This is an introductory course in American law, providing an overview of a wide variety of constitutional, statutory and common law legal issues. A primary focus will be on American constitutional law: legislative, judicial, and executive powers; the legal structure of “checks and balances” among the three national governmental powers; the distribution of powers between the national government and state governments (federalism); and the constitutional rights of individuals (including rights of free speech, freedom of religion, due process, and equal protection). We will also examine the American system of litigation: the structure of the court system, the jurisdiction of federal (national) and state courts, and the litigation process. We will also address some common law substantive topics in American law including torts and contracts. Students will have the opportunity to learn how to read and interpret American legal materials, to do legal research within the legal system, and to write an analytical legal memorandum.

This course covers the process of communicating about the law. Our goal is to teach students the building blocks of legal communication through multiple practice exercises so that students can repeat the process on their own after successful completion of the course. In the fall (one credit), we begin at orientation with a short exercise, then move on to email, letter, and office memorandum exercises written in an objective/predictive mode.

The field of patents extends across the boundaries of business, technology, innovation, and law. In this course, students will be introduced to a broad range of patent related topics presented by leading practitioners working at the intersection of law and technology. The course is designed to provide an overview of patent law topics, for example: Patents Now and the Future; Strategic Patents; Patent Analytics; Patent Firm Business Model; Patent Agent/Attorney Roles; Global Patent Procurement; Inventors and Inventions; Claiming Inventions; Patentable Subject Matter; Patent Litigation; Patents Appeals and Trials. Leading practitioners lead a discussion for each of these topics. Subject matter experts may include corporate and law firm lawyers, patent agents, intellectual asset managers, consultants, tech transfer officers, and business owners. Open to graduate students, open to undergraduate juniors or seniors in CSE or CBS, open to other undergraduates with instructor permission

The field of intellectual property extends across the boundaries of business, technology, innovation, and law. In this course, students will be introduced to a broad range of IP related topics presented by leading practitioners working at the intersection of law and technology. Topics may include trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, patents, IP transactions, IP litigation, emerging technologies, intellectual asset management, IP valuation, and commercialization. Lecturers may include corporate general counsels, firm lawyers, transactional lawyers, litigators, consultants, tech transfer officers, R&D Leaders, and CTO. Open to graduate students, open to undergraduate juniors or seniors in CSE or CBS, open to other undergraduates with instructor permission.

This course is designed to provide students with an introduction and understanding of the ethics and rules of professional responsibility and the unauthorized practice of law. Scope: This course covers ethics and professional responsibility for lawyers, ethics and professional responsibility for patent agents and patent attorney’s and the unauthorized practice of law. Goals: This course will provide students with the framework that will guide their actions and conduct as future patent professionals by introducing them to various scenarios that they are likely to encounter in their professional career. By the end of the course, students will understand the principles behind the ethics and rules of professional responsibility and the unauthorized practice of law as it applies to nonlawyers. prereq: Master of Science Patent Law Students.

This course offers an overview of patent law, both for students intending to specialize in patent prosecution and those whose general practice may include patent litigation and licensing. Topics to be covered include patentable subject matter; novelty, utility, and nonobviousness; statutory bars; enablement and written description; direct and vicarious patent infringement; claim interpretation; and administrative review of patent validity.

Patent Prosecution Practice I is recommended for all students interested in intellectual property and patent law, including students considering practicing in the areas of patent prosecution, litigation, licensing, technology commercialization, and patent portfolio management. The course focuses on US patent practice and is designed to extensively develop the student's skills. Throughout the semester each student will complete two projects: (1) formulate and draft patent claims for a number of different inventions in view of prior art, (2) develop strategies for responding to a patent examiner according to rules of the U.S. Patent Office, arguing patentability and allowance of a patent application over cited prior art. Each student will be paired with a senior practicing attorney who will act as a mentor, including reviewing drafts and providing candid feedback to the student. Lectures and discussion topics include: -Organization and structure of the U.S. Patent Office, -The US patent process including the entire life cycle of a patent from application preparation and filing through examination and grant, -Formulating patent claims in view of prior art and potential infringers, -Architecting patent portfolios including all types of US patent applications, such as provisionals, utilities, continuations and divisionals, -Examination of patent applications including responding to Office Actions issued by the US Patent Office; -Inventorship and ownership determination and legal ramifications flowing therefrom, and -US law and regulations governing patent prosecution practice. A technical background is not required to take this course.

