32425 - Intellectual Property Law

Learning outcomes

The student holds the theoretical and operational tools to apply the discipline of intellectual property in the business environment.

Course contents

For the Academic Year 2022/2023, the course of Intellectual Property Law - participating in the University's teaching innovation project - will be monographic in nature and will focus on Italian and European Copyright law.

The program is divided into three weekly two-hour lectures (to be held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays), for a total duration of ten weeks.

The third lecture of each week will consist of a workshop and will be conducted online via the MS Teams platform. As part of the workshop lessons, students will be asked to carry out - autonomously but with the guidance and under the supervision of the teacher - activities to deepen and consolidate the topics covered during the week. In particular, workshop activities may consist of research of doctrine and/or case law, case briefing, solution of practical cases and exercises of various types. As better specified in the "Assessment methods" section, students' active participation in workshop lessons contributes to the determination of the final grade. Below, articulated in detail, is the syllabus of the teaching.

Week 1: Function and object of copyright law.

1. Function and structure of copyright law.

2. The notion of intellectual work and the protected categories. The idea/expression dichotomy.

3. Online workshop.

Week 2: Requirements and subjects of copyright protection.

4. The creative character of the intellectual work.

5. The creation of the work and the author. Works created by multiple authors.

6. Online workshop.

Week 3: (Human and artificial) authors creating on behalf of others.

7. Created works in the context of the employment relationship.

8. Works created by artificial intelligence systems.

9. Online workshop.

Week 4: The economic exploitation of the work through the creation of copies.

10. The economic exploitation of the work. The principle of independence of exclusive rights.

11. Right of reproduction and distribution of the work. The principle of exhaustion of copyright.

12. Online workshop.

Week 5: The economic exploitation of the work without the creation of copies.

13. Right of communication to the present and distant public. The making available to the public.

14. Linking, framing and cloud computing.

15. Online workshop.

Week 6: The economic exploitation of the work by derivation.

16. The right of translation, processing and modification. Derivative works.

17. The limited duration of rights of economic use.

18. Online workshop.

Week 7: The protection of the author's personality and the infringement of his rights.

19. Rights in defense of the author's personality. Right of authorship and right to the integrity of the work.

20. Plagiarism and infringement. Online copyright infringement and liability of Internet service providers.

21. Online workshop.

Week 8: Related rights, with a focus on photographs.

22. Rights related to copyright. Characteristics and types.

23. The protection of photographs.

24. Online workshop.

Week 9: The exceptions and limitations to exclusive rights.

25. The general principles regarding exceptions and limitations to exclusive rights.

26. Main exceptions and limitations to exclusive rights.

27. Online workshop.

Week 10: The transfer of rights.

28. Assignment and licensing of property rights.

29. The publishing contract. Analysis of some contractual clauses.

30. Online workshop.

Readings/Bibliography

For both attending and non-attending students (GIPA and LMCU), the study of the following text is mandatory:

- G. SPEDICATO, Principi di diritto d'autore, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2020, limited to the following parts: pp. 11 - 149 and pp. 163 - 218. 

Teaching methods

The topics covered by the program will be deepened and discussed in the classroom starting from the reading - guided by the teacher - of the relevant rules and through the illustration of case law and contractual models.

Attending students will be actively involved in the discussion in order to develop the necessary hermeneutic and critical skills for a correct approach to the subjects of positive law. This will be particularly evident in the case of case law, where students will be asked to examine the way in which the rules are used to support the opposing theses of the parties in question and to extract the legal principles and their implications from the maxims affirmed.

Assessment methods

Attending students will be evaluated on the basis of: (a) their active participation in the classroom, particularly during workshop lessons and (b) the result of a written test, according to the following parameters.

(a) Active participation in the classroom: 0 to 8 points (0 to 2 points for no or poor participation; 3 to 4 points for limited or sufficient participation; 5 to 7 points for fair, good or very good participation; 8 points for excellent participation).

(b) Written test (maximum time available 90 minutes) consisting of:

• 10 closed-ended questions (multiple choice), with three possible answers, of which only one is correct;
• 2 open-ended questions.

The final grade is the sum of the following scores:

• 1 point for each correct answer to the 10 closed-ended questions [N.B. There are no penalties for those who do not answer one or more closed-ended questions correctly or at all];
• 1 to 6 points for each correct answer to the 2 open-ended questions [N.B. More specifically, 1-2 points will be awarded in case of a sufficient or little more than sufficient answer, which denotes a limited critical ability and a certain difficulty in the use of technical-legal language; 3-4 points in case of a fair or good answer, which denotes a fair or good critical ability, and a fair or good use of technical-legal language; 5-6L points in case of a very good or excellent answer, which denotes a remarkable critical ability and a full mastery of technical-legal language].

For non-attending students, the examination of Intellectual Property Law will be exclusively oral, with four open questions on the above-mentioned texts. The evaluation of the test will be carried out taking into consideration the knowledge of the subject, the ability to analyze the jurisprudential and doctrinal orientations, the ability to make connections between the different parts of the program, the ability to develop critical arguments, the articulation and accuracy of the exposition. The assignment of the final grade will be based on the following criteria:

• sufficient or little more than sufficient preparation on the topics covered, limited critical ability, difficulty in the use of technical-legal language: grade 18-21;
• fair or fairly good preparation on the topics covered, fair critical ability, good use of technical and legal language: grade 22-25;
• good or more than good preparation on the topics dealt with, good critical ability, mastery of technical-legal language: grade 26-29;
• substantially exhaustive preparation on the topics covered, excellent critical ability, full mastery of technical and legal language: grade 30-30L.

For the purposes of the exam, students attending no less than 75% of the total hours of class will be considered to be attending.

To register for the exams it is necessary to use the AlmaEsami system. Late registrations with respect to the deadlines indicated on AlmaEsami and/or off-list registrations are not admitted.

Teaching tools

Students who, for reasons dependent on disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA), need compensatory tools can communicate their needs to the teacher in order to be directed to the referents and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Spedicato