Intellectual Property at Common Law -- Syllabus

Tom Field --- Fall 2003

Limited enrollment: Up to 21 LL.M. and J.D. students. Familiarity with U.S. legal research methods is essential, as is some IP background. Familiarity with tort liability and privileges is helpful.

I. Materials
    Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition (student edition). This particular Restatement is nearly primary law; it and predecessors have been applied to common law and statutory torts by all levels of state and federal courts, as well as by the PTO in interpreting the Lanham Act.

II. Objectives
    Through student presentations and papers to:
        * show that not all of IP is governed exclusively, or even primarily, by federal statutes;
        * consider the comparative strategic value of state common law torts and statutes;
        * examine the Restatement as legal authority, sample its coverage as widely as possible, and evaluate where and how it differs from current law;
        * note important potential federal/state conflicts and state disagreements.
[My pedagogic objectives were later described in a short comment.]

III. Selecting Topics
    Students may list and rank four preferred Restatement section numbers. Assignments will be made to satisfy student preferences while keeping course coverage as broad as possible.

IV. Class Meetings
    Most classes will be devoted to student presentations. Each student will make two -- one of about 25 minutes and a later one of about 40 minutes.
    Initial classes will address evolution of the Restatement and its influence on statutory and non-statutory U.S. IP law. One or more classes may feature relevant research strategies.
    The detailed schedule will depend on the number of students and should be distributed, with topic assignments, within a week.

V. Evaluation     Preparation, attendance and participation. Lack of preparation (particularly by a presenting student), non-attendance, or inattention may result in "disenrollment."
    Presentations (40%): Besides providing an outline or the like, assign at least a few Restatement pages as background reading -- preferably also a case or an excerpt from an article.
    Participation (10%): Based on the quality of contributions to discussion of others' papers
    Papers (50%): Due by the end of the examination period. Papers should be about 20 tightly written pages. They must also be well documented and conform to legal format and citation conventions. It is hoped that some will warrant publication.
    Grades: O-S-U. Each student in the class could receive an O. Because papers will cover different topics, more specific grades cannot fairly be assigned. In any event, papers should speak for themselves as writing samples.

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Field's Course Page

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Aug. 15, 2003