Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs Course

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs Course
Columbia Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Design, Columbia University
Taught via Zoom
Fall 2020

Intellectual property (patents, copyrights, trademarks) are an increasingly critical part of almost any business, at almost any stage of growth.

This course provides the aspiring business executive, entrepreneur, or scientist an overview of commercial opportunities and risks associated with intellectual property, with a particular focus on technology patents.

While legal principles are addressed, the primary focus of the class is on leveraging intellectual property for business advantage.

Viewers may want to start with the CTV ‘Patents, Licensing, and Startups at Columbia’ video for helpful background context: https://vimeo.com/266135774.

Class 1: Patent history from 1770s to today; Why claims matter; Prosecution strategy.
Class 2: Trade secrets, trademarks & copyrights; Patent research; Making “real world” patent decisions.
Class 3: Patent litigation: risks and rewards; Negotiating IP licensing deals.
Class 4: Review negotiation case study outcomes; Common negotiation tactics in IP deals.
Class 5: Guest speaker from USPTO; Designing your IP strategy; Working with outside counsel; Career paths in patent law and tech transfer.
Class 6: USPTO Director Andrei Iancu; Lightning interviews with VCs and Entrepreneurs.

This course is taught by Orin Herskowitz, Senior VP of Intellectual Property and Tech Transfer for Columbia University and Executive Director of Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV), and Jeff Sears, Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel for Columbia University.

The syllabus for the course is available here: https://techventures.columbia.edu/files/tech/content/ipforentrepreneursfall2020.pdf.