Concentration Requirements

1. To be eligible to take the patent bar (required for practice before the Patent Office) a student must typically have a degree (or minimum coursework) in science or engineering. However, no technical background is needed for other areas of patent law such as patent litigation or transactional work. Find more details here.
2. To qualify for a waiver, work experience that is not part of the Loyola curriculum requires faculty supervision as an externship. Unit credit will not be awarded for work experience.

A minimum of 16 units of qualifying courses are required for the IP Concentration. Qualifying courses are listed in the table below, organized by category. Within each category, students must take the minimum number of units noted. Units taken beyond the stated maximum for the category will not count for concentration purposes, although they will count toward the JD degree. Not all listed courses will be offered each year; some are still in development. 

Courses in italic may be added in future years.

1. Any course listed counts for the IP Concentration, subject to the minimum and maximum noted per category.
2. Students seeking the Patent & Technology sub-concentration must satisfy all of the following additional requirements:
   • Take 12 units of courses marked with ✔ (which also count toward the concentration requirements)
   • Take Patent Law (denoted with R)
   • Take at least one of the courses denoted with a ★ in each category (Key Elective, Other Elective and Capstone).
3. All concentration students must take at least two of the basic courses (Antitrust, Copyright, Trademark or Patent), plus complete the IP Research Methods course. They must also complete the minimum number of units within each category. Units beyond a category maximum will not count toward concentration requirements.
4. Any of the Antitrust electives may substitute for this course. Only 1 Antitrust class can be counted toward the Patent & Technology sub-concentration. Global Antitrust has also been offered as Comparative Antitrust some semesters.
5. This is currently structured as a non-credit course, but may be upgraded to a 1-unit course in the future. It is required of all IP concentration students
6. This course may be taken either as a 1^st year elective or upper class course, but not both.
7. International IP (including some subject-specific int’l IP courses) has traditionally been taught in our summer and foreign programs. Now, the course will be taught in Los Angeles.
8. This course may be taken either as a 1st year elective or upper class course, but not both. It may not be taken after completion of Copyright, Patent or Trademark Law.
9. Alternatively offered Licensing & Technology Transfer
10. May be offered as a 2-unit seminar
11. May be offered as “Taxation of Intellectual Property”
12. Has also been offered as “Computers and the Law”
13. May be offered as “Copyright Litigation”
14. This externship is offered only at the US Patent & Trademark Office, in Alexandria, VA. Students can earn up to 6 credit units for successful completion.