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.

Commencing with a short explanation of how Australian law operates, it then covers the core areas of intellectual property law from the perspective of someone wanting to use these laws to protect creations and inventions or to avoid infringing others’ intellectual property rights. The course covers these legal issues in a practical context, and includes discussion of topical issues such as the social and economic pros and commercial cons of fakes and counterfeiting; the originality of music, remixes and mashups; ownership of the genome and other life forms; pharmaceutical patents and the cost of medicines for developing countries; patents and personalised medicines; copyright and gaming; and non-Western intellectual property traditions/alternatives.

[NB: law students on exchange at UNSW may take this course but are likely to benefit more from LAWS3021 Foundations of Intellectual Property Law, which is a ‘survey course’ in intellectual property law for LLB/JD students.]

More information can be found on the Course Outline Website.