Patent Prosecution Practice II is recommended for all students interested in intellectual property and, in particular, students interested in advancing their skills and understanding of patent law and practice. Throughout the semester each student will complete three practical and diverse assignments designed to develop the student's skills. Each student will be paired with a senior practicing attorney who will act as a mentor, including reviewing drafts and providing candid feedback to the student. Specifically, in this class, each student will: (1) prepare a complete US Patent Application based on a real invention, (2) write an appeal brief according to rules of the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board, arguing patentability and reversal of the patent examiner in view of an examination history by the US Patent Office, and (3) provide clearance counseling to a client about to launch a new product, including reviewing issued US patents and developing a full non-infringement / invalidity opinion for the client. The course grade is primarily based on these three projects in lieu of a final exam. Lectures and discussion topics throughout the semester include: -skills and strategies for writing patent applications, -appeal practice including brief writing before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) at the US Patent Office, -clearance analysis including invalidity and non-infringement counseling and opinions, -foreign practice including national filings in foreign countries and international filings using the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), including leveraging patent prosecution highways for accelerated examination, -eligible subject matter issues including recent case law and claim drafting tips, -accelerated examination procedures within the US Patent and Trademark Office, -legal and practical considerations of infringement counseling including formulating invalidity and non-infringement opinions, -post grant review and other mechanisms for challenging issued patents before the US Patent and Trademark Office, -patent prosecution related considerations that arise in relation to participation in industry standards organizations, -patent prosecution related considerations that arise in the context of universities and technology licensing organizations, and -design patents. prereq: Master of Science Patent Law Students only.

Patent lawyers and agents spend their entire professional careers communicating (with clients, patent examiners, judges, colleagues) no matter what their individual career paths may be. This course is about the process of research and communicating about patents. In other words, the goal of the course is to teach the building blocks of patent research and communication through multiple practice exercises so the student may repeat the process independently after successful completion of this course. This course leverages free, patent office, and commercial research tools. Deliverables and works include: patent landscape search and report, patentability search and opinion, patent risk search and assessment, patent invalidity search and opinion. Recommended prereq: Patents (5224), Patent Prosecution Practice I (5231) or Patent Portfolio Management (5250)

Patent portfolio management is the art of aligning patent strategy with business objectives. In general, the successful portfolio manager must have the ability to transform complex patent information into actionable insights that provide decision-making value to a wide variety of stakeholders. This course introduces students to the various practices and skills that go into building, implementing, and managing a patent portfolio whether from the point of view of a small, innovative, start-up company or a Fortune 500 company in a highly competitive market space.

Intellectual property rights have been described as a “sword and shield.” Rights holders are thought to act offensively by suing or threatening to sue infringers and seeking money damages, irrespective of the holders’ marketing and product sales programs. Or they act defensively to protect their current or future market positions by having federal courts enjoin competitors. This course considers a third way: intellectual property rights are also valuable intangible assets that may be bought and sold. In this course, we will explore the principal theories and practices of intellectual property transactions. We will be considering closely the doctrines regulating the assigning and licensing of patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights, and we will be questioning critically whether these laws and practices encourage or inhibit commercial activity and innovation. While studying specific transactions in the course, we will be examining the practical uses of intellectual property law to meet commercial objectives.

This capstone course introduces students to the principles of successful innovation and the integral role of patents in this process. This is a course in innovation. There are no right or wrong answers. Large companies with very smart people often launch products that fail. Venture capitalists seeking to invest in winners more-often-than-not end up investing in losers. Innovation is an art not a science. There is no “secret formula” that guarantees success. There are simply different tools, skills, methods of analysis and approaches that may or may not work better than others. We will explore the art of innovation and the integral role that patents play in turning an idea into an innovation. Goals: Students will learn how to research complex subject matter across the intersecting domains of business, finance, marketing, science, technology and intellectual property. Students will then develop the ability to present their findings in a clear and concise manner that is understandable to and can be acted upon by a cross-functional audience of high-level decision makers.

