CLIN: Detkin Intellectual Property & Technology (Dahl)
Meeting Times/Location
MW 1:30PM - 2:50PM
Silverman Hall M28
Category
Clinics/Externships
Credits
7.0
This clinical course challenges students to straddle the worlds of law, business, technology and the arts as they apply theory to practice by taking primary responsibility for live-client transactional IP matters. Working out of the Gittis Legal Clinics, Penn Carey Law’s teaching law firm, students represent clients with a broad range of transactional patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, data protection and privacy issues. Recent clients include: a film maker with ownership and defamation issues; a nonprofit jazz organization creating a podcast; a university lab analyzing future markets for patented COVID vaccine technology; a company finalizing its business model and market for a gene therapy reversing blindness; an educational video company creating and marketing online content; a company with VR technology starting to manufacture in China; a jewelry artist with international copyright concerns; a children's book author seeking to protect characters and branding; a social media company needing privacy counsel; and a nonprofit platform crowd sourcing medical device needs and potential solutions.The clients are specifically chosen to deepen student understanding of different IP law career topics. Clients vary by size, focus and industry to provide a rich experience for the class, and may include scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, and large and small for-profit and non-profit entities. A central client for the Clinic is the Penn Center for Innovation.
A simultaneous seminar provides a supportive and dynamic learning environment for students to develop and practice essential skills -- including interviewing, drafting, negotiating, and client counseling -- through simulations and exercises. The Clinic also provides opportunities to interact with students from other professional schools and members of the Pennsylvania Bar formally and informally to deepen students’ professional understanding of how to be an effective counselor in business, technical and arts-oriented settings. Case rounds and weekly supervisory sessions with an experienced faculty-practitioner reinforce and expand concepts presented in cases, and allow students to reflect upon and deepen their understanding of ethical, practical, and substantive issues.
Students need not have a scientific or technical interest or background to apply. However, because some of the clients may expose students to scientific or technical subject matter, registration to the Clinic is by application only to ensure a certain percentage of students with relevant expertise to handle those cases. This course assumes some familiarity with the legal subject matter, so students should have taken either Introduction to Intellectual Property or one or more of Patent Law, Copyright Law or Trademark Law. Students enrolled in joint or dual degrees or certificates in business or the sciences are especially encouraged to apply. The Clinic application is found at https://upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b3in8YSY4qnCHfE. The deadline to apply is November 3, 2024, (you will receive either an invitation to join the Clinic or information about your place on the wait list by November 5, 2024, well before course registration preferences are due). Because clients are chosen in part to match the interests of the students enrolled, once you accept a spot in the Clinic, you may not drop the course. Enrolling in the Clinic will meet a student's entire six credit experiential education requirement. Students may also apply their enrollment in the Clinic toward their Penn Law pro bono requirement, but will receive one fewer credit for the Clinic.
For any questions, contact Professor Cynthia Dahl at dahl@law.upenn.edu.
Skills Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of the individual course skill; Demonstrate the ability to receive and implement feedback; Demonstrate an understanding of how and when the individual course skill is employed in practice.
Intellectual Property and Technology Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of intellectual property law; Perform legal analysis in the context of intellectual property law; Communicate effectively on topics related to intellectual property; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection between technology and intellectual property, and how they affect other areas of law and society.
Textbooks
"Essential Lawyering Skills: Counseling, Negotiation, and Persuasive Fact Analysis" by Stefan H. Krieger, Neumann Jr. |