This lesson introduces students to significant inventions of the late 19th century and examines the power of Congress to pass laws related to the granting of patents. It correlates to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Civics and Social Sciences. It also has cross-curricular connections with history, government, language arts, and science.

Role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. Rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. Various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other US electronics and biotech industries and their different types of institutions. American systems of incentive to creativity apart from the patent laws in the atomic energy and space fields. For graduate students only; others see 6.901.

Covers theoretical and empirical work dealing with the structure, behavior, and performance of firms and markets and core issues in antitrust. Topics include: the organization of the firm, monopoly, price discrimination, oligopoly, and auctions. Theoretical and empirical work are integrated in each area.

Engineering School-Wide Elective Subject. Description given at end of this chapter in SWE section. This course explores current research concerning patent law and its role in the rapidly changing world of high technology. It is offered in the fall semester as an undergraduate course (6.901) and in the spring semester as a graduate course (6.931). The content for both courses is largely overlapping, and is presented together on this site

This course explores the history of private and public rights in scientific discoveries and applied engineering, leading to the development of worldwide patent systems. The classes of invention protectable under the patent laws of the U.S., including the procedures in protecting inventions in the Patent Office and the courts will be examined. A review of past cases involving inventions and patents in: the chemical process industry and medical pharmaceutical, biological, and genetic-engineering fields; devices in the mechanical, ocean exploration, civil, and/or aeronautical fields; the electrical, computer, software, and electronic areas, including key radio, solid-state, computer and software inventions; and also software protection afforded under copyright laws. Periodic joint real-time class sessions and discussions by video-audio Internet conferencing, with other universities will also be conducted.

Introduction of engineering management. Financial principles, management of innovation, engineering project planning and control, human factors, career planning, patents and technical strategy. Case study method of instruction emphasizes participation in class discussion. Juniors, seniors, or graduate students. Engineering School-Wide Elective subject.

A brief overview of patent law and its controversies and uses in nanotechnology.

This class introduces students to the interdisciplinary nature of 21st-century engineering projects with three threads of learning: a technical toolkit, a social science toolkit, and a methodology for problem-based learning. Students encounter the social, political, economic, and technological challenges of engineering practice by participating in real engineering projects with faculty and industry; this semester's major project focuses on the engineering and economics of solar cells. Student teams will create prototypes and mixed media reports with exercises in project planning, analysis, design, optimization, demonstration, reporting and team building.

Provides an integrated approach to understanding the practice of engineering in the real world. Students research the life cycle of a major engineering project, new technology, or startup company from multiple perspectives: technical, economic, political, cultural. Emphasis on analyzing engineering artifacts, understanding documentation, framing logical arguments, communicating effectively, and working in teams.