| Course Name | Number | Cr. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Trademark Law | 601 | 2 | Covers advanced procedural and substantive topics of trademark law. Course work includes in-depth treatment of complex areas of practice such as protection of trade dress, packaging, and product design, border protection issues, trademark litigation strategies, and recent legal developments in the field of trademark law. |
| Copyright Law | 191 | 3 | This course covers the basics of copyright law, including determinations of what is copyrightable, formalities for obtaining protection, and copyright registration practices and procedures. The substantive and procedural elements of infringement actions are examined, including defenses. Technological developments affecting copyright are also addressed, including issues related to computer software and the Internet. |
| Federal Circuit Practice Seminar | 437 | 2 | A seminar on the practical aspects of appearing before the Federal Circuit, as well as the most relevant substantive issues currently before the Court. The seminar discusses the history of the Court, the purpose for its creation, the Court's jurisdiction, rules of practice, and the practical workings of the Court. Practical aspects of appearing before the Court will include opinion analysis, brief writing, and oral argument. The seminar also explores some of the more complex issues currently faced by the Court. Finally, the seminar will discuss Federal Circuit cases recently heard by the Supreme Court. |
| Intellectual Property Law | 367 | 3 | This course focuses on the protection of proprietary rights in inventions, writings, creative expression, software, trade secrets, trade designations, and other intangible intellectual products by federal patent, copyright, trademark and unfair competition law, and by state trade secrecy and unfair competition law. Consideration will be given to the challenges posed for traditional intellectual property paradigms by new technologies and the shift to an information-based economy. This course is designed for the non-specialist, but also serves as a foundation for the specialist. |
| Legal Clinic - Practical Preparation of GMU Patent Applications | 358 | 2 | This class will be a working seminar class where students will write actual applications which will be filed for inventors affiliated with George Mason University. The students will each be assigned an invention, and will work directly with the inventor(s), who will likely be George Mason University professors or staff, to write a patent application covering the invention. Students will be instructed as to best practices before meeting with the inventor(s) and drafting the application, and then will be critiqued regarding their written patent applications. The patent applications will be written in stages, including invention disclosure considerations, drawings, claims, andspecification, with critique on each step in the process. Multiple drafts of the complete application will be written and critiqued until it is ready for filing. The two credit hour course will meet for two periods every other week. The instructors will attempt to match inventions with students' backgrounds, if possible. The course is currently limited to those students with a background or facility in computer, electrical or mechanical technology. Prerequisites: Patent Law I Patent Law II Patent Writing Theory and Practice or equivalent experience |
| Legal and Economic Theory of Intellectual Property | 261 | 2 | A survey of the legal and economic theory of intellectual property including the common law premises for the protection of ideas and their embodiments and the evolution of statutory and judge-made law. The first half of the course concentrates on the underlying economic and property theory and law, and the second half develops the application to the statutory and common law classes of intellectual property: patents, copyright, trademarks, mask works, and trade secrets. |
| Patent Interference Law and Practice | 291 | 1 | Patent Interference Law and Procedure will focus not only on the law and procedure of a patent interference, but also on the tactical and strategic considerations which must be taken into account prior to becoming involved in a patent interference, during a patent interference and after termination of a patent interference. Emphasis will be placed on an understanding of the 2004 Interference Rules and how they are applied and interpreted by the Administrative Patent Judges that handle patent interferences. Further emphasis will be placed upon the major substantive aspects of patent interference practice, namely conception, corroboration, actual and constructive reductions to practice, derivation, and abandonment, suppression and concealment. The first class will not involve any text. After the first class, the text will be available at no charge to any student taking the course for downloading and printing. The text will be regularly updated to include major decisions which have issued from the Federal Circuit, District Courts as appropriate and the Board of Patent and Appeals and Interferences since May of 2004. Additional materials will be provided electronically to the students at the beginning of the course. The approach taken in the class is non-Socratic. |
| Patent Law I | 284 | 2 | Provides an introduction to the basic principles of the law of patents in the United States. Covers the history, origin and function of the patent system; the nature of patents as property and as legal instruments; comparisons with other forms of intellectual property; subject matter eligible for patenting; the conditions for patentability of an invention; and the disclosure requirements for a patent application. |
| Patent Law II | 292 | 2 | A continuation of Patent Law I. This course focuses on the meaning and function of patent claims as property definitions; patent prosecution, including conduct giving rise to the unenforceability of a patent; post-grant procedures; infringement of a patent, including claim interpretation and acts giving rise to infringement; equitable defenses to a charge of infringement; remedies; patent enforcement; & patent misuse. |
| Patent Litigation and Dispute Resolution | 287 | 2 | Builds upon the basic required course in Civil Procedure by teaching the procedure, tactics, and options common to most patent litigation. The role of preliminary injunctions is covered in detail. The course focuses primarily on strategy considerations. |
| Patent Prosecution | 294 | 2 | This course builds upon Patent Law I and II by providing an in depth analysis of the substantive and procedural law relating to the prosecution of patent applications in the Patent and Trademark Office. The course emphasizes various strategies for responding to office actions, avoiding and overcoming objections and rejections, and avoiding prosecution history estoppels arising under Supreme Court and Federal Circuit case law. The course stresses how patent prosecution affects the value of patents. |
| Patent Writing Theory and Practice | 351 | 2 | This course applies principles learned in earlier patent law courses to the writing of applications for patents to accord them their maximum legal effect. The readability of patents by lay judges and jurors is also stressed. |
| Patent and Know-How Licensing | 286 | 2 | Covers the business and legal criteria necessary to implement and maintain successful patent licensing programs. Subject areas covered are business objectives in licensing; rights and duties of license parties; determining and negotiating the terms and clauses of the contract; administering and enforcing the license; antitrust and misuse constraints on the business and law of licensing; and special problems in trade secrets, know-how, and show-how contracts. |
| Trade Secrets Law | 347 | 1 | Considers the law and theory applicable to protection of confidential business information ranging from computer programs and manufacturing processes to customer lists. Covers reverse engineering of products; invention/idea submissions from employees and outsiders; employment agreements; consultant agreements; considerations regarding drafting of agreements; remedies; defenses; misappropriation; trade secret-defeating publications versus patent-defeating publications; implied and express duties of confidentiality; trial tactics; use of trade secret clauses to effect non-compete agreements; the inevitable disclosure doctrine; Federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996; and various public policy considerations associated with the foregoing. The procedures and requirements for preserving trade secret protection for confidential business information are reviewed. The economics of trade secret law is considered relative to other types of protection such as patents and copyrights. |
| Trademark Law | 327 | 3 | Covers procedural and substantive law in obtaining trademark registrations in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and enforcement and licensing of federal and state registrations after they are obtained. |
| Unfair Trade Practices | 332 | 3 | This course examines the legal determination of what business practices are considered to be unfair. It includes the problem of entry, deceptive practices, interference with business relations, trade secrets, and misappropriation. The bodies of law studied include the common law and various federal enactments, such as the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Lanham Act. |
