High Tech Law Courses
ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Course # 642
Units: 1
A hands-on course for those planning on specializing in intellectual property practice. Electronic research networks and use of proprietary publications will be featured.
Credit/No Credit
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Course # 712
Units: 2
This course will survey the laws applicable to the advertising and marketing industries. Expected topics include the advertising/ editorial content distinction, false advertising law, intellectual property and privacy.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
ANTITRUST
Course # 225
Units: 3
Legislative limits on free market transactions. This survey course covers restraints of trade such as price-fixing, market division, exclusive dealing and tying, monopolization, and mergers. A rudimentary knowledge of economic theory is required to understand court decisions, but many students master the few necessary economic principles during the course despite a lack of prior work in economics.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
ASSISTED REPRODUCTION, CLONING AND GENETIC ENGINEERING
Course # 525
Units: 3
This course explores scientific, political, regulatory and constitutional issues associated with assisted reproduction, cloning and genetic engineering. Technologies include: artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and donor eggs and sperm; human cloning, both reproductive and stem cell research; and genetic engineering accomplished through preimplantation genetic diagnosis and gene transfer. Topics include: a critical analysis of the public policy debates surrounding these technologies; laws and regulations that attempt to limit or ban the use of these technologies; equal protection for human clones; procreative, scientific and therapeutic liberties under the Constitution; and genetic engineering as an aspect of a parent’s right to rear his or her child.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
BIOTECHNOLOGY LAW SEMINAR
Course # 382
Units: 2
This course will introduce you to the issues encountered when starting up a biotech company and afterwards. The course examines a variety of legal topics related to the biotechnology industry, such as the initial financing, the regulatory environment, intellectual property, licensing, antitrust and practical uses of biotechnology.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
BROADBAND REGULATORY CLINIC
Course # 533
Units: 3
The Broadband Regulatory Clinic provides students with the hands on experience of providing research, writing and filing policy comments on behalf of clients seeking representation in hearings before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and/or the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Over the duration of the one semester clinic, students will interface with community-based, education, traditional civil rights, municipal and/or small business organizations to address timely cutting edge broadband regulatory issues before state or federal legislative and/or regulatory bodies. In addition, students will be required to write a substantive paper on a timely regulatory topic agreed upon by the student and the professor. Enrollment will be limited. Students who have taken Mass Communications I or Mass Communications II will have priority for purposes of placement in the clinic.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
CAPITAL MARKETS AND FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT
Course #625
This seminar will focus on contemporary issues in the conceptualization and regulation of misconduct in financial markets. We will explore wrongdoing in U.S. secondary markets for the trading of stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments, markets whose proper functioning facilitates the original offerings of such instruments by businesses seeking new financing. The seminar will begin with an exploration of the social and economic functions served by trading markets, including providing liquidity for investors and incorporating information into prices, which in turn serve as vital guides for the economy. We will also consider how rules and policy shape the ability of these markets to perform such functions. We will then explore issues that arise specifically in the regulation of wrongdoing in these markets, including manipulation, spoofing, high frequency trading, and broker execution quality. We will also consider the impact of technological innovation on the prevalence of and regulation around such activities.
This seminar will be divided into two parts. The first will consist of assigned readings, occasional short response papers, and in-class discussion. The second part will entail student-led presentations and discussions, based on topics collectively identified and assigned earlier in the course.
Certificate: High Tech Law – Corporate Specialization Only
CHINESE TRADE AND INVESTMENT LAW
Course # 219
Units: 2 or 3
Survey of recent Chinese economic legislation with special emphasis on foreign trade and investment. Study of various legislative and practical considerations involved with doing business with China. Consideration of issues such as how specific legislation assists Chinese economic development and how these laws and regulations have an impact on foreign businesses.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law – International Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
CIVIL PRACTICE, HIGH TECH, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE EXTERNSHIP AND SEMINAR
Course # 590
Units: 2-5
Prerequisite: Civil Procedure (114)
New course description starting this Fall 10.Students learn about the functioning of lawyers through practical experience in law offices, governmental entities, nonprofit corporations, or high-tech companies. Students work under the direct supervision of a California licensed lawyer. Students can earn 1 unit for every 50 hours of approved work, to a maximum of 5 units. The Externship includes observation of/or participation in several of the following activities: interviewing and counseling; fact and law investigation and organization; resolution of client problems in non-adversarial contexts (e.g., drafting contracts, tax advice, estate planning); resolution of client problems in an adversarial context (e.g., negotiation, court appearances in various proceedings, drafting of litigation documents); internal office affairs (e.g., file management, client communications, office policy and procedure). Students must concurrently register for and successfully complete the Externship Seminar: Civil Practice (999). Course credit will be awarded only on satisfactory completion of both the fieldwork and the seminar. Graded Credit/No Credit. Prerequisite: Civil Procedure (114). If High Tech in nature, this course will count towards the High Tech Certificate.
