiction, Internet governance, and privacy. Students will prepare and present a substantial research paper on a related topic of their choice.

Copyright Law This course will provide an in-depth view of copyright law, the legal regime governing rights in original works of authorship (books, music, movies, photographs, software, etc’). About three quarters of the course will be dedicated to the Copyright Act and the core issues of copyrightable subject matter, prerequisites for protection, ownership and transfer, the bundle of rights conferred, what constitutes infringement, defenses, and available remedies. In the remainder, we will discuss fundamental issues in the philosophy and economics of copyright law, international copyright law, and digital copyrights.

CULTURAL PROPERTY This seminar will examine the legal regimes that regulate interests in cultural property. Topics include the repatriation of antiquities, the rights of artists to control or profit from their works, and the enforcement of limitations on access to documents of significant public interest.

Current Issues in Patent Law The U.S. patent system is under attack, with reform efforts underway in all three branches of the government. This course examines a variety of these reform efforts, including proposed legislation to, among other things, change the United States from a first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to file country and create a post-grant opposition system; recently decided and pending U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with the standards for granting injunctions and determining the non-obviousness of patent-eligible inventions; and proposed U.S Patent & Trademark Office rule changes that promise to significantly affect important aspects of patent prosecution practice.

Cybercrime This seminar examines key legal and policy issues associated with cybercrime, which can be defined to include any crimes in which computers and the Internet serve as targets, as storage devices, or as instruments of crime. Because cybercrime can be committed in and from any corner of the world, the seminar focuses principally on U.S. laws and legal materials, but will include relevant legal materials from countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It will also address pertinent international legal issues, in the context of the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention. The seminar first addresses definitions of cybercrime and other background issues, then turns to some of the most prominent issues in the substantive law of cybercrime (e.g., unauthorized access to computers and files, malicious code such as viruses and worms, intellectual property offenses such as software piracy and economic espionage, fraud, "hate speech," and pornography and child exploitation). The remainder of the seminar addresses major legal and policy concerns in the procedural law of cybercrime (e.g., surveillance techniques and technologies, and legal standards for obtaining electronic communications and evidence-gathering).

EMERGING GROWTH COMPANIES AND VENTURE CAPITAL FINANCING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE This seminar deals with legal and business issues that arise in the context of representing emerging growth technology companies, with a particular emphasis on corporate formation, governance and capital structure, key employee contracts, venture capital transactions and intellectual property. The course includes several practice exercises designed to introduce students, working in practice teams, to the process of structuring and executing transactions in this area.

ENTERTAINMENT LAW This course introduces legal, business, and creative issues in film, television, and music production and distribution, and the role of the entertainment lawyer. The class provides an overview of standard contract clauses in film, television, and music contracts and some of the leading cases and legal issues related to those businesses, including celebrity and publicity rights, idea submission and protection, credit and control, budgets and financing, compensation (net vs. gross and profits in films, profits and residuals), licenses and royalties, and limitations on enforcement of personal service contracts.

Intellectual Property Law Policy The seminar will cover advanced readings in intellectual property theory and policy. We will review fundamental issues such as the rationale for intellectual property protection, IP’s desirable duration, the desirable scope of the exclusive rights, sequential and cumulative innovation, and more specific issues such as alternatives to intellectual property rights, intellectual property norms or the rationale behind specific doctrines. Students should be at ease with the economic approach to law, but no previous knowledge is assumed or required – all are welcome!

International Patent Law and Policy This course will provide an introduction to key aspects of the international patent system and to concerns animating a variety of controversies regarding patents in areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and software. The value of patents is increasing in many areas while at the same time the scope of patent-eligible subject matter is expanding. We will explore the impact of these forces in the creation of international agreements concerning patents, such as the Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, the Convention on Biological Diversity and various bilateral agreements. Against the backdrop of the U.S patent system, we also will consider facets of other national and regional patent systems and the efforts and challenges associated with patent law harmonization efforts on a variety of fronts.

LAW AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY This short course focuses on the coming of age of Internet operations and the legal framework surrounding such concerns. The course covers three basic shifts—privacy, database protection, and intellectual property—that are due, in large part, to the effects of the Internet. Privacy coverage focuses on U.S. and state efforts to regulate the flow of personal information. European law is covered, and database protection is viewed in an international context. We also focus on how the traditional notions of intellectual property protection are, or are not, available once content is online.

