Module description
This module covers the three core intellectual property regimes: copyright, trade marks and patents. It focuses on UK law, which in the IP arena has been harmonised to varying degrees across Europe; plus the module includes some comparative elements to other jurisdictions. Within copyright, the topics covered include subject matter, authorship and originality, moral rights, ownership and exploitation, infringement, and exceptions. For trade mark law, the module examines the requirements for registration, trade mark infringement, as well as the protections afforded by the common law action for passing off. The patents section of the module covers the main validity requirements as well as infringement and exceptions.
Assessment details
Examination (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
IPL is a survey course that covers the fundamentals of copyright, patent and trade mark law. The aims and objectives of IPL are to:
- provide students with an understanding of the law relating to copyright, trade marks and patents;
- reflect upon the forces which lead to the development of the law and to consider the impact (both economic and sociological) of the present law; and
- highlight areas where the law might be viewed as inadequate and to consider future developments.
For those of you with a particular interest in intellectual property law and/or writing an extended essay as part your undergraduate degree, IPL is supplemented by the research-led, dissertation-assessed module, 6FFLK037 Intellectual Property Dissertation. IPD may be taken at the same time as studying IPL.
Teaching pattern
Lecture (1 x 2 hours per week); tutorial (1 x 1 hour per week)
Suggested reading list
- T Aplin and J Davis, Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 3rd ed (OUP, 2017); or
- L Bently et al, Intellectual Property Law, 5 th ed (OUP, 2018).