Intellectual Property

This course will blend lectures with simulation assignments and class discussions. This course will explore the emerging field of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and its impact on legal practice and selected areas of substantive law. The course will first introduce students to the fundamental technology, commonly used large language models, and related GenAI tools available to lawyers. The course will then survey a broad array of legal practice, substantive law, and policy topics to illustrate the risks and benefits of GenAI.

This course will provide a survey-level look at the legal and ethical issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence-based tools in the entertainment industry. The course will be taught by a practicing attorney who has expertise in the space and an understanding of current relevant legal issues relating to artificial intelligence as it is developing in the entertainment industry. The course will provide a basic introduction to the underlying technology and its development and use in the entertainment industry.

This course is an overview of the present fundamentals of NFT and the Metaverse (Web 3.0) related entertainment transactions and litigation. The course is taught by currently practicing attorneys handling NFT and Metaverse related transactions and with a deep understanding of current relevant litigation claims. Students will obtain an understanding of current entertainment industry deals and contracts regarding NFTs and the Metaverse and various litigation claims involving NFTs. During the course, students will be introduced to the relevant intersection of copyright, trademark, tort (e.g.

This course focuses on several major issues that arise in European entertainment law practice and how those issues affect the practice of entertainment law in the United States.

The primary issues covered in this one credit course include the right to privacy in the European Union, including the transfer of data to the United States; the protection of a person's name and likeness in Europe and how that protection affects the content of entertainment products and services that are distributed in Europe; and the protection of trademarks, as well as domain names, in Europe.

This seminar covers new developments in the entertainment industry and analysis of cutting edge issues that arise from those developments.

Although the specific topics covered in a given semester will vary, likely areas of interest include constitutional protection of entertainment projects, copyright protection, creative control, credit, defamation, enforcement of contracts, idea disclosure, impact of new technologies, marketing of entertainment product, privacy, right of publicity, social regulation of entertainment products, talent representatives and trademark protection.

This course provides an overview of the legal and business aspects of the music publishing industry, which itself is a major part of the entire entertainment ecosystem. It is a complex field, composed of a framework of legal regulations and evolving business practices. It governs virtually every aspect of the music business, including recorded music, film, television, video games, commercials, and live performance.

A music publisher represents composers, songwriters, and the musical compositions they create.

This is a hands-on course designed to train students in how to analyze technology contracts and how to draft some of today's most widely used forms of technology agreements.

The course takes a detailed look at every aspect of contract drafting - why some clauses work and why others don't. Common provisions used in technology agreements will be reviewed in detail, particularly those standard, "boilerplate" terms that many lawyers have a tendency to skip over.

This course is intended to train the student to be a production attorney for a motion picture studio or production company. The entire process of motion picture production, from acquisition of rights to talent agreements, production concerns and distribution issues, will be covered.

Prerequisite: Copyright Law (538).

This course examines key legal and business aspects of television production. The course is organized according to the chronology of events that lead to the airing of a network television series.

During each class, students are introduced to a particular issue, its relevance to the television production process, the legal issues involved, and the problems that must be addressed.

The Entertainment & the Arts Legal Clinic (“Clinic”) is a clinical course in which students will provide legal services to real clients. Specifically, the Clinic will provide business affairs and production legal services in connection with low-budget motion pictures and other entertainment projects (e.g., live stage productions, web series, and other artistic projects as opportunities arise). Several projects will have already secured financing and will be produced in the near future.