Concentration in Intellectual Property & Information

The Concentration in Intellectual Property & Information (“IP&I”) brings together five core areas—patent, copyright, and trademark, computer law, and information law. This concentration capitalizes on the School’s significant teaching and curricular strengths in these subject matters and matches these strengths with a significant market need for lawyers with specialized knowledge in these areas.

Submit an Intent to Concentrate Form

Requirements

A student may be certified as having completed a concentration in Intellectual Property & Information by meeting the following requirements. Any “Exhibit A” or “Exhibit B” offering that you wish to count toward the concentration must be taken for a grade rather than CR/NC/H.

1) Satisfactory completion of three (3) of the following courses:
Exhibit A

2) Satisfactory completion of two courses/seminars collectively totaling no less than five credits in the Intellectual Property or Information Law area.
Exhibit B

*The Government Lawyering externship, semester-in-practice, American Legislative Practice clinic, and Supervised Research & Writing (independent project) qualify if they are IP related.

Note that each Clinic counts as only one offering under exhibit B.

3) Satisfactory completion of at least two (2) additional course totaling at least five credits from select background and related courses from “Exhibit C” courses below, or from “Exhibit B” courses above.

Exhibit C

*Enrolling in an independent study research project or a supervised field placement for which the student’s work is closely related to the law of intellectual property or information may qualify under exhibit C. Potentially eligible field placements include any externship seminar, including an independent externship or semester-in-practice, as long as the field placement work is primarily focused on intellectual property or information. 

To inquire whether your planned paper, project or other activity can count as an Exhibit C offering, please send an email inquiry to any of the concentration faculty, with a cc to meurer@bu.edu. Similarly, if a student sees a course listed elsewhere at Boston University, or even at other schools, that the student would want to ‘count’ toward the IP&I Concentration, please send an email inquiry to any of the concentration faculty, with a cc to meurer@bu.edu.

4) Satisfactory completion of a substantial written work or works on a topic within IP&I. CORE IP&I FACULTY—If a student prepares his or her written work for a member of the core faculty teaching courses in IP&I , then to satisfy the Concentration Writing Requirement the student must obtain approval from that faculty member on both (a) the topics and (b) the quality, type, and length of the written work. The faculty member will employ for the latter the standard of the Upperclass Writing Requirement.

MATERIAL NOT WRITTEN FOR PROFESSORS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE CORE IP&I FACULTY: The Concentration’s writing requirement will be satisfied with the same written work that satisfies the existing Upperclass Writing Requirement, or that a member of the regular faculty (non-adjunct) states in writing is equivalent in quality, type and length to written work that would satisfy the existing Upperclass Writing Requirement, provided that a member of the core IP&I faculty approves that the topic is within the IP&I area. Students should ordinarily seek pre-approval of their topic by a core IP&I faculty member; in all events, the student must obtain the approval of a member of the core IP&I faculty that the written material as finalized focuses on a topic within IP&I. A member of the core IP&I faculty need not review the written material for purposes other than topic choice if the material has been properly certified for the Upperclass Writing Requirement by another faculty member, whether regular or adjunct, or if a regular faculty member (non-adjunct) has stated in writing that in quality, length and type it meets the requirements of the Upperclass Writing Requirement.

Students receiving a 3.5 grade point average in courses taken from Exhibit A and Exhibit B will be certified as earning honors in the concentration. All courses and seminars taken from Exhibit A and B that could count toward the concentration will be considered when determining honors unless, by the end of the applicable add/drop period, a student designates, in writing, that the student does not want a course/seminar that is taken that semester to count towards the concentration. This “opt-out” provision does not apply to courses/seminars that are needed to satisfy the minimum concentration requirements.

To ensure maximum flexibility for students in their future career decisions, the transcripts of students who elect the Intellectual Property Concentration will not reflect the concentration; rather, the BU Law Registrar’s Office will separately record completion of the concentration and honors in the concentration and will make available official documentation of completion of the concentration and of honors.

Important Note about Concentrating in Intellectual Property

A technical background can be useful in obtaining intellectual property jobs. It is not a requirement, however. Many areas of intellectual property practice do not require such a background, particularly in entertainment and art law.

Faculty

Our internationally-known faculty of IP scholars include:

Professor Michael Meurer is the faculty advisor for the Intellectual Property and Information Law Concentration. Students who have questions about the substantive aspects of the concentration may contact Professor Meurer (meurer@bu.edu). Questions concerning the administrative details should be directed to Associate Dean Gerry Muir.