Munich IP Summer Program
Session Organization and Schedule
The program will consist of two two-week sessions. The first session will run from June 29 through July 11th, and the second session from July 12th through July 25th.
- Classes will be held Monday through Thursday
- In 2008, the program included Friday visits to the European Patent Office; the German Patent and Trademark Office; and the world headquarters of Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG. We anticipate a similar schedule of visits in 2009.
- Final examinations for the first session will be held on Saturday, July 11th; final examinations for the second session will be held on Saturday, July 25th. Please note that some courses may require final papers or writing assignments rather than final examinations. The method of evaluation for each course is indicated in parentheses after the description of that course below.
Students may participate in one or both sessions; an admissions preference may be given to students who choose to participate in both sessions. Students may enroll in a maximum of two courses per session. We reserve the right to limit enrollment in a course due to seating capacity. Affected students will be informed if this becomes necessary. The course schedule for Summer 2009 is as follows:
First Session, June 29th-July 11th:
- 9-10:30am
International Patent Law: Prof. Margo Bagley
- 10:45am-12:15pm
International Copyright Law: Prof. Margaret Chon
- 2:15-3:45pm
Internet Law: Prof. Michael Carroll
- 4-5:30pm
Cross-Border Trade in Intellectual Property: Prof. Robert Brauneis
Second Session (July 12th-25th):
- 9-10:30am
Theoretical Foundations of IP: Prof. Michael Madison
- 10:45am-12:15pm
IP and Indigenous Heritage: Prof. Silke von Lewinski
- 2:15-3:45pm
TRIPS, Patents and Public Health: Prof. Sarah Rajec
- 4-5:30pm
Federal Circuit: Prof. John Whealan
Course Descriptions
Please take note of the evaluation methods for each course, noted in a parenthetical at the end of the course description.
841 International Patent Law Prof. Margo Bagley
This course will cover the basics of international patent regulation. A central conundrum in this area of law is that, while the national laws governing patents have historically been based on territorial sovereignty, the effects of those laws easily spill across borders. This tension between territoriality and the global consequences of patent laws has become more significant as the value of patents increases, the cost of communications falls and the amount of international trade grows. The result has been the rise of a significant body of international agreements concerning patents including the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the European Patent Convention and, most importantly, the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (or TRIPs) Agreement. Using these and other international materials, this course will introduce students to the techniques of international patent regulation and investigate the effects and desirability of such regulation. (Examination)
473 International Copyright Law Prof. Margaret Chon
This course covers both public and private sources of international copyright law and policy. The public component will include multilateral agreements such as the Berne Convention and TRIPS—as well as some regional agreements such as European Union directives. We will trace how international institutions (such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization) administer these agreements, which in turn impact national laws and international harmonization. On the private side, we will cover choice of forum, choice of law and other problems related to private enforcement. Relying on a combination of cases and problems, students should become familiar with the foundational principles and challenges of international copyright law and practice, and be sensitive to the development and social justice components of copyright-protected knowledge goods in the context of global commerce and trade. International law is a recommended but not required pre-requisite. (Examination)
842 Internet Law I Prof. Michael Carroll
While the debate still continues in the academy over whether a "law of cyberspace" is truly needed, courts and legislatures are forging ahead in defining this ever-changing space. This course will focus primarily on issues concerning speech on the Internet, including governmental attempts to control or filter speech; intermediary liability for third-party speech; digital rights management and other copyright issues; and domain names as speech; as well as a consideration of the rules and institutions that permit or disallow governance of these issues. (Examination)
840 Cross-Border Trade in Intellectual Property Prof. Robert Brauneis
International trade in goods protected by copyright, patent or trademark law has become a matter of enormous economic significance. This course will address a number of the specialized issues raised by such transactions. Consideration will be given to various doctrines that regulate or prevent unauthorized importation of goods protected by intellectual property rights, such as those forbidding parallel importation or regulating trade in so-called "grey goods" and those dealing with the first sale doctrine and exhaustion of intellectual property rights. We will focus as well on the economic and social policy considerations underlying those doctrines. The course will address issues that arise under all three major categories of intellectual property and review the response of the U.S., the E.U., and other legal systems to those issues. (Examination)
846 Theoretical Foundations of Intellectual Property Prof. Michael Madison
Selected themes in the history and theory of intellectual property, including economic rationales for intellectual property rights, the debate over the lim-its to intellectual property protection from the 18th through the 20th centuries, and historical accounts of the intellectual property system. (Writing assignment)
847 Intellectual Property and Indigenous Heritage: Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore Prof. Silke von Lewinski
In recent years, tensions have increased between indigenous peoples and western industries about the use of genetic resources belonging to their land, their traditional knowledge and folklore. Under intellectual property systems, these achievements are regularly not protected, but indigenous peoples consider them under their own (customary) laws as belonging to them. Since industries often make benefits from using genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore either as such or as a basis for further (patentable) inventions and derived works protected by copyright, indigenous peoples have claimed that protection be established so as to be able to control the use of these achievements, to share in the benefits, to be able to prevent offensive or other uses damaging their spiritual interests, and to have their origin acknowledged. This course will consider these issues in the framework both of examples of national and regional legislation and of efforts to develop international norms and standards, in particular in WIPO. (Examination)
496 Intellectual Property Law Seminar: TRIPS, Patents and Public Health Prof. Sarah Rajec
This course will explore the contentious relationship between pharmaceutical patents and public health. The framework for discussion will be TRIPS and the various flexibilities inherent in it that potentially enable member countries to devise regimes that promote access to medicines. The various topics for discussion include: Incentivizing the creation of new drugs through patents; promoting affordable generics through exploiting TRIPS windows such as compulsory licensing; regulatory data protection and the interface between patents and drug regulation; and alternative innovation mechanisms for incentivizing the creation of new drugs such as patent prizes and advance purchase contracts. The discussions will also include real world examples such as the AIDS crisis in sub-saharan African, neglected/tropical diseases in developing countries, the Anthrax fear in the US and the bird flu pandemic threat. (Paper)
477 The Federal Circuit Prof. John Whealan
The unique role of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit as the only national court of appeals organized on the basis of subject matter rather than geography. Topics include the creation of the Federal Circuit and an overview of its varied jurisdictions, with an emphasis on patent law. Addition topics will include the Court’s rules and procedures, how to brief and argue a case, some of the most pressing issues currently before the Court, a comparative study of the patent jurisprudence of the Federal Circuit and other nations’ courts, and the patent reform initiatives currently being debated in the United States. (Paper)