Ms A Barron, NAB 6.05

For LLM students and other Master's level students with permission.

This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou.

An examination of the law of copyright and related rights, in the context of an analysis of the history of the institution of copyright; the arguments that have been advanced to justify or oppose its expansion; its role as an instrument of cultural policy; and its relationship with the technologies, institutions and investment strategies that sustain the global culture industries.

Topics to be covered will include: the history and conceptual basis of copyright; the major rules and doctrines of UK, EU and international copyright law; current trends in the development of copyright law and the critiques that have been directed at these trends; and case studies of particular areas of contemporary interest. The starting point for the analysis throughout will be UK copyright law, but the course will involve a substantial comparative element, with US, French and German law serving as the main bases of comparison.

There will be one two-hour seminar weekly.

Students are asked to submit two 2,000 word essays.

Students will receive a detailed reading list for each topic.

One three-hour written paper.