The LL.M module in Intellectual Property (IP) Law examines available legal protections for new ideas, products and services. It covers the full spectrum of IP subjects from a broad range of perspectives, including copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design, trade secrets and common law protection. While also focusing on key aspects of IP litigation, this module offers the opportunity to engage with a broad range of perspectives, from socio-economic theories of property to ethical and cultural considerations underpinning IP protection.
The module covers in particular:
Legal and economic theories underpinning contemporary intellectual property. International legal frameworks, and critical evaluation of leading frameworks such as the UK and EU, applicable to intellectual property.
Copyright: categories of works, criteria for protection, authorship and originality, infringement and defences, remedies, including moral rights.
Trademarks: capability, functionality and taxonomy (including geographical indications), passing off, infringement and defences, remedies.
Patents: scope and objectives, novelty and ‘the inventive step,’ infringement and defences, remedies.
Industrial Design and Trade Secrets.
IP and Human Rights: tensions between IP rights, new technologies and access to medicines, the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy.
IP and Innovation: quantum computing, digital copyright (databases, software, file-sharing and the internet), emerging biotechnologies, cybercrime, among others.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the core elements intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademarks and patents.
Show an advanced understanding of national and international legal frameworks applicable to intellectual property, as well as an understanding of developed jurisprudence.
Show an advanced understanding of the importance of rights conferred to intellectual property holders and its impact on the wider society.
Demonstrate an advanced appreciation of legal strategies for effective intellectual property protection.
Show an understanding of emerging issues in intellectual property at the interface with Human Rights and Innovation Law in a global context.
