At the Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP) at Texas A&M University School of Law, we combine classroom time with hands-on experience to prepare our J.D. and graduate students to navigate the complex legal issues surrounding patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
In the past eight years, peer surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report have ranked Texas A&M continuously among the top 10 intellectual property law programs in the United States.
► Learn more: Our brochure is available online.
Here are several advantages to focusing in IP at Texas A&M University School of Law.
Distinguished Faculty
With eight faculty members specializing in the area, we boast one of the lowest student-faculty ratios in the IP field in law schools across the country. Our accessible faculty includes leading scholars in all major IP “food groups” (copyright, patent, trademark and international IP law). You will also be able to learn directly from experienced attorneys practicing on the front lines of the IP profession.
Innovative Curriculum
Intellectual property is one of the fastest growing areas of the law. Texas A&M University School of Law offers a comprehensive and innovative curriculum with a wide and ever-expanding array of basic courses and advanced seminars.
Our courses are specially designed by professors who have wide experience in IP education and practice, including leadership in four nationally ranked IP law programs and participation as the rapporteur for a World Intellectual Property Organization project on IP training and education.
When you study IP at Texas A&M Law, our accessible faculty will help you customize a course of study tailored to your goals and interests.
In addition, we offer a Concentration in Intellectual Property for J.D. students which requires the completion of a minimum of 16 credits of related coursework, including foundational, elective, writing and experiential courses.
Real-World Experience in Our Clinics
When you focus on IP at Texas A&M University School of Law, you can gain practical experience working with real clients in our three IP clinics:
- The Entrepreneurship Law Clinic will get you involved with startup businesses across many different industries, handling issues like entity formation, operation and contracts.
- The Patent Clinic will put you on the leading edge of innovation, working directly with inventors toward securing patent protection in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- In the Trademark & Copyright Clinic, you will help businesses build and protect their brands through preparing, filing and prosecuting applications for federal trademark registration.
Your work in any of our IP clinics will be supervised by professors who are also licensed attorneys. Through hands-on participation in every aspect of your client matters, you will learn the relevant law together with valuable skills like interviewing, counseling and law practice management.
In the Patent Clinic and the Trademark & Copyright Clinic, you may also have the opportunity to work directly with examiners and attorneys in the USPTO. We have the distinction of being one of a limited number of schools with USPTO-certified clinics in both areas.
Student-Oriented Programming
Service is a core value of Texas A&M University. At the School of Law, our graduation requirement of 30 hours of pro bono legal work reinforces this value.
CLIP allows you to engage in community outreach through our Need to Know workshops, a one-of-its-kind Spring Break Service Week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and summer Art and Cultural Heritage Law field trip to Santa Chiara, Italy. Students participating in these programs will have opportunities to give presentations regarding IP law to underserved segments of the community.
In addition, you may have the opportunity to participate in regional and national trial and moot court competitions to hone your analytical and advocacy skills. Recent competitions have included:
- Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition
- Pepperdine Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition
- National Sports Law Negotiation Competition.
Fort Worth/Dallas: A Hub for Intellectual Property
Texas A&M University School of Law is located in downtown Fort Worth, an ideal place for students to study IP issues related to entrepreneurship, technology and the arts. Our strategic location provides close proximity to and ample internship opportunities with judges and a broad range of employers, including law firms, government agencies, corporate legal departments and not-for-profit organizations.
Having ranked as the #1 area for job growth and one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, Fort Worth/Dallas is a hub for major corporations, entrepreneurs, information technology enterprises and the oil and gas industry. The Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) metro area is currently home to more than 20 Fortune 500 companies (third in the country for the number of Fortune 500 headquarters, behind New York City and Chicago), including Exxon Mobil, McKesson, AT&T, Energy Transfer Equity, American Airlines Group, Southwest Airlines, Tenet Healthcare, Fluor, Texas Instruments, D.R. Horton, Jacobs Engineering, Kimberly-Clark and Yum China Holdings. DFW hosts 3 Global 20 companies, tied with Beijing, with no other global metro hosting more than one.
The DFW metroplex, where the microchip was invented by Texas Instruments, has the 7th largest concentration of high-tech jobs in the U.S. and Texas ranks #2 in high-tech employment nationwide. Forbes lists Fort-Worth Dallas as #7 of America's Top 10 Cities of the Future, with 3 other Texas cities in the top 10. Texas, known for its diverse economic strength, robust infrastructure, low taxes, superior quality of life, skilled workforce and convenient central location, leads the nation in exports (over $315B in 2018) and job creation. For the 14th consecutive year, Texas was named the "Best State for Business" by Chief Executive Magazine and CNBC named Texas the "Top State for Business" for the fourth time.
Collaboration within Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is the fourth largest university in the United States and the largest university in Texas. As a Tier 1 research institution, our university features nationally ranked programs in engineering, agriculture and life sciences, chemistry, architecture and business.
CLIP actively collaborates with different colleges within the university, including the Mays Business School, the College of Engineering and the College of Architecture. We also have a groundbreaking partnership with Startup Aggieland, a student business accelerator. Our partnership features the Innovation Summit and "pop-up" IP classes for a general audience.
Conferences and Events
Through conferences, symposia and seminars, CLIP brings to the campus nationally and internationally renowned IP experts from around the world.
