Indiana Law's Intellectual Property Program
From romance novels, fine art, and online music stores to discoveries in genetic engineering or software technology, the world of intangible assets is growing at break-neck pace.
Attorneys with sharp skills and interdisciplinary backgrounds are in great demand as this concept transforms today's legal profession. Indiana Law's Intellectual Property Program prepares students for the challenges of an imaginative, dynamic industry.
A roster of accomplished faculty and practicing IP attorneys demands excellence, and partnership with Indiana University, one of the nation's leading public research universities, puts a wealth of resources within reach.
Curriculum
Core courses include:
- Survey of Intellectual Property Law
- Copyright Law
- Patent Law
- Trademark and Unfair Competition
- Information Technology Essentials
- International Intellectual Property
- Entertainment Law
Advanced courses, enrichment, and clinics:
- Cumulative Innovation
- Entrepreneurship Law Clinic
- False Advertising and Unfair Competition Law Seminar
- Intellectual Property Technology Seminar
- Law and Biomedical Advancement
- Law and Medicine
- Law, Science, and Technology Seminar
- Patent Litigation
- Patent Prosecution
- Patents and Biotechnological Inventions Seminar
- Practicum on Intellectual Property: Transactions/Licensing
- Trademark Litigation
- Communications/Internet Law Seminar
- Internet Law
- Information Privacy
- Information Security
- E-Commerce
Meet the principal professors in the Intellectual Property Program
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Fred Cate
Professor Cate specializes in information privacy and security law issues. He speaks frequently about these issues before industry, professional, and government groups and testifies regularly before Congress. He is a member of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Academic Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technical and Privacy Dimensions of Information for Terrorism Prevention and Other National Goals, and the Research Steering Committee of the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection. He also serves as reporter for the American Law Institute's project on Principles of the Law on Government Access to and Use of Personal Digital Information.
Professor Cate is the author of many books and articles, including The Internet and the First Amendment, Privacy in the Information Age, and Privacy in Perspective, and he appears frequently in the popular press.
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Kevin Collins
At Indiana Law, Professor Collins focuses his teaching and much of his research in intellectual property law and, in particular, patent law. With an undergraduate degree from Yale in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, he is interested in the impact of intellectual property laws on the development of the biotechnology industry. After receiving his JD from Stanford Law School and clerking on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, he clerked on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that hears appeals from all patent infringement cases in the country.
Collins also studies the intersection of law and architecture. A registered architect in the state of New York with a masters in architecture from Columbia, he has taught a seminar in 20th century architectural history at Yale and studio design courses at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. At the Law School, he teaches the Law and Architecture of Urban Design.
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Yvonne Cripps
Professor Cripps, an internationally acclaimed scholar and teacher, became the first holder of the Harry T. Ice Chair of Law at Indiana University in 2000. She specializes in intellectual property law and biotechnology.
Her book Controlling Technology: Genetic Engineering and the Law, published in 1980, was the first comprehensive treatment of the legal implications of biotechnology. She is also the author of other books, including The Legal Implications of Disclosure in the Public Interest, now in its second edition, and more than 40 articles on intellectual property, privacy law, and biotechnology.
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Joshua Fairfield
Professor Fairfield's scholarship focuses on the intersection of computing technologies and law in the areas of commercial law, comparative commercial law, property law, and computer law. His publications include the wildly-popular "Virtual Property," Boston University Law Review (2005); "Cracks in the Foundation: The CAN-SPAM Act's Hidden Threat to Privacy and Commerce," Arizona State Law Journal (2004); and "To Err Is Human: The Judicial Conundrum of Curing Apprendi Error," Baylor Law Review (2003).
Fairfield is regularly quoted in national and international media on information technology topics including the law of video games, online regulation, and the law and economics of virtual worlds.
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Marshall Leaffer
Professor Leaffer, formerly the Anderson-Fornoff Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law, is an internationally-known intellectual property law scholar. He is the author of eight books and numerous articles, including the best-selling treatise, Understanding Copyright Law. He is a popular speaker in both the United States and Europe on all areas of intellectual property law, and has been honored as both a scholar and lecturer. At Indiana Law since 1997, Professor Leaffer teaches and researches in the areas of Copyright Law, Trademark Law, and International Intellectual Property.
Adjunct Faculty
Indiana Law's curriculum in intellectual property includes frequently-offered courses taught by practicing IP attorneys.
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Kenneth A. Gandy
Woodard Emhardt Moriarty McNett & Henry LLP, Indianapolis
Gandy received a BS degree in biochemistry in 1985 from Indiana University-Bloomington and his JD in 1988 from the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Intellectual Property Law Association Chemical Practice Committee and Biotechnology Subcommittee.
Courses: Patent Prosecution
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Dan Lueders
Woodard Emhardt Moriarty McNett & Henry LLP, Indianapolis
Lueders earned a BS in civil engineering from Northwestern University's Technological Institute in 1983, and a JD, with honors, in 1986 from the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, where he participated in the National Moot Court Team and Competition, National Moot Court Board, and the Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition. Lueders is also a 1990 graduate of the Stanley K. Lacey Executive Leadership Series. The former deputy prosecutor has served as an expert witness in intellectual property lawsuits.
Courses: Trade Secrets
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Robert Meitus
Meitus Gelbert Rose LLP, Indianapolis
Meitus practices primarily in the areas of entertainment, copyright, trademark, privacy, advertising, and Internet law. The Indiana Law alumnus is a co-owner of Windchime Promotions, Inc., a music management and promotion company, and Wonderdisc, LLC, an audiovisual manufacturing services company. He represents a wide array of clientele including publishers, record labels, film production companies, and many other entities.
Courses: Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Practicum in Music Law
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Anthony J. Rose
Meitus Gelbert Rose LLP, Indianapolis
Rose practices primarily in the technology sector of intellectual property law. With more than 15 years' experience under his belt, including stints as general counsel to a major Indianapolis-based technology services firm and general counsel to an Indiana State telecommunications agency, the 2007 LLM graduate and 1990 Indiana Law graduate represents varied clients in copyright, trademark, entertainment, e-commerce, and privacy, advertising, and internet law cases.
Courses: Internet Law
Student Opportunities
Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (B561)
This capstone experience, sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business and Indiana Law, gives joint degree students a chance to assist start-up businesses with legal issues including financial planning, organization, licenses, agreements, regulatory and zoning compliance, and intellectual property matters.
Projects tackled by the ELC in its first year ran the gamut-from stem cell patent mapping, drafting business plans concerning the use of cell phone technology for medical records, and studying rural Wi-Fi technology to not-for-profit e-health initiatives.
Intellectual Property Association
The student-led Intellectual Property Association sponsors a series of guest lectures during the academic year focused on the practice of intellectual property law, career opportunities in the intellectual property field, and preparation for the Patent Bar Exam.
Sports and Entertainment Law Society
The Sports and Entertainment Law Society serves the educational and employment goals of students interested in the practice. The group meets regularly to discuss related topics and hosts lunchtime lectures with sports and entertainment law professionals and alumni in the field.
Intellectual Property Practicum (B567)
Students work with an experienced IP lawyer in advising clients, negotiating agreements, developing strategies, and drafting legal documents associated with major creative projects such as film, music, or other arts.