Intellectual Property Program
About Us
Intellectual property is one of the most vibrant and challenging areas of today’s legal profession. Emerging technologies are transforming the role communications networks and content play in our lives, and information has become globally accessible. Attorneys must be prepared to navigate an expanding array of rapidly evolving legal regimes. Clients need lawyers who are well prepared to help them thrive in this dynamic environment. The Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Program prepares Vanderbilt law graduates to meet this challenge.
World-Class Scholars
Students learn IP law basics and explore advanced topics with world-class scholars and practitioners, including international IP expert Daniel Gervais, the author of the leading guide to the TRIPS Agreement, which governs international intellectual property rights; copyright expert Joseph Fishman, an innovative scholar whose work has examined the relationship of intellectual property to creativity and the creative process; and Michael Bressman, who teaches the Intellectual Property and the Arts Clinic.
An Entertainment Industry Capital
Vanderbilt is ideally situated in a major center of entertainment law. Nashville is home to numerous record labels, television networks, instrument manufacturers, and three leading performance rights licensing organizations: BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. The Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Program coordinates with noted practitioners, many of whom are Vanderbilt Law alumni, to provide fellowships and externship opportunities to students interested in studying technology, intellectual property, entertainment, and innovation law.
Class of 2019
Vivek Biswas
“The current students were kind and welcoming. I really enjoyed meeting the others attending the program, and I was impressed with the academic and career opportunities Vanderbilt offered. That made Vanderbilt an easy choice for law school.”
Accomplished Alumni
Copyright Policymaker Aurelia Schultz ’09 is a counsel for policy and international affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. Schultz began her career as a Google Policy Fellow at Creative Commons, a nonprofit that offer authors, artists, photographers and other creative professionals worldwide copyright licenses they can use to protect and share their intellectual property.
Industry Advocate Mitch Glazier ’91 is CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, a D.C.-based trade group that represents record labels’ business and legal interests. In recent years, Glazier has worked with the House Judiciary Committee to update copyright law, advocating a more streamlined approach to licensing music that works in an era of streaming services that provide access to millions of recordings. “Intellectual property is the one area on the judiciary committee that is completely bipartisan,” he says.
Patent Policymaker Julie Samuels ’05 founded and leads Tech: NYC, a New York-based nonprofit that supports and connects tech entrepreneurs and investors. She previously worked as a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she held the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents and focused on impact litigation and public policy aimed at addressing parent law in the tech industry.