Course Catalogue

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This Level 4 honours course enables students to learn and apply relevant intellectual property law - relating to industrial property broadly conceived - in the UK, by comparative reference to EU/European legal frameworks where relevant, based on engagement with legislation, case law, academic and other sources. The course will cover, indicatively: patents, trade marks, passing off, geographical indications.

The course is taught by way of 10 weekly 2-hour seminars. 

This course is only available to LLB students.

None

None

"Take home" exam of up to 1,500 words (20%)

2 hour examination answering two questions from a choice of problem and essay questions (80%)

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aims of the course are:

■ to enable students to identify relevant law in the UK and EU/Europe relating to industrial and commercial property broadly understood;

■ to enable students to apply relevant intellectual property law to fact scenarios and essays such as those relating to, indicatively, patent law, trade mark law, common law actions such as passing off, and the law relating to geographical indications;

■ to enable students to engage in debates over the operation of intellectual property rules in industrial, commercial and other contexts; and

■ to encourage students to develop both oral and written communication skills through seminar discussions and assessments.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ outline certain key rules within specific areas (for example, copyright, trade marks, or patents);

■ explain, by reference to appropriate primary and secondary sources, the operation of relevant intellectual property rules;

■ evaluate the operation of the rules in light of academic and policy debates.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.