Patent and Licensing Clinic I The clinic involves instruction and practical training in patent drafting as well as the negotiation and drafting of patent and software license agreements. Students will participate in class sessions covering these topics and will be assigned to one or more significant drafting and counseling projects in one or both of these two areas. The clinic also covers evaluation of inventions and computer software for patentability and commercial value; counseling of U.Va. faculty inventors regarding patentability, inventorship, and the patenting process; preparation, filing and prosecution of provisional U.S. patent applications; dealing with patent examiners; and researching current issues in the fields of intellectual property and technology transfer. Some exposure to international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty may be possible. Resolution of disputes with licensees and possible infringers will be undertaken where appropriate. Several class sessions will be scheduled early in the semester at a mutually convenient time. Students will work in the office of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation six to eight hours per week. A technical background is highly recommended. Students will be asked to provide the instructor with a statement relating to technical background (scientific, mathematical, computer, etc.) to aid in the assignment process.

Patent and Licensing Clinic II The second semester of the Patent and Licensing Clinic involves many of the same projects as P&L I, but in this clinic, the student can choose to work exclusively with patent attorneys drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications (and associated tasks like prior art searches and evaluations, meeting with faculty inventors, preparing information disclosure statements, etc.), or working exclusively with licensing agents to draft license agreements, negotiate licensing terms and conditions, prepare confidentiality agreements and marketing documents. Clinic participants may also evaluate inventions and computer software for patentability and commercial value; counsel U.Va. faculty inventors regarding patentability, inventorship, and the patenting process; prepare, file, and prosecute provisional U.S. patent applications; deal with patent examiners; and research current issues in the fields of intellectual property and technology transfer. Some exposure to international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty may be possible. Resolution of disputes with licensees and possible infringers will be undertaken where appropriate. Students will work in the office of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation approximately six hours per week on fairly flexible schedule. A technical background is helpful but not required. Students will be asked to provide the instructor with a statement relating to technical background (scientific, mathematical, computer, etc.) to aid in the assignment process.

Patent Law The availability and scope of patent protection is increasingly important in the knowledge economy. Advances in biotechnology, controversial uses of patent rights, and divergent court opinions are impacting this area in far-reaching ways. This course will explore many of these developments while maintaining a primary focus on the principal rules pertaining to patent protection and enforcement and the policies underlying these rules. Neither a technical nor scientific background is necessary for this course.

PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE Can we preserve dignity and privacy in the age of Facebook? This seminar will consider the history and current applications of technologies and cultures of surveillance. How and why did we get to the point where almost all of our activities leave a trace? What is our level of tolerance of mass surveillance? Are we willing to let the state into our bedrooms? Are we more comfortable letting our stores and shopping services understand us? What sorts of laws and policies do we need to protect our sense of personal integrity? And is privacy worth anything these days anyway? This course will allow students to survey a broad range of approaches and issues. We will read the latest work as well as some classic contributions to the field.

PROPERTY THEORY This seminar examines theories of property, including natural rights and utilitarian theories. The seminar focuses on the rigorous evaluation of scholarly argument. Readings consist of classic works in the field and important contemporary contributions. After a several-week overview of the field, each session is devoted to an intensive study of a single law review article, with designated students criticizing or defending that article.

Survey of Patent, Copyright, Trademark The principal aim of this course in intellectual property is to provide a fundamental grounding in copyright, patent, and trademark law, as well as certain of their common law antecedents and cousins such as trade secret law and unfair competition. In addition to doctrine, we will also look at the economic and philosophic justification for intellectual property rights. This course is appropriate both for a single exposure to intellectual property and as a course introductory to more advanced courses in the various intellectual property disciplines.

TRADE SECRETS: HISTORY, THEORY, AND PRACTICE This short course studies the development of the primary right and tracks its development as a common law doctrine up to the passage of federal and state legislation in both the criminal and civil arenas. We explore the various methods available to protect trade secrets and how the rights are litigated.

Trademark and Unfair Competition Law This course surveys the theory and the law of trademarks and unfair competition. Topics include the acquisition of trademark rights, registration of trademarks, loss of trademark rights, infringement, false designation of origin, advertising, author’s and performers’ rights of attribution and publicity, dilution, Internet domain names, trademarks as speech, and remedies for trademark infringement.

 

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