- Past major events include:
- 17th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference - June 28, 2019
Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore
Having the world's largest online population of more than 770 million, China's internet developments have emerged as one of the most exciting, yet challenging research areas. Co-founded in May 2003 by Peter Yu, this annual conference features multidisciplinary presentations from communications scholars, policy analysts, industry leaders, journalists and legal practitioners from around the world.
- 11th Annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law - May 3-4, 2019
William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Law Vegas
This conference focuses on the role of IP and communications law in the dissemination of information. Launched in July 2008, the event is organized by Texas A&M University School of Law in conjunction with a consortium of European and U.S. law schools.
- "TRIPS Agreement at 25" Symposium - March 29-30, 2019
This symposium brings together leading international intellectual property scholars to critically examine the past two and a half decades of developments relating to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization.
- Symposium on Copyright's Excess: Money and Music in the U.S. Recording Industry - February 15, 2019
This Texas A&M Journal of Property Law symposium gathers leading scholars on copyright economics to critically examine the findings of Professor Glynn Lunney's new book, Copyright's Excess: Money and Music in the U.S. Recording Industry.
- IP Scholars Roundtable - October 5-6, 2018
- "Digital Millennium Copyright Act at 20" Symposium - March 23-24, 2018
The symposium brings together leading copyright and technology law experts to critically examine the past two decades of developments surrounding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The event also explores the future of digital copyright reform in the United States and other parts of the world. Learn more.
- IP Scholars Roundtable - October 13-14, 2017
- Intellectual Property Workshop for North Texas Inventors & Entrepreneurs, with USPTO and State Bar of Texas IP Section - September 30, 2017
- IP Aggie Forum - September 25, 2017
- 15th Chinese Internet Research Conference - June 5-6, 2017
- "Intellectual Property and Global Development: 50 Years After Stockholm" Symposium - March 31–April 1, 2017
- 2nd Annual Texas A&M Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable - October 7–8, 2016
- "Loot: Looted Art, Cultural Property, and Repatriation" Symposium - September 9, 2016
- "Intellectual Property in All the New Places" Symposium, Apr. 15-16, 2016
- Inaugural Texas A&M Intellectual Property Scholars Roundtable, Oct. 9-10, 2015
- 7th Annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law, (co-organized with School of Law, Xiamen University, China), July 6-7, 2015
- "IP and the Modern University Athlete" Symposium, Apr. 10, 2015
- Inaugural Innovation Summit: "Shaping the Future of Law and Entrepreneurship" (co-hosted with Startup Aggieland, Texas A&M University), Feb. 28, 2014
- Inaugural Texas A&M Law Review Intellectual Property Symposium, Oct. 25, 2013
- "Perspectives on Practice" Speaker Series: Our ongoing series hosts thought leaders exploring timely and cutting-edge topics in the IP field.
Aggie Network
When you study IP at Texas A&M University School of Law, you benefit from the dependable 425,000-strong Aggie Network, whose loyal members stand ready to help you throughout your law school and professional career. Aggie IP lawyers will also be able to network with the hundreds of members in the Texas Aggie Bar Association (TABA), a chartered constituent network of the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University.
In addition, you will have access to one of the country’s largest and most prestigious legal communities. The Fort Worth/Dallas metro area is home to the Dallas–Fort Worth regional office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a broad range of employers, including law firms, government agencies, corporate legal departments and not-for-profit organizations.
The state of Texas also places a significant emphasis on its major research institutions, including Texas A&M University. In 2017, research conducted at the university represented annual expenditures of more than $905.4 million, ranking Texas A&M in the top 20 of the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey.
Research Opportunities
CLIP provides an intellectually stimulating environment to study critical issues of IP law and policy. You will have numerous opportunities to assist your faculty with cutting-edge research projects and participate in their policy advocacy activities
Global Engagement
CLIP understands your need to be familiarized the rapidly changing global business environment. Students studying IP law at Texas A&M University have opportunities to participate in the study abroad program in art and cultural heritage law in Santa Chiara, Italy. Our faculty members, many of whom have studied or taught abroad, are also eager to provide advice and assistance concerning study abroad programs and internships in foreign countries.
In addition, CLIP brings to the campus promising scholars and practitioners to share ideas and insights. Through academic conferences and other collaborative activities, we develop global partnerships with leading educational and research institutions from around the world. Our institutional partners include:
- Bocconi University (Milan, Italy)
- Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cochin, India)
- Hanken School of Economics (Helsinki, Finland)
- National Law School of India University (Bangalore, India)
- School of Law, South China University of Technology (Guangzhou, China)
- University of Eastern Finland Law School (Joensuu, Finland)
- Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, University of Szeged (Szeged, Hungary)
- Xiamen University School of Law (Xiamen, China)
Student Activities
IP Aggies Student Organization Podcasts: "Skilled in the Art"
Launched Feb. 20, 2017, hear the stories of professors and practitioners in the field of IP.
Listen to the podcasts.
Italy Summer 2016 Field Trip
Check out the daily blog from the CLIP students in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, for the "Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law" course, July 17-31, 2016.
CLIP News
Keep up with the latest news about our faculty, students, and programs: