Not available in 2019/20
LL4N6      Half Unit
Principles of Copyright Law

This information is for the 2019/20 session.

Teacher responsible

Ms Anne Barron NAB6.05

Availability

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Law and Accounting and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course will be relevant to the following LLM specialisms: Competition, Innovation and Trade Law, Corporate and/or Commercial Law; Information Technology, Media and Communications Law; Intellectual Property Law.

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

Pre-requisites

None

Course content

The course provides an introduction to copyright law aimed at those who have not studied the subject in detail before. The starting point will be UK copyright law (as shaped to date by relevant EU Directives and international agreements), but US, French and German law will serve as occasional bases for comparative analysis. Topics to be covered will include the history and evolution of copyright, copyright’s protected objects (‘works’) and subjects (authors, publishers and producers of works), the principles governing the ownership of copyright, and the nature and scope of the rights comprised in copyrights and authors' moral rights.

Teaching

20 hours of seminars in the MT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Formative coursework

One 2,000 word essay.

Indicative reading

Reading lists will be issued on a weekly basis. UK and EU legislation, cases and soft law instruments will make up most of the required reading for this course. All of this material is available in electronic form via the Moodle site which supports the course. Useful texts include Lionel Bently and Brad Sherman, Intellectual Property Law 4th ed. (OUP, Oxford 2014); Thomas Dreier and P. Bernt Hugenholtz (eds.) Concise European Copyright Law (Kluwer, 2016); and Paul Goldstein and P. Bernt Hugenholtz, International Copyright Law 3rd ed. (OUP 2012).

Assessment

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.

Key facts

Department: Law

Total students 2018/19: Unavailable

Average class size 2018/19: Unavailable

Controlled access 2018/19: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills