Colorado School of Mines

Intellectual Property for Engineers and Artists:  HASS 498C

Prof. Rich Levine (Adjunct), Room (Alderson Hall 230): Tuesday evenings 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (Jan. 7, 2020 through May 8, 2020)

»  Email:  Rich@lawrl.com

»  Office Hours:  By appointment: Tuesday 5:00 PM, or scheduled on request.

»   Textbook: REQUIRED: Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition), by Stephen M. McJohn, ISBN: 9781543806212

»   Grade Composition:  Attendance and Class Participation (25%); Project (25%); Quizzes (25%); Final exam (25%).

»  CSM Academic Calendar

»  The Colorado School of Mines is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its programs, including students with disabilities. If you are registered with Disability Support Services (DSS) and I have received your letter of accommodations, please contact me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. For questions or other inquiries regarding disabilities, I encourage you to visit disabilities.mines.edu for more information. 

»  The Writing Center at the Colorado School of Mines is a free academic support service available to all members of the campus community.  The Writing Center can provide assistance with any form of communication including papers, scholarship applications, and presentations at any stage of the process. Our tutors are experts in a wide variety of fields including science and technical communication, graduate writing, scholarly publications, and ESL. The Writing Center is open Monday-Friday for face-to-face appointments and Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings for online appointments.  To make an appointment, visit mines.mywconline.com  For more information about our schedules and services, visit writing.mines.edu.

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Week One (January 7, 2020)  

• Course Overview (expectations ~ book/readings, project, quizzes and final)

• Introduction to US Law and Legal Systems (Constitution, Statutes, Regulations, Courts, Administrative bodies.

• Introduction to Intellectual Property (overview of concepts; process)

Reading Assignment:

• Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition),  S. McJohn.  Chapter 1 The Contours of Intellectual Property Law

• Rockman excerpt (Click Here)

In Class Materials

• Early Roots of IP; 

• Philosophical Roots of IP

• Eli Whitney (cotton engine)

• Richard Turere – The Heart of a Lion

• How I built a Windmill

Week Two (January 14, 2020): Copyright (Introduction) 

Reading Assignment:

Chapter 2  Subject Matter: Creative Expression, “No  Matter How Humble, Crude, or Obvious” (Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition),  S. McJohn)

• Justifications for Copyright Law

• Economic Bases for Copyright

• Philosophical Justifications for Copyright

• The Legal Structure of Copyright

• Originality

• Independent Creation

• A Minimal Spark of Creativity

• New Works (Especially Factual Works, Compilations,

• and Derivative Works) May Incorporate Nonoriginal Elements

• Copyright Estoppel

• Copying Unprotected Material Is Not Infringement

• Work of Authorship

• Categories of Works

• Literary Works

• Musical Works, Including Any Accompanying Words

• Dramatic Works, Including Any Accompanying Music

• Pantomimes and Choreographic Works

• Pictorial, Graphic, and Sculptural Works

• Motion Pictures and Other Audiovisual Works

• Sound Recordings

• Architectural Works

• Compilations (Works Created by Assembling Other Works or Information) and Derivative Works (Works Based on Existing Works) Are Also Copyrightable

• Compilations

• Derivative Works

• Fixation

Supplemental Materials (reviewed in class)

1.  Disney Parody “A Fair(y) Use Tale”
2.  Bound by the Law[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bound-By-Law.pdf”]
3. The United States Copyright Office
4. Samples:

   

Week Three (January 21, 2020):

Reading Assignment:  Chapter 6 Patentable Subject Matter:  pp 247 – 270 

In Class Resources:

1. Patent Summary and Page Notes

2.  Luther Burbank

3. Mining:  Alfred E. Nobel: An Invented Explosive Patented

4. Madame Curie

5. Medicine:  The X-Ray, or Machines using X-Ray

Week Five (February 4, 2020)  (Copyright con’t)

Reading Assignment:  PP Pp 114 – 117, 119- 125, 134-137, 143-149, 171-178  (Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition),  S. McJohn)

Group Project Assignments

In Class Resources:

1. Overview

2. Overview of Copyright Law, including Case Cite examples

3. Applied Copyright (infringing use)

4. Digital Content

5. Lotus v. Borland Case Study

6. DMCA Issues (two links):  Overview; Historical Ref.

7. Copyright Application

8. John Fogerty rips himself off

Week Six (February 11, 2020)

QUIZ:  Copyright Law

Assignment:  Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition),  S. McJohn.  Chapter 7 The Contours of Intellectual Property Law

In Class Materials:

1.  Google v. Oracle ; Amicus Brief (US)

2. Innovation

3. Invention – Electronic “tattoo”

4. Provisional Patent Applications

February 18, 2020 – NO CLASS (CAMPUS OBSERVES PRES. DAY)

Week Seven (February 25, 2020)

Be sure you are conversant on Week Six Assign:  Chapter 7 of the textbook.

[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ProvisionlPatents-2019.pdf”]

Week Eight (March 3, 2020) – Introduction to Trademark

Initial drafts of Prov. Patent Apps (Group submissions) due (send via email – including online access)

Reading Assignment: Assignment:  Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition),  S. McJohn.  Chapter 10 The Contours of Intellectual Property Law

Week Nine (March 10, 2020) – Trademark (Con’t)

Reading Assignment: Assignment: Examples & Explanations for Intellectual Property (Sixth Edition), S. McJohn. Chapter 12 The Contours of Intellectual Property Law

SAMPLE PPA [gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Trademark-Slides-LawU201-Spring-2019.ppt”]

Trademark Applications – Group TM development.

Week Ten (March 17, 2020) – Cancelled (Corona Virus response)

Spring Break (March 24)

Week Eleven (March 31, 2020): On-line (via Zoom) lecture discussion 1 hr (5:30 to 6:30); Student PPA breakouts 1 hr (6:30 to 7:30); Students TM breakouts/TM search, define class of goods, prep app (7:30 to 8:30).

Trade Secrets. Reading Assignment:

[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Rockman-Trade-Secrets.pdf”]

Week Twelve (April 7, 2020):   Quiz 2 (online 5:30 to 6:15).  Lecture on Zoom (6:30 to 7:30)  Student Groups to submit final Prov. Patent Apps. Review of TMs. (7:45 to 8:30)

[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Mines-NDA-Sample.docx”]

[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Golden-Student-Inventors-Consortium-I-LLC.docx”]

[gview file=”https://rlevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IP-Business-Plan-–-Initial-Outline.docx”]

Week Thirteen (April 14, 2020): Lecture on Zoom (5:30 to 7:00).  Non-disclosure Agreements; Business Plans and Companies. Student Breakout on business plans (7:30-8:30)

Week Fourteen (April 21, 2020): Student Business Plans (applied to group IP projects). Quiz 3 on week 11-13 (online)

Week Fifteen (April 28, 2020) – Course content review for Final Exam (online – multiple choice and short answer)