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Undergraduate
Bachelor of Laws
(LLB)
Laws modules
Intellectual property [2670026]
(amended syllabus)
(a) Categories of intellectual
property rights: the subject matter of intellectual property; the
justification for each type of right; absolute and relative monopolies;
absence of common law protection against unfair competition.
(b) Sources of intellectual property law: international
conventions, EU Directives, statute, EU and UK case law, decisions of
the EPO and UK Patent Offices, decisions of OHIM and the UK Trade Marks
Registry.
(c) Remedies: for the enforcement of intellectual property
rights.
(d) Confidential information: the theoretical basis of the action for
breach of confidence; the requirements for liability; the position of
employees, ex-employees and involuntary recipients; defences and
remedies.
(e) Copyright: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: the
definition of copyright and the idea/expression dichotomy; nature and
types of protected works; originality; creation and ownership of works;
qualification for protection under the Act; duration of rights;
infringement; defences to infringement; the author’s moral rights.
(f) Industrial designs: historical context; the exclusion of
certain artistic works from copyright protection; creation and content
of the unregistered design right; relationship with Registered Designs
Act 1949.
(g) Common law protection for trade marks: the tort of passing
off; requirements for liability; forms of passing off; character,
personality and image merchandising; the position of the foreign
claimant.
(h) Registered trade marks: the Trade Marks Act 1994 and the
First Trade Marks Directive 1989; definition, nature and functions of a
trade mark; obtaining registration; absolute and relative grounds for
refusal of registration; revocation and invalidity; licensing of trade
marks;
infringement and defences, including comparative advertising and
exhaustion of rights.
(i) Patents: impact of the European Patent Convention on the
interpretation of the Patents Act 1977; applying for a patent; the role
of the specification and claims; the skilled addressee; types of patent
(process and product patents); requirements of patentability, including
novelty, inventive step, industrial application; exceptions to and
exclusions from patentability; ownership of patents and employee
inventions; revocation; infringement, including categories of infringing
act, defences and claim interpretation.
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