Intellectual Property

This guide provides preliminary guidance for conducting research on intellectual property (IP) law. It is subdivided into three categories: patent, trademark, and copyright. Each category constitutes a major branch of IP law. For a brief overview, see this Brief Introduction and Overview. 

IP resources include secondary sources in the forms of treatises, practice guides and scholarly articles. Primary sources include case law, legislation, administrative decisions, and filed patents, trademarks and copyrights. The guide contains key resources, and provides a good starting point for IP research, but it does not contain all resources available on every IP topic. While some IP topics are handled at the state level, the majority of IP law is governed by federal law. Thus, this guide focuses only on federal law.

• Secondary Sources
• Primary Sources

Blogs and news services are a great way to stay up to date on current happenings in IP law. These resources often provide the most recent updates on the law, including administrative decisions, legislation, and judicial opinions.