IP Externship Opportunities
Since the Spring of 2014, intellectual property law externship opportunities have been available to IU McKinney students. Professors that advise IP externships include Professor Magliocca and Professor Nguyen. General information about each IP externship is set forth below, along with a few additional "Corporate" externships that have related IP interests. Students pursuing their own opportunity may also be eligible to receive externship credit by pursuing that opportunity as a SEP (follow link for more info about SEPs). Further information about all McKinney externships may be found at http://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/courses/externships.cfm.
Crane Externship, Naval Surface Warfare Center
CRANE’s externship opportunity is for law students in the area of patent drafting, patent prosecution, intellectual property law, and Federal technology transfer. This opportunity is directed towards students desiring a patent drafting and prosecution related externship opportunity as a law student with an educational background in the engineering and science disciplines. The opportunity will be most appropriate for students entering their L2 or L3 years however L1 year students can be considered. CRANE is under the Naval Sea Systems Command. CRANE provides acquisition support, life cycle support, and system engineering, in-service engineering and technical support for special warfare missions, high density electrochemical storage systems, and electronic warfare/information operations. CRANE receives over 60 – 100 invention disclosures per year and has filed up to 76 patent applications per year. CRANE is currently managing a patent portfolio of several hundred issued and pending patents with an active licensing program. CRANE also is active in licensing know-how and technical data in large systems acquisition efforts with a broad array of large commercial and research and development entities. This externship opportunity allows students to gain valuable experience in their field of study which comprises an intersection of law, science, technology, and business. Externs may on occasion participate remotely, but are encouraged to work on site at CRANE, particularly at the beginning of the semester and when inspection of an invention and/or interaction with inventors is desirable. It is possible on occasion to conduct some work via video teleconferencing. Under the supervision of the supervising attorney, the student will evaluate new invention disclosures with CRANE case managers, conduct patentability and infringement searches, assist in portfolio evaluations of licensed and unlicensed technology, work with both internal and external patent counsel to draft new patent applications and respond to patent office actions for US and foreign applications, assist with submission of patent filing documents such as inventor assignments and declarations.
Eli Lilly and Company, Patent Externship
This externship with the Lilly Legal Patent Department, located at Lilly Corporate Center in Indianapolis, will focus on the practice of intellectual property law in the pharmaceutical industry. Externs will get to experience the role of an in-house patent attorney first hand while working on special projects closely with a Lilly Supervising Attorney. All Externs will attend training sessions and monthly meetings that focus on the latest developments in intellectual property law. Extern special projects include, for example, researching a current IP-related issue faced by Lilly and presenting their findings to the Legal Patent Department, evaluating new invention disclosures, assessing patentability and freedom to operate searches, assisting in patent portfolio evaluations or patent litigation matters, participating in discussions with scientists and clinical teams, supporting efforts to draft new patent applications and responding to patent office actions for U.S. and foreign applications, and/or assisting with the submission of patent filing documents such as inventor assignments and declarations. P: Completion of two years of law school coursework, including at least one IP course. A bachelor's degree in a science or engineering field and completion of a patent law course is strongly recommended.
Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office (IUICO) Externship
The Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office (IUICO) is a not-for-profit corporation that is responsible for all aspects of Indiana University technology commercialization including protection and licensing of intellectual property. IUICO receives an average of 150 faculty invention disclosures and files over 200 patent applications per year. In addition, the office is currently managing a portfolio of over 300 issued US and foreign patents and over 500 pending US and foreign patent applications. IUICO has offices located in the IU Innovation Center in Indianapolis and the Cyberinfrastructure Building in Bloomington. IUICO has externship opportunities for law students in the area of patent law. Under the supervision of the supervising attorney, the student will evaluate new invention disclosures with IUICO case managers, conduct patentability and infringement searches, assist in portfolio evaluations of licensed and unlicensed technology, work with both internal and external patent counsel to draft new patent applications and respond to patent office actions for US and foreign applications, assist with submission of patent filing documents such as inventor assignments and declarations.
Note: this opportunity was previously referred to as the IU Research and Technology Corporation (IURTC)
Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization Externship
The Office of Technology Commercialization of the Purdue Research Foundation (“OTC”) operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the United States. In its most recent fiscal year, the OTC reported 356 invention disclosures, 77 deals finalized, 54 issued patents, and gross royalty income at $4.8 million. The OTC also reported the creation of 5 new startup companies founded in part on Purdue innovations. Tasks that the extern will perform include: assisting in drafting patent applications (including a provisional application for patent—with claims, a non-provisional application, and a design application); drafting responses to various office actions from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (including responses to 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103 rejections and restriction requirements); drafting information disclosure statements; and performing patentability searches and analyses that will assist in determining the IP protection strategy. In addition, the externs may also be assigned relevant legal research assignments to assist in accomplishing the above tasks.
Other Opportunities that Align with IP Interests (from the Corporate category)
CMG Worldwide, Corporate Counsel Externship
CMG Worldwide is a marketing and licensing company headquartered in Indianapolis, with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Las Vegas. CMG represents and markets the intellectual property rights of many wellknown entertainment, music, sports, and historic personalities, currently including Maya Angelou, James Dean, Jackie Robinson, Malcolm X, Neil Armstrong, and Amelia Earhart. The CMG legal department focuses on protection and promotion of intellectual property rights. The primary responsibilities for legal interns and externs include contract drafting, negotiating and finalizing licensing and permission agreements, researching legal issues for clients and in the course of disputes, managing clients’ intellectual property portfolios, and pursuing and settling infringements of publicity rights, copyrights, and trademarks. The CMG legal department particularly values motivated, flexible team players who take pride in their work, are skilled at conflict resolution, and have strong writing, verbal, and research skills. We are open to 1L, 2L, or 3L law students for internships or externships.
