Master of Legal Studies With a Concentration in Intellectual Property Law
Northeastern University School of Law’s online Master of Legal Studies (MLS) offers an optional concentration in Intellectual Property Law designed for professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of the legal principles that guide intellectual property (IP) protection and management.
The Intellectual Property Law concentration provides an introduction to the legal regulations and compliance concerns that affect patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. You can specialize your MLS studies with coursework focused on topics such as trademark registration, copyright licensing, technology transfer and IP portfolio management.
The concentration curriculum also delves into specific statutes and regulations, including the Patent Act, Trademark Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
These are some roles our graduates might choose to pursue:
- Intellectual property coordinator
- Patent analyst
- Trademark specialist
- Technology transfer manager
- IP compliance officer
What Skills Will You Learn with an MLS in Intellectual Property Law?
- Navigate the intricacies of intellectual property regulations and protection strategies
- Understand and manage IP portfolios with an emphasis on compliance and enforcement
- Analyze and protect intellectual property assets with focus on business strategy and risk management
Why Choose Northeastern Law’s Online MLS?
Flexibility: With 100% online coursework and optional live Zoom sessions to connect with faculty and peers, this program is designed to fit the lives of busy professionals. You’ll be able to balance your career obligations with pursuing your educational goals.
Distinguished Faculty: Learn from a mix of esteemed law school faculty and industry experts who bring a wealth of knowledge and real-life experiences to the classroom. Their diverse backgrounds enrich the learning experience, providing insights into the practical application of legal concepts.
Real-World Learning: Northeastern University and the School of Law are leaders in practical, hands-on learning. The program emphasizes real-world scenarios and case studies, ensuring that what you learn is directly applicable to your career.
Automatic Scholarship Consideration: At Northeastern Law, our students are automatically considered for merit-based tuition scholarships.
Global Recognition: U.S. News & World Report recognizes Northeastern University as one of the top 10 Most Innovative Schools in the country, and the law school received the #1 ranking for practical training by The National Jurist/preLaw.
Whether you’re looking to improve your understanding of intellectual property regulations, prepare for a leadership role or ensure organizational compliance, the Intellectual Property Law concentration at Northeastern Law equips you with the necessary skills and knowledge to make a difference in your organization.
Connect with an enrollment specialist today to learn more about our program and concentration offerings.
Foundation Courses
This course will provide students with an introduction to the American legal system and legal reasoning. The course materials will cover rights and obligations created by contracts, fundamental principles of property law, accident law, the regulation of criminal conduct, and the laws associated with business formation and relationships. Students will also complete writing exercises to enable them to synthesize their understanding, and to find and use legal sources in support of their work.
This course builds on Introduction to Legal Studies and its emphasis on common law by introducing students to statutes and regulations. The setting involves federal administrative agencies governing employment, consumer protection, environment, labor, cyberlaw, intellectual property, and international trade. Exercises and discussions require finding, summarizing, applying, and arguing about the applicability of statutes and regulations in concrete situations. The capstone of the course allows students to create a project to illustrate the lessons they learned in the course.
Core Courses
Students are required to take four of the six following course offerings, but are welcome to take more.
This course will present a comprehensive survey of procedural and evidentiary rules in the context of recordkeeping, document production, due diligence, and investigations. It will include an exploration of rights to privacy, issues of confidentiality and conflicts of interest, contractual and legal liability, evidentiary consequences in administrative and court settings resulting from workplace disputes, and other related areas.
This course will introduce students to the implications and impact of law on strategy, with attention to applying legal knowledge and resources to strategic planning and strategy implementation. The course will use several examples of readily understood strategies to provide opportunities for students to identify the legal environment, consider the legal rights and requirements implicated by relevant law or regulation (e.g., intellectual property, contracts, administrative law) and their potential impact on management, incorporating law as a resource on the resource based view of the firm. The range of examples will include considering law and strategy implementation in multiple contexts. The focus will be on developing an appreciation of the legal environment and making effective use of legal resources and lawyers as advisors in strategic management aimed at attaining sustainable competitive advantage over rivals.
Students will learn core elements of negotiations that are the precursors to any final agreement or resolutions of informal disputes: negotiation planning from opposing sides and counseling, analysis of the bargaining range and opponents needs, principled concession patterns, problem-solving strategies to avoid deadlock, information bargaining and authority clarification, principles of drafting, settlement, and ethics.
Institutions increasingly face a host of regulatory compliance issues. This course will cover the challenges facing organizations in building programs that ensure adherence with legal obligations, especially regarding data. We will explore statutes covering a broad range of areas, especially when it involves data protection and privacy.