Credit/No Credit
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
CIVIL PRACTICE, HIGH TECH, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE EXTERNSHIP II
Course # 597
Units: 2-6
Prerequisite: 114 Pleading and Civil Procedure, 590 Civil Practice, High Tech, and Social Justice Internship and Seminar
CPHTSJ Externship II allows students who have already participated in the Civil Practice, High Tech, and Social Justice Internship and Seminar to use their remaining available externship units to do a second civil externship. The additional field placement would need to present a new educational experience that provides an opportunity to learn new or expand current skills. The expectation is that students will work with a new externship sponsor. Students wishing to work for a current or previous sponsor will have the burden via written proposal of overcoming the presumption that the sponsor can not provide an educational experience that is significantly different in complexity, responsibility or task to merit again working with the same sponsor. If a student can overcome the presumption and receives approval, a memorandum of understanding signed by both the student and the supervising attorney would need to be produced prior to the start of the externship. In addition to students’ field-work, students participate in virtual classroom on TWEN. Over the course of the externship students will periodically discuss a Guided Reflection topic posted on TWEN by the supervising faculty member. Each topic starts with a short introduction, required reading and posses several questions to the extern related to the guided reflection. Students keep a weekly journal of their hours, work assignments, and their own comments during their placement. Finally, students are required to participate in a short face to face orientation, and two professional development skills workshops during the semester. Course credit will be awarded only on satisfactory completion of both the fieldwork and the online course. Students must complete both components simultaneously. Graded Credit/No Credit. Prerequisite: 114 Pleading and Civil Procedure, 590 Civil Practice, High Tech, and Social Justice Internship and Seminar. If High Tech in nature, this course will count towards the High Tech Law certificate
Credit/No Credit
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
COMPARATIVE ANTITRUST LAW
Course #628
Certificate: High Tech Law
COMPARATIVE PRIVACY LAW
Course #485
Units: 3
Prerequisite: Privacy Law
This course surveys the approaches to privacy regulation around the globe, including a comparison of regulatory philosophies and different policy solutions. The course also introduces the major international privacy regulatory and enforcement institutions.
Certificate: High Tech Law
COPYRIGHT LAW
Course # 385
Units: 3
Prerequisite: IP Survey
In-depth examination of the current status of copyright doctrines under the 1976 Copyright Act. Consideration of principles historically developed under the common law and the 1909 act. Emphasis on the traditional realms of copyright: literary, musical, and artistic works. Exploration of recent copyright developments in computers, video recording, internet and other modern technologies.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SEMINAR
Course # 516
Units: 3
Prerequisite: Business Organizations
In this seminar course, students study and discuss current theories of corporate governance, state and federal government laws and policies concerning governance of publicly held companies, and contemporary practices that properly allocate responsibility for governance of publicly held companies.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law – Corporate Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
CYBERSECURITY LAW
Course # 211
Units: 1
The goal of this class is to teach key US cybersecurity laws and what companies must do to comply with them. This course will provide a thorough understanding of what a transactional cybersecurity lawyer does in practice for corporate clients, and technology companies in particular.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
E-DISCOVERY
Course # 539
Units: 1
Prerequisite: Pleading and Civil Procedure (114)
Complex litigation often involves the collection, production, management and analysis of massive amounts of electronic data. This course considers the legal and operational issues associated with such processes.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
Certificate: High Tech Law
ENERGY RESOURCES LAW
Course #444
For decades energy has been one of the most critical state, national, and global issues. This class is an overview of the legal and policy issues associated with the development and use of energy resources. This course intersects the disciplines of environmental law, natural resources law, and publicly regulated industries. The class will study the environmental and resource management issues relating to solar, wind, hydroelectric, coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power. It will also cover the causes and regulation of global climate change and its impact on the energy sector. The class will study the regulation of the electricity industry, including the movement toward deregulation and the causes of the 2001 California energy crisis. The course will examine international energy issues, including the regulation of petroleum. This class will be of value to students interested in environmental law, natural resources law, water law, administrative law, and international law.
