89455 - Patents & Trade Marks

Learning outcomes

Basic knowledge of Patent Law and Trade-Marks Law especially for Scientific-Oriented Professionals (engineers, chemists, etc.).

Course contents

Basic Legal Principles on Technical Inventions and Trade Marks.

These principles will be explained by discussing the main EU and international provisions on the subject, as well as the most important case law.

Readings/Bibliography

Background reference:

J. PILA & P. TORREMANS, European Intellectual Property Law, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2019 Paperback Ed., pp. 99-218; 343-480.

Students attending the Course will study on materials provided by the teacher.

Teaching methods

Explanation of the main principles on Patents and Trademarks Law through an oral discussion of the EU and International provisions and case law showed by slides or other on-line free sources.

The explanation and discussion of these principles, provisions and cases in class is aimed at giving students the ability to reason on the law of patents and trade marks rather than learning it by heart.

For this reason, with full or almost full attendance students will be allowed to prepare the exam on the materials provided during the lessons only. With partial attendance, students will be required to complete the study with the textbook. Anyway, a 70% presence at least is required.

In case of partial attendance during the same lesson (e.g. one or two hours only), the attendance will be calculated per hour (so, 1/3 or 2/3 of the total).

The Schedule of Lessons will be published by mid-September.

Assessment methods

An oral exam (20-30 min.) will ascertain the proper and critical knowledge of:

(a) the main principles, provisions and case law discussed and explained during the lessons;

(b) the contents of the textbook, where required (see Readings/Bibliography).

The exam is passed with a grade of 18/30 at least.

One written multiple-choice test, fully or almost fully alternative to the oral exam, will be made available at the end of the lessons.

Teaching tools

The main principles explained in the handbook and/or discussed during the lessons shall be mainly excerpted from these sources:

• Paris Conventionfor the Protection of Industrial Property: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=288514
• WTOAgreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement): http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/text.jsp?file_id=305907
• The European Patent Convention: https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/epc.html
• EU Directive No 2015/2436 of 16 December 2015, approximating the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32015L2436&from=EN

Office hours

See the website of Marco Bellia