LAW4342 - Patents, trade marks and unfair competition - 2017

This unit involves a detailed consideration of patent law, trade mark law and, to a lesser extent, the law of unfair competition. Students will be required to comprehend the development of patent law over time and analyse patent specifications and claims. They will also examine trade mark law and critically consider trade mark law principles and policies.

1. Capacity to interpret patent specifications and claims in the context of and simultaneous application of patent law.
2. Understand and identify the policies behind patent law developments and recognise those policies in the context of Australian patent case law and legislation.
3. Identify and critically evaluate the likelihood of any factual scenario involving contravention of the rights of patent and trade mark owners.
4. Recognise the fundamental nature of trade marks and the means by which their legal protection operates in a sophisticated commercial environment.
5. Both analyse and apply patent and trade mark legislation and case law so as to provide advice to owners and users of patents and trademark.
6. Undertake a critical evaluation of the place of patent and trade mark law in a commercial environment and in the space of government regulatory activity that may conflict with the exploitation of that intellectual property.

Students will be provided with a patent interpretation exercise. Their answers will be evaluated and feedback provided on those answers. The exercise will not have any marks assigned to it but will be a critical part of learning for the purposes of a significant part of the end of semester examination.

Assignment (1000 words): 20% and

Final written examination (2 hours writing time plus 10 minutes reading time): 80%

OR

Final written examination including a 20% research component (2.5 hours writing time plus 10 minutes reading time): 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Professor Mark Davison

For students in the LLB Course:

LAW3400 or LAW3401 and LAW3402

For students in the LLB Hons course:

Foundations of Law

Criminal Law 1

Public Law and Statutory Interpretation

Torts

Contract A

Contract B

Property A

Constitutional Law

For students in the LLB Hons course:

Equity

Corporations Law