Law 827: Intellectual Property Workshop
Jessica Litman & Margaret Jane Radin
Winter 2012
Thursdays, 4:00 pm — 6:00 pp.m.
Course Description
This Workshop will feature presentations from scholars conducting research on intellectual property law and related topics. Students will prepare for these sessions by reading the papers and writing and submitting short critiques. The Workshop will also be open to the public. Faculty, students and staff from the law school and other University departments, and faculty from other universities in the area may attend particular sessions.
In addition to the nine papers, we have adopted a textbook for background reading. That textbook is Lydia Loren & Joseph Miller, Intellectual Property Law: Cases and Materials (Version 2.2, 2011), available for paid download at http://semaphorepress.com/. Please download the Casebook and read the initial assignment before the first class session on January 12.
Schedule
January 12: First class
- Reading Assignment: Loren & Miller, pages 1-26
January 19: Introduction to Patent Law
- Reading Assignment: Loren & Miller, pages 115-116, 140-153, 179-199, 238-256, 262-275
- Essay due Jan. 17: Exclusive Ownership vs. Public Disclosure
January 26: Introduction to Copyright and Trademark Law
- Reading Assignment: Loren & Miller, pages 313-37, 379-400, 408-21, 517-19, 528-32, 538-44
- Essay due Jan. 24: Should the Totoro restaurant at 215 S. State Street be worried about intellectual property law?
February 3: Kara Swanson, Northeastern
- Paper: Patents and Abortion: A Historical Analysis of the Politics of Life in the Patent Office
- Comments Due Tuesday January 31
February 9: Heidi Bond, University of Seattle
- Paper: The Marginal Cost of Annoyance
- Comments Due Tuesday, February 7
- Optional background reading: Loren & Miller, pages 458-59, 484-87, 514- 15
February 16: Howard Abrams, University of Detroit
- Paper:Untitled Work-in-Progress on Eldred v. Ashcroft and Golan v. Holder
- Comments Due Tuesday February 14
- Optional background reading: Loren & Miller, pages 371-78; and Golan v. Holder (2012)
February 23: Jane Winn, University of Washington
- Paper: Buying Fairness: Certification Marks, Control Rights and Self-Regulation in Global Markets
- Comments Due Tuesday February 21
- Optional background reading: Loren & Miller pages 537-38
March 8: Bob Brauneis, George Washington University
- Paper: Copyright and the Dilemma of Defining Musical Works in the Era of Fixed Sound
- Comments Due Tuesday March 6
- Optional background reading: Loren & Miller, pages 399-406
March 15: Jay Thomas, Georgetown
- Paper: Toward a Theory of Regulatory Exclusivities
- Comments Due Tuesday March 13
- Optional background reading:
March 22: James Grimmelmann, New York Law School
- Paper: Three Theories of Copyright in Ratings
- Comments due Tuesday March 20
- Optional background reading:
March 29: Lynda Oswald, University of Michigan
- Paper: The Role of Joint Infringement in U.S. Patent Law
- Comments due Tuesday March 27
- Optional background reading:
April 5: Arti Rai, Duke
- Paper:
- Comments Due Tuesday April 3
- Optional background reading:
April 12: Final Class
- Essay due April 10: Choose any two papers presented at the workshop and write a 750 word essay in which you may compare, contrast, or/and respond to them.
Past Intellectual Property Workshops
A list of past speakers is here.