JJUA04101U EU Intellectual Property Law and Policy in an International Context

2014/2015
Content
The growing importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) can hardly be over
estimated. IPRs are recognized to be a crucial contributor to economic growth an
d competitiveness within the EU and on a global level. Consequently Intellectual
Property Law (IPL) is the focus of a great deal of legislative activity at nati
onal, international and regional levels. It constitutes an increasingly importan
t and wide bundle of rules on various legal aspects of human creativity, technol
ogical innovation and business.
This body of law has traditionally embraced protection of copyrights, patents an
d trademarks. The domain of IPR's has grown considerably in the last decades by
extending their scope to the protection of new works and technologies (like comp
uter programs, databases, videogames, biotechnologies) by both the conferral of
well-known entitlements (e.g. copyright) and the creation of more specific, new
types of rights (e.g. industrial designs, database rights, access rights for dig
ital items).
The idea of this course is based on the assumption that policies and objectives
which underlie all forms of today's IPR's are set out at international and Europ
ean levels, in spite of the purely national dimension and validity of most of th
e exclusive rights granted jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Even if the idea of multi-level regulation of intellectual property goes back to
the end of the 19th century (when the first international conventions for paten
t and copyright protection were enacted), this area of law has been globalised m
ore effectively as of the establishment in 1994 of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) and the related adoption of an international agreement (i.e. Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as "TRIPS" Agreement). This "con
stitutional" agreement strengthened the protection of the intellectual property
models dictated by the most advanced countries of the world and fostered transna
tional cooperation and co-decision processes in this field. At regional level, t
he EU has been and is still very active. Apart from many decisions of the Europe
an Court of Justice which considered and censored several market distortions cau
sed by disparate intellectual property laws across Europe, a number of important
directives and regulations also harmonised (or even unified) national sub-syste
ms. Moreover, outside the EU legal framework, the European Patent Convention cre
ated a regional patent system that has progressively reduced the importance and
the appeal of purely national systems and entitlements.
Focusing on EU intellectual property law in its wider international context, thi
s course aims to analyze the framework within which national IP laws of member s
tates operate and interact. The course also seeks to discuss the most important
policy issues and arguments of relevance to the EU, both within the Union, and w
ith regard to its international relations on the global level.
In general, each segment of the course will first present the legal framework an
d principles that are applicable to the chosen topic. Although the focus is laid
on the legal situation within the EU this will require the consideration of thr
ee perspectives. In applying the global perspective the rules of the internation
al conventions - for instance TRIPS - are shortly described. The regional (EU) l
egal system is then considered on the basis of the various directives and regula
tions and with regard to decisions of the ECJ on e.g. parallel imports. The main
features of the European registration systems for patents (EPO), as well as tra
de marks and designs (OHIM) are also examined. Emphasis is also laid on recent l
egal developments, such as the continuing debate over a future EU patent system.
Second, the application of these principles will be demonstrated and discussed
in more detail in the form of specific case studies. Wherever appropriate this m
ight also include a basic examination of specific technological problems and/or
a short comparative discussion of selected national jurisdictions, including Den
mark, further EC member states and i.e. the U.S.. More specifically the structur
e of the course is divided into the following segments addressing various topics
:
1. Introduction to IPL & different treaties and conventions
2. Copyrights and related rights
3. Patents & utility models
4. Plant variety rights
5. Designs
4. Trademarks and related rights
6. IPR and free movement of goods
7. The interface between IP and competition law
8. Enforcement issues
Learning Outcome
- Present the content of the individual intellectual property law disciplines an
d their interrelationship.
- Explain the basic legal rules concerning the protection of an object, subject
and contents within the individual intellectual property law disciplines and exp
lain and put into perspective the interdisciplinary differencies and similaritie
s.
- Analyse to what extent identified problems can be solved in practise by using
several different intellectual property law disciplines and discuss the pros and
cons connected to the handling of the individual disciplines within the same pr
oblem area.
- Identify relevant problems and legal arguments within intellectual property la
w on the basis of a complex material.
- Present specific problems within the context of intellectual property law in a
manner that demonstrates overview and in-depth knowledge.
- Analyse complex problems within intellectual property law, make an academicall
y reasoned argument for different solutions and make a critical weighing of the
legal arguments.
- Combine different academic approaches in connection with the analysis and make
academically reasoned choices for the solution.
- Present solutions and arguments in a systematic and coherent manner that shows
in-depth knowledge and understanding of the problems within intellectual proper
ty law.
- Communicate and formulate her/his knowledge and arguments professionally and l
inguistically correct and in a way that is structured and coherent
Literature
Anette Kur & Thomas Dreier:European Intellectual Property law Text, Cases and Mat
erials, 2013
approximately 530 pages
Additional literature:
Recent cases and other materials on various aspects of international and Europea
n intellectual property laws (selected and made available by the teacher; approx
imately 200 -300 pages
Teaching and learning methods
The students will be devided into groups. Each group will be required to present
cases which will be discussed by the class. Presentations are mandatory.
Remarks
The courses in "Intellectual Property Law in an International and EU context" an
d "Immaterialret" are mutually exclusive. It is therefore only possible to follo
w and be examined in one of these two courses during the course of study
The students will be divided into groups. Each group is expected to present case
s which will subsequently be discussed by the class.
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