Intellectual Property Law Syllabus for Legal Studies and Paralegal Students

This is a model syllabus for an Intellectual Property Law course for undergraduate legal studies or paralegal students.  It could be modified for a Trademark or Copyright Law course. 

1. Introduction to Intellectual Property
   1. Types of Intellectual Property
   2. Governmental Agencies involved in registration of intellectual property
   3. International organizations involved in intellectual property
   4. Increasing impact of intellectual property

2. Trademark Law
   1. Purpose and function of trademarks
           CALI Lesson: Trademark Policy (TM02)
   2. Types of marks
      1. Trademarks
              CALI Lesson: Introduction to Trade Dress Law (TM09)
      2. Service marks
              CALI Lesson: Service Marks (TM18)
      3. Certification marks
      4. Collective marks
              CALI Lesson: Collective Marks and Certification Marks (TM06)

   3. Acquisition of trademark rights
      1. Common law rights
              CALI Lesson: Initial Trademark Ownership (TM17)
              CALI Lesson: Trademark Dilution: What Marks are Eligible for Protection (TM01)
      2. Federal registration
      3. Laws and treaties
         1. Lanham Act
         2. NAFTA
         3. TRIPs
         4. TLTIA
         5. Madrid Protocol
         6. Federal Trademark Dilution Act
         7. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act
                 CALI Lesson: Lanham Act Section 43(d): Cybersquatting (TM03)

      4. State registration

   4. Categories of Marks
           CALI Lesson: Distinctiveness (TM04)
      1. Generic marks
      2. Descriptive marks
              CALI Lesson: Acquired Secondary Meaning (TM19)
      3. Suggestive marks
      4. Arbitrary marks
      5. Coined (fanciful) marks

   5. What is not protectible under trademark law
           CALI Lesson: Federal Trademark Registration: Bars to Registration (TM15)
           CALI Lesson: Functionality (TM05)
   6. Goods, Services and the first date of use in commerce
           CALI Lesson: Trademark Exhaustion/First Sale (TM14)
   7. Selecting a trademark
           CALI Lesson: Foreign Words and Personal Names as Trademarks (TM20)
   8. Trademark searching
      CALI The Geographic Scope of Trademark Protection (IP02)
   9. Trademark registration
           CALI Lesson: Registration and Section 44 (TM21)
      1. Preparing the application
      2. The application process
      3. The examination process
      4. The post-examination process
      5. Registration
      6. Monitoring by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

   10. Preserving trademark rights
       1. Notice
       2. Rules of trademark use
               CALI Lesson: The Role of ‘Use’ in Trademark Law: An Overview (TM25)
       3. Continued use, incontestability and renewal
               CALI Lesson: Incontestability (TM08)
       4. Trademark watching services
       5. Avoiding abandonment
               CALI Lesson: Abandonment (TM10)

   11. Trademark infringement
            CALI Lesson: Likelihood of Confusion (TM22)
            CALI Lesson: Related Goods (TM12)
            CALI Lesson: Trademark Dilution: Defining Dilution and its Elements (TM16)
            CALI Lesson: Trademark Fair Use (TM07)
   12. Trademark litigation
            CALI Lesson: Injunctive Relief for Trademark Infringment (TM23)
            CALI Lesson: Recovery of Damages for Trademark Infringement (TM13)
            CALI Lesson: Trademark Dilution: Defenses and Remedies (TM11)
   13. License and Assignments
            CALI Lesson: Trademark Assignments and Licenses (TM24)

3. Copyright Law
   1. Introduction to Copyright Law
           CALI Lesson: A Copyright Primer (IP01)
      1. Purpose of copyrights
      2. Distinction from other areas of intellectual property
      3. Sources of copyright law
         1. Federal copyright statutes
         2. Federal courts
         3. Copyright office

   2. What is Copyrightable?
           CALI Lesson: Copyrights in Sound Recordings (CPY14)
           CALI Lesson: Architectural Works (CPY18)
      1. Originality
      2. Fixation
              CALI Lesson: Fixation Requirement (CPY01)
      3. Works of authorship
      4. Derivative works
      5. Exclusions from copyright protection
              CALI Lesson: Useful Articles (CPY15)

   3. Rights Under Copyright Law
      1. Exclusive rights
      2. Right to reproduce
      3. Right to adapt work: Right to prepare derivative works
              CALI Lesson: The Adaptation Right (CPY19)
      4. Right to display work
      5. Right to publicly perform work
              CALI Lesson: Rights of Public Performance and Display (CPY10)
      6. Right to distribute
              CALI Lesson: The Distribution Right (CPY16)
              CALI Lesson: Limitations on the Distribution Right (CPY20)

   4. Rights of the Public
      1. First Sale Doctrine
      2. Fair Use
              CALI Lesson: Fundamentals of Fair Use (CPY08)
      3. Parody as first use
              CALI Lesson: Fair Use and Parody (CPY12)
      4. Educational and library uses

   5. Copyright Ownership
      1. Joint authorship and co-ownership
              CALI Lesson: Joint Works (CPY02)
      2. Ownership in collective works
              CALI Lesson: Compilations (CPY06)
      3. Works made for hire
              CALI Lesson: Ownership of Copyrights: Works Made for Hire (CPY07)
      4. Transfer of copyright
      5. Duration of a copyright

   6. Copyright registration
           CALI Lesson: Copyright Formalities: Notice and Registration (CPY04)
      1. The registration process
      2. Application forms
      3. Preparing the copyright application
      4. Deposit materials
      5. Filing the application

   7. Copyright Infringement
           CALI Lesson: A Primer on Copyright Infringement (CPY11)
      1. Elements of infringement
      2. Contributory and vicarious infringement
              CALI Lesson: Contributory and Vicarious Liability (CPY17)
      3. Defenses
      4. Remedies

4. Patents
   1. Foundations of Patent Law
           CALI Lesson: Policy and Patentable Subject Matter (PAT06)
      1. Rights under federal law
      2. United States Patent and Trademark Office
      3. Patentability
              CALI Lesson: Patentable Subject Matter (PAT09)
         1. Usefulness
                 CALI Lesson: Utility (PAT01)
         2. Novelty
                 CALI Lesson: Novelty (Section 102(a)) (PAT02)
         3. Nonobviousness
                 CALI Lesson: Basic Concepts of Non-Obviousness (PAT04)
                 CALI Lesson: Nonobviousness: The Scope and Content of Prior Art (PAT05)
                 CALI Lesson: Obviousness: Secondary Conditions (PAT12)

   2. Patent searches and applications
      1. Patent searching
      2. Application process
      3. Term and maintenance of patents

   3. Patent ownership and transfer
      1. Ownership rights
      2. Sole and Joint inventors
      3. Inventors who are employees or independent contractors
      4. Assignment of patent rights
      5. Licensing of patent rights

   4. Patent Infringement
      1. Types of infringement
              CALI Lesson: Infringement Beyond the Borders: 271(f) (PAT03)
              CALI Lesson: Literal Infringement (PAT11)
              CALI Lesson: The doctrine of Equivalents (PAT08)
      2. Defenses to infringement
      3. Remedies for infringement
      4. Patent infringement litigation

5. Trade Secrets
   1. What qualifies as a trade secret?
   2. Liability for misappropriation
   3. Employer-Employee relationships
   4. Defenses to misappropriation claims
   5. Remedies for misappropriation