Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Issues in Exploiting Intellectual Property (LAWS11383)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Intellectual Property (IP) is of fundamental importance in the modern economy. In certain sectors, IP rights - whether copyright, trade marks, design rights, or patents - can be the most valuable asset a business owns. Such value is realised through successful exploitation of those IP rights.
This research-led, but practice-focussed, course will examine important contemporary issues in exploitation of IP. The course will be highly responsive to legal and policy developments in both the commercial context and other contexts such as the cultural sector.
Due to the nature and focus of the course, the teaching content and programme will be flexible and may change substantially from year to year, as topical issues are resolved and new issues emerge. |
| Course description |
The course will, through introductory lectures, provide students with an overview of three key IP rights - copyright, trade marks and patents - and the fundamentals of contract law, together with basic commercial considerations for businesses exploiting IP.
Thereafter, through three intensive half-day workshops, the course will touch upon contemporary issues relevant to exploitation of IP rights such as (but not limited to) issues in the identification, audit and ownership of IP rights, maintaining confidentiality, commercial transactions in IP rights, compulsory licensing, collective rights management, enforcement and remedies or exploitation of IP in a hanging European landscape (post-Brexit). The specific issues covered will vary from year to year.
Through an additional seminar/interactive session, an interdisciplinary (business and management) or practical perspective (from the technology, creative, or cultural sector) on the exploitation of IP will be given with the aid of a guest speaker.
The primary jurisdictional focus of the course will be the UK and Europe, although specific practices or considerations from jurisdictions will be drawn upon, as per suitability on a given issue.
The indicative programme for the first year of this course will contain:
4 Lectures (4 hours in total)
* Introduction to copyright, trade marks, patents, contract law, commercial considerations for IP.
3 Workshops (4.5 hours each)
* IP and commercial considerations I (with a focus on copyright licensing)
* IP and commercial considerations II (with a focus on identification of IP ownership, and agreements or provisions protecting confidentiality, and creators of IP)
* IP exploitation in a changing European landscape (with a focus on IP considerations in light of Brexit)
1 Seminar (2.5 hours)
* Guest seminar providing a business and management perspective on IP or a creative industry or cultural industry perspective on IP.
This course will be taught at Masters level and the emphasis is on student participation. Students will be provided with reading materials and exercises in advance of the class which they should have read and thought about before attending. During the workshops, students will be expected to contribute to discussion and to take responsibility for their own learning. The reading materials which are referred to will be by no means exhaustive and students will be encouraged to undertake independent research. The workshops will be highly interactive will involve discussion, contribution, and group work by students and a significant level of preparation, research and contribution will be expected.
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Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Appreciate contemporary issues in exploitation of Intellectual Property (IP) rights;
- Explain and discuss IP considerations relevant to businesses in a changing European landscape; and,
- Identify and critically appraise commercial considerations in IP and related topical policy initiatives relevant to exploitation of IP.
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Reading List
Provisional reading list:
C Waelde et al, Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, 2016, OUP, Chapters 18 and 22.
Copinger and Skone James on Copyright, Part VIII - Exploitation and Control of Rights (available through Westlaw)
H Jones and C Benson, Publishing Law, 2011, Routledge
L Guibault and C Angelopoulos, Open Content Licensing: From Theory to Practice, 2011, Amsterdam University Press
A Harrison, Music: the business - the essential guide to the law and the deals, 2011, Random House
M Kretschmer et. al, 'Relationship between Copyright and Contract Law' SABIP, Report 2010 (04)
G Middleton 'Licensing of intellectual property' ICCLR 2000, 11(5), 155-166
B Doshi and S Thomson 'Warranties and indemnities in contracts: protecting and exploiting IP' JIPLP 2007, 2(6), 377-381
M Anderson, 'Assignments and royalties don't mix' JIPLP 2009, 4(4), 283-288
S Corbett, 'Creative commons licences, the copyright regime and the online community: is there a fatal disconnect?' [2011] 74(4) M.L.R. 503
M Anderson, 'Automatic reversion clauses in copyright assignments: do they work?' JIPLP 2011, 6(4), 217-219
N Parker, 'The secret recipe: key ingredients of agreements to protect confidential information' JIPLP 2011, 6(4), 223-229
'IP and Business: Managing IP as a Set of Business Assets', WIPO Magazine 2008
W Cornish, 'Authors in Law' [1995] 58 Modern Law Review 1
W Cornish, 'The Author as Risk-Sharer' [2003] 26(1) Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts 1
Blogging Guide. ENGAGE: College of Humanities and Social Sciences blogging community http://www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk/guide/ |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop their skills and abilities in:
* Application of knowledge, skills and understanding, through e.g. development of legal and other critical analysis skills, selecting and deploying appropriate research techniques;
* Personal and intellectual autonomy, through e.g. developing the ability to independently assess the relevance and importance of primary and secondary sources and practical considerations in exploitation of IP;
* Communication, e.g. skills in summarising and communicating information and ideas effectively in written form, articulating, evidencing and sustaining a line of argument, and engaging in a convincing critique of others' arguments;
* Personal effectiveness, through e.g. organising personal study and participating in class activities. |
| Keywords | intellectual property rights,exploitation of intellectual property |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Smita Kheria
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | |
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