Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Intellectual Property

Module 1: Introduction to Commercial IP

You will be introduced to the law governing all categories of IP namely:

• Patent
• Trade Marks
• Copyright
• Designs
• Confidential Information

The module will encourage you to begin to think like an IP lawyer as you examine the relevant law found in statutes and judgments. You will then focus on topics that apply across all categories of IP. Examining them in detail will help you to think laterally when addressing IP issues in preference to a “siloed” approach.

In this context, you will consider:

1. The duration of IP Rights and how their natural life may be curtailed;
2. What is excluded from IP protection?
3. Limitations in the enforcement of IP Rights.

Module 2: Key Concepts in Commercial IP

Continuing your journey to think like an IP Lawyer, you will explore some of the more important, and in some cases, challenging elements of IP Law. You will revisit teaching from module one and use it as the starting point for more detailed exploration. This module equips you for progressing to module three where the principles studied in modules one and two are applied in the context of commercial realities.

In this module you will explore in greater depth the concepts covered in module one, to include:

• Patent inventiveness
• Patent sufficiency
• Patent claims construction and mechanical equivalents
• Subject matter that may not be patented
• Copyright and design law interface in respect of non-aesthetic creations
• The average consumer and the likelihood of confusion in trade mark law
• Issues of dilution in trade mark law.
• The informed user and overall impression in designs law
• Case analysis techniques
• Reflective practitioner skills

Module 3: Commercial IP Practice

This module is designed to complete the process of setting the knowledge of IP you have developed so far into the context of commerce – the context in which you aspire to provide effective professional guidance.  

We aim to do this by:

• Familiarising you with various rights (e.g., Domain Name “rights”)) that are peripheral to the main IP Rights but which frequently need to be deployed in conjunction with those rights to achieve a client’s commercial advantage.
• Setting the law in the context of particular industries where advanced technologies and modern communication facilities pose particular challenges.
• Introducing you to the national and international registries, which, in the context of relevant international agreements, may be:
  • consulted to determine whether pre-existing rights may block a client from using or registering its intellectual creations; and
  • utilised to secure an international portfolio of registered IP rights.
• Supplementing your existing knowledge of dispute resolution processes with procedures and trial preparation techniques that are unique to IP cases.
• Developing your ability to secure client advantage through commercial arrangements involving IP rights including the effective navigation of tax and competition rules.

At each stage you will cement the knowledge you have acquired to date, and deepening your understanding, by re-examining and articulating the legal principles considered in modules one and two.

We develop further your ability to “think like an IP lawyer”. You will continue to become familiar with the concept of reflective learning and reflective practice.

In this module, you will consider:

Re-examination and articulation of the legal principles considered in modules one and two in the context of real-life practicalities of legal practice and the pragmatic application of those principles to include:

• Practical issues arising in applying for registered protection in respect of patents, trade marks and designs in light of national and international rules.
• The international rulebook in relation to copyright.
• Complex examination of commercial significance of IP rights and their commercial exploitation.
• Application of tax to IP rights. interrelationship of tax laws and IP rights.
• Interface between IP rights and principles of competition law and rules.
• Law of unjustified threats
• Rights peripheral to IP law:
  • Database Rights
  • Geographical Denominations
  • Domain Names
  • Company Names Tribunal
  • ASA and consumer protection
  • Moral Rights
  • Rights in performance
  • Rights in semiconductor topography
• IP rights (mainly copyright) and the internet.
• Criminal law in respect of IP Rights.
• Court procedures and rules, evidence, alternative dispute resolution techniques and expert witnesses as they apply to intellectual property.
• Rights clearance and application of IP due diligence, investigation and contractual protection involved in, the acquisition/disposal of an IP-owning business.
• Ownership, assignments, licences and security interests over IP rights including co-existence arrangements.
• Reverse engineering/encrypted information in the context of confidential information and other IP rights.
• UK Confidential Information and EU Trade Secrets Regulation.
• Drafting and negotiation of warranties, indemnities, provisions in a business acquisition/disposal and common contractual provisions in IP related contracts
• Role of IP in industries