Introduction to Intellectual Property Law & Policy

Casebook

Robert Merges et al, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age (4th ed. 2006).

Statutory Supplement

Selected Statutes on Intellectual Property (West 2006) [optional]

Students may wish to buy the statutory supplement from the Bookstore, but can probably use online materials, such as those provided by Cornell:

Title 17, United States Code (Copyright): www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/
Title 35, United States Code (Patent): www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/35/
Title 15, United States Code (Trademark): www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/

Be sure to have printed (or -- even better -- downloaded onto your computer) the relevant statutory sections for reference during class.

Supplementary Materials

Both the casebook and statutes will be supplemented from time-to-time by supplementary materials, available for download via the class web site. I generally will not distribute the supplements in hard-copy form (i.e., via the law school distribution center); if this causes you a hardship, let me know.

Class Notes

If slides for a particular class session are created, they'll be available on the class web site, typically before the class session. Find the link in the box for that class session. I typically make them available in Acrobat (.pdf) format.

Audio Files

I expect to record all class sessions and make them available on the class web site. Find the link in the box for that class session.

Final Exam

Details are always subject to change, but I expect this will be primarily multiple choice, but may also have some true / false and perhaps some short answer as well. (Last year's final exam consisted of 65 multiple choice questions given in two hours.) I expect it to be open book and open notes. As has been the case in past years, I expect that students will be allowed to use their laptops to access their notes during the exam.

You can download a small set of sample questions (with answers and explanations) by clicking here.

Essays (optional)

Each student may write one essay during the term on a topic of his or her choice (though it must be related to the topic or materials assigned for a particular class session). They are intended to stimulate discussion both in class and on the discussion board. Again, these are optional. Note the following guidelines and rules:

Timing
Essays are due no later than 12:00 noon on the day before the class session to which they most closely relate. That is, if you write your essay on the doctrine of Fair Use in Copyright (Class 11, February 14th), then your essay is due by 12:00 noon on February 13th.

Length
The word limit for an essay is 1500 words . No exceptions, 'wiggle-room,' etc. on this limit; essays over the word limit will not be graded. There is no minimum length.

Topic
The topic is your choice, but must be directly relevant to the materials assigned in the course. The best Essays will use the class materials as a 'springboard' for additional discussion.

Turning In Essays
To turn in an Essay, you do two things. First, post the essay (just create a new post, copy and paste the text into the post box) on the course weblog: choose a suitably interesting and relevant title/subject for your post. Second, send the post by email (copy and paste into an email message) to the instructor (pwagner@law.upenn.edu) with the following subject line: LAW 507: Essay for [Your Name]. (Please be sure to use the correct subject line, or your message might get tangled up in my spam filters and be considered 'late'.)

Scoring
Each Essay is read and assigned a score of 0-20 points (with 10 being an outstanding score). Factors considered in grading include:

- quality of the contribution to the discussion

- originality of the essay

- clarity and coherence of the writing

Note that I have no interest in "Bluebooking" formalities. You should note the source materials you've used, using citations where appropriate. Citations should clearly indicate the source material, but don't spend your time agonizing over trivia.

Essays posted/emailed past the deadline (see above) will have their scores reduced by 25 percent.

Course Participation

All students receive a participation score. I'm looking for consistently insightful participation, not merely rapid observation of the obvious. The best sort of in-class comment is one that adds a different perspective or insight to the discussion. Most of your participation score will come from the two class sessions assigned to your Group. Participation includes (voluntary) activity on the class blog, as well as voluntary activitiy on the course Wiki pages.

Overall Scoring

The specifics of the grading scheme will be on a 'choose your own adventure' basis. Class participation is worth 10% of everyone's grade. The optional Essay is worth 20% for those who do it. Thus, the weighting of the final exam will either be 90% (for those without essays) or 70% (for those with essays).

You don't have to choose your option until you turn in your essay. And no, you can't 'erase' your essay after you turn it in. Those who turn in their essays by March 12 will have their essay scores prior to the exam. Note that past experience suggests a very strong correlation between exam scores (and thus overall grades) and participation.

Overall scores will be computed using the weighting above, and will be distributed (curved) generally following the official law school curve.