Certificate: High Tech Law
ENTERTAINMENT TRANSACTIONS
Course # 234
Units 2
This course follows a movie through its life cycle, from conception to distribution, by reviewing the various contracts encountered along the way. As part of the course, students will draft contracts and do in-class role-playing.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Other: This course counts towards satisfying the IP Specialization professional skills requirement.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
ENTREPRENEURS’ LAW CLINIC
Course # 482
Units: 3
The Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic (“ELC”) offers students the ability to work with startup companies and entrepreneurs on transactional matters. Both in the classroom and in the clinic, the students will be exposed to a wide variety of legal subject matter areas relevant to startup businesses. The goal of the ELC is to prepare students to be effective Silicon Valley lawyers through working with real-life clients. This course will be graded. Students must submit an application to be considered for the class, and entry in the class will be subject to approval by the ELC Director.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
FOOD AND DRUG LAW
Course # 210
Units: 2 or 3
Any lawyer employed by an FDA-regulated manufacturer in any capacity, or who seeks to represent or advise an FDA-regulated manufacturer, including not just regulatory law but also contract negotiation or patent prosecution, should be acquainted with the regulatory milieu in which the company operates. Topics for this course include: FDA history, structure, regulatory environment; intended use of food, labeling, misbranding, adulteration, safety of constituents; dietary supplement labeling, identity and quality, and safety; labeling of conventional food and dietary supplements; regulation of drugs, prescription drug advertising, good manufacturing practices; new drug approval, biological products, generic drugs, exclusivity, OTC drugs; device classification, PMAs, 510(k)s, user fees; cosmetic vs. drug, color additives, adulteration and safety of ingredients, federal preemption of state law; and enforcement. Approved IP LL.M. course.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
HIGH TECH LAW JOURNAL
Course # 799
Units: 1-4
The Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal focuses on one of the newest areas of law. The Journal provides a practical resource for both the high tech industry and the corresponding legal community. Topics covered include: intellectual property (patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret); technology licensing; contract and tort liability for technology failures; employer/employee relations; unfair competition; venture capital and other financing; computer crime and privacy; biotechnology; and hazardous waste management.
All upper-division law students are eligible to participate in the publication of the Journal. Eligibility for the Board of Editors requires completion of assignments as an Associate. Associate duties include 65 hours of articles, editing and the submission of publishable content. Upon completion of a publishable comment, Associates meeting the minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 are eligible to interview for Editor positions. Editors serve a one-year term requiring a 300-hour commitment. For more information about becoming an Associate or Editor go to www.scu.edu/techlaw or email CHTLJ@scu.edu. Graded credit/no credit only. (1-4 units)
Credit/No Credit
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
HOW ENGINEERS, BUSINESSPEOPLE, AND LAWYERS COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER
Course #371
Units: 2
It can be challenging to effectively communicate and collaborate with people from different disciplines. This course will help students from business, engineering, and law learn to understand each other’s perspectives, speak each other’s language, and work together effectively in a collaborative environment. Students from different schools will be organized into teams to work together on a simulated project involving a technological matter, such as privacy/security or IP.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SURVEY
Course # 388
Units: 3
This course surveys the basics of United States intellectual property law, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. This course caters both to students who want a single-course sampler of intellectual property as well as students who intend to pursue a career in intellectual property law. A technical background is not required. Numerous IP electives require this course as a prerequisite, so we encourage students planning to explore the IP curriculum to take this course as early as possible.
Graded
Certificate:High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEGOTIATION – SIMULATION
Course # 528
Units: 3
Prerequisite (see below)
This course will involve the negotiation of a licensing agreement transferring certain nanotechnology to a company in Japan. Students will represent a Silicon Valley company with an extensive patent portfolio which they market extensively in the United States. This proposal will be the first step in acquiring a global market. The Japanese company will be represented by a team of law students from Omiya University in Japan, supervised by Professor Larry Repeta, of the Omiya faculty. Actual negotiations will be conducted by teleconference, in four 2- hour sessions. The first two weeks of the course will consist of an accelerated overview of international negotiation techniques, basic Japanese patent law, and an introduction to the legal and business culture of Japan. Pre-requisite: 658 International Licensing Transactions; or 216 International Business Transactions; or 228 Technology Licensing; or 327 Negotiating. Enrollment with approval of professor. Enrollment limited to 10 students.