This course provides an introduction to U.S. energy law. The first portion of the course introduces the nation's sources of energy: coal, oil, biofuels, natural gas, hydropower, nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal energy, and energy efficiency. In doing so, it explores the physical, market, and legal structures within which these energy sources are extracted, transported, and converted into energy. The second portion of the course turns to the two major sectors of our energy economy--electricity and transportation--and the full range of federal and state regulation of each sector. The third portion of the course explores case studies of hot topics in energy law and policy that highlight the complex transitions taking place in the energy system. These topics include electric grid modernization, electric vehicles, risks and benefits associated with hydraulic fracturing and deepwater drilling for oil and gas, the development of offshore wind energy, and the continued role of nuclear energy. In addition to traditional textbook reading and class discussion, the course will include industry, government, and nonprofit guest speaker presentations. Grading will be based on a final exam given at the end of the semester as well as class discussion and weekly written postings on Canvas for the course.

This course will teach you how to: (1) Understand basic accounting principles; (2) Read an annual report and analyze financial statements; (3) Look beyond numbers to gauge the financial performance and strength of an entity; (4) Employ cash flow analysis to value a business or determine the potential financial rewards of an investment opportunity; and (5) Understand the strategic questions that business managers must confront in governing their companies. The course surveys foundational concepts, analytical techniques and practices related to finance, accounting and strategic management issues lawyers confront when working with business executives either as an outside consulting attorney or as an inside corporate counsel. It may also consider other concepts used by business executives, including organizational behavior, marketing and quantitative analysis. The aim of the course is to help law students better appreciate the broader business context of legal decision-making so that they can contribute more effectively as a member of a firm’s top management team or as outside counsel.

Every single day, the newspaper contains stories—plural intended—about data privacy and security. Whether they concern the National Security Agency, Facebook, or a data breach at a small business, the handling of personal information has become a central concern of our time. In response, a complex law of data privacy has emerged, and now it is a fast growing area of legal practice. This course will equip students to counsel clients about an array of federal, state, and international legal requirements—while also analyzing them critically and thinking about the societal challenges posed by new information technology. Assessment will include group projects and a take-home final.

This Competition team furthers students' patent research, patent drafting, and oral advocacy. In the Competition's Regional stage, the team prepares a written patent application and defends it before a judges panel. In the Competition's contingent National stage, the team amends the application and defends it before another judges panel. The course is open to 8 students (i.e., two teams of up to 4 JD and MS students). JD students should add themselves to the waitlist, share their resumes with the instructor, and request enrollment in the course. Prereq or co-req one of the following: Law 5224 Patents, Law 5231 Patent Prosecution I, Law 5243 Patent Research & Writing, or Director of Patent Law Programs permission.

This course will consider how marketers secure and enforce trademark rights. Trademarks are the indicators that consumers rely upon to determine the origin of goods and services. The course will focus on U.S. federal trademark law, but will also look at state and international trademark law as well as related areas such as false advertising, publicity rights, and cybersquatting. This course will provide a solid foundation for students interested in practicing trademark law (application, enforcement, licensing, or litigation) or more general intellectual property law. It will also be useful to attorneys who do any work with trademark-dependent industries such as retail sales, advertising, or media and entertainment. Finally and more generally, trademark law offers excellent case studies of the interaction between law, culture, and technology, and of the evolution of traditional doctrine under pressure from rapid changes in surrounding circumstances.

Copyright subsists in original works of authorship, including literary works, music, and works of visual art. This course provides an overview of U.S. copyright law, including the requirements for copyright protection; authorship and ownership; copyright owner rights; exceptions to copyright liability, including the fair use doctrine; and duration and terminations of transfer.

This course provides an opportunity for students to work with and learn from lawyers and patent professionals in industry and law firms. The instructor and student will work together to find an appropriate placement that matches the student's interests and host's needs. Enrollment occurs through an application outside of the lottery process. If you are interested in participating, please contact the instructor by email as early as possible with a short explanation of: (1) why you are interested in pursuing a patent field placement; (2) the kind of work that interests you; and (3) whether you have an interest in and/or relationships with a specific potential host organization. Prereq or co-req one of the following: Law 5224 Patents, Law 5231 Patent Prosecution I, Law 5243 Patent Research & Writing, or Director of Patent Law Programs permission.

