LAW43215: Advanced Issues of International Intellectual Property Law

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• to provide an in-depth study of fundamental aspects of the ownership and exercise of intellectual property rights
• to provide a critical analysis of current and topical intellectual property issues in the national, European and international level
• to enable students to improve their analytical skills

• A general introduction to the various levels of laws regulating intellectual property rights at the national, European and international level;
• A study of recent and developing areas of intellectual property such as the patenting of biological material, copyright in the digital era, traditional knowledge and geographical indications.
• An examination of current judicial interpretations and attitudes to key aspects of IP jurisprudence;
• The existence/exercise dichotomy: EC law solutions including case-law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and harmonization through the adoption of EC secondary legislation
• A study of the impact of selected international treaties and conventions in intellectual property law;
• A study of the current policy and practice of the leading institutional bodies charged with responsibility for administering intellectual property rights;
• A contemporary critical analyses of intellectual property policy issues and recent developments in an international context. .

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• students will gain an in-depth knowledge of the laws relating to main stream and developing forms of intellectual property rights
• students will develop an understanding of the key legal concepts, principles and doctrines which underpin intellectual property law
• students will develop a critical understanding of the policy issues and the methods of interpretation and application of national, regional and international intellectual property law.

Subject-specific Skills:

• students will be able to identify the role and functions of the UK and European bodies responsible for granting intellectual property rights;
• students will be able to identify and use the leading primary and secondary sources relevant to a given legal issue, and to be able to use them to reach informed and reasoned conclusions on points of law relating to intellectual property;
• students will be able to critically analyse the jurisprudence in intellectual property law;
• students will be able to identify the legal issues relevant to a specific problem relating to intellectual property;

Key Skills:

• students will be able to critically review existing law and/or practices in relation to specific aspects of intellectual property law;
• students will be able to write a substantial and well-researched piece of work on specific aspects of intellectual property law

• The teaching will be based on a combination of lectures and seminars. The lectures will introduce the topic and the seminars, supported by substantial but targeted reading assignments before each seminar, will provide a deeper understanding of the issues. The readings are selected from both established doctrinal sources as well as cutting-edge scholarship in the area. The lectures will work from a basic level of doctrinal knowledge and build on that foundation into discussions of more difficult and controversial issues within the seminars. This will encourage students to learn the material and develop the ability to discuss it and understand where each aspect of the reading fits in with the relevant debates.
• The assessment supports the aims of the teaching methods. The essay will assess the ability of the students not only to analyse the subject material, but to perform research in the discipline, and present a structured, articulate argument on the subject.

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