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Course

Owning Creativity: Issues in Intellectual Property - GENL2323

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

Available for General Education: Yes (more info)

View course information for previous years.

Description

How do you copyright your novel? Do you own your invention (or does your employer/university)? How do you patent your invention? Is internet file-sharing legal? Is it legal to buy a counterfeit DVD? What about a fake designer handbag? Do you still own your photos if you post them on social networking sites?

This course introduces core areas of intellectual property law such as copyright, trademarks, patents and designs law, covering foundational legal principles from a practical perspective. It then discusses hot issues in intellectual property: social pros and commercial cons of fakes and counterfeiting; ownership of the genome and other life forms; pharmaceutical patents and the cost of medicines for developing countries; and non-Western intellectual property traditions/alternatives.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

Assuming no prior legal knowledge, this course aims to give students a good grounding in intellectual property law, and the social and commercial issues associated with it. The course will provide students with basic skills for evaluating whether fact situations give rise to intellectual property issues, and provide a working knowledge about intellectual property issues.

Specifically the course aims to:

  • introduce the legal context in which intellectual property operates (including a simple introduction to Australian law);
  • provide an overview of intellectual property law and its effects/consequences;
  • introduce the foundational principles governing copyright, trademark, patent and designs law, giving students a basic working knowledge of these areas of law.
By the end of this part of the course, a student should be able to:
  • identify common intellectual property issues,
  • know how to avoid common intellectual property problems, and
  • know when it would be prudent to seek legal advice concerning intellectual property.

Main Topics

Introduction to intellectual property law and other relevant Australian law; Copyright (eg. internet downloading; copyright on social networking sites; protecting indigenous art; pirated music & software); Patents (eg. owning the genome & other life forms; pharmaceutical patents and access to essential medicines); trade marks (eg. issues surrounding fake/counterfeit goods such as designer handbags and baby formula).

Assessment

Tutorial presentation 20%

Class test 1 (45 minutes) 20%

Class test 2 (45 minutes) 30%

Topic Summary (1.500 words) 30%

Course Texts

The textbook will be Fitzgerald and Elides, Intellectual Property (Thomson Reuters), handouts and a list of other useful readings will be provided in class.
Blooming Flowers

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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