the Informer

Intellectual Property Attorney John Mutchler will be teaching "Patents and Copyright Protection." | Courtesy of mkgip.com

The University is proud to announce that a new course is available for the Spring 2012 semester called “Patents and Copyright Protection,” which will be taught by Intellectual Property Attorney John Mutchler, a familiar face among University staff.

While it is only available to undergraduate juniors and seniors and graduate students, it provides information anyone could use concerning the proper, as well as improper, uses of copyrights and the processes and reasoning behind patenting, for anyone who has ever had a thought for inventing.

The course also establishes the difference between a copyright and a trademark, two words thought to have identical meaning but with one difference – one is the product, the other is the producer and advertiser.

This course is to be primarily an online course offered through Blackboard, although students will be required to meet in person once a month.

“The class will meet once a month in the evening to review some of the submittals and to practice and learn how to use some of the United States Patent and Trademark Office website features, such as patent searches and patent prosecution history,” explained Mutchler.

He also explained that the course work will be primarily composed of reviewing court cases and briefs concerning patents, copyrights and trademarks.

Mutchler is hopeful that this new course will be successful among the students enrolled and possibly continue.

“I have taught similar classes at the University of Hartford and at other universities for about five years and the students have provided good feedback, learn a lot and enjoy the class,” Mutchler remarks.

Mutchler promises to incorporate humor into the class and will include existing examples in societ. He will also incorporate the various schools on at the University such as the College of Education, Nursing and Health Services,  the College of Arts and Sciences, the Barney School of Music, the Hartt School, the College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture, and the Hartford Art School.

In addition to teaching at the Univeristy of Hartford in the College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture, Mutchler has also held a professorial position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Hartford.