Munich Summer Program Courses and Faculty
Courses
Students choose 2 of four elective courses and all students will be taking the mandatory course, for a total of three classes. Please take note of the evaluation methods for each course, noted at the end of the course description.
Required Course
European Intellectual Property and Information Law and Institutions
Professors Marc Mimler, Mikolaj Rogowski, and John Whealan
This course will provide a general introduction to European law and institutions, and then concentrate on intellectual property and technology law in particular, including the European Patent Convention and the European Patent Court; the European Union Intellectual Property Office and its handling of trademarks and design patents; the directives and regulations that constitute European copyright law; and the directives and regulations that constitute European data protection law. The course will include two study visits to intellectual property- and data-related organizations in the Munich area.
Elective Courses
AI and Copyright
Professor Ana Ramalho
This course delves into the impact of AI on copyright systems. It navigates the challenges of harmonizing AI-related copyright laws across diverse national frameworks, interprets European copyright directives in the AI context, evaluates national implementations, compares global AI copyright solutions, and anticipates challenges posed by contemporary AI technologies to copyright law, such as AI-generated content and automated content filtering.
Comparative Internet Law
Professor Marketa Trimble
This course explores complex issues in the virtual environment from a comparative perspective. It examines the approaches that countries take in regulating various aspects of the internet,including intermediary liability for user-generated content and content moderation, and it reviews the evolving meaning of geography on the internet, the effects of constantly improving geolocation and geoblocking technologies, and the role of the internet domain name system in the internet ecosystem. The course highlights the role of non-state actors and private ordering through the overarching theme of the struggle to decide who should set the norms for and on the internet.
Information Privacy Law (International Perspective)
Professor Mikołaj Rogowski
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical foundations of privacy law, its core concepts, practical applications, and relevant case law. The primary focus will be on European Union law, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other key EU data frameworks, while offering a comparative perspective on U.S. privacy law and other legal systems worldwide. The course will also explore privacy challenges in the context of the rapid advancement of digital technologies (incl. AI, social media), their impact on business operations, and the broader implications for society. Through case studies and in-depth discussions, students will analyse contemporary privacy issues and gain a nuanced understanding of the evolving global privacy landscape.
European Patent Law
Professor Marc Mimler
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of patent matters. It covers international patent treaties, patent application essentials, criteria for patentability, exceptions, priority, novelty, and inventive step. The course also addresses industrial application, disclosure sufficiency, patent rights, infringement, nullity, claims interpretation, and protection scope. Students delve into patent litigation procedures, including infringement and invalidity, and gain insight into the European Patent Convention's granting process, opposition, and appeals. This course provides a thorough understanding of patent law's multifaceted aspects and practical implications. (Examination)
Program Faculty
- Professor Marc Mimler
Marc Mimler is a Senior Lecturer at City Law School, University of London. He is a fully qualified German lawyer after obtaining his undergraduate degree in law from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and completion of his bar school (Referendariat) at the Higher District Court of Munich.
He then obtained a Master’s degree in intellectual property law and a PhD in patent law from Queen Mary’s Intellectual Property Research Institute (QMIPRI) in London. He has taught on all fields of intellectual property at various higher education institutions (e.g. Queen Mary, King's College London, UCL, LSE, Warwick, Bournemouth University, CEIPI and the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC))) and for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Professor Mimler held a position as visiting research fellow at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan in December 2023. He also was the founding General Editor of the Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property (QMJIP) and currently acts as one of the General Editors of the Interactive Entertainment Law Review (IELR) published by Edward Elgar. In 2021, he became an Editorial Advisor for the bi-monthly Japanese IP journal Patents & Licensing.
- Professor Mikolaj Rogowski
Mikołaj Rogowski serves as the Director of Global Privacy at Arcadis. Prior to this role, he worked at Intel as a Privacy and Data Counsel, where he was the lead counsel for R&D labs, autonomous driving (Mobileye), mobility as a service (Moovit), and the EMEA region.
Professor Rogowski has gained rich international experience, having lived and worked in diverse legal and creative environments worldwide, including Silicon Valley, China, Switzerland, Germany, and his native Poland. He is a long-time collaborator with the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), where he teaches classes and mentors students. He holds an LLM in Intellectual Property and Competition Law from MIPLC, which he earned in 2015.
- Professor Ana Ramalho
Ana Ramalho is a Senior Copyright Counsel at Google, with policy and legal expertise in the field of intellectual property (IP) and European law. She has been a guest lecturer or invited speaker in several universities across the world, including Leiden, Melbourne, Strasbourg, Nagoya, Oxford, Cambridge or Santa Catarina. Previously, Ramalho was an Assistant Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Maastricht University, where she founded the Indie Art Legal Clinic, a pro bono legal advice service for artists and cultural entrepreneurs. She holds a PhD in Copyright and European Law from the University of Amsterdam, a Research Master in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Lisbon, an LLM in Intellectual Property and Competition Law from the MIPLC, and a 5-year advanced LLB from the University of Lisbon.
- Professor Marketa Trimble
Marketa Trimble is the Samuel S. Lionel Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Professor Trimble specializes in international intellectual property law and publishes extensively on issues at the intersection of conflict of laws/private international law and intellectual property law. She has authored numerous works on these subjects, including Global Patents: Limits of Transnational Enforcement (Oxford University Press, 2012), and is the co-author of a leading international intellectual property law casebook, International Intellectual Property Law (with Professor Paul Goldstein, Foundation Press, 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2024) and of the casebook International and Comparative Copyright Law (with Professor Paul Goldstein, Foundation Press, 2024). She has also authored several works in the area of cyberlaw, particularly relating to the legal issues of geoblocking and the circumvention of geoblocking, including her book The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary (Edward Elgar, 2024). She has presented at conferences in the United States and abroad, and teaches regularly at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center. She is a member of several professional and academic organizations; she is an elected member of the American Law Institute and of the International Academy of Comparative Law.
- Associate Dean John Whealan
Before joining GW Law in 2008, John Whealan worked at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where he served as deputy general counsel for intellectual property law and solicitor since 2001. Dean Whealan represented the USPTO in all intellectual property litigation in federal court and advised the agency on a variety of policy issues. During his tenure, he argued approximately 30 cases before the Federal Circuit and, with his staff, was responsible for briefing and arguing more than 250 cases. Dean Whealan also assisted the US Solicitor General on virtually every intellectual property case that has been heard by the Supreme Court since 2001. He also served as counsel to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Prior to 2001, Dean Whealan was a staff attorney for the US International Trade Commission where he litigated several investigations involving intellectual property matters. He has clerked at both the appellate and trial court levels, serving as law clerk to Judge Randall R. Rader, JD '78, of the Federal Circuit and Judge James T. Turner of the US Court of Federal Claims. Dean Whealan has engaged in private practice at Fish & Neave in New York and worked as a design engineer for General Electric. He has taught as an adjunct professor of law at The Franklin Pierce Law Center (now the University of New Hampshire School of Law), George Mason University School of Law, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.