Students will learn the rules governing organizations, including corporations, partnerships, governmental organizations, and nonprofits. The focus will include relationships within the organizations and the powers of members of organizations. In addition, the course will cover employment issues relevant to relationships in organizations. Topics will include rights of workers to be free of discrimination in the workplace, the importance of workplace rules, and policies governing the workplace.
Examines the legal framework for public policymaking at all levels of government. Topics include the role of law within the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government and the contributions of local, state and federal governments in crafting and implementing public policy. Explores the history of regulation and the rise of the administrative state. Reviews the landscape of current agency activities, including investigations and the imposition of sanctions. Introduces students to legislative and regulatory drafting processes. Offers students an opportunity to draft model legislation and participate in “notice and comment” rulemaking.
Courses in the MLS in Intellectual Property Law Concentration
The Intellectual Property Law concentration includes the following courses:
This course will focus on intellectual property issues in employment, collaborative environments, and business transactions. It will cover common issues for founders and startups, employers, and contractors—including non-compete agreements, crowd-sourcing, and open innovation practices.
This course will cover copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition, with a focus on media, advertising, user-generated content, and other online activities.
In our modern day “information economy,” the law of intellectual property (IP) has taken an enormous importance to both creators and users of creative works. Such IP Law is the way we provide legal protection to encourage invention and creativity by guaranteeing an opportunity for financial return to the originator of novel work. This course introduces students to the classic principles of copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret law and explores the ways in which those principles are shifting and adapting in response to new technology.
Electives (Choose 1)
This course will provide an overview of antidiscrimination laws governing the workplace. The focus will be on discrimination based on race and sex, but some attention will also be given to discrimination based on other characteristics, including age, sexual orientation, and disability. In addition to general issues of discrimination, the course will focus on the specific topics of retaliation, harrassment, and bullying in the workplace.
This course examines legal regulations governing the provision of healthcare services. Topics include access to health insurance and healthcare, healthcare financing, the organization and responsibility of healthcare institutions (especially hospitals), healthcare cost containment policies, public and private insurance programs, and the formulation of health policy. The course will also provide an introductory overview of the major statutes, regulations and case law related to health law, including an introduction to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
The course covers major regulatory issues related to the healthcare field, providing in-depth regulatory overview of health programs: Statutory schemes covered will include HIPAA/HITECH, Stark/fraud and abuse. In addition, students will learn about compliance programs, including compliance operations, and the code of conduct for particular fields.
In this course students will explore various aspects of corporate financial transactions, including vendor and supplier contracts, early stage financing, commercial loans, initial public offerings, mergers, and the sale of assets. Issues involving valuation of assets will be covered, and students will learn basic securities laws related to the transactions covered.
This course provides an introduction to the international legal concepts, principles and institutions that define and shape international business relations. Globalization has increased the number of economic interactions across national borders. The globalization of production and consumption takes place in the background of an international monetary system and an international legal infrastructure facilitating and regulating transnational trade, international finance, and global intellectual property and investment protection. The course specifically examines case studies of global governance based on codes of practice, certification, and other regulatory initiatives.
In our modern day “information economy,” the law of intellectual property (IP) has taken an enormous importance to both creators and users of creative works. Such IP Law is the way we provide legal protection to encourage invention and creativity by guaranteeing an opportunity for financial return to the originator of novel work. This course introduces students to the classic principles of copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret law and explores the ways in which those principles are shifting and adapting in response to new technology.
Examines the legal relationship between employer and employee. Addresses issues and topics such as discrimination, affirmative action, the Americans with Disabilities Act, sexual harassment, health and safety, AIDS in the workplace, compliance issues, and legal issues related to downsizing and terminations. Today’s HR manager works in a highly complex environment with constantly changing laws and regulations that govern employee rights and employer obligations. Course content may vary from term to term.
This course explores the ethical and legal obligations respecting patient records, particularly electronic records. In addition to reviewing HIPAA’s privacy and security rules, the course will cover professional ethics regarding confidentiality, common law and state protections for confidentiality, GINA, and the HITECH Act.
The course will cover topics related to wage and hour laws (federal and state) ERISA (pensions), health insurance benefits, the Affordable Care Act, and disability insurance.
Online Master of Legal Studies
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Learn more about Northeastern Law’s online Master of Legal Studies program by filling out the form to download a free brochure. You can also call us at +1 857.754.3734 to talk with one of our enrollment specialists.