96016 - DIRITTO DEI MERCATI DIGITALI

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Moduli: Giorgio Spedicato (Modulo 1) Giorgio Spedicato (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Blended Learning (Modulo 1) Blended Learning (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Ravenna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Legal Consultant in Business and Public Administration (cod. 9242)

    Also valid for Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9233)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires knowledge of the fundamental legal rules that govern the functioning of digital markets (i.e. markets in which intangible goods or services are provided through the Internet) and learns how to apply them to a changing socio-economic and technological context.

Course contents

For the Academic Year 2022/2023, the course of Digital Markets Law (which participates in the University's teaching innovation project and is a component of the integrated course "Law and Economics of Digital Markets") will be seminar-based and will focus on particularly topical issues that characterize the legal regulation of the economic phenomenon in the digital sphere.

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 the weekly syllabus.

Week 1

  • Algorithms and software as objects of legal protection.

Week 2

  • The role of data in digital markets.

Week 3

  • E-commerce.

Week 4

  • Online sales and service delivery.

Week 5

  • Platforms and competition.

Week 6

  • Platforms and liability.

Week 7

  • Emerging issues: the NFT (Non-Fungible Token) market.

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students (GIPA and LMCU) who have to take the exam related to the "Digital Markets Law" component of the integrated course of "Digital Markets Law and Economics", the relevant materials will be indicated by the teacher during the lesson, and uploaded at the end of the lesson on "Virtuale", the Unibo e-learning platform (https://virtuale.unibo.it/ ).

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

- G. SMORTO, A. QUARTA, Diritto privato dei mercati digitali, Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2020, pp. 1-317.

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 cases 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

SDGs

Quality education Responsible consumption and production Peace, justice and strong institutions

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.