Race and Intellectual Property
SLN #: 96278Course Prefix: LAW-691
Course Section: 021
Credit Hours: 2
Instructor(s): Reed
Course Books: View List of Books
Course Description:
Intellectual property is an area of law that has deep attachments to our beliefs about human potential— particularly what kinds of creativity and innovation merit property rights and how those rights should be distributed within society. In recent decades, IP has emerged as a key space in which negotiations over social, political and economic power take place. As with other critical studies of law, studying the operation of intellectual property law reveals how power functions within society, including how inequalities and biases are reinforced as they become incorporated into legal doctrines and dispute resolution mechanisms. Specifically, a critical approach to IP law uniquely shows us shows how the law values particular bodies and their intellectual contributions as creative, inventive, distinctive, or secret, while for others it may not. In this course we will examine cases, legislative histories, and fresh research from several areas of intellectual property—copyright, patent, trademark, and privacy law—to understand how these modes of owning and circulating knowledge products are influenced by, and in turn influence, social constructions of race. Viewing IP in this way allows us to see it as a potentially rich site of engagement with current and historical crises surrounding race, but also as a site of productive possibility for remediating inequality going forward.
Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 2
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: Yes, With Instructor's Approval*
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: Yes, With Instructor's Approval*
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Note: Only one of the above listed requirements can be fulfilled with this course.
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: Yes
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Final Exam Given: No
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.