| This page is a guide to my
2004
Patent Law Coursepack. Printouts of some parts of the coursepack were sent by mail. A copy of the syllabus (only) can also be found at http://stanford.edu/~rjmorris/ARCHIVE.TOC/PATENT04.DOC The class website used by the students during the winter 2004 semester, including the entire coursepack, is still available at To keep the course website from search engines, the home page was password protected. The username is 727 and the password is 102b
727 was the
course number and 102b (one-oh-two-bee) is a
key provision in patent law.
Please feel free to enter the course website and explore. Once on the main index page, you can navigate freely to any subpages. |
|||
| Note on web version
of my course materials |
I compose using wp5.1.
In 2004, I
hired one of my students (Ming Shui) to make pdf and doc copies of the
wp5.1 originals.
The problem with MSWord is that
its conversion does not respect line breaks, page breaks and other
formatting. I care about, and take pains with, the appearance of my
course materials, so I asked Ming to eyeball each .doc conversion and
fix it to look right. I've mostly linked the pdfs on this list,
because they were often scanned from the wp5.1 printouts distributed to
the class. |
||
|
Highlights
of 2004
Patent Law website
|
|||
| Topic or Document |
Notes |
||
| SYLLABUS |
I always
teach patent law from my own materials. There were two
exceptions, once when a former student (Jay Thomas) co-authored a
casebook and I used it in draft, and once when I co-taught with Prof.
Rebecca Eisenberg and she wanted to use a book. When I use a
book, I add materials: not just additional cases, but also: statutes,
regulations and Patent Office Rules, parts of cases edited out by the
casebook that I think are key, news articles, patents, etc.
When I have taught Copyright or an IP Survey I have used a casebook and
added my own (thick) supplement. The 2004 syllabus is in overall shape much like the one from my first year of teaching in 1991. I did begin to annotate the cases more, especially once I could stop using cut-and-paste xeroxes. A paper copy of the 2004 syllabus was sent by mail. |
||
| COURSE PROCEDURES |
How
the Course Will Work (pdf) |
I have
always provided a document with this
title in my course materials to tell my students what to expect. Thus
the 2004 version was an improvement on earlier versions starting in
1991. In my current seminar at Stanford (Scientific
Evidence and Expert Testimony: Patent Litigation), the latest
version of How-Work, http://www.stanford.edu/~rjmorris/sciev.10/howwork.htm,
has as its origin How-Work's of every course and seminar I've taught
since 1991. |
|
| TESTING AND GRADING |
In the basic patent law
course I gave a
doesn't-count midterm. In the early years, it did count, but I'd always
promised to ignore
the midterm if performance on the final was very different.
Making it doesn't-count, and even letting people choose not to take it
at all, worked better. Although the midterm did not count in the calculation of the final grade, I still graded the papers thoroughly, handing them back with individual annotations as well as a handout with commentary and best student answers (see Post-midterm Memo, below). In making final adjustments to grades, I will take into consideration a student's having written a best answer to the midterm just as I do a student's volunteering intelligent comments in class, doing an outstanding assigned recitation, etc. |
||
| Pre-midterm Memo | I hand
out a memo to explain how
my tests may differ from other law
school tests, and how my grading may differ, too. The major differences are:
|
||
| Post-midterm Memo | In this
memo, I provide
commentary on what was right and wrong about the papers as a whole. I
also include annotated versions of top student answers. (A paper copy
of this document was sent by mail.) |
||
| Pre-Final
Exam Memo |
This
memo explains the procedure for the final and gives some more pointers
about what I expect and prefer. |
||
| CLASS POWERPOINTS |
Directory: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rjmorris/winter04/powerpoint/ Example: Slides for Week 11, Monday {11M.PPT} |
Since my
first year of teaching, I have used visual aids. Back in 1991 I
used transparencies. From 2000 on, I used powerpoint.
Students can be inspired to read statutes, and even to pay attention to
the
language in them, if the text is displayed on a large screen in the
front of
the classroom. The slides also are a study aid. In the old days, I would put photocopies of the transparencies on reserve in the library. In modern times, I would web post the powerpoints. |
|
| CASES, STATUTES, ETC. |
Directory: (doc and pdf
versions) http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rjmorris/winter04/substance/ |
||
| Example of an Edited Case: |
|||
| WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS |
Recitation Summary |
||
| Everyday
Patent Assignment |
I gave
the Everyday Patent Assignment starting to every patent law class
starting in 1996, and to the IP Survey in 2007. The assignment
required students to find something in their rooms or apartments marked
with a patent number, to get a copy of the patent, to write a short
essay about it and to address the language of its claim 1. (The legal
significance of a patent for most purposes is in the claims.
Claim 1 is usually the broadest and most carefully written
claim.) Unfortunately, I don't have any copies of my student's
work, but I always received some awesome work on these projects. |
||