This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

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Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session

Table of Topics

  1. Introduction to American law and to intellectual property
  2. Patents
    • Patentable subject matter
    • Statutory bars
    • Rights of the patent holder
    • Infringement
    • Novelty and non-obviousness
    • Patent protection for software, algorithms, and business methods
    • The patent application
    • Scope of claims
  3. Copyrights
    • Copyrightable subject matter
    • Comparison with patents
    • Merger and scènes-à-faire
    • Substantial similarity
    • Copyrights in the context of information technologies
    • Fair use
  4. Trademarks, service marks, and conflicts with domain names
  5. Trade secrets
  6. License agreements

Assignments and Grading

Readings will be taken mostly from the statutes and the case law of intellectual property. Students will be expected to read the materials carefully prior to class and to be prepared to discuss them in class. (Short preparation exercises will be assigned.) There will also be student presentations of cases that are not assigned to the class as a whole. There will be no term papers or exams. However, to receive passing grades, students will be expected to attend regularly, and to prepare for and participate actively in class discussions. If it should become necessary for a student to miss a particular class, he or she should make appropriate make-up arrangements with the instructor ahead of time.