Intellectual Property Law

Creativity is humanity at its best

Creativity is what makes the future bright and the world a better place. The law protects creativity as intellectual property. The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University provides students with the opportunity to study intellectual property law and play an important role in developing and protecting creativity so that our future becomes brighter every day.

With ASU ranked the No. 1 Most Innovative University, by U.S. News and World Report 2024, ASU Law is proud to offer an extensive Intellectual Property (IP) law program for students working towards a Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LLM), and/or Master of Legal Studies (MLS) degree. The IP law program includes offerings in patent law, trademark law, copyright law, trade secret law, as well as IP law and society. Our students have unparalleled access to outstanding faculty and professional opportunities through innovative partnerships to build the foundation for a successful career. Read the announcement featured on ASU News here.

A+ rating in front of the ASU yellow sun

A+ Ranking for Intellectual Property

National Jurist preLaw magazine

Patent Law

Protecting inventions and technology is essential in carrying new ideas and products forward and sustaining them long into the future. Patent law helps pave the way for human progress by inspiring faster, smarter, cleaner technology that can change the world for the better. President Abraham Lincoln, when receiving his first patent, said the patent system “added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.”

Trademark, Copyright, and Trade Secret Law

Trademark law protects that creative spark that connects an image or phrase to a business while copyright law protects the creative ideas of an individual spanning from software to writings, websites, music, art, and the performing arts. Trade secret law protects the independent economic value of information not known to the public when trademark and copyright law fail to apply . Together, these three areas of intellectual property law preserve the currency of creativity for individuals, start-ups, and established businesses.

IP Law and Society

Intellectual property law has a profound impact on society, social justice, and the future of humanity and our ability to create and achieve. This is especially true in the age of rapidly evolving technology. This field not only addresses the “what” of intellectual property law, but the “who” that it impacts.

Degree programs

Law, Science and Technology (LST) Certificate

Juris Doctor (JD) students can supplement and enhance their degree with the LST Certificate with a focus in Intellectual Property through the Center for Law, Science and Innovation. The certificate program includes focused coursework, mentorship, and extracurricular educational opportunities that allows JD students to dive deeper into IP as a specialty. The certificate underscores a JD’s advanced understanding of IP and automatically communicates this to employers.

Sample coursework offered

Advanced IP
A.I. Strategic Protection of Emerging Technologies with IP
Arts, Culture and the Law
Biotechnology: Science, Law and Policy
Comprehensive Patent Practice
Copyright Law
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Clinic
Financing Early Ventures
Intellectual Property

International IP
Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic
Patent Appeals at the USPTO
Patent Law
Patent Preparation and Prosecution
Prosecuting Trademark Applications
Real World IP Lawmaking
Software IP Law and Agreements
Trademark and Unfair Competition
Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants

A LSI student giving a presenation at the Governance of Emerging Technologies and Science (GETS) conference. He is surrounded by other students and members of the conference.

Student opportunities

Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic

The Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic is the first and oldest patent and trademark law clinic in the U.S. and the brainchild of prominent Chicago patent litigator Steven G. Lisa, a 1984 ASU Law alumnus. Generous funding from our donors established the clinic, where students gain hands-on experience in real-world patent and trademark prosecution, and learn skills needed to recognize and obtain valuable and enforceable patents and trademarks for clients whose IP may later be successfully licensed or litigated. In the process, students obtain limited recognition status to practice before the USPTO.

Lisa Foundation Advanced Patent Scholarship

ASU Law, in partnership with the Lisa Foundation, offers scholarships awarded on a competitive basis to students to research advanced patent law matters. The selected scholars gain direct training from Steve Lisa, a leading patent litigation and licensing attorney, in conducting a patent appeal to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board. In addition to the opportunity, recipients also receive a scholarship reward from the Lisa Foundation.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Clinic

The Entrepreneurship and Small Business Clinic is an innovative program that pairs inventors, entrepreneurs, and emerging companies with teams of ASU Law students. There are two primary objectives for the program. First, the clinic provides clients with legal services often unavailable to startups and small businesses. These services will help clients to operate with a stronger legal foundation as they grow and thrive. Second, the clinic will pro future lawyers with “real world” transactional practice experience. These students will be better prepared for their legal careers, post-graduation.

The McCarthy Institute

Collaborating to solve IP and branding challenges

Led by David Franklyn, one of the nation's preeminent experts on intellectual property and technology law, The McCarthy Institute sits at the intersection of trademark law, marketing, technology, and consumer behavior. A joint-program with ASU Law, The McCarthy Institute conducts regular symposia, workshops, networking groups, and pursues original IP and branding research and scholarship.

Journals

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law supports Jurimetrics, The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology which emphasizes Intellectual Property Law. Jurimetrics is the official journal of the American Bar Association’s Section of Official Journal of Science & Technology Law. It is the oldest such journal in the country and one of a small number of student-edited, peer-reviewed law journals. It regularly publishes articles on topics relating to innovation, patent law and policy, and sustainability and technology.

