The course is intended to be a more advanced and specialised consideration of intellectual property issues. The topics to be covered will depend on the interest of students and the development of emerging areas of concern. They will be finalised after consultation with the class, but could potentially include:

• protection of Indigenous custom and folklore
• digital access and distribution of information, including issues arising out of on-line media distribution and impact of technological protection measures
• databases and ownership of compilations of factual information
• biotechnology and art 27b, including positive and normative issues
• biodiversity and benefit sharing
• access to medicines, in particular but not limited to developing countries
• geographical indications and domain names
• IP and competition.

The course will also include consideration of further materials that often underlie the issues that would be considered in the presentations. This might include:

• examining the institutional structures that influence IP policy development, both in Australia and internationally, including the role of different non-government organisations such as the WTO and WIPO, domestic policy making arrangements etc
• a more comprehensive examination of some of the theoretical aspects of IP that are only briefly touched upon in the Intellectual Property course
• how IP is commercialised, including looking at the process of product development, licensing, marketing etc.

It is proposed that the assessment scheme will involve 2 elements, a group presentation and essay. Each type of activity will be assessed out of 100, but their contribution to the final grade will vary between 40% or 60% depending on which gives the highest overall grade.

Intellectual Property LAWS2222.
Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level.

Please refer to LAWS2263 course home page.