Course Catalog

This is an introductory copyright course focusing on the public policies underlying U.S. copyright law, the way those policies have been fulfilled or thwarted by judicial decisions and by legislation, and the challenge of developing coherent copyright policy in a digital era. The course will also touch on the intersections between U.S. copyright law and international treaties, and upon other federal and state laws dealing with related subject matter.

• Type: Upper Class

This course will explore the intersection of rights of publicity, trademark, copyright, contract, culture, technology, the “law of ideas,” Free Speech, and privacy in the entertainment industries. We will focus on music, film, literature, television, and social media. Through the lenses of negotiation and litigation, we will examine the roles of those who create, collaborate, perform, disseminate, promote, merchandise, and financially support creative properties and celebrities.

• Type: Upper Class

National antitrust policy under the Sherman, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts. Restraints of trade and monopoly problems including agreements among competitors (such as price-fixing, trade associations, and joint ventures), vertical relationships (such as resale price maintenance and exclusive territories), single firm exclusionary conduct (such as predatory pricing and predatory product innovation), and merger policy. Students do not need to have any prior economic training, but should be prepared to learn some basic industrial organizational theory and microeconomics. Current debates in the field at the level of both theory and policy will be explored.

• Type: Upper Class

This class will be comprised of different tracks that will allow students to explore ways to work in various innovation fields. The weekly class component will examine various legal and business principles related to innovation and support the students’ field work, with the fall term focused on the intricacies of venture capital and the winter term focused on the role of institutional capital. The students will spend significant time working on their projects in the field.
Track 1 — Social Venture Fund (SVF): Students will work as a law student advisor to the Ross School of Business’s Social Venture Fund. Students will be required to attend the weekly SVF meeting (typically on Sunday afternoons) and actively participate in SVF. Once the fund selects potential companies in which to invest, students will join at least one due diligence team and be responsible for the legal due diligence on potential investments. For companies in which SVF votes to invest students will review the financing deal documents. This track is a year-long track, so students will be required to take this course both semesters.
Track 2 — Michigan Climate Venture (MCV): Students will work as law advisors to Michigan Climate Venture, a University-wide initiative. Students will be required to attend the weekly meetings and actively participate in all educational activities. Once MCV selects potential companies in which to invest, students will join at least one due diligence team and be responsible for the legal due diligence on potential investments. For companies in which MCV votes to invest, law students will review the financing deal documents. This track is a year-long track, so students will be required to take both semesters.
Track 3 — Innovation Partnerships: Students will provide legal research support to the Innovation Partnerships team. Students will immerse themselves in the legal and regulatory issues related to innovation partnerships. Enrollment in this Track is allowed only with the permission of Bryce Pilz ([email protected]), the Executive Director of Licensing & Strategic Alliances.
Track 4 — Startup or Venture Capital Immersion: Students may arrange to work for a startup company or venture capital fund and participate in this course. While some opportunities to work with startups may be announced through Professor Ohmer, students may also arrange their own startup work and propose the arrangement to Professor Ohmer.
Note: Because participating students will work with proprietary information related to their field work, as a condition of participating in this program, all students may be required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements particular to their tracks.
Enrollment in this class is allowed only with permission of Professor Adrian Ohmer.

• Type: Practice Simulation

This course will provide an introduction to basic concepts of patent law, focusing on legal issues that arise in the course of obtaining and enforcing patents. The course is designed to be suitable for students planning to enter a general practice as well as those planning to specialize in intellectual property. A technical background is not a prerequisite, but students will be required to read and discuss cases involving technical facts.

• Type: Upper Class

This foundational course surveys the law of property, which defines the interests, rights, and duties with respect to spaces and things that the law recognizes and protects. The course covers how property interests may be obtained, held, used, and transferred, as found in the law of possessory estates and future interests in land, concurrent estates, easements, covenants, personal property, bailments, intellectual property, conveyancing, adverse possession, nuisance, zoning and land-use, takings, and housing law. The concepts of property, possession, and ownership—and the consequences flowing from these concepts—will be constantly examined. The overall focus will be on how property law fundamentally structures the rights and duties between individuals in their interactions with the world, shaping our physical, social, and economic spaces.

• Type: Upper Class