Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship Clinic - Business

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). As with the Trademark and Patent sections of this clinic, the business section includes a “classroom” component, consisting of weekly two-hour meetings at the Law School. During these meetings, Business students, along with the Patent and Trademark students, receive instruction on practical topics such as how to choose and create a new business entity, how to conduct a trademark clearance search and how to prepare a patent application. Students may also 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. For some of the regular class times during which the Trademark and Patent students are receiving instruction on more complex Trademark and Patent issues, the Business students will attend breakout sessions with the Business instructor to review how to navigate the SDAT website and how to draft corporate documents. In addition to the weekly classes and breakout sessions, Business students will attend meetings with prospective clients during which the students will have the opportunity to learn how to interview potential clients and ask questions about their business legal needs. If the interviewee becomes a client, the students will draft the business documents identified as necessary for the client. Drafting documents typically requires a more in-depth meeting with the client to understand the factual underpinnings of the agreements. This is where students find the most value in participating in the clinic. Business students will have the opportunity to draft a variety of documents including organizational documents (which are then filed with the SDAT), service agreements, nondisclosure agreements, distribution agreements and independent contractor agreements. In the past, Business students have filed statutory conversion documents to convert an LLC to a corporation and they have formed both LLCs and corporations. Business students will also have the opportunity to correspond with the clients and provide advice (with the instructor) to the clients on various issues. 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.

P: Business Associations

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: 28541

Satisfies Cardin Requirement

  • 526u

  • No Materials Required