Fall Term, Block
A
M, T 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Professor William Fisher
3 classroom credits
This course is intended for students who are already familiar with the main contours of intellectual-property law and would like to explore the subject further. We will examine in depth a series of topics that, in recent years, have proven especially controversial or troublesome: trademark dilution; the right of publicity; intellectual-property protection for fashion; fair use; possible solutions to the crisis in the entertainment industry; patent pools and standard-setting organizations; reverse-payment settlement agreements; claim construction; the relationship between copyright and freedom of speech; how legal reform might help address the health crisis in the developing world; exhaustion; remedies for intellectual-property violations; and the possibility that extralegal norms will provide substitutes for intellectual-property rules. Each student will be expected to participate in the discussion of these issues (both in the classroom and online) and to write a short res earch paper addressing an aspect of one of them. Group projects are encouraged. There will be no exam.