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Discover How the Law Works In the World of Ideas
Today, many of the world's business transactions involve not physical assets but intellectual property - copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. The creation, maintenance, protection, and transfer of intellectual property are increasingly important in the modern global economy. Intellectual property is one of the strongest forces uniting countries today because, in the digital age, it is so readily transferred
Partner
Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, San Francisco
across national boundaries. Intellectual property thus holds great promise for reducing barriers, revitalizing economies, and bridging distances. The UC Davis School of Law's Intellectual Property Law curriculum prepares students for this new world through a specialized curriculum devoted to the law of ideas, inventions, and other intangible forms of property.
Learn Beyond the Classroom
UC Davis School of Law specializes in creating practical legal experiences for all students. Many students interested in intellectual property law participate in judicial externships, providing firsthand experience in an actual legal setting with the writing, research, and negotiation skills essential to practicing in this field. Moot court competitions provide unique opportunities to develop trial and advocacy skills. Students also enhance their educations by participating in organizations or working on journals - King Hall sponsors approximately 40 student organizations and five scholarly journals. Activities particularly useful to intellectual property law students include writing competitions and the King Hall Intellectual Property Law Association.
Studies
Gain a Solid Understanding of Traditional Practice Areas and New Concerns
The Intellectual Property curriculum offers instruction in everything from the basics-copyright, patent, and trademark-to emerging fields, such as international intellectual property, e-commerce and cyber law. By capitalizing on our faculty talents, UC Davis School of Law has emerges as a pioneer in providing solid legal education in intellectual property studies. The scholars who teach intellectual property in our classrooms are the same scholars who are contributing to leading research in the field.
Intellectual Property and Technology Courses
Elective courses are offered on a rotating basis. Not all courses will be taught in any given year. Please check the Course Descriptions webpage for current course offerings.
| Agricultural Law and Policy Biotechnology Law and Policy Copyright Intellectual Property Intellectual Property in Historical Context International Intellectual Property |
Jurisdiction in Cyberspace Law of E-Commerce Patent Law Right of Publicity and Related Doctrines Telecommunications Law Trademark and Unfair Competition Law |
Center for Science and Innovation Studies
Our research engages the many dimensions of the process of technoscientific innovation -- from the design, articulation, and funding of research programs to the patenting and publication of their outcomes -- paying particular attention to the process, practices, instruments, and techniques of innovation and to the conceptual and practical problems of knowledge transfer. Intellectual property (both traditional regimes and more recent platforms like free software, open source, science commons, and norm-based reward systems) is a central focus of CSIS, as are issues pertaining to bioprospecting and the access to and reward of traditional knowledge. Visit http://innovation.ucdavis.edu.
Hear a Variety of Perspectives on Current Issues
Each year the School hosts an intellectual property symposium or lecture series. Over the years, many distinguished speakers have given lectures on a variety of topics. Some of these prominent speakers have included Margaret Jane Radin of Stanford Law School who discussed "Property and Contrast in Cyberspace: The Expanding Universe" Robert Merges of Boalt Hall School of Law, one of the nation's foremost patent law scholars and the co-author of a Supreme Court brief in the recent Grokster case; Jack Balkin of Yale Law School, founder of the Balkinization blog; Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss of New York University School of Law, one of the nation's most renowned intellectual property scholars; and William Fisher III of Harvard Law School, who recently published Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of Entertainment, a book on music and peer-to-peer filesharing. Guest speakers from across the country will continue to be invited to UC Davis School of Law to address a variety of topics in this series.
Earn Additional Advanced Degrees
UC Davis is recognized for excellence in graduate studies and the professions. Law students can take advantage of opportunities to complete combined degree programs in conjunction with the nationally recognized Graduate School of Management (http://gsm.ucdavis.edu 
) or most master's degree programs offered by the campus (http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu ).
Join a Network of Graduates with Diverse, Rewarding Careers
UC Davis law alumni who studied intellectual property law now work in law firms, corporations, consulting companies, and advocacy organizations throughout the world. Their practices involve a variety of legal areas, including:
| Intellectual Property and Technology Antitrust Biotechnology Contracts Copyright Electronics |
Litigation Patents Privacy Software Trademarks Transactional |