Certificate: High Tech Law
Other: This course counts towards satisfying the IP Specialization professional skills requirement.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Course # 216
Units: 3
Legal problems of international commercial transactions; trade and investment. Financing, contracts, shipping, and insurance questions. Problems of Third World development, including expropriation and nationalization.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law – International Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTERNATIONAL IP LAW
Course # 439
Units: 3
Prerequisite: IP Survey
Provides a basic foundation for thinking about intellectual property problems that arise in an international context, with a focus on patent, copyright, trademark, and enforcement issues. Study of the key principles, agreements, and institutions that govern international intellectual property, and the political economy of globalization and intellectual property. Enrollment limited to students who have taken at least one course on intellectual property or who have the instructor’s permission.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTERNATIONAL LAW
Course # 215
Units: 3
Survey of public international law involving close consideration of the specificity of international law, its nature, and sources. The international legal processes: international law, treaties, and the role of municipal courts and international organizations. Focus on selected current problems such as self-determination, intervention, and the expropriation of alien-owned property.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law – International Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTERNET LAW
Course # 793
Units: 3
This course surveys the law of the Internet, such as how privacy, contracts, intellectual property, anti-pornography, civil procedure and other legal doctrines apply to Internet businesses and technologies. A technical background is not required.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
INTRODUCTION TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN CHINA
Course #323
Prerequisite: IP Survey (388)
This course provides an overview of Chinese intellectual property law, policy, and institutions. In addition to surveying doctrinal Chinese patent, trademark, and copyright law, students will learn about obtaining and enforcing IP rights in China, as well as the role that IP rights and new technologies play in broader economic and cultural changes taking place in China.
Certificate: High Tech Law
Course # 383
Units: 2
Prerequisite: IP Survey
This course simulates an intellectual property lawsuit from preliminary considerations (such as whether suing is the proper course of action for a potential plaintiff and how attorneys can assist their defendant clients in the assessing of the risks of litigation when sued) to pleadings, pretrial activities, discovery, evidentiary challenges, trial preparation and appellate procedures.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Other: This course counts towards satisfying the IP Specialization professional skills requirement.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
IP THEORY (Course currently not being offered)
Course # 708
Units: 2
This seminar will explore the theoretical justification for, and boundaries of, intellectual property doctrines. This course is appropriate both for the beginning IP student as well as the student who has taken numerous IP courses. The IP Survey course is not required, and students taking that course may find this a useful complement.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
LAW AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE SILICON VALLEY
Course # 486
Units: 2
For a startup company, there is a strong interplay between law and technology. Legal issues can determine the course research and development takes, while at the same time, the nature of the technology in question can determine to what extent certain legal aspects apply. This course seeks to explore this interplay by studying three Bay Area companies operating in three different technical areas. The students become familiar with basic technology concepts and ways new technologies are developed, commercialized and distributed, and the legal decisions along the way.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
LEGAL AND BUSINESS ASPECTS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Course # 649
Units: 1
Prerequisite: IP Survey
This course provides a high-level overview of the legal and business dynamics of the movie, television, music and video game industries, with a particular emphasis on how IP owners in those industries can monetize new media opportunities.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
LEGAL ISSUES OF START-UP BUSINESSES
Course # 387
Units: 3
Prerequisite: Business Organization
This course satisfies the Professional Skills Requirement. Attendance is critical as there are numerous fun group exercises in class. This course simulates the way a law firm handles issues faced by start ups. Limited enrollment.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
MASS COMMUNICATION I: TELEVISION, CABLE, SATELLITE VIDEO AND CONVERGENCE (Course currently not being offered)
Course # 429
Units: 3
Introduces students to the federal regulatory law governing the ownership and operation of broadcast radio and television, cable television, and satellite video technologies. Emphasis is placed on students learning to engage in a comparative analysis of the regulatory schemes for various communications technologies. Students will examine regulations in light of constitutional issues, promoting competition and the goals of the Communications Act and the First Amendment of promoting diversity of voices and viewpoints. The course will also examine some contrasting regulatory approaches in different countries to the regulation of technology and content. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
MASS COMMUNICATION II: TELEPHONE, BROADBAND NETWORKS & CONVERGENCE
Course # 520
Units: 3
The incorporation of internet protocol technology into traditional communications technologies is causing the competitive convergence of voice, video and data markets. “Intermodal” competition has begun between telephone and cable television firms (DSL vs. Cable Modem) and is expanding to include fixed wireless, satellite and broadband over electric power lines. This convergence of technology and markets calls into question the continued relevance and utility of separate regulatory paradigms for telecommunications (voice), cable television (video) and computers (information services). Convergence of network functionality and markets is reshaping historic federal and state regulatory and legal distinctions regarding jurisdiction, ownership, access, speech and public policy. This course introduces students to the evolving federal and state regulation of broadband networks. Emphasis is placed on students learning to recognize, understand and anticipate the changing relationships between technology, competition, regulation and law. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Course # 251
Units: 2
This course will focus on the law affecting corporate mergers and acquisitions, with some time being devoted to spin-offs and split-ups. JD students should have already taken Business Organizations (248) or Securities Regulation (258); LLM students should have had a comparable basic business organization course, or relevant background and experience, or should be contemporaneously taking the basic Business Organizations (248) course.
