THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Law : Law

Postgraduate Course: Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights (LAWS11125)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Law CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe purpose of this course is to consider the law in the UK relating to copyright, design rights, database right, and performers' rights while noting their institutional setting at international, European and national level.

Recent years have witnessed an expansion in the scope of intellectual property rights, and having examined the institutional setting in which policy is formed, the reach and impact of these rights within the UK will be analysed.

The teaching sessions will also highlight areas of particular topicality.
Course description The aims of this course are to:

1. Highlight the institutional framework in which policy is formulated and law developed in the areas of copyright and design rights and related rights in the UK;
2. Consider the impact of international and European policy making on the scope of these rights in the UK;
3. Explore how copyright, design rights and related rights may be infringed in the UK;
4. Consider the interests that the law protects and investigate the extent to which it is successful in balancing those interests.

The purpose of this course is to consider the law relating to the specific IP rights outlined in the description above. As such, the course focusses on the substantive law in the UK in relation to such IP rights and students are expected to read and fully engage with doctrinal literature/black letter law (primary materials in the form of statutes, directives case law), in addition to legal scholarship in the area.

This course is taught at Masters level and the emphasis is on student participation. The format for each session is the same: students are provided with reading materials in advance of the class which they should have read and thought about before attending.

During teaching sessions students are expected to contribute to discussion and to take responsibility for their own learning. The reading materials which are referred to are by no means exhaustive and students are encouraged to undertake independent research.

The seminars will involve discussion and contribution by students and a significant level of preparation, research and contribution is expected.

While assessments will normally reflect the topics covered in seminars, it is your responsibility to undertake independent research to enhance and deepen your learning. Merely studying materials covered in seminars is unlikely to result in a high mark.

It is emphasised that Intellectual property law is a broad ranging subject and the reading lists that will be provided with each session's handouts will only represent a fraction of the material that is available on any topic. Students undertaking the course will be expected to carry out independent work for their assignments, over and beyond the issues and materials discussed in the seminars.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  50
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Assessment will be by way of an end of term problem-based essay, of 5,000 words, worth 100% of the total mark. The assessment will cover topics from across the course and will be issued after the conclusion of teaching at the end of the semester.
Feedback Each course will provide the opportunity for at least one piece of formative assessment with associated feedback. This will be provided within an appropriate timescale to enable students to learn from this prior to the summative assessment.

There will be two formative feedback opportunities in this course: formative in-class presentations or other case-law based exercise during the course, and a formative group exercise towards the end of the course.

Feedback provided through these exercises will assist students in their preparation for the problem question in the summative assessment.

Feedback on the formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The course organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.

Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.

Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Appreciate the variety of institutions involved in the field of copyright and related rights and understand their role and functions in policy making.
  2. Identify the rights in practice, explain their scope and indicate when and how those rights may be infringed.
  3. Critically assess the development of the law and how changes affect different interests.
  4. Explain current developments in the law and contribute in an informed manner to ongoing debate as to the proper role of these rights.
Reading List
The set textbook for this course is: A Brown, S Kheria, J Cornwell, and M Iljadica, Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, Fifth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2019.

Detailed reading lists for each seminar will be made available during the course.

If you have a law degree from outside the European Union or if you have a non-law background, and as such you are not familiar with law and legal process in the European Union, then please read relevant parts on European Community law in I, McLeod, Legal Method, Palgrave Macmillan Law Masters, 9th edition, 2013;. You can also refer to brief guides like Andreas Staab, The European Union Explained, Indiana University Press, 2nd edition, 2008.

The teaching on this course will assume that all students are familiar with the functioning and basics of European Union law, as well as the interaction between EU and domestic national legal systems.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will develop their skills and abilities in:

a) Research and Enquiry, through e.g. selecting and deploying appropriate research techniques;

b) Personal and Intellectual Autonomy, e.g. developing the ability to independently assess the relevance and importance of primary and secondary sources;

c) Communication, e.g. skills in summarising and communicating information and ideas effectively;

d) Personal Effectiveness, e.g. working constructively in preparing and contributing to seminar discussions;

Students will also develop their technical/practical skills, throughout the course, e.g. in articulating, evidencing and sustaining a line of argument, and engaging in a convincing critique of another's arguments.
KeywordsIntellectual Property,Copyright,Design rights,Performers¿ rights,Database right
Contacts
Course organiserDr Smita Kheria
Tel:
Email: smita.kheria@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Bethan Walters
Tel: (0131 6)50 2386
Email: bethan.walters@ed.ac.uk
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