95775 - INTERNATIONAL AND EU COPYRIGHT LAW (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course, the student knows the main legal principles - as well as the fundamental international and EU provisions - on copyright law and related rights, with specific regard to the exploitation of copyrighted works the digital environment.

Contenuti

Basic principles and provisions of Copyryght Law, in particular from the Berne Convention, the Trips Agreement and the WCT + WPPT "twin" Treaties.

Basic principles and provisions of the EU Directives on the subject matter.

For attending students, also analysis of some leading case law (both US and European), as discussed in class.

These basic contents are also fit for Humanities students or other students not pursuing legal studies, too.

The program is the same for all students.

Testi/Bibliografia

For attending students, the teaching materials will be discussed in class and uploaded into the Virtuale repository, lesson by lesson.


For non-attending students, the suggested handbook is:


Paul Goldstein and P. Bernt Hugenholtz, International Copyright

Principles, Law, and Practice, Oxford University Press, 2021.


Note. The 2021 edition is also available in a (much cheaper!) paperback version or e-book version: see the following link https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-copyright-9780197601914 (also above posted).


Of course, you may also find the handbook on other booksellers (e.g. Amazon or Kindle, etc.).

Metodi didattici

Lectures will concern both theoretical matters (the basic principles and provisions will be discussed and analysed) and case law relating to the principles or provisions discussed.

Attendance is therefore strongly suggested to better understand such a complex subject matter. Of course, do not worry for missing one or a few classes.

For this reason, the lectures will be possibly held on late afternoon 5-7 p.m on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (in the II Semester), in order to avoid overlaps with other courses. The exact timetable and rooms will be however confirmed by the Department before the beginning of the courses.

Lesson by lesson, the Professor will select principles, provisions and cases to be illustrated in class. After any lesson, the materials will be uploaded in the Virtuale repository, fully available to the students.

For students who cannot actually and continuatively attend the lectures, the alternative programme with Handbook is suggested.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

According to the exam schedules arranged by the Department, the three exam dates of the Summer Session will be held at the end of May, around mid-June and during the first half of July 2025.

Erasmus or Overseas students must take these regular exams as any other student, without derogation. Therefore, also Erasmus and Overseas students are expected to stay in Bologna for exams. No remote exam will be allowed. 

Please, avoid to make requests for unofficial "pre-exams" before or after the regular dates, since all the students (including Erasmus, Overseas, etc.) are requested to stay in Bologna the time necessary to attend the course and to have their regular exams. Unless exceptional and documented cases of necessary return back for foreing students - approved by the International Dept. Office - no request of such kind shall be taken into consideration.

Examinations are only available trough the "AlmaEsami" System by booking the exam in due time (as a rule, one week before the exam is the last deadline).

No requests of exams will be accepted out of the Almaesami System or if not booked in due time.

Since foreign attending students - who are usually the majority - prefer written exams, the first exam session (at the end of May) will be a written exam, concerning:

for attending students, the materials discussed in class and uploaded in the Virtuale repository;

for non-attending students, the contents of the suggested handbook.

At the beginning of the written exam, every student, according to their own situation, will be asked to choose the "attending" or the "not-attending" file of questions.

This written exam will be a close book multiple-choice test, therefore no materials or notes are allowed during the test. It will last around 2 hours and it will consist of 31 questions. Each correct answer will amount to 1 point. A missing or wrong answer will amount to 0 point. As for any other exam, the test is passed with at least 18 points. As a consequence, correct answers to all 31 questions will lead to a grade of 30+. As any other written or oral exam, the grade will be registered unless an express refusal by the student. 

The other two exams of the Summer Session (Mid-June and First-Half of July) will be only oral, as well as the following ones (September, December, etc.).

The evaluation of the oral exam will be carried out taking into consideration the knowledge of the legal institutes, the ability to analyse the different interpretative guidelines, the ability to make connections between the different parts of the program, the ability to develop critical arguments, the articulation of exposure, the exposure accuracy.

By way of example, the following criteria will be used to assess the final mark (that will be out of 30/30):

• sufficient or barely sufficient knowledge on the programme, limited reasoning ability, some difficulties in using technical and legal language → 18-21/30;
• fairly good knowledge of the programme, adequate critical reasoning ability, sound use of technical and legal language → 22-25/30;
• comprehensive knowledge of the programme, notable reasoning ability, good command of technical and legal language → 26-29/30;
• extensive knowledge of the programme, very good reasoning ability, and ability to fully master technical-legal language → 30-30L/30.

 

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

As remarked before, the basic texts and materials for attending students will be uploaded in the Virtuale repository.

For non attending students, the study of the handbook should be accompanied with the reading of the provisions of the Treaties and Directives hereby mentioned, freely available on the Internet by looking up their names or numbers on a search engine (e.g., Berne Convention on Copyright, EU Directive No 2001/29, etc).

In Italy, all laws, acts and treaties are free from copyright (Article 5 of the Italian Copyright Act), so that they may be freely consulted or downloaded from the net.

Students who, due to disability or specific learning disorders (DSA), need compensatory tools shall communicate to the teacher their needs so as to be directed to the relevant persons and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Link ad altre eventuali informazioni

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-copyright-9780197601914

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Alberto Musso