TIP Clinic®
The DePaul Technology/Intellectual Property Clinic (TIP Clinic®) was one of the first law school clinical programs to provide transactional services exclusively in the areas of patent, trademark and copyright law to clients who could not afford to pay private counsel for these services. The TIP Clinic® is a natural extension of the College of Law's nationally ranked IP/IT program, and its mission is "Protecting the Creative Works of Creative Minds®."
Students with technical and non-technical backgrounds are eligible to participate, and clients are referred to the clinic by attorneys and by former clinic clients. TIP Clinic clients are inventors, musicians, artists, authors and entrepreneurs who need assistance in protecting their creations and businesses. The issues presented by these talented people are interesting and challenging, and TIP Clinic® students experience the satisfaction of helping individuals with real legal problems, not merely problems posed to them in classroom simulations.
DePaul TIP Clinic students also collaborate with the Electronic Freedom Foundation and students from other leading law schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington University and Santa Clara University to provide information to the general public through www.chillingeffects.org. The site provides information about intellectual property law to individuals who have been accused of copyright or trademark infringement in an effort to help those individuals determine how to best defend themselves against such allegations.
TIP Clinic students provide the following client services:
- Advising clients regarding the risks involved in selecting and using a trademark
- Preparing and prosecuting trademark applications
- Processing preliminary patent searches
- Providing copyright and trademark infringement advice
- Defending clients against challenges of trademark use
- Providing advice regarding domain name issues
- Drafting licensing and confidentiality agreements
- Counseling clients concerning the best way to protect their creations
For more information on the TIP Clinic®, please contact:
Professor Barbara B. Bressler, Director
312.362.8294
bbressle@depaul.edu
Fax: 312.362.6918
