Courses for JD Students
At the core of TI:GERŪ is a three-course academic track that provides instruction in technology commercialization processes with a focus on intellectual property/ technology law and business fundamentals. TI:GERŪ participants attend these courses as a "community of students" with course assignments driving the TI:GERŪ team activities. The courses are designed to expose students to leading thinkers and practitioners in the areas of technology commercialization and include guest speakers, a business lab, retreats and workshops. Students also have access to an enhanced library of business and worldwide intellectual property databases and exposure to campus-based high-tech research labs. Law students take courses within the law school, choosing either the Patent Law Track or the Technology Law Track. To qualify for the Emory TI:GERŪ Intellectual Property Certificate, students must complete all required courses plus at least 8 elective credit hours from the list below.
Visit the Registrar's webpage for course descriptions.
Courses required for all students
First Year | Fundamentals of Innovation I (Fall) | |
Fundamentals of Innovation II (Spring) | ||
Second Year | Special Topics in Technology Commercialization (Fall) |
Courses required for Patent and Technology Tracks
Patent Track (option 1) | Intellectual Property |
Patent Track (option 2, 1 of which will count toward the IP elective requirement) | Patent Law |
Technology Track | Intellectual Property |
Elective courses
Patent Law (if not required) | ||
Analytical Methods for Lawyers | Patent Prosecution Workshop | |
Intellectual Property or Technology Law Field Placement | Securities Regulation (if not required) | |
Special Topics in Technology Commercialization II | ||
Statistics for Lawyers | ||
Students may also obtain permission from Professors Rector, Carney, or Shepherd to further personalize their elective package.
602. Accounting for Lawyers
2 hours. This course is designed for those liberal arts majors who know nothing about accounting and finance. It will introduce fundamental bookkeeping and accounting concepts and process in survey fashion through generally accepted accounting principals and issues raised by the subjectivity in those principals, and explore the end result of the accounting process: the financial statement.
608. Intellectual Property
3 hours. An introduction to the basic principles, policies and statutes in the area of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. The scope of protection afforded by these areas is explored and compared.
612. Commercial Law: Sales
3 hours. A study of the law governing sales of personal property, including an introduction to such supporting institutions as documents of title and letters of credit.
613. Licensing
1 hour. The class will be geared toward the general practitioner. It relates to the assignment and licensing of intellectual property including patent, trademark, and copyright. Clauses specific to particular types of intellectual property matters will be analyzed. Guest speakers from various industries will speak on their licensing activities.
628. Introduction to Law & Economics
3 Hours. Because economics provides a tool for studying how legal rules affect the way people behave, understanding economic analysis of legal problems has become an important part of a lawyer's education. The ability to predict the effects of legal rules helps the practicing lawyer furnish advice and make arguments before courts. It is also a prerequisite for the evaluation of legal policy. The course explores several economic methods and concepts and applies them to illuminate and critique familiar areas of law, including criminal law, torts, contracts, property, and civil procedure. There are no prerequisites for this course; a background in economics is not necessary (or even very helpful).
631. Computer Law
2 hours. A survey of copyright, patent, and trade secret protection for software. Includes topics such as international intellectual property protection for computers, contracts relating to computers, taxation of computer products and information services, privacy, right to accuracy, antitrust, trademark law, computer standardization, and restrictions on competition.
636. Mergers and Acquisitions
3 hours. An examination of the negotiated business acquisition, placed in the setting of the active market for hostile takeovers. Focuses on the problems facing attorneys representing buyers and sellers in the negotiating and closing process.
636X. Mergers & Acquisitions Workshop
2 hours. This class is designed to provide law school students who intend to practice transactional law with some of the basic practical skills required to counsel companies with respect to business combinations. The focus of the course will be to identify and discuss the factors involved in a typical business combination, the roles of the parties and the relevant documents. The course is intended to ease the transition from law school to junior transactional associate.
641. Corporate Practice Workshop
3 hours. A workshop providing students with broad exposure to a variety of corporate problems, including contract negotiation and drafting typical of current corporate practice, complex corporate structuring issues, joint ventures, and non-litigation corporate dispute resolution.
642. Federal Income Taxation: Corporations
3 hours. A survey of the general structure of corporate taxation. Considers the tax problems involved in the creation of corporations; capital structure; corporate distributions; reorganizations, divisions, and liquidations; personal holding companies; collapsible corporations; subchapter S corporations; and accumulated earnings tax. Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation: Individuals.
656. Negotiations
2 hours. An exploration of the theoretical and practical aspects of negotiating settlements in both a litigation and a transactional context. The objectives of the course will be to develop proficiency in a variety of negotiation techniques as well as a substantive knowledge of the theory and practice, or the art and science of negotiation.
667. Securities Regulation
3 hours. A study of federal and state regulation of the issue, distribution, and transfer of securities. Explores the availability of exemptions from registration and the duties of participants in these securities transactions to comply with antifraud regulations. Some time is spent on the growing literature appraising securities regulation.
680. Food & Drug Law
2 Hours. This course Is a starting point for understanding and appreciating how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration implements its statutory authority to protect public health and individual welfare and attempts to regulate in a way that fosters our national desire and need for innovation in science and medicine. Specific topics include: basic regulatory controls for prescription and over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, biological products, and food and dietary supplements; human clinical trials and premarket approval of new drugs, implantable devices, biological products, and emerging medical technologies, such as human cellular and tissue products; and marketing and advertising controls over these products.
701. Administrative Law
3 Hours. Much of the law we live under is made and then applied by administrative agencies. Administrative law is a study of how this law is made and then applied. Specific topics include the constitutional standards under which legislative and judicial power is transferred to agencies; the procedures that control agency lawmaking and adjudication, and the availability and scope of judicial review of agency action.
702. Antitrust Law
3 hours. A study of the federal regulation of competitive practices under the Sherman, Clayton, and Federal Trade Commission Acts. Antitrust problems such as joint activities by direct competitors, monopolization by single firms, restraints imposed by manufacturers on their distributors, and mergers are covered.
710. Copyright Law
3 hours. An examination of the protection of literary, artistic, musical, and related property under the Copyright Act.
712. Corporate Finance
3 hours. A study of financial and economic theory underlying legal doctrines in corporate finance, and the relationship between these doctrines. Focuses on decisions about "value" in the context of such areas as bankruptcy reorganization, dissenters' appraisal rights, and public utility regulation. Problems of capital structure and the duties of directors to various classes of claimants are studied in light of decisions about dividend policy and reinvestment. Includes a brief review of modern portfolio theory.
713. Secured Credit
3 hours. A study of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, covering transactions in which an extender of credit contracts for a lien on personal property to secure repayment. Consumer transactions such as financing the purchase of an automobile, and such commercial transactions as borrowing against accounts receivable.
719. Trademark Law
2 hours. A study of the acquisition, maintenance, and enforcement of trademark rights in the U.S. Wherever possible and appropriate, comparisons with foreign legal systems are made.
720. Entertainment Law
3 hours. This course will provide an overview of the rapidly developing body of law associated with the entertainment industries concentrating in the areas of music publishing and commercial recording, live performance, literary publishing and motion pictures. The course will focus on a study of entertainment law cases, aspects of copyright law, personal rights and negotiation of entertainment agreements.
754. Patent Law
3 hours. A study of administrative and judicial decisions, as well as fundamentals of patents and patent litigation.
905. Taxation of Pass-thru Entities
3 hours. An introduction to the taxation of partnerships and S corporations, the two forms of business enterprise not generally subject to federal income taxation. Covers both the structure of pass-thru entity taxation and the detailed rules applicable to partnerships and S corporations.