Outline and Boxes on a Blue Blackground

Intellectual Property and Technology

Intellectual property (IP) and technology law are critical areas of legal practice and public policy as the internet pervades every aspect of professional, social, and personal activity. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and tools like Chat GPT raises a host of policy and legal questions that lawyers in the public and private sectors must address. Columbia Law School faculty are at the forefront of debates on whether Big Tech companies are too powerful, stifling competition and violating antitrust laws. For lawyers representing the interests of artists, inventors, scientists, and startups, an understanding of copyright, patent, and trademark law is essential.

As commerce, art, finance, and business start-ups flourish in the digital space, how do antitrust provisions and intellectual property protections such as copyrights, trademarks, and patents uphold the rights of authors, scientists, entrepreneurs, and other creators? 

The Law School’s location in New York City gives students the opportunity to study with expert practitioners who are well versed in issues such as data privacy, encryption, copyright, and freedom of speech. Through simulations and externships, students gain practice negotiating and drafting IP agreements and serving as counsel to emerging digital businesses. They can also draw on resources such as the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts and experiential learning opportunities such as the Science, Health, and Information Clinic.

Why Columbia?

Explore emerging and specialized topics including media and advertising law, visual arts and music industry law, federal trademark and copyright litigation, international aspects of intellectual property, and cybercrime. 

Participate in simulations to gain practice negotiating and drafting IP agreements and serving as counsel to emerging digital businesses. 

Investigate and litigate antitrust cases through externships with the Antitrust Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. 

Gain hands-on experience by working on cases during externships at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and the Copyright Alliance. 

Network at events hosted by the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts. The center conducts intellectual property research, runs interdisciplinary seminars with other schools at Columbia University, hosts speakers and conferences, and awards prizes for outstanding journal articles on current IP topics. 

“I believe that we need to reinvigorate a great American tradition, and that is the tradition of antitrust. . . . It’s long been part of the American tradition to believe in competition, to believe in competitive markets, and Americans have always rebelled against concentrated power. A big part of the Constitution is dividing up power to make sure no one has too much.”
Tim Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology

Related Faculty

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Anu Bradford

  • Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization
Jane Ginsburg

Jane C. Ginsburg

  • Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law
Clarisa Long

Clarisa Long

  • Max Mendel Shaye Professor of Intellectual Property Law
Ronald Mann

Ronald Mann

  • Albert E. Cinelli Enterprise Professor of Law
Eric Talley portrait

Eric Talley

  • Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law
Professor Tim Wu

Timothy Wu

  • Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology

Select Centers and Programs

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

The Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts contributes to a broader understanding of the legal aspects of creative works of authorship, including their dissemination and use. It also helps students navigate the ever-changing legal dimensions of intellectual property in the digital age through courses, interdisciplinary seminars, and events on topics such as intellectual property, copyright, trademarks, the regulation of electronic media, and problems arising from new communications technologies, plus an externship on law and the arts.

 

Related Experiential Learning Opportunities

The statue Thinker covered in snow

Data Analytics

AI, big data, machine learning: How is technology revolutionizing the practice of law and the administration of justice? Columbia Law faculty are the forefront of integrating data analytics and employing state-of-the-art data science methodologies in legal practice and research across a range of disciplines. Students benefit from their knowledge and practices in the classroom and through labs and other experiential learning opportunities.