Intellectual Property Law: A Noble Pursuit Within The Field Of Law

A specialization in Intellectual property Law can open the window to witnessing several varied and exciting opportunities in your law career span. Read this article to find out all about this exhilarating career direction in the field of law.

The demand for specialized lawyers, popularly known as Intellectual Property Lawyers, is growing at a high rate globally. This exponential growth in this specialized field of law is the result of a rapid boom in the entrepreneurial mindset, combined with the fact that more people are now open to pursuing creative fields. We are also continually witnessing a rise in the number of startups, which center around creative innovations.

Intellectual Property Law is all about employing and protecting the benefits from any individual or business’s intellectual creations. Without Intellectual Property Law, there would be no way for artists, creators or businesses to claim their creative assets, which would further result in high rates of plagiarism and copied assets.

To understand the important and necessity of Intellectual property Law, let’s take a look at an interesting case, Adidas America v/s Payless ShoeSource, that ensued in 1994:

We all recognize the Adidas logo, right? The reason that makes this logo so unique and exclusive to Adidas is that the company has protected its brand logo and image under the Copyright Act (1957) of the IP Law.

In 1994, another brand, known as Payless ShoeSource, confusingly started selling athletic shoes that displayed a design similar to Adidas’s 2:4 parallel stripes. When Adidas found out about it, the two companies decided to clear the differences with a settlement, and Payless stopped selling their line of the shoes in question.

However, in 2001, Payless started selling another similar line that matched Adidas’s stripe logo design. With the fear that the similarity between the shoes of two brands may lead to a wave of confusion – along with the feeling of being duped – and taint the brand name, Adidas America Inc. filed for a jury trial.

After seven years of trial, and careful evaluation of 268 pairs of shoes created by Payless, the trial was concluded in the favor of Adidas, and the company was compensated $100 million to $305 million for each stripe.

There are many more stories similar to Adidas v/s Payless case that highlight the curious, thrilling, and dynamic range of intellectual property law; and, point towards the fact that with this noble pursuit within the field of law, there will never be a boring or dull day in your career span.

Diverse Roles and Work Profiles

The kind of role and work profile you may get will vary depending upon the kind of industry you choose to work in. For instance, if you work in cybersecurity, your profile will be focused more on information technology, cybercrime, and data protection; whereas, if you work in consumer durables, like we saw in the above example of Adidas v/s Payless case, then your profile will be focused more on trade marks, industrial designs, patents, copyrights, and related rights.

Similarly, your role may differ from (or may be a combination of) drafting to litigation, filing and prosecution, teaching, training, analytics and strategy, technology assessment and marketing, and research, philosophy, policy and advocacy.

How to become an Intellectual Property Lawyer?

Any candidate who has passed class 12th from a recognized board of education or has completed graduation from a recognized university can apply for a course in IP Law. The next requirement is to pass the common law entrance examination and get your graduate degree with specialization in IP Law.

You can get real-world exposure by planning your internships in intellectual property specialized law firms or working under private practitioners with IP specialization.

Nowadays, there is also an option to attend online classes or join moot sessions regarding intellectual property rights and cases. You can attend these classes and sessions, participate, and write research papers on them. This would not only help you get a better understanding of the basics of IP Law and its contents, but will also help polish your resume and build a lucrative career in this noble field of law.

Dr Sukhvinder Singh Dari

Guest Author The author is Director, Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur