Intellectual Property and Corporate Lawyering (Clayton)
Faculty
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| Rebecca E. Clayton Adjunct Professor of Law rclayton@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Experiential CourseYes
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Team Projects
Drafting Legal Documents
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
30% Participation,
30% Paper,
40% Other (Final Group Project)
No
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can send you an email with instructions for accessing the recording for the class session(s) you missed.
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
Meeting Times/Location
W 4:30PM - 6:30PM
Silverman Hall 270
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
This course acclimates students to the perspective of intellectual property as a business asset and teaches how to use the law and lawyering skills to achieve business objectives. The course is particularly suited for students who plan to become corporate transactional lawyers and seek a deeper understanding of laws applicable to key assets of most businesses, as well as for students who plan to become intellectual property specialists and seek a broader understanding of the context in which they will practice.
Underscoring the core corporate lawyering principle that lawyers must know their clients’ businesses to represent clients most effectively, the course explores the strategic utilization of intellectual property laws in an organization’s business objectives. For example, we will examine when and how corporations use trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents to advance and protect their products and services in the marketplace. Examples include the business assessment underlying an enterprise’s decisions regarding its trademark strategy, when to pursue patent protection versus trade secret protection as well as the interplay between these protections, and how to navigate the ever-changing legal terrain that surrounds many new technologies.
Students will have the opportunity to prepare and present strategy recommendations related to business case studies, administrative filings, and hypothetical scenarios through multiple simulation exercises. Students must prepare and present a final group simulation project and write an end of semester paper. An introductory intellectual property course is a prerequisite, except with prior approval by the professor.
Attendance is mandatory (including during Add/Drop period) unless prior arrangements are made with the professor.
Business and Corporate Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of business and corporate law; Perform legal analysis in the context of business and corporate law; Communicate effectively on topics related to business and corporate law; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection between the world of business and finance and that of business and corporate law, and how they affect other areas of law and society.
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.
Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Professional Responsibility and Ethics Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Equity and Inclusion Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Perform legal analysis in the context of topics related to equity and inclusion; Communicate effectively on the legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Demonstrate an understanding of how equity and inclusion are connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.
Textbooks
"Intellectual Property Deskbook for the Business Lawyer: A Transactions-based Guide to Intellectual P" by Sharon K. Sandeen |