Postgraduate Course: Intellectual Property Law (LAWS11563)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will provide students with a strong legal and critical understanding of the principal intellectual property (IP) rights and related policy debates. After a general introductory week covering foundational themes relevant across the course, the course will cover patents, copyright and registered trade marks, all with a focus on UK and European law. The course is suitable for students looking to explore IP law for the first time and for students with prior IP knowledge gained through previous IP study or professional experience. |
| Course description |
This course will study patent, copyright and registered trade mark law and related policy issues. The focus will be on UK and European law. The first week of the course will introduce foundational themes of relevance to all IP rights, including the main features of the principal IP rights, key theoretical justifications for IP protection, key sources of IP law and key actors in the IP landscape. The course is then split into three teaching blocks, focusing in turn on each of the three principal IP rights - patents, copyright and registered trade marks. For each IP right, through consideration of relevant legislation, case law and literature, students will develop their substantive legal understanding of the core legal issues pertinent to each right - what is protected, who owns the rights in question, how those rights may be infringed, and what defences may be available. Students will also form a critical appreciation of areas of debate and controversy within each of patent, copyright and registered trade mark law, together with discussion of areas of recent and ongoing reform. Topics considered will include the impact of AI on IP law, online infringement and the role of intermediaries, challenges posed by the evolution of modern commerce and brand strategies, and issues arising in relation to the intersection of IP rights and freedom of expression, including parody and fair use. The course is suitable both for students looking to explore IP law for the first time and for students with prior IP knowledge gained through previous IP study or professional experience.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 40,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
156 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Three sets of timed online MCQs (each worth 10%; collectively worth 30% of the course mark) - each set of timed online MCQs will cover the three principal teaching blocks on the course in turn, i.e. patents, copyright and registered trade marks. They will be made available for completion by the students at the end of each teaching block (i.e. end of weeks 4, 7 and 10). The MCQs will test students' substantive learning across the three weeks spent on each teaching block, including some mini-problem scenarios.«br /»
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2. One 3,500-word problem-style essay (70%) - the essay will be based on one single, set problem-style question with no element of student choice. The problem question will engage with issues spanning all of patents, copyright, registered trade marks. It will be released during the last two weeks of the semester. Hand-in will be scheduled in accordance with the usual post-semester LLM deadlines. |
| Feedback |
Students will have the opportunity to obtain formative feedback over the course of the semester from their online discussion participation and a formative exercise, to be scheduled at a convenient point during the course of the semester. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of substantive UK and European patent, copyright and registered trade mark law;
- Think critically about patent, copyright and registered trade mark law in practice;
- Participate in contemporary debates surrounding patent, copyright and registered trade mark law.
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Reading List
The set textbook for this course will be:
A Brown, S. Kheria, J. Cornwell, and M. Iljadica, Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, 2023
To supplement this if wished, any of of the following texts can also be used:
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson, Intellectual Property Law, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, 2022;
D. Llewelyn and T. Aplin, Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trade Marks and Allied Rights, 9th edn, Sweet & Maxwell, 2019;
P. Torremans, Holyoak and Torremans: Intellectual Property, 9th edn, Oxford University Press, 2019; or
T. Aplin and J. Davis, Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, 2021. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop their skills and abilities in:
1. Research and enquiry, through e.g. selecting and deploying appropriate research techniques;
2. Personal and intellectual autonomy, e.g. developing the ability to independently assess the relevance and importance of primary and secondary sources;
3. Communication, e.g. skills in summarising and communicating information and ideas effectively in written form;
4. Personal effectiveness, e.g. working constructively as a member of an online community;
5. 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. |
| Keywords | Intellectual property; patents; copyright; trade marks |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Jane Cornwell
Tel: (0131 6)50 2012
Email: Jane.Cornwell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Clare Polson
Tel: (0131 6)51 9704
Email: Clare.Polson@ed.ac.uk |
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