Teacher(s)
Desaunettes Luc (compensates Strowel Alain); Strowel Alain;
Language
English
Prerequisites
The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.
Main themes
This teaching unit is dedicated to studying the main rights that compose intellectual property: copyright, trademark, patent, design, and trade secrets. The rights will be presented successively, examining their conditions of protection and enforcement.
The course will invite students to reflect on the philosophical and economic foundations underlying the establishment of these exclusive rights. To what extent is the granting of exclusive rights appropriate for promoting processes of creation or innovation? Conversely, what risks might this privatisation generate?
Furthermore, the concrete impact of these rights in the digital environment, particularly concerning generative AI, as well as in development processes—such as access to protected resources—will be explored
The course will invite students to reflect on the philosophical and economic foundations underlying the establishment of these exclusive rights. To what extent is the granting of exclusive rights appropriate for promoting processes of creation or innovation? Conversely, what risks might this privatisation generate?
Furthermore, the concrete impact of these rights in the digital environment, particularly concerning generative AI, as well as in development processes—such as access to protected resources—will be explored
Learning outcomes
At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to : | |
| Taking into account the programme's learning outcomes framework, the teaching unit contributes to the development and acquisition of the following skills: I. Acquiring a general culture and interdisciplinary knowledge. The teaching unit will indeed invite students to question the justifications that led to establishing a legal framework protecting intellectual property rights. This understanding will require examining concepts from economic sciences and philosophy. II. Acquiring specific legal knowledge. By the end of this course, students will have mastered the fundamental concepts related to the protection of the main intellectual property rights. III. Acquiring the scientific method and tools. Intellectual property is today highly internationalised and harmonised. Students will be confronted with supranational legal sources, including international treaties and secondary European law texts (directives and regulations), and will have to master their articulation. Students will furthermore learn to analyse case law developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union. IV. Acquiring analytical, reflective, and argumentative capacities based on factual situations. Students will exercise their ability to analyse concrete situations in order to apply the existing legal framework in intellectual property matters (for example, verifying the conditions for protecting a sign as a trademark). V. Mastering written and oral communication in English. Since the course is conducted in English, students will enhance their communication and comprehension skills, both orally and in writing, in this language. More specifically, at the end of the teaching, the student will be capable of: 1. deploying reasoning specific to the intellectual property rights domain and, in this regard, (i) understanding the fundamental elements of the studied protection regimes (object, conditions, effects, prerogatives and exceptions, duration, etc.), (ii) identifying and mobilising applicable texts and jurisprudence (mastering the handling of legislative texts and the relevant use of jurisprudential decisions) and (iii) analysing a concrete situation and proposing an adapted protection for the concerned creation; 2. highlighting certain general issues with intellectual property rights and the associated societal challenges (for example, the relationship between intellectual property rights and creative freedom, challenges posed by AI, etc.). |
|
Content
General
Intellectual property (IP) is an area of law that has long be framed by supra-national rules. This course thus focuses on international, European and comparative law aspects of IP and is based on international and European legal instruments (international Treaties, EU Regulations and Directives).
After some introductory sessions on IP in general (overview of the basic features of IP, rationale, international sources, etc.), the next sessions serve to present the building blocks (subject matter, conditions of protection, scope of protection and exceptions, ownership, duration, etc.) of the most common IP rights: copyright, trademark, patent and design, trade secrets.
In the context of this transveral presentation of the existing intellectual property rights, certain societal issues raised by the creation of these legal exclusivities will be addressed (potential conflict with freedom of expression, right to health, impact of AI).
Intellectual property (IP) is an area of law that has long be framed by supra-national rules. This course thus focuses on international, European and comparative law aspects of IP and is based on international and European legal instruments (international Treaties, EU Regulations and Directives).
After some introductory sessions on IP in general (overview of the basic features of IP, rationale, international sources, etc.), the next sessions serve to present the building blocks (subject matter, conditions of protection, scope of protection and exceptions, ownership, duration, etc.) of the most common IP rights: copyright, trademark, patent and design, trade secrets.
