Digital Intellectual Property Law (831M3)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

The emergence of the internet as a global telecommunications network has had an immense effect in how we view and apply intellectual property law. Before the internet’s mass adoption, copyright was a minority interest subject that did not elicit a significant level of global interest. Now it is an area that is of great importance to the digital and physical economy, with the creative and entertainment industries rapidly becoming networked.

Similarly, the use of domain names to identify brands using trademarks has become a growing area of interest. In patents, the type of protection awarded to computer programmes, mobile phone design and other digitally enabled devices is of the utmost importance to the economy.

The rise of mobile communications technologies have been shaped in great part by the intellectual property that protects some technological innovations. Mobile manufacturers like Apple and Samsung are constantly engaged in a patent war where they try to gain control of the vast handset market by controlling core technology patents.

On this module, you look at these and other IP-related subjects in the digital environment, with emphasis on digital copyright, piracy, software protection, and domain names effect on trademark.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 270 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.