5320 - INDUSTRIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Intellectual and Industrial Property law protects various aspects of creativity. Patent law confers an exclusive right of exploitation upon inventors. Trade mark law protects producers or trader efforts to distinguish its goods or services from those of others. Copyright law protects the creativity of authors, artists, computer programmers and creators in the music and entertainment industries. The course is concerned mainly with the nature and scope of these rights. Therefore, the first goal is to provide students with a comparative overview of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). A second goal is to make students familiar with the impact on IPRs of European Law. In this context the course deals also with the protection of trade secrets and of business goodwill through unfair competition provisions.

• History and Economics of IPRs
• Comparative Copyright and Related Rights Law
• Comparative Trademark Law
• Comparative Patent Law
• Comparative Registered Designs
• Unfair Competition and Passing off
• Exercise and Licensing of IPRs

One written midterm exam, which is optional. One compulsory written exam (at the end of the semester) consisting of a combination of multiple choice questions, short answer questions and one essay question.
The presentation of cases by groups of 3-4 students is compulsory. The presentations will be assessed from 0 to 2 points.

• Slides used during the classes available at www.antitrustisti.net.
• Selected cases, regulation and legislative sources available at www.antitrustisti.net.
• Selected excerpts from law journals, articles and books, available at MasterCopy and the IDC Administrative Office (via Gobbi 5).