Postgraduate Course: Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights (LAWS11125)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The purpose of this course is to consider the law relating to copyright, design rights, database right, and performers' rights within their institutional setting at international, European and national level.
Recent years have witnessed an expansion in the scope of intellectual property rights, and having examined the institutional setting in which policy is formed, the reach and impact of these rights within the UK will be analysed.
The teaching sessions will also highlight areas of particular topicality.
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| Course description |
The aims of this course are to:
1. Highlight the institutional framework in which policy is formulated and law developed in the areas of copyright and design rights and related rights
2. Consider the impact of international and European policy making on the scope of these rights
3. Explore how copyright, design rights and related rights may be infringed
4. Consider the interests that the law protects and investigate the extent to which it is successful in balancing those interests.
The purpose of this course is to consider the law relating to the specific IP rights outlined in the description above. As such, the course focusses on the substantive law in relation to such IP rights and students are expected to read and fully engage with doctrinal literature/black letter law (primary materials in the form of statutes, directives case law), in addition to legal scholarship in the area.
This course is taught at Masters level and the emphasis is on student participation. The format for each session is the same: students are provided with reading materials in advance of the class which they should have read and thought about before attending.
During teaching sessions students are expected to contribute to discussion and to take responsibility for their own learning. The reading materials which are referred to are by no means exhaustive and students are encouraged to undertake independent research.
The seminars will involve discussion and contribution by students and a significant level of preparation, research and contribution is expected.
While assessments will normally reflect the topics covered in seminars, it is your responsibility to undertake independent research to enhance and deepen your learning. Merely studying materials covered in seminars is unlikely to result in a high mark.
It is emphasised that Intellectual property law is a broad ranging subject and the reading lists that will be provided with each session's handouts will only represent a fraction of the material that is available on any topic. Students undertaking the course will be expected to carry out independent work for their
assignments, over and beyond the issues and materials
discussed in the seminars.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 42 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment will be by way of a end of term problem-based essay, worth 100%. The assessment will cover topics from across the course and will be issued after the conclusion of teaching at the end of the semester. |
| Feedback |
There will be two formative exercises in this course:
(1) an individual student presentation on a case,
(2) a group exercise during one of the seminars for the course.
Students on the course will give a short individual presentation on a case (cases will be allocated from the
seminar handouts, in advance). After each presentation, there will be a brief class discussion. All students
will deliver one presentation each over the course of the semester.
In the group exercise during one of the seminars for the course (towards the end of the semester), student
groups will analyse a problem question that will be provided in advance. Feedback will be provided to each
group on the analysis offered by them and general feedback will be provided on issues of technique and
approach.
Feedback provided through these exercises will assist students in their preparation for the problem question
in the summative assessment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Appreciate the variety of institutions involved in the field of copyright and related rights and understand their role and functions in policy making.
- Identify the rights in practice, explain their scope and indicate when and how those rights may be infringed.
- Critically assess the development of the law and how changes affect different interests.
- Explain current developments in the law and contribute in an informed manner to ongoing debate as to the proper role of these rights.
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Reading List
The set textbook for this course is: C Waelde, A Brown, S Kheria and J Cornwell, Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2016.
Detailed reading lists for each seminar will be made available during the course.
If you have a law degree from outside the European Union or if you have a non-law background, and as such you are not familiar with law and legal process in the European Union, then please read relevant parts on European Community law in I, McLeod, Legal Method, Palgrave Macmillan Law Masters, 9th edition, 2013;. You can also refer to brief guides like Andreas Staab, The European Union Explained, Indiana University Press, 2nd edition, 2008.
The teaching on this course will assume that all students are familiar with the functioning and basics of European Union law, as well as the interaction between EU and domestic national legal systems. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop their skills and abilities in:
a) Research and Enquiry, through e.g. selecting and deploying appropriate research techniques;
b) Personal and Intellectual Autonomy, e.g. developing the ability to independently assess the relevance and importance of primary and secondary sources;
c) Communication, e.g. skills in summarising and communicating information and ideas effectively;
d) Personal Effectiveness, e.g. working constructively in preparing and contributing to seminar discussions;
Students will also develop their technical/practical skills, throughout the course, e.g. in articulating, evidencing and sustaining a line of argument, and engaging in a convincing critique of another's arguments. |
| Keywords | Intellectual Property,Copyright,Design rights,Performers¿ rights,Database right |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Smita Kheria
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr David Morris
Tel: (0131 6)50 2010
Email: |
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