| International and comparative law of trade marks, designs and unfair competition |
| Section A: The concepts of trade marks, designs and unfair competition |
| · Introduction to the concept of trade marks: a functional, legal, and economic analysis |
| · Introduction to unfair competition |
| · The history of trade marks |
| · Systems of protection; registered and unregistered trade marks |
| · International agreements: the Paris Convention; the World Trade Organization; International Registrations; regional agreements; the Community Trade Mark (introduction); classification treaties; Trade Mark Law Treaty; appellations of origin; the Olympic symbols |
| Section B: Unfair competition |
| · Systems of unfair competition: a comparative perspective |
| · Misrepresentation and misappropriation |
| · Unfair competition in the United Kingdom |
| · Unfair competition in the United States |
| · Unfair competition in France |
| · Unfair competition in Germany |
| · Other jurisdictions. |
| Section C: Registered trade marks |
| · Registered trade marks: a comparative perspective |
| · Systems of registration: first to file v. first to use |
| · Registered trade marks in Europe: the Community Trade Mark; national registrations (United Kingdom; France; Germany); the role of the European Court of Justice |
| · Registered trade marks in the United States |
| · Other jurisdictions |
| · Current trends: dilution; domain names. |
| Section D: Special topics in trade marks |
| · Industrial designs; relationship to other forms of protection; Community Design Regulation; Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, as amended. |
| · Appellations of origin |
| · Trade marks and competition: parallel imports; functionality and the interface between trade marks and other intellectual property rights; comparative advertising |
| · Cultural issues: advertising; character merchandising; symbols of indigenous communities. |
Sequence:
Section A first, Section D last. |
Textbooks:
William R. Cornish, David Llewelyn and Tanya Aplin, Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trademarks and Allied Rights 7th revised ed (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010), ISBN:
9781847039231 |
| Andrew Christie and Stephen Gare, Blackstone’s Statutes on Intellectual Property 8th ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), ISBN: 9780199288267 |
| Alison Firth et al, Trade Marks: Law and Practice 3rd ed (Bristol: Jordan Publishing Ltd, 2011), ISBN:
9781846612633 |