This course is an exploration of perhaps the least studied of the legal regimes protecting commercially valuable information, trade secret law. Patents and copyrights receive considerably more attention, at least as studied disciplines. But the importance of trade secrets and laws protecting them are no less important, and increasingly businesses are recognizing this reality. The focus of this course will be the ways trade secrets come to exist, how they are used, and how they can be protected, and the enforcement mechanisms used to achieve that protection. We will explore the sources of state-based trade secret law, the common law and statutes, and seek an understanding of relevant federal law and the interplay of state and federal law. Because a true understanding of trade secrets only can be obtained by understanding their relation to and differences from inventions covered by patents, we also will make sure to contrast these regimes throughout the course.

Students may earn 1 or 2 credits (and in exceptional circumstances, 3 credits) for researching and writing a note, article, memo, or other paper on a legal topic. At least 3,750 words are required for one credit, at least 7,500 for two credits, and at least 11,250 for three credits. To register, the student should confer with a supervising faculty member, draft a description of the proposed project, and complete the online Independent Research form. LAW 5908 is for students who are not enrolled in the Law School, as well as MSPL candidates. Other law school degree candidates should enroll in LAW 7606 or LAW 7608 instead of LAW 5908.

Students may earn up to three credits in a semester for work in a patent practice setting under the supervision of a qualified field supervisor and a faculty advisor. At least 50 hours of patent-related activities are required per credit. The student is responsible for identifying a field placement setting and supervisor, finding a faculty advisor, and submitting the Independent Field Placement Enrollment Form for approval by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs prior to enrollment.

The enormous growth in the importance of data privacy law over the past ten years has created opportunities for attorneys with expertise in this fascinating and fast-moving field. The Data Privacy Practicum aims to prepare students who may wish to specialize in the area with real-world exposure to practice and credentials that demonstrate readiness for its challenges. Students will 1) study for and take an exam overseen by the International Association of Privacy Professionals that will entitle them to become Certified Information Privacy Professionals—many attorneys working in this area display the “CIPP” credential proudly on their business cards and bios, demonstrating its reputational value; 2) shadow a privacy professional in the Twin Cities working in organizations such as Target, 3M, US Bank, Cargill, Optum Health, and major law firms; 3) attend six proseminar sessions with guest speakers practicing in the field; and 4) research and write a short paper tackling an important problem in current data privacy law.

The course focuses on practical litigation strategy in the context of patent litigation. It uses patent litigation as a vehicle for seeing how parties develop a winning strategy for a variety of complex legal issues, including choice of law, personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, venue, and certain patent-specific issues, such as claim construction. A general understanding of patent law is helpful but not mandatory.

This course provides in-depth coverage of issues relating to remedies for patent infringement. Specific topics may include permanent and preliminary injunctions, ITC proceedings, lost profits, reasonable royalties, FRAND royalties, enhanced damages, attorneys? fees, awards of infringer?s profits for design patent infringement, patent marking, declaratory judgments of noninfringement or invalidity, and comparative remedies law.

This course focuses primarily on the regulation of foods, drugs, and medical devices, by the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The format for the course is lecture, discussions, and collaborative exercises. Goals and desired learning outcomes: Students will learn about the statutory framework involved in regulating foods, drugs, and medical devices, with particular emphasis on the U.S. Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and the USDA as it applies to food. Students learn how the FDA, USDA, and courts interpret and enforce related statutes and regulations and will gain insight into FDA decision-making processes and policies. This course is intended to improve student legal reasoning skills, writing, and presentations skills. Students will analyze and interpret laws and regulations through case law and present to classmates on FDA and the USDA regulatory topics.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to health law. We will investigate the organization of health care delivery in the United States; the nature of the physician-patient relationship; methods of quality control; responses to harm and error, including through medical malpractice litigation; problems of access to health care; and approaches to cost control. We will also analyze proposals for health care reform.

This course provides an overview of international intellectual property law. Likely topics include (1) a comparison of US and foreign law relating to patents, copyrights, and trademarks; (2) the principal multinational agreements relating to intellectual property, including the Paris Convention, Berne Convention, and the TRIPs Agreement, as well as the implementation of these agreements within the domestic law of the United States and other countries; and (3) other topics such as the protection of indigenous knowledge and the law of judgments, jurisdiction, and choice of law as it relates to intellectual property disputes. It is highly recommended that students enrolling in this course have taken, or be in the process of taking, at least one other intellectual property course. prereq: One prior or concurrent intellectual property course.

