Field Study Seminar: Intellectual Property for Executives

Course Number 6510

Senior Lecturer Robert C. Pozen
Field Study Seminar, earning 3 non-classroom credits
7 Sessions
Paper
Enrollment: Limited to 25 students

Career Focus

This field study seminar is aimed at students who want to understand the role of intellectual property in knowledge-based industries; it will integrate materials on competitive strategies and economic incentives with legal materials. Intellectual property covers patents as well as trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights. The course should have particular appeal to students thinking about careers in high tech, financial services, telecommunications, entertainment, biotech and pharma.

The course will provide an opportunity for students to perform in-depth research, and possibly write a case study, about a company facing intellectual property issues on a global basis. This could mean a US company selling its product abroad, or a non-US company seeking to do business in the US. Thus, students with experience outside the US are encouraged to consider this course.

The course is designed for future business executives without any legal training. The focus will be on the offensive and defensive uses of intellectual property as part of an overall business strategy. Thus, students in the JD-MBA program can find Law School courses with more detailed coverage of doctrinal and litigation issues on intellectual property.

Educational Objectives

The course has three main educational objectives. First, it will introduce business students to the main concepts and procedures in the US law on intellectual property. Second, it will discuss how intellectual property can used as part of an overall strategy of a business to create a market for new products and services, or keep other companies from entering such a market. Third, it will ask students to do in-depth research on a global aspect of intellectual property ( probably involving international treaties and/or the laws in non-US countries ).

The first and second objectives will be met by six seminar sessions in September and early October. The third objective will result in a paper or case study, as well as a class presentation on such paper or case study in 3 or 4 seminar sessions at the end of the semester. Students are encouraged to work in teams of 2, 3 or 4 to generate a high-quality paper or case study.

Course Content and Organization

The seminar will meet on Monday afternoons from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. During September and October, there will be six sessions on US intellectual property law and its relationship to business strategies. These six sessions will each be centered on a case study of a company trying to enter or protect markets in industries such as pharma, financial services and high tech. These six sessions will also include supplemental materials about how similar intellectual property issues are treated outside the US.

By the end of October, students will need to formulate a topic for in-depth research. Research should include not only review of public literature, but interviews with people involved in the relevant company, industry or governmental unit. A written outline for the research must be approved by the teacher.

During the middle of the semester, there will be no seminar meetings so students can have a chance to complete their research projects. During the last three or four weeks of the semester, students will be expected to make a presentation on their research project to the rest of the class at a seminar meeting. Before the end of the semester, each student or team of students must submit a paper or case study.

Grading will be based on the quality of the paper or case study as well as participation in seminar meetings. There will be no final examination in this course.