Janice M. Mueller

Janice Mueller teaches and writes in the area of intellectual property law with an emphasis in patent law. A registered U.S. patent attorney and chemical engineer, she began her legal career as a patent agent with Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis. After law school she clerked for the Honorable Giles S. Rich, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Following her clerkship, Professor Mueller spent three years litigating patent and copyright infringement cases as an Honors Program Trial Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Professor Mueller is frequent lecturer for the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. She has served on the AIPLA's Amicus Committee and is a member of the Expert Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property for the international non-profit Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Her book, “An Introduction to Patent Law,” was published by Aspen in 2003, and is now in its second edition (published in 2006).

Before joining the Pitt Law faculty in 2004, Professor Mueller taught at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago and at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

Programs

• Program Director - Intellectual Property and Technology Certificate Program

Currently Teaching

• International IP Law (Fall 08)
• Patent Law (Fall 08)
• Property (Spring 09)

Selected Publications

Books:

• J. Mueller, An Introduction to Patent Law, Second Edition (Aspen Publishers 2006).
• J. Mueller, An Introduction to Patent Law (Aspen 2003).

Scholarly Articles:

• J. Mueller, Chemicals, Combinations, and Common Sense: How the Supreme Court's KSR Decision Is Changing Federal Circuit Obviousness Determinations in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Cases, 35 N. Ky. U. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2008), available on SSRN (the Social Science Research Network).
• J. Mueller, Biotechnology Patenting in India: Will Bio-Generics Lead a “Sunrise” Industry to Bio-Innovation?, 76 UMKC L. Rev. 437 (2007), available on SSRN.
• J. Mueller, Patenting Human Embryonic Stem Cells in the United States: The Legal and Ethical Debate, 14 Center For Advanced Study And Research In Intellectual Property (CASRIP) Newsletter (Autumn 2007).
• J. Mueller, Taking TRIPS to India–Novartis, Patent Law, and Access to Medicines, New Eng. J. Med. (Feb. 8, 2007), at 541-43.
• J. Mueller, The Tiger Awakens: The Tumultuous Transformation of India's Patent System and the Rise of Indian Pharmaceutical Innovation 68 University Of Pittsburgh L. Rev. 491 (2007), available on SSRN.
• J. Mueller, Patent Controls on Genetically Modified Crop Farming,, 4 Santa Clara J. Int'l L. 22 (2006).
• J. Mueller, The Evanescent Experimental Use Exemption from U.S. Patent Infringement Liability: Implications for University/Nonprofit Research and Development, 56 Baylor L. Rev. 101 (Fall 2004).
• J. Mueller, Willful Infringement and the Federal Circuit’s Pending En Banc Decision in Knorr-Bremse v. Dana Corp., 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intellectual Prop. L. 218 (Spring 2004).
• J. Mueller, Public Access Versus Proprietarty Rights in Genomic Information: What is the Proper Role of Intellectual Property Rights?, 6:1 J. Health Care L. & Pol'y 222 (2003).