ASU Law also supports the student led Sports and Entertainment Law Journal. As one of the leading sports and entertainment law journals in the United States, the Journal infuses legal scholarship and practice with new ideas to address today’s most complex sports and entertainment legal challenges. Among such challenges often arise issues relating to branding, creative ownership, and enforcement of copyright and trademark rights. Students may engage with the Journal further by becoming part of its executive board in their third year.

Center for Law, Science and Innovation

ASU Law is home to the nationally acclaimed Center for Law, Science and Innovation (LSI), which focuses on the extraordinary legal and regulatory questions rising from rapid developments in science and technology. LSI’s mission is to use law to enable innovation for the betterment of society. By facilitating interdisciplinary efforts among students, faculty, professionals, and policymakers, the center tackles the shared challenges in the governance of new and emerging technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, gene editing, and many others.

Intellectual Property Student Association

The Intellectual Property Student Association (IPSA) is one of the largest and most active ASU Law student groups, providing speaker series, networking opportunities, and academic support to members throughout the year.

Law and Science Student Association

The Law and Science Student Association (LASSA) expands student opportunities, focusing on the ethical, legal, and social issues of cutting-edge science and emerging technologies.

Moot Court

ASU Law has fielded numerous IP Moot Court Teams including two trademark moot court teams in the International Trademark Association’s 2019 Saul Lefkowitz Memorial Moot Court Competition winning numerous awards.

Career opportunities

Intellectual property is an organization’s most valuable asset. New developments in science and technology have created the need for lawyers with specialized backgrounds in these areas to help protect the intellectual capital of businesses. ASU Law is striving to be at the forefront of meeting the demand for lawyers trained in intellectual property.

Interview Programs

Students have access to the top-rated law firms in Arizona and nationally through our on-campus interview program. The IP Law Program will prepare students to network and interview at the annual Loyola Patent Law Fair in Chicago.

Employment

Current ASU Law students are doing real IP work in externships, and our graduates are securing post-graduate IP positions at large firms, boutique firms and corporations. Employers like Kirkland & Ellis, Intel, On Semiconductor, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and other AMLAW 200 ranked law firms hire our graduates.

Clerkships

ASU Intellectual Property Law students successfully compete and obtain post-graduation clerkship opportunities in the country’s most influential patent courts including U.S. district courts in multiple states, the Federal Circuit, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

Intellectual Property Law events

IP Con (September 29, 2023)

The proliferation of AI is disrupting the foundation of IP law by challenging long-held conceptions of what it means to be a creator, inventor, or producer of intellectual property. This latest installment of IP-Con will bring together government, academia, industry, and legal practice experts to explore this new intersection of AI, IP, and regulatory initiatives.

Learn more

Prize contest

ASU Law selects inaugural Law Science and Innovation/Intellectual Property Program Prize Contest winners

2024 winner, Angela R. Riley has earned a leading award for her scholarship at the intersection of Indigenous rights and intellectual property.

Riley’s cutting-edge article “The Ascension of Indigenous Cultural Property Law” has been named Best Article in Intellectual Property for 2023 by ASU Law’s McCarthy Institute and Center for Law, Science and Innovation.

2022 winners, Graves and Katyal win for their article ‘From Trade Secrecy to Seclusion’

Providing an insightful and alarming analysis on the evolving use of trade secrecy laws to conceal vital information from the public, Charles Graves and Sonia Katyal have been selected as the 2022 Law Science and Innovation/Intellectual Property Program Prize Contest recipients by the Center for Law Science and Innovation and the Intellectual Property (IP) Law program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Partners and projects

Barrow Neurological Institute

Barrow is the world's largest neurological disease treatment and research institution, and is consistently ranked as one of the best neurosurgical training centers in the United States. Through the Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic, ASU Law students get to work directly with Barrow neurosurgeons supporting their medical innovation.

Skysong Innovation

Skysong Innovation is ASU’s entrepreneurial technology transfer team responsible for generating over 845 patents since 2003, launching 150 startup companies and attracting more than $833 million in revenue. ASU licenses its faculty developed patents and technology commercially through Skysong and is ranked 12th overall for university-issued patents. ASU Law students can work directly with Skysong’s professionals and ASU researchers on patents through internships and externships.

International Patent Remedies for Complex Products (INPRECOMP) Project

In one of ASU Law’s most ambitious IP law projects, the Center for Law, Science, and Technology published a book in July 2019 entitled, “Patent Remedies and Complex Products: Toward a Global Consensus.” This edited volume is the product of several years’ work by around 30 contributing intellectual property scholars from ten different countries and was made possible by a gift from Intel Corporation. ASU Law students were able to participate in multiple stages of this project, providing them with an unmatched experience in international IP law scholarship.

IP and Genomics Workshop

For nearly 10 years, the Center for Law, Science and Innovation has organized an annual workshop exploring legal and regulatory issues surrounding personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics. As IP-related issues have grown increasingly important in personalized medicine, the center decided to hold additional workshops to focus particularly on IP issues. One such recent event was our Workshop on Patents and Data Sharing/Access for Molecular Diagnostics. The purpose of the workshop was to explore the challenges in securing intellectual property protections and data sharing for molecular diagnostics. The workshop brought together leading experts in academia, private practice, government, and industry to make progress toward resolving some of the legal and policy barriers to improved healthcare through genomic medical technologies.