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International Intellectual Property

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
  • Convenor and tutor: Professor Fiona Macmillan
  • Assessment: a 4000-word research essay (100%) and 500-word reflective report (0%)

Module description

This module will enable you to understand, analyse and critique the way in which intellectual property law has been globalised through international treaty making. The module will provide you with historical, theoretical and political perspectives that enable critical reflection on the current system of international intellectual property law and its engagement with other areas of international law-making. These perspectives will be located within a close analysis of the major intellectual property treaties that govern today’s interconnected world, starting from the 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and then focusing on the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property and the developments that have followed in its wake.

Indicative module syllabus

  • Landscape of international intellectual property law treaties
  • Historical/longitudinal perspectives on the processes of international intellectual property law-making
  • Patents, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and beyond
  • Trade marks, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and beyond
  • Copyright, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and beyond
  • The making of the WTO TRIPs Agreement
  • The impact of the WTO TRIPs Agreement
  • Post-colonial impact of Western intellectual property law
  • Intellectual property and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
  • Intellectual property and international human rights law

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • understand the process of international intellectual law-making in historical, theoretical and political perspective
  • analyse a range of historical, theoretical and political perspectives that address the political economy of the international intellectual property system
  • locate significant points of intersection between international intellectual property law and other areas of international law-making
  • critique the role of international intellectual property law in globalising Western law.