Design Law

Catalog description

This course will offer a doctrinal and practical overview of the legal protections available for product design, including copyright, utility patent, design patent, and trade dress laws. Students will learn the substantive features of these legal regimes, what they cover and what they do not, and the ways in which they interoperate. The doctrinal portion of the course will focus primarily on US law, but non-US jurisdictions will be addressed occasionally for purposes of comparison. After instruction in the doctrinal issues arising in design law, the course will include presentations from attorneys and product designers in order to give students a richer understanding of the field and how they may best counsel clients. Students will also offer mock advising for potential clients. By the end of the term, students will have developed a robust knowledge of both the substantive and practical aspects of design law. Prerequisite(s): LAW 7572 or LAW 7577 . The Professor will consider one of these classes as a co-requisite on a case by case basis.