Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property (the topic of the last few class readings) is a very interesting subject for lawyers. In fact, there are many lawyers devoted solely to intellectual property. Many engineering undergrads later become patent lawyers and help people write patents for their creations or help people get around patents so they can make similar creations (there are two sides to every coin.) I, in fact, have several friends in engineering who are considering going to law school at some point down the road to study patent law and become patent lawyers.

As an individual listening to the different arguments, I can frequently see both sides. For the pharmaceutical patents I understand the need for a lengthy patent (it costs billions to make an effective, safe drug and many failed attempts before finding one that works!) But I also see the point that being able to change the color and extend the patent is ridiculous.

We address the issue every time we post to our blogs for this class. As we examine websites and other materials for review, we must make sure we are not stealing their ideas or what they have covered, but are just reviewing them and crediting them properly. As one case pointed out, it is possible that it is illegal to not link to the home page. So we need to be careful to make sure we are not doing anything illegal or anything to upset or offend anyone.