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Course

Intellectual Property Law - LAWS8017

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Academic Program must be 9231 or 5231 or 9220 or 5750 or 9200 or 5740 or 9210 or 9230 or 9214 or 5214.

Equivalent: JURD7517

Excluded: JURD7617, LEGT3781, LEGT5411

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course is designed to give postgraduates a working understanding of intellectual property law, which is an important area of commercial legal practice and is vital to many industries. This course introduces students to the statutory provision and common law relating to Australian copyright, moral rights, passing off, trade marks, designs, patents, and confidential information. For each of the above, the course gives consideration to the subject matter that is protected, the preconditions for protection, and the nature of infringement. Other matters (such as remedies, competition law and international protection) may be dealt with briefly but are not examined in detail. As far as possible in an intensive overview, this course focuses on the commercial and business aspects of intellectual property.


LLM Specialisation

Recommended Prior Knowledge

Students are advised that to succeed in this course they should have a solid prior knowledge of the Australian Legal System and some principles of property law.

Course Objectives

This course aims to introduce students to each of the general law and statutory protections outlined below. For each of the heads of protection, the course gives detailed consideration to the subject matter which is protected, the pre-conditions for protection, and the nature of infringement. Other matters such as remedies, licensing and international protection are dealt with briefly but cannot be examined in detail in a one semester course. Various justifications for these forms of property are also considered, particularly in the context of new or developing forms of intellectual property.

Main Topics

  • Copyright (including Moral Rights)
  • Protection of Confidential Information
  • Passing Off
  • s.18 Australian Consumer Law (formerly s.52 Trade Practices Act 1974).
  • Trade Marks
  • Designs
  • Patents.

Assessment

  • Mid-session problem question and/or Class test (students’ choice) 50%
  • End-of-session problem question and/or Class test and/or research essay (students’ choice) 50%
  • Class participation 20% (optional and maximisable)

Course Texts

Recommended
While no textbook is prescribed, in 2013, S. Ricketson, M. Richardson and M Davison, Intellectual Property: Cases, Materials and Commentary (5th ed) (Sydney: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2013) is the recommended text. You are welcome to use an alternative textbook if you prefer.

Detailed handouts will also be distributed in class.

Resources

Refer to the Course Outline for a list of resources.
Landscape with library

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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