Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Students who successfully complete this subject should (1) have a familiarity with the history and development of international arrangements in the area of intellectual property; (2) have a detailed understanding of the principal features of the main intellectual property conventions; (3) have an appreciation of the processes by which new international norms in this area are created, and of the problems involved in domestic implementation of these norms; (4) have an appreciation of the trade-related aspects of international intellectual property rights; and (5) understand the way in which domestic conflict of laws principles relate to the international intellectual property conventions.
Synopsis This subject is intended to provide students who have studied, or are studying, intellectual property at the graduate level with a more detailed appreciation of the international dimensions of this area of law. In particular, the subject will focus on the two principal conventions in this area, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The development and operation of these conventions, and their related agreements, will be considered in some detail, together with the questions of how new norms are developed at the international level and how these are then implemented at the domestic level. The impact of trade policies on intellectual property rights will also be discussed, with particular reference to the GATT and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Assessment Research paper (7000 words): 70% + Class paper and presentation (3000 words): 30%