Intellectual Property Law

Chapter 1 Introduction

Intellectual property law courses are offered in the second and third years of law school. Students interested in pursuing intellectual property will often focus their studies on patent law or in the areas of copyright, trademark, and trade secrets.

Those students studying to become a patent lawyer must have as a prerequisite a back­ground of scientific training. Normally,the student will possess a Bachelors of Science from an undergraduate university in chemistry, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or bio­technology. Patent lawyers are highly sought after in the United States, because of the ever growing field of technology and ingenuity. Patent lawyers can also practice copyright, trade­mark , and trade secret law, but in the larger cities where it is possible to specialize most prefer to specialize in patent law.

A lawyer who wants to become a copyright, trademark, or trade secret attorney can have any type of undergraduate (pre- law) training. The student’s only prerequisite is to pass the bar exam after law school. To practice before the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office,however,a per­son must also take and pass a special parent bar exam. In larger cities in the Unites States,it is common for copyright, trademark, and trade secrets lawyers to practice only on those areas while lawyers who practice patent law often work only in the field of patent law.

Intellectual property law is the law that protects creations of human intellect. It is divided into four areas of law which include_:^: (i) patent law; (ii) copyright law; (iii) trademark law; and (iv) trade secret law. Federal law governs patents, copyright, trademarks and some unfair com­petition causes of action. Other unfair competition causes of action,trade secrets,the right of publicity and idea law are the product of state common law and statutes. In some countries, this area of law is known as" industrial property" rather than intellectual property.

While each of the intellectual property doctrines is distinct, they all have characteristics in common. Each provides limited property rights in intangible products of investment, intellect and/or labor, whether they be inventive ideas, accumulations of information, original means of expression,business good will or the"persona" of a celebrity. Moreover,as discussed below,each