Intellectual Property Institute

The mission of the Intellectual Property Institute at the University of Richmond School of Law is to maintain a dynamic and respected center for the study of contemporary intellectual property issues, to increase curricular and other learning opportunities available to law students interested in intellectual property law, and to encourage widespread awareness and understanding of the role that intellectual property plays in fostering a creative and innovative culture.

Founded in 2004 by Professor Jim Gibson and then-Dean Rodney Smolla, the IP Institute now includes four full-time IP professors, a curriculum of more than a dozen courses, and a clinic focusing on the transactional side of IP law. The Institute also offers a certificate in IP, making the Richmond Law one the few law schools that provide such an opportunity to its students.

IP and Transactional Law Clinic
Evil Twin Debate
IP Institute News
  • The IP Institute is sorry to share some terrible news: the passing of John Carroll, the founder and teacher of our IP and Transactional Law Clinic. Students and friends are sharing their thoughts on a special Facebook page.  The work of the clinic will continue, but it will never be the same without Professor Carroll.
  • Professor Osenga will be presenting at PatCon II in Boston in May.  She will also be a conference fellow at the symposium Pondering Patents: First Principles and Fresh Possibilities, held in Santa Fe in June and sponsored by the University of Houston Law Center's Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law.
  • Professor Gibson was interviewed on WRVA radio about the arrests of members of the hackers group Anonymous and on WWBT NBC TV news about financial privacy for consumers.
  • Professor Osenga was awarded tenure and promoted to the position of full Professor of Law — a surprise to no one who knows the great work she has done in her six years at Richmond Law.
  • The IP Institute continues to expand its opportunities for students to participate in national moot court competitons.  In February, Erin Barclay and Daniel Lee traveled to New York for the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Moot Court Competition, and in March John Morrissett and Rizwan Mujeebuddin competed in the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Patent Moot Court Competition in Boston.

See more IPI news here.

Contact Us

Intellectual Property Institute
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, Virginia  23173
Phone: (804) 287-6398
E-mail: ipi@richmond.edu