Free IP Legal Services

Law School Clinic Certification Program

The Law School Clinic Certification Program includes over 60 participating law school clinics that provide legal services pro bono (free) to the public, including to inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Participating law school clinics provide patent and/or trademark legal services to qualified members of the public who are accepted as a client of a clinic. Each participating law school has requirements for accepting new clients and accepts new clients at their discretion.

Students enrolled in participating law school clinic certification programs practice IP law under the strict guidance of a law school faculty clinic supervisor. Students practice patent and trademark law before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO Office of Enrollment and Discipline administers the program; the Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline grants the law school students limited recognition to practice before the USPTO.

The law school students gain experience drafting and filing patent applications and/or trademark applications for clients of the law school clinic. Furthermore, as they are authorized to practice before the USPTO, they gain experience answering office actions and communicating with patent examiners and/or trademark examining attorneys for the applications they have filed.

About 20 of these law school clinics accept clients from California and other states. To get help, contact a participating law school clinic at the email or link provided on the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program web page

IP Basics

Intellectual Property Basics and Helpful Resources

The Midwest Regional USPTO offers IP Basics and Helpful Resources sessions for aspiring entrepreneurs, innovators, and students starting at noon, Eastern time, on the first Thursday of each month. Space is limited, so register early.
The discussion will cover:
1. an overview of different types of IP: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets;
2. why innovators and entrepreneurs should consider protecting their IP;
3. local resources and assistance available through the USPTO and other agencies

Intellectual Property Basics

Intellectual Property Basics is a series of 62 short 3-to-5-minute videos that covers topics about patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and contracts to guide Inventors and entrepreneurs through the important IP concepts of their startups. This series is taught and presented by University of Michigan Assistant Vice President of Research - Licensing and Strategic Alliances and Law Professor Bryce Pilz.

Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs

Columbia University in New York taught the Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs course via Zoom in the Fall of 2020 and made these course videos available for everyone. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are an increasingly critical part of almost any business. This course provides the aspiring business executive, entrepreneur, or scientist with an overview of commercial opportunities and risks associated with IP, particularly focusing on technology patents. While this course addresses legal principles, the primary focus of this course is on leveraging IP to create financial returns.

This course may require a commitment of about 20 hours for the following 6 classes:
Class 1: Patent history from 1770s to today; Why claims matter; Prosecution strategy.
Class 2: Trade secrets, trademarks & copyrights; Patent research; Making “real world” patent decisions.
Class 3: Patent litigation: risks and rewards; Negotiating IP licensing deals.
Class 4: Review negotiation case study outcomes; Common negotiation tactics in IP deals.
Class 5: Guest speaker from USPTO; Designing your IP strategy; Working with outside counsel; Career paths in patent law and tech transfer.
Class 6: USPTO Director Andrei Iancu; Lightning interviews with VCs and Entrepreneurs.

The syllabus for this course is available here: Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs

Viewers may want to start with the CTV "Patents, Licensing, and Startups at Columbia" video for helpful background context.

This course is taught by:
Orin Herskowitz, Executive Director & Senior Vice President for Applied Innovation and Industry Partnerships at Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV);
Connolly Jurkiewicz, Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications at Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV); and
Jeff Sears, Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel for Columbia University.

Patent Protection & Commercialization

Lemelson-MIT Inventor Handbook

Lemelson-MIT created the Inventor Handbook to answer the most frequently asked questions from inventors.

The Inventor's Patent Academy

Invent Together created The Inventor's Patent Academy a free e-learning course to help people understand patenting and intellectual property (IP), and to equip them to apply for their own patents. It also explores some of the challenges that inventors – particularly women, people of color, individuals with lower incomes, people with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented inventors – may face and provides tools to overcome them.

USPTO Basic Patent Training Certification

The USPTO virtual Basic Patent Training for Independent Inventors and Small Businesses Course consists of 6 modules with a short quiz after each module. After you complete the course, you get a Certificate of Completion.

Stakeholder Application Readiness Training (StART)

The StART is a virtual 3-day workshop focusing on the basics of patent filing is for entrepreneurs, inventors, and small business owners who want to file patent applications without the assistance of a registered patent agent or attorney.

Other USPTO Patent Training

The USPTO offers a variety of patent training opportunities for the public including patent examination, patent quality, and inventor chats.

Copyright Protection

Learning Engine Video Series

The United States Copyright Office (USCO) has the Learning Engine series of videos that introduce copyright concepts and the Copyright Office. The USCO will add more videos to its YouTube channel.