LLM Intellectual Property Law

1. Copyright law in the UK; the European Influence; a comparison with the USA.

2. Economic justifications for copyright protection; deontological justifications; copyright as an essential element in a democracy

3. The exemption of parody from the scope of copyright. Theoretical arguments. The Hargreaves review and its implementation. A comparison with the US

4. Moral rights, the protection of reputation and the basis for such protection

5. The law of industrial designs including the relationship between copyright protection and design protection; subsistence and scope of unregistered design right and registered design right. 

To provide a general knowledge and understanding of the copyright law pertaining to the United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere;

To provide a detailed knowledge and understanding of certain key contemporary policy concerns informing copyright law and its development.

Lectures and seminars. Teaching materials are posted onto publicly accessible web-pages and the University's Blackboard system.

Formative feedback within this course unit will be available through a non-assessed essay. Oral feedback will also be provided in seminars and class discussions.  Following the final assessment, an outline of issues expected in student answers to the assessment questions will be published.

For students wanting to undertake a research paper on this subject, certain (fairly broad) topics will be suggested as suitable themes during classes. Students must submit their own titles which may or may not relate to one of these topics.  Approval will mainly be based on the course unit director's assessment of whether the proposed research is manageable given the time constraints and the length of the research paper.  Approval will not be based on a subjective or objective assessment of an individual student's abilities or understanding, however if a particular topic is judged to be especially challenging, then students will be advised of this.

On completion of this unit, successful students:

(i) will have a comprehensive general knowledge and understanding of the form and operation of copyright law in the United Kingdom; the historical impact of various pieces of European secondary legislation on copyright law; and key differences between UK law and US law.

(ii) will have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the economic and other justifications underpinning copyright law;

(iii) will have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the policy arguments surrounding parody and the theoretical basis for according this form of appropriation special treatment

(iv) will have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the way the law aims to protect not only economic interests and the basis for such protection.

(v) will have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the relationship between copyright law and the law of industrial designs and the rules governing the subsistence and scope of both unregistered and registered designs in the UK and Europe.

On completion of this unit, successful students:

(i) will be able to identify the relevant legal issues arising from a novel set of facts or circumstances and the policy issues that underlie the form and content of the law.

(ii) will be able, orally and in writing, to structure and present complex legal and policy arguments relating to the law and its application;

(iii) will be able to discuss legal issues critically and use analytical techniques to form a judgement on the quality of legal materials from a policy, theoretical or doctrinal perspective;

On completion of this unit, successful students:

(i) will have skills, knowledge and understanding of the form and operation of copyright law sufficient to ground progression to professional training and development in this area of the law either as practitioner or as policy adviser.

(ii) will be able to develop legal and policy arguments in a logical and coherent manner;

(iii) will be able to present complex legal and policy arguments orally and in writing.

Formative feedback within this course unit will be available through a non-assessed essay. Oral feedback will also be provided in seminars and class discussions.  Following the final assessment, an outline of issues expected in student answers to the assessment questions will be published.

The recommended text in support of this course is the most recent edition of Cornish, W., Llewelyn, D. and Aplin, T., Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks and Allied Rights (London: Sweet & Maxwell).  An acceptable alternative is the most recent edition of Bently L. and Sherman B., Intellectual Property Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press)