UConn\u2019s Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Law Clinic can boast of one of its best years since its formation in 2007.<\/p>\n
Among other accomplishments since the fall 2014, the IP Law Clinic obtained five U.S. patents, 17 federal trademark registrations and filed five new patent applications, as well as seven federal trademark applications.<\/p>\n
Since early 2007, it has assisted about 300 clients, hailing from all eight counties in Connecticut. Under the guidance of supervising attorneys, the Clinic’s students are involved in various aspects of client matters, including the conducting of interviews, performing legal research, drafting documents, and interacting with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the U.S. Copyright Office. The Clinic has advised clients regarding numerous legal issues, including patent searches and applications; trademark clearances and applications; copyright and trademark licensing; and nondisclosure, consulting, and employee agreements.<\/p>\n
Joseph A. DeGirolamo, Director and Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, said that at least two clients have been able to obtain significant funding for their ventures and that the Clinic in general has \u201cprovided a real and valuable contribution to CT residents and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Its work has led to a total of 19 U.S. Patents issued. The following were issued for this past year:<\/p>\n
–\u00a0Thermal Engine With Improved Valve System
\n–\u00a0Walker For Improved Stairway Mobility
\n–\u00a0Utility Tool and Method of Opening a Door
\n–\u00a0Hypocycloidal Crank Apparatus
\n–\u00a0Golf Sand Bunker Simulator<\/p>\n
DeGirolamo said the Clinic\u2019s success over the last school year is the result of several factors. Among these, he said, are a more focused and efficient management of the Clinic\u2019s operations,\u00a0and \u201cthe skill, dedication and perseverance of the supervising attorneys and students handling prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
To receive assistance from the IP Law Clinic, clients must either be Connecticut residents or have a business in the state. They also have to demonstrate financial need. Officials at the IP Law\u00a0 Clinic will also take other factors into consideration, including\u00a0educational opportunity for the students, whether the services are likely to generate jobs or revenue for Connecticut, and whether the Clinic has the resources to take on such a project.<\/p>\n
Once they\u2019re accepted into the program, clients work with law students who are supervised by experienced intellectual property attorneys. Together, the students and attorneys represent the clients before the PTO and the U.S. Copyright Office. Students typically perform patentability or trademark clearance searches and prepare\u00a0patent and trademark\u00a0applications when warranted.\u00a0 Most students in the IP Law Clinic are granted limited recognition to practice before the PTO as part of the Law School Clinic Certification program operated by the PTO.\u00a0 Students have the opportunity to participate in the Clinic for as many as four semesters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UConn\u2019s Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Law Clinic can boast of one of its best years since its formation in 2007. Among other accomplishments since the fall 2014, the IP Law Clinic obtained five U.S. patents, 17 federal trademark registrations and filed five new patent applications, as well as seven federal trademark applications. Since early 2007, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":222070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-21102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 08:49:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222084,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21102\/revisions\/222084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/222070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21102"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=21102"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}