Certificate: High Tech Law Certificate – Corporate Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
PATENT LAW PRACTICE
Course #237
Certificate: High Tech Law
PATENT PROSECUTION
Course # 636
Units: 2
Prerequisite: IP Survey
This course covers practical aspects of drafting and prosecuting foreign and domestic patent applications, including the creation of a patent application, claim drafting and construction, international patent practice, and the strategic development of a patent portfolio.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Other: This course counts towards satisfying the IP Specialization professional skills requirement.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
PATENTS
Course # 233
Units: 3
Prerequisite: IP Survey
Foundational course in US patent law and policy. Covers the statutes, legal doctrines, and important decisions in patent law jurisprudence from the Supreme Court, Federal Circuit, and lower courts. In-depth coverage of the major aspects of patent validity and patent enforcement.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY
Course #623
Units: 2
Prerequisite: N/A
Students will identify privacy issues in technology, identify technology solutions to privacy problems, recommend privacy features and communicate them accurately, and assess privacy risks posed by specific technologies or their features. Students in this course will do consulting work for actual privacy entrepreneurs—the kind of work that privacy practitioners in the technology sector perform.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law, Privacy Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
PRIVACY LAW
Course # 410
Units: 3
Legal rights and remedies associated with privacy. An exploration of the constitutional, statutory, and common-law doctrines that give individuals control over personal information and decisions. Practical application of these privacy doctrines in judicial, legislative, and administrative contexts to protect and to vindicate individual privacy.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
RIGHTS OF PUBLICITY
Course # 375
Units: 2
Analysis of statutory and case law recognizing a right of celebrities and others to control the use of their names and likenesses for commercial purposes. Topics include the scope of the right, identification, infringement, federal preemption and defenses, including First Amendment implications.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
SECURITIES REGULATION
Course # 258
Units: 3
Prerequisite: Business Organization
This course explores the legal issues implicated when a corporation attempts to raise money by selling securities, such as common stock, preferred stock and fixed income instruments. The primary focus is on the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with some attention to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as well as the rules and interpretations associated with those statutes issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The course is transaction oriented. The aim is to train students to represent companies and their senior officers so that they can successfully negotiate the capital raising process. There is a strong emphasis on the problems of technology companies in this process. This course is most useful to students who plan to work for corporate law firms as either transactional lawyers or litigators, or who plan to work in house for startups or publicly traded companies. Business Organizations is a pre-requisite. An interest in financial issues and theory is helpful. Grades will be based largely on the final exam, which is a three hour open book exam.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law – Corporate Specialization Only
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
SPORTS LAW
Course # 423
Units: 3
Course description pending.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
LEGAL TECH ESSENTIALS: TOOLS FOR A MODERN PRACTICE (FORMERLY TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW)
Course # 280
Units: 2
This course is a general survey of how technology and changing expectations are effecting the practice of law. Some topics covered in the course: artificial intelligence, document automation, blockchain, office technology, cybersecurity, social media ethics, legal operations and legal design thinking. There will be weekly readings, in-class and out-of-class assignments and discussion of weekly topics.
Certificate: High Tech Law Certificate
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
TECHNOLOGY LICENSING
Course # 228
Units: 2
The process of technology licensing. Includes topics such as motivations for licensing, types of agreements used in licensing transactions, provisions commonly used in licensing contracts, and special considerations of international licensing. Actual negotiation sessions with scenarios provided and exercises in drafting specific provisions used in technology licensing contracts.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Other: This course counts towards satisfying the IP Specialization professional skills requirement.
