| Industrial and intellectual property |
| Section A: Intellectual property and technology |
| · Patents |
| · History and introduction; British, European and international patent systems (as affecting the UK); criteria for patentability; ownership; infringement |
| · Breach of confidence |
| · History and introduction; personal, trade and state secrets; the public interest and other defences. |
| Section B: Intellectual property and creativity |
| · Copyright and related rights |
| · History and introduction; the framework of copyright law - UK, Europe and international; subsistence of copyright; ownership; infringement; defences; term; moral rights; related rights - database right, artists’ resale right, performers’ rights. |
| Section C: Intellectual property and distinctive trading signs |
| · The law of registered trademarks |
| · History and introduction; the framework of trademark law - UK, Europe and international (as affecting the UK); criteria for registration; grounds for refusal; infringement; defences; revocation and invalidity |
| · Passing off |
| · Reputation or goodwill; misrepresentation; damage; standing to sue, including trade associations and foreign claimants; defences. |
| Section D: Intellectual property - integrated topics |
| · Justifications for intellectual property |
| · Sanctions for misuse of intellectual property, including civil remedies and criminal sanctions |
| · Law of industrial designs - registered and unregistered systems; overlap with other rights |
| · Dealing with intellectual property rights |
| · Intellectual property and Europe - monopoly and a common market |
Sequence:
Section D last. |
Textbooks:
Jeremy Phillips and Alison Firth, An Introduction to Intellectual Property Law 4th ed (London:
Butterworths, 2001), ISBN: 9780406997579 |
| Lionel Bently and Brad Sherman, Intellectual Property Law 2nd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN: 0199264309 |
| Andrew Christie and Stephen Gare (eds), Blackstone’s Statutes on Intellectual Property 8th ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), ISBN: 0199288267 |