In the context of this transveral presentation of the existing intellectual property rights, certain societal issues raised by the creation of these legal exclusivities will be addressed (potential conflict with freedom of expression, right to health, impact of AI).
Teaching methods
Preparation
For each class session, students are asked to do some pre-reading of decisions, prepare debates and/or exercises, which are announced via Moodle. These enable students to:
Students will have the opportunity to contribute to a blog by writing a blog post on a topical issue relating to intellectual property, which will be included in their final assessment (see assessment method).
Courses
The lecture is based on a number of decisions and current examples and seeks to encourage interactivity with the students. Students are invited to participate either on critical aspects, or through exercises and debates.
For each class session, students are asked to do some pre-reading of decisions, prepare debates and/or exercises, which are announced via Moodle. These enable students to:
- prepare for the lecture (particularly linguistically)
- develop a critical sense of the issues to be addressed.
Students will have the opportunity to contribute to a blog by writing a blog post on a topical issue relating to intellectual property, which will be included in their final assessment (see assessment method).
Courses
The lecture is based on a number of decisions and current examples and seeks to encourage interactivity with the students. Students are invited to participate either on critical aspects, or through exercises and debates.
Evaluation methods
Assessment is based on a written examination consisting of two parts:
Part [A]: a multiple-choices questionnaire to assess the student's knowledge of the main elements of the protection schemes studied. (10 points out of 20).
Part [B]: (partially) open-book questions (students may consult the collection of texts and case law provided to them), designed to assess the student's ability to analyse a practical situation or to test their ability to develop critical reasoning (10 points out of 20).
On a voluntary basis, students can work in groups (max. 6 people) to produce a video clip on a current issue relating to intellectual property. Depending on the quality of this group work, participants may be awarded up to 2 bonus points on their final mark.
Part [A]: a multiple-choices questionnaire to assess the student's knowledge of the main elements of the protection schemes studied. (10 points out of 20).
Part [B]: (partially) open-book questions (students may consult the collection of texts and case law provided to them), designed to assess the student's ability to analyse a practical situation or to test their ability to develop critical reasoning (10 points out of 20).
On a voluntary basis, students can work in groups (max. 6 people) to produce a video clip on a current issue relating to intellectual property. Depending on the quality of this group work, participants may be awarded up to 2 bonus points on their final mark.
Online resources
For each class session, students are asked to do some pre-reading of decisions, prepare debates and/or exercises, which are announced via Moodle
Various materials are prepared for the students:
The ppt presentations will be posted on Moodle at the end of the sessions.
The source book for the course is: Dack, S., Kooij, P. A. C. E. van der, Visser, D. J. G., & Vrendenbarg, C. J. S. (2019). EU IP LAW. A short introduction to European intellectual property law. This book is available in open access at the following address. Please note: intellectual property is a constantly evolving subject and for some concepts, the book is already out of date. It is therefore necessary to supplement its developments with the course.
Various materials are prepared for the students:
- a collection of decisions
- a collection of legislative texts
- ppt presentations for each course.
The ppt presentations will be posted on Moodle at the end of the sessions.
The source book for the course is: Dack, S., Kooij, P. A. C. E. van der, Visser, D. J. G., & Vrendenbarg, C. J. S. (2019). EU IP LAW. A short introduction to European intellectual property law. This book is available in open access at the following address. Please note: intellectual property is a constantly evolving subject and for some concepts, the book is already out of date. It is therefore necessary to supplement its developments with the course.
Bibliography
- L. Bently and B. Sherman, Intellectual Property Law, Oxford UP, 6th ed., 2022.
- W. Cornish, D. Llewelyn & T. Aplin, Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Allied Rights, Sweet & Maxwell, 10th ed, 2023
- A. Kur and Th. Dreier, European Intellectual Property Law, Text, Cases and Materials, Edward Elgar, 2019.
Teaching materials
- Recueil de décisions
- Recueil de textes législatifs
Faculty or entity
