A substantive and critical exploration, the legal rules at national and, where relevant, European levels, for the regulation of creativity (especially literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works) and innovation (specifically, inventions) in UK copyright law as harmonised with EU law, and UK patent law in light of the European Patent Convention.
This course will explore:
- the national legal framework for the regulation of creativity and innovation and introduce the main intellectual property rights - including copyright, patents, trade marks and designs - and how these rights overlap in the protection of intellectual assets
- rules regarding the subsistence of copyright, namely subject matter and originality
- copyright rules relating to authorship and ownership, and the economic rights of a copyright owner
- the infringement of economic rights and the fair dealing defences to copyright infringement
- patent rules on validity focusing on subject matter of inventions and excluded subject matter
- patent rules on validity focusing on the requirement of novelty, inventive step, and industrial application
- patent rules on scope, infringement and defences to infringement
