Learning outcomes

Specific competences

    - Explain the purpose and the consequences of the rules and mechanisms that organise the main intellectual property regimes.
    - Identify correctly the questions which arise in concrete situations concerning intellectual property rights, and propose the most appropriate solutions by making optimal use of the applicable rules.
    - Understand the legislative and jurisprudential evolutions, as well as the societal stakes in a context where intellectual rights are confronted with significant technological evolutions and competition with other fundamental rights.

Cross-cutting skills

    - Conduct a rigorous and reasoned analysis of jurisprudential solutions, adding a personal and critical viewpoint.
    - Demonstrate a sense of synthesis, precision and discernment.
    - Build a structured, supported and convincing argument.
    - Project yourself into concrete situations, devise judicious examples, identify the advantages and disadvantages of different solutions.

 

Goals

- The course aims to enable the student to understand the legal and jurisprudential mechanisms that organise intellectual property.
- It invites the student to discuss the subject in a reasoned and critical manner.
- It helps the student to project him/herself into concrete situations which require a rigorous and creative application of the theoretical rules.
- It offers the student a global reflection on the evolution of the subject and on the margin of progress offered to it with regard to technological and societal challenges.

 

Content

There are many intellectual property rights and they are becoming increasingly complex. The course cannot cover all intellectual property rights or the details of each protection. A brief general introduction explains the nature of intellectual property rights, the different objects that can be protected by them and some principles common to all.
The bulk of the course focuses on two major intellectual property rights, or even three if circumstances permit: copyright, trademark and, where applicable, patent law. For each of these rights, the aim is to understand, in particular, the general logic of protection, the object of protection, access and the scope of protection. It includes eminently practical aspects in this respect. The rights discussed are placed in a global context in order to illustrate their confrontation with other fundamental rights, and in some cases with the general interest.
Current debates on intellectual property are also discussed in order to reveal the economic and social issues involved. These include issues relating to health-related patents, the complexity of copyright in the digital environment and a reasoned approach to trademark law.
Students are invited to discuss in an argumentative way the most relevant issues in this field, and to position themselves in relation to certain legal proposals. The teacher takes care to provide a maximum of examples which implement the mechanisms exposed in order to allow the students to project themselves in concrete situations and to proceed to a rigorous and even creative application of the theoretical rules.
In general, the course focuses on both a national and a supranational perspective. The analysis covers Belgian law, Benelux law, European Union law and international treaty law. Special attention is paid to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.


 

Table of contents

A detailed table of contents will be available on Webcampus.
Subject to change, the guidelines are as follows:

1.     COURSE 1
General introduction: purpose of the course, the variety of intellectual property rights, economic issues, societal issues, presentation of the legal framework, impact of EU law, working method (participatory model, work plan, timetable), sources and materials, evaluation method, information on monitoring and on-call.
2.    COURSE 2
Copyright, concept of work, conditions of protection; practical cases and exercises.
3.    COURSE 3
Copyright, scope of rights, economic rights; practical cases and exercises.
4.    COURSE 4
Copyright, scope of rights, the case of plagiarism and parody; case studies and exercises.
5.    COURSE 5
Copyright, scope of rights, exceptions; case studies and exercises.
6.    COURSE 6
Copyright: moral rights; contracts; ownership; duration; rights related to copyright; case studies and exercises.
7.    COURSE
Trademark law: concept of trademark, types of trademark, conditions of protection, procedure for obtaining a trademark; practical cases and exercises.  
8.    COURSE 8
Trademark law: scope of protection; practical cases and exercises.
9.    COURSE 9
Trade mark law: scope of protection (continued); exceptions; case studies and exercises.
10.    COURSE 10
Trade mark law: obligation of use; degeneration; case studies and exercises.
11.    COURSE 11
Comparison of copyright and trademark law; the place of the public interest; relationship between intellectual property law and unfair competition law; practical cases and exercises.
12.    COURSE 12 and 13
Conclusions. Questions and answers. Presentation of the exam.

Exercices

A monitoring session (in principle two sessions) is organised during the four-month term.
 
During the monitoring, the emphasis is placed on practice and a more in-depth examination of certain points in the subject. 
 
Students are invited to take part in a reasoned analysis of leading case law decisions under the guidance of the lecturer. 
 
Where appropriate, one or two written assignments will be required of the student in connection with the supervision. 
 
 


 

Assessment method

Subject to modification, the evaluation will in principle take the following form: an oral examination, either face-to-face or distance learning, plus a written part, either face-to-face or distance learning, devoted to the resolution of a practical case.
- Assessment will normally take the following form: an oral examination, either face-to-face or via distance learning; where appropriate, one or two written assignments will be requested from students during the four-month term.  
- The oral examination will last 10 to 15 minutes.
- The evaluation also takes into account the students' participation during the term.
- The content of the examination is designed to check whether the student has integrated the learning outcomes. In particular, the questions are designed to assess respectively
i.    i. Accuracy in rendering and legal justification (reference to law and case law).
ii.    Discernment
iii.    A sense of synthesis
iv.    Quality and articulation of reasoning
v.    Ability to put into practice and situation
- At the examination, the student will bring his or her codes and, if necessary, other documents that will be indicated by the teachers. The texts may not be annotated, except for article-to-article references. No other documents are allowed.

- The final mark is not purely arithmetical and depends on the teachers' overall assessment of the performance, who may give particular attention to a serious error, a significant deficiency or any other substantial deficiency.

 

Sources, references and any support material

- Before each class session, students will be provided with a topic file.
- In principle, the topic file consists of the following documents:
o Synopsis (main points of the course)
o Relevant legal provisions 
o Slides with illustrations
o Reference case law 


 

Language of instruction

Français