Our flexible, innovation-focused curriculum lets you design a pathway that aligns with your passions for creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship. All streams have a required set of courses and elective options. You must also complete a research paper and an experiential capstone related to the stream.
Patent Law Stream
If you’re interested in protecting cutting-edge inventions and pursuing a career in patent prosecution, counseling, and technology-focused litigation, the patent law stream is for you. It is especially well-suited for you if you have a background in science, engineering, or other technical fields.
Participants typically combine foundational courses in patent law with advanced offerings such as Patent Preparation and Prosecution I & II, along with complementary business and IP electives. Focus areas include:
- Patentability, infringement and validity
- Drafting and prosecuting patent applications
- Technology transfer
Experiential opportunities include:
- Patent-focused representations in the Intellectual Property (IP) Venture Clinic
- LTA internships/externships with biomedical, engineering, and technology organizations
- Collaboration with CWRU’s tech-transfer and research community
Law and the Arts Stream
This stream is ideal if you want to work with artists, museums, performers, creative industries, or cultural institutions. It examines how legal frameworks—copyright, trademark, licensing, and emerging technologies—shape the production and distribution of art, music, film, and media.
Focus areas include:
- Copyright
- Trademark and branding for creators
- Law of the music and entertainment industries
Signature internships/externships include placements with:
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- International Foundation for Art Research (NYC)
- Greater Cleveland Film Commission
- Broadcast Music Inc. (NYC)
- UNIDROIT and the World Intellectual Property Organization (Europe)
Fusion Stream
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, innovation, and start-up ecosystems, the fusion stream brings together law, business, and technology.
A three-course sequence integrates patent law, venture finance/transactions, and intellectual-property commercialization—providing you with a practice-oriented understanding of how ideas move from lab or studio to market. Focus areas include:
- Start-up formation and governance
- IP strategy for early-stage companies
- Licensing and commercialization of complex technology
- Innovation and product development
The fusion stream is closely linked to the IP Venture Clinic, where you can work with real entrepreneurs and emerging technologies.
Law, Technology and the Arts Curriculum
This specialized curriculum involves a wide range of courses, seminars, and clinical practice opportunities. The following is a representative sampling of offerings. For the full list, please consult the Academic Bulletin.
- Claim Drafting Lab
- Commercialization and IP Management
- Entertainment Law
- e-Payment Systems
- IP and Dealmaking
- IP Survey
- IP Venture Clinic
- International IP
- Law of Archeological Relics
- Law of the Music Industry
- Law of the Visual Arts
- Negotiating Strategies in Sports Management
- Patent Law
- Representing the Individual Athlete
- Representing the Musical Artist
- Sports and the Law
- Trademark Law
- Venture Finance and Transactions
“The curriculum in law, technology, and the arts was vital in my decision to attend CWRU School of Law. The Intellectual Property Venture Clinic is specifically unique, and the opportunity to work on real client portfolios to enhance my patent knowledge was one I would be remiss to pass up! The faculty is incredibly well-versed in IP subject matter which will undoubtedly equip me with the skills I need for a career in this field one day.”
Law, Technology and the Arts Expertise
As a student at the law school, you don’t need to pursue the formal JD concentration to take advantage of our expertise in law, technology and the arts. Get to know a few of the centers and extracurriculars in which you can participate.
Athlete Data Lab
In the Athlete Data Lab, you can explore legal issues surrounding the collection and use of athlete data through wearable sensors and emerging tracking technologies. You’ll examine privacy, commercialization, and performance-analytics issues while working on research projects with Sports Data Labs, Inc.
Fusion Program
The mission of our Fusion Program is to provide law, MBA, engineering and PhD students in science with the skills necessary for assessing, cultivating, and monetizing the opportunities underlying promising new ventures. The ten-year track record of Fusion has demonstrated the power of immersing students in the challenging field of technology commercialization by weaving together the disciplines of law, management, engineering, and science.
Internships & Externships
Cleveland’s strong cultural, biomedical, and technological ecosystem provides exceptional opportunities for hands-on internships and externships. You can gain hands-on experience through placements at institutions such as:
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- WIPO, UNIDROIT, FCC, and other national/international agencies
- Broadcast Music Inc. and the Greater Cleveland Film Commission
- Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and other sports organizations
- Cleveland Clinic Innovations and CWRU Tech-Transfer
Study and Work Abroad Opportunities
Participate in the Transatlantic Intellectual Property Summer Academy, featuring leading IP scholars and researchers in CWRU’s joint summer program with Italy’s Bocconi University. Or spend a summer as an extern at the World Intellectual Property Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland, working on cutting-edge IP issues.
Spangenberg Center
With unparalleled course offerings, immersive experiential learning, outstanding faculty, and lectures from leading voices across medicine and law, the Spangenberg Center prepares students to represent the world’s creators in technology, art, music, entertainment, and business.