Clients

The Glushko-Samuelson IP Clinic has provided legal assistance to clients on a broad spectrum of intellectual property and information policy legal issues. Clients have included individuals, small businesses, entrepreneurs, legal academics, filmmakers, artists, public interest groups, and nonprofit organizations.

Past student attorneys have:

• Advised on potential liability for alleged copyright infringement, including whether the use of copyrighted material in the clients’ works constitute fair use,
• Negotiated licenses,
• Advised clients on right of publicity claims,
• Filed copyright, patent, trademark and service mark applications and successfully obtained registrations,
• Represented clients in trademark opposition proceedings before the TTAB,
• Counseled clients on maintenance of clients’ marks, including how to enforce trademark rights, how to make exclusive continuous use of marks, and the dangers of failing to renew registrations,
• Advised clients on patentability of inventions and conducted prior art searches,
• Advised clients on avoiding possible patent infringements,
• Filed a reexamination request to invalidate a patent after finding prior art,
• Drafted a report comparing the Canadian treatment of “orphan” works to proposed U.S. legislation,
• Drafted a letter demanding a disclaimer be posted on a domain name that would otherwise cause confusion with the client’s company,
• Recovered a stolen domain from a squatter under the UDRP,
• Drafted privacy policies and terms of use agreements for client websites.

The student attorneys have written and contributed to amicus briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri – Eastern Division and the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina – Greensboro Division. The issues addressed in amicus briefs include

• Standards to warrant granting a patent,
• Balance between copyright protection and consumer choice in information access,
• Patentability of the mental process of recognizing a phenomenon of nature,
• Proper relationships between copyright law and information technology,
• Scope of the interpretation of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act,
• Harms and unconstitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act,
• Patentability of human genes and DNA molecules,
• Experimental use exception in patent law, and
• Standards for determining unambiguous patent claims.

The student attorneys have filed comments and petitions in several key proceedings and on issues including:

• To the U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress on behalf of educators in the triennial DMCA exemption rulemakings
• To the U.S. Department of Commerce in response to inquiry on copyright policy, creativity, and innovation in the internet economy
• To the Federal Communications Commission on copy protection proposals, ensuring access for people with disabilities and preserving the open internet and broadband industry practices
• To the FTC on invention service fraud and in proceedings on protecting the privacy of children online
• To the Copyright Office in response to its Notice of Inquiry regarding orphan works
• To the US Patent and Trademark Office on steps to help level the playing field for small and independent inventors and trademark registrants opposed by trademark bullies, and on diversifying the patent bar.

Please explore this section to learn more about some of  the Clinic’s past projects. More detailed descriptions of the clinic’s work and copies of the amicus briefs and copyright and trademark registrations are posted in the relevant subsections.