LAW 7014 - Copyright/ Trademark

This course will begin by examining the legal protections accorded to creative works by copyright law. It will explore the purposes and goals of that law and the requirements of originality authorship, and fixation. It will then introduce the various rights extended by copyright law to an "author," and limitations on those rights, including the defense of fair use. The course then shifts to trademark law. After introducing the Lanham Act and examining the purposes of that law, the course considers issues of acquiring a trademark, distinctiveness, trade dress, trademark infringement, and defenses against claims of infringement. It concludes with a brief introduction to trade secret law and the right of publicity.