This course provides an overview of false advertising and product disparagement under the Lanham Act; the right of publicity; and trade secret law. The course does not provide comprehensive coverage of antitrust, trademarks or trade dress, or consumer protection law.

The course surveys foundational concepts, analytical techniques and practices related to organization and strategic management of multinational firms and cross-border transactions they negotiate with host-country governments, firms and non-governmental organizations. The overall aim of the course is to give law students basic proficiency in theories, practices and analytical techniques for understanding why and how multinational firms emerge and organize operations differently, negotiate cross-border transactions differently, and perform differently over time. Students will gain this basic proficiency with special reference to the multinational firm’s general counsel and her contributions to top-management decision-making, so that these future legal professionals can contribute more effectively as a member of a multinational firm’s top management team. The pedagogical approach of this course will be a modified Socratic method utilizing business and legal cases as well as in-class exercises letting law students play different organizational roles in different negotiating contexts.

Land based food and fiber production and processing is the largest segment of the global and national economy. These activities raise increasingly fundamental environmental questions for every level of government and sector of society. This seminar will address selected environmental issues related to agriculture, including crop production and conservation, irrigation, drainage, pesticides, and nutrients; livestock operations and soil/water/air quality; open space/habitat preservation; design of federal farm programs; biofuel initiatives; public land utilization; biodiversity; and globalization. Attorneys, scholars, and public officials will be invited classroom guests. Students will prepare papers and may present their topics to the class. Readings will be selected portions of texts, articles & cases.

Familiarity with all aspects of e-discovery is no longer optional for new attorneys and courts are increasingly penalizing attorneys who fail to satisfy their e-discovery obligations. The outcomes of many cases turn on a few key electronic documents that can be missed if the e-discovery process is not carefully pursued. This seminar will follow the life cycle of a case, covering topics such as document preservation, collection, search, review, and production. Students will participate in mock client interviews and meet and confers, receive lectures on important topics such as spoliation, and observe demonstrations of available document search and review technologies. The seminar will also include guest speakers on topics such as an in-house counsel’s perspective on gathering electronic documents.

This course will cover the key constitutional, statutory, technological, and policy issues regarding computer crime, electronic-evidence gathering (including electronic surveillance), and cybersecurity. The course grade will be determined by a final paper, a brief class presentation based on the final paper, and class participation. Criminal Procedure: Investigation (LAW 6085) is recommended but not required as a prerequisite.

This course is an immersion in the fascinating cross-disciplinary domain where law, biomedicine, and bioethics meet. We will examine the history of this field, key controversies that have driven that history, the range of applicable law (state, federal, and international), the evolution of modern bioethics and its interaction with law, and the articulation of policy (from commissions, NGOs, professional societies, and others). The course will consider competing accounts of the relationship of law, biomedicine, and bioethics, as well as controversy over current issues, including response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will begin by considering the nature of bioethics and its relation to law. We will then examine the history of modern bioethics, starting with the Medical Trial at Nuremberg after World War II and progressing to development of research ethics. We will proceed to analyze the evolving role of law and bioethics in governing assisted reproduction, cloning and other emerging technologies including gene editing, genetics and genomics, organ transplantation and the determination of death, life-sustaining treatment and care of the dying, and physician-assisted suicide (sometimes called "physician-assisted death") and euthanasia. We will then focus on how bioethics and law are addressing crucial issues arising in the current pandemic. Finally, we will consider clinician responsibilities and vulnerabilities in the face of ethical and legal controversy.

This seminar will cover the fast growing area of digital evidence and the legal issues that arise when digital evidence is investigated and used in criminal law and civil practice.

This course emphasizes patent law principles and doctrines as applied to biotechnology, including pharmaceutical, patents. Although there will be some coverage of United States Patent and Trademark Office policies as well as biotechnology patent principles in non-U.S. jurisdictions, the focus will be on U.S. Federal Circuit and Supreme Court case law developments. Topics include patent eligibility of biotechnological inventions including diagnostics and “natural” products such as genes, claim strategies, written description, enablement, utility, best mode including requirements for biological deposits, inventorship, inherent anticipation, obviousness, infringement, and the intersection of patent and FDA regimes for small molecules and biologics.