Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship Clinic - Patent
Course Description
Students in the Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic (“IPEC”) will explore intellectual property needs with clients and will assist them in building various aspects of an IP portfolio. Students must enroll in one of three specialty tracks: the Trademark & Copyright Specialization (4 students), the Business Specialization (4 students), or the Patent Specialization (4 students). Students who are enrolled in the Patent Specialization will perform patentability searches and draft patentability opinions relating to the scope of protection a client might be able to receive if it filed a patent application. In appropriate situations, the student may then be asked to prepare and file provisional and non-provisional utility patent applications and design patent applications. The clinic participates in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Law School Clinic Certification Program, giving students limited recognition to practice before the office for purposes of filing and prosecuting patent applications while they are in the clinic, working under the supervision of a registered patent attorney. In order to qualify for the USPTO’s Law School Clinic Certification Program for Patents, a student must satisfy the technical qualifications required to sit for the Patent Bar Exam, although there is no requirement that a student actually take that exam in order to participate in the clinic. This generally means that a student must have an undergraduate degree in engineering or the hard sciences. In some instances, a student who has taken a substantial number of science and/or engineering courses, but who did not obtain a degree in one of those disciplines, may qualify for the Patent Clinic. Students should be prepared to produce college transcripts documenting their degrees; in some cases, course descriptions may also be requested. Further information may be found in the USPTO’s General Requirements Bulletin (pages 3 through 5), available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OED_GRB.pdf. Students with questions about whether they may satisfy these requirements should contact Professor Patricia Campbell, the director of IPEC. The clinic includes a “classroom” component, consisting of weekly two-hour meetings at the Law School. During these meetings, students receive instruction on practical topics such as how to conduct a trademark clearance search, how to prepare a patent application, how to create a new business entity, and how to draft a nondisclosure agreement. Students may occasionally be asked to brief classmates on their projects and discuss strategy and work plans, as well as ethical challenges they are facing in their client representations. Students must also be available for additional meetings with existing and prospective clients that may be scheduled throughout the week. Note that these meetings will occur during regular business hours, not during the evening or on weekends. P: Intellectual Property Law Survey (may be waived with written permission from the instructor, where the student has taken multiple relevant IP courses but has not taken the IP Survey), plus qualification for the USPTO’s patent bar exam. This clinic will be offered in fall 2023 and spring 2024 as a one-semester clinic for five credits. All students enrolled in fall clinic will be required to attend in-person clinic orientation on Monday, August 21, 2023, and those enrolled in spring clinic will be required to attend in-person clinic orientation on Friday, January 5, 2024, in addition to any clinic-specific orientation that the professor may schedule.
Current and Previous Instructors
Key to Codes in Course Descriptions
P: Prerequisite
C: Prerequisite or Concurrent Requirement
R: Recommended Prior or Concurrent Course
Currently Scheduled Sections
CRN: 98973
- Fall '23
- 5
- 402
-
Tues: 3:15-5:15
Day
-
Patricia Campbell
- Waitlisted. (Limit 4).
Satisfies Cardin Requirement
-
525u
-
Materials to be posted on Blackboard or distributed in class
CRN: 28542
- Spring '24
- 5
- 402
-
Wed: 2:10-4:10
Day
-
Oliver Edwards
Patricia Campbell
- 0 openings. (Limit 3).
Satisfies Cardin Requirement
-
525u
-
No Materials Required