Intellectual Property Flashcards

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property or (IP) is essentially ideas, knowledge, and information. Ideas and intellectual work may have an obvious value in today’s world but our ancestors were getting wise to property being more than bricks, mortar, cattle and sheep, quite some time ago.

As is often the case, the need for a legal framework came about across the Atlantic, originally. The Statute of Monopolies (1624) and the British Statute of Anne (1710) laid down the framework for IP law and are considered to be the origins of patent law and copyright, respectively. Intellectual property today comprises several categories:  patent, copyright, trademark, licensing, and trade secrets.

Perhaps you see IP law as a cop-out and a case of selling your soul to the devil for a great salary. That’s simply not the case. Imagine you took the time, trouble and expense of educating yourself and you then, take time out for a year -- foregoing your usual compensation to write, create, and develop your own project; only for someone to steal your masterpiece after a year and take the credit and financial gains.

It’s fair to say if there wasn’t copyright law in place many of your favorite artists wouldn’t have bothered to create the most amazing tracks if they couldn’t rely on benefiting financially from their musical talents. The same applies to each article, app, design, game, film, and book you may ever see, play, watch, read or listen to.

There is currently a huge surge in internet IP crime as it's often easier to steal someone else's work than create it yourself. IP law gives structure to business and society, protects ideas and works and makes sure the creator or the desired beneficiaries benefit from the attributed works.

In short, as long as invention and innovation continue to exist: IP lawyers will be in demand.

Careers in Intellectual Property Law

You will obviously need a law degree to practice as an IP lawyer but bear this in mind if you want to enter this area of law. The most highly prized IP lawyers are those that work in the sector of patent and many of the industries that IP lawyers deal with are biotechnology, pharmaceutical law, computer engineering, and nanotechnology.

Thus, an undergrad major in science, engineering, or technology is the smart way to start. It will make it possible for you to understand the complex technology under patent review completely AS WELL AS having a law degree, passing the Bar Exam and Patent law exam!

IP lawyers help their clients with a range of matters from franchising, drafting licensing agreement transferring proprietary technology, negotiating settlements, trademarks, trade secret projects to establishing and protecting intellectual capital. They also advise on new ideas, new rulings and consult and help develop ideas and portfolios.

With an exponential growth in the web and the plethora of skills the IP lawyers wield for their high earning clients it’s no surprise that IP lawyers are well-compensated.

Watching this video from the Crash Course team will give you more information about the basics of Intellectual Property. If you think you have what it takes to enter Intellectual Property Law then, The American Intellectual Property Law Association and The World Intellectual Property Organization also have great information for all aspiring IP lawyers.  

Learning Intellectual Property Law

Learning any type of Law is a challenge and IP law is no different. The very nature of law itself means it must evolve and expand daily. IP Law students are tasked with honing the most stringent attention to detail, memorizing crazy amounts of information, developing critical thinking skills, and oratory confidence.

Good IP lawyers keep their clients up-to-date with new regulations to remain compliant: great IP lawyers think out-of-the-box creatively and start working on how the applications of these new rulings might further advance their client’s portfolios.  

The shear volume of legal rulings and intricacies of the legal system are mind-boggling. Brainscape is THE ideal supplementary tool to help law students cement key legal concepts. It will also make the process of memorizing so much case law as efficient as possible so that just maybe you can make time for a break!

Intellectual Property Law in Brainscape

The dedicated IP page in Brainscape has flashcards produced by students just like you. If you’re studying IP Law, you’ll cover a range of other branches of Law which you'll need to cram for too, so when you need to you can also take a trip to the Contract Law, Torts, International Law, and Civil Procedure pages in Brainscape.

You’ll also need to pass your Bar Exam to practice as an IP lawyer so why not check out Bar Boost? This is the ultimate guide on the planet for aspiring lawyers with over

2,400 MBE flashcards, all based on genuine exam questions and prepared by top legal experts.

There’s also the facility to become a contributor yourself and make your own flashcards. We’d love for you to add your course notes and share your valuable contributions. But it's okay if you want to keep your personal interactive learning catalog private, if you’re shy!

Learn faster with Brainscape

Brainscape’s confidence-based repetition (CBR) is turning the education market on its head. Many Doctors, Professors and Lawyers attribute their learning and achievements to the CBR cognitive science blend that got them through their rigorous exams.

Put simply, students learn twice as fast AND remember longer with the CBR system -- so why learn any other way?

CBR incorporates three important cognitive processes that enable memory building: active recall, spaced repetition, and metacognition. Each in turn, plays an important role in making CBR the most powerful learning engine on the planet.

The first process, active recall means that in Brainscape you’ll be tasked with retrieving and not just recognizing information. The process is more difficult than just recognizing an answer in a pattern but it pays off. In real life when you need to retrieve the answer in a law office, job interview, college admission interview, BAR exam, or courtroom if you only knew the answer when it was in a pattern you’ll falter. Moreover, learning using active recall, strengthens the neural pathways so they are up to the task when you require the information again.

Secondly, Brainscape also incorporates spaced recognition, which has the effect of systematically improving your knowledge base and the ability to remember information by repeating information at intervals.

Brainscape differs from other computer-aided learning tools though, in that, Brainscape uniquely incorporates an algorithm attuned to the metacognitive responses of the user. After you review each flashcard in Brainscape you are prompted to rate your confidence and understanding of that answer on a scale from 1 to 5. The algorithm uses that information to set the frequency of further flashcards.

In practice, say your exam question was to provide the details, decision and year of the DC Comics v Towle case. Perhaps you could only remember the details and you are still finding it difficult to remember the dates and decision then you might score your understanding as a ‘1’ or a ‘2’. Consequently, the algorithm will know to keep asking you that question again and to not waste your time on asking you about Creation Records v News Group, since you recorded yourself a ‘5’ on that. As a result, you learn in record time and never waste a second.

Brainscape is THE learning tool that smart legal students are using to get ahead.

How to get started

Getting started learning International Law with Brainscape is easy.

If you would like to make your own flashcards and super charge your course notes, then simply click on the “make flashcards” button and create your own.

You can also learn using the flashcards already produced by learners on our page.

Whether it’s Copyright, Trade Secrets or Trademarks you’re studying just click below and get started now. You’ll soon see how fast and effective it is to learn with Brainscape.

Whichever, you choose you are sure to find Brainscape an invaluable tool. We wish you all the best in your future learning and career in IP Law. Best wishes!