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
THE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY, AND LAW OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Course # 675
Units: 2
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way that companies and organizations operate and do business. Self-learning algorithms, autonomous robots, and related technologies are increasingly carrying out tasks that once were exclusively performed by humans, creating new challenges and opportunities for the legal profession. This 2-unit seminar will explore the business, technology, and law of artificial intelligence through assigned readings and individual and group problem sets, discussion, field trips, and engagement with local experts in AI, robotics, and neural engineering. An additional 1-unit “independent study” credit can be earned based on successful completion of a multi-media, annotated legal primer on AI as it pertains to a particular technological area, or substantial progress on a coding project pertaining to AI and the law (social justice projects especially encouraged).
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
TRADEMARK PROSECUTION SEMINAR
Course #411
Prerequisite: IP Survey (388)
This seminar is directed primarily to students interested in gaining real-world trademark experience through reviewing and engaging in client counseling, search analysis, trademark application and prosecution processes on behalf of a fictional client. The focus is on learning substantive and procedural aspects of practice before the Trademark Office and the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board, and on developing counseling and strategic analysis skills. Regular writing assignments will include preparation of trademark applications, responses to Office Actions, analyzing the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure, and drafting settlement and coexistence agreements. Students will also engage in goal setting at the outset of the course, and have the opportunity to re-review an early assignment in light of the progression of their skill building. The course also features guest lectures from practicing trademark attorneys, whether in a law firm or an in-house role.
Certificate: High Tech Law
TRADE SECRETS
Course # 478
Units: 2
Prerequisite: IP Survey
This course, building on the Intellectual Property Survey, covers trade secret law in more detail, including the Uniform Trade Secret Act (UTSA) and California’s trade secret laws. The course also addresses how trade secret law can affect employee mobility.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
TRADEMARKS & UNFAIR COMPETITION
Course # 227
Units: 3
Prerequisite: IP Survey
In-depth examination of the protection afforded trademarks and trade dress under the federal Lanham Act and various state laws. Specific topics include eligible subject matter, use in commerce, the benefits and limits of federal registration, infringement, secondary liability, trademark dilution, domain names, abandonment, fair use, and other defenses. Students enrolled in this course may not also take LAW 535 Trademarks.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
USING EXPERT WITNESSES AND CONSULTANTS TO CONVEY COMPLEX INFORMATION
Course # 507
Units 3
Prerequisite: None
This course will blend substantive legal knowledge with the practical application of skills attorneys need to effectively present complex information to others, such as clients, other attorneys, judges, and juries. The course emphasizes skills such as the analysis of a factual record and assessment of expert witness opinions. It will be of particular interest to students who plan to practice in areas that commonly involve expert witnesses and/or complex information, such as IP transactions, patent litigation, regulatory work (e.g., drafting/interpreting regulations or legislation), consumer/tort litigation, securities litigation, corporate litigation, and cases involving economic damages.
This course is of general applicability and should be helpful to anyone interested in expert witnesses and strategies lawyers can use for presenting complex information. The case file used for the simulations concerns trademark infringement and includes expert materials related to liability and damages, but students do not need to have any prior knowledge of trademark law or technology to take the course. Grades will be based on a variety of written work product and in-class exercises, such as depositions, Daubert motions, and mock court proceedings, and class participation and professionalism.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Course # 229
Units 2
Prerequisite: Business Organizations
The role of venture capital in the organization and development of the start-up technology company, with emphasis on both the legal and business perspective. The first part of the course will provide an overview of the venture capital industry in general and the motivations and financial objectives that shape the typical venture fund in its approach to a start-up investment. The course will then shift in focus to the wide range of business, legal, tax and accounting issues that typically need to be addressed by the venture-backed technology company. These issues will be considered for the entire life cycle of the technology start-up, from the organizational stage through the seed and venture financing rounds, with some discussions in conclusion on the process and issues associated with accessing the public equity markets through an IPO. Consideration will also be given to the related topics, including corporate capitalization structures, customary equity incentive arrangements for employees, and the terms and conditions of a typical venture capital investment. The course will include case studies of technology companies in Silicon Valley to illustrate the legal and business principles discussed. The course will also feature a number of guest speakers to share their experience from a real world perspective, including venture capitalists from Silicon Valley-based venture capital funds, executives from existing venture-backed technology companies, attorneys from local law firms that concentrate in the technology area and others.
Graded
Certificate: High Tech Law
Students should also check the current course schedule to view any semester-specific changes to the course description, units, or grading options.