Decisions and guidelines

Decided on August 29, 2014 by the Board of the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University. The education plan is effective from autumn semester 2015. Revised on May 18, 2015, the revisions enter into force the autumn semester 2015. Revised on May 10, 2016, the revisions enter into force the autumn semester 2016.

General information

The Master Programme in Intellectual Property Law is an advanced level programme worth 60 ECTS credits. The language of instruction is English.

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. The main field of study must be Law or Legal Science.

Also required is 15 credits in intellectual property law, or equivalent, documented knowledge.

Language requirements

Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6. This requirement can be met either by achieving the required score on an internationally recognised test, or by previous upper secondary or university studies in some countries. Detailed instructions on how to provide evidence of your English proficiency are available at universityadmissions.se.

Aims

The general objective of the programme is to provide a deep understanding of major issues covering international and EU intellectual property law, in particular with regards to copyright, patents, designs and trademarks.

During the last few decades, and as a result of constant advances in technology, intellectual property rights have increasingly attracted political, economic and academic interest, both nationally and internationally. Intellectual property is vital for a knowledge-based economy and a fundamental area of law for today’s innovation and information society. It also plays a major role for economic growth and progress in market economies.

This is an area that has grown both in importance and complexity as reflected in the increased focus on intellectual property protection and its value as a corporate asset. On top of that, over the years IP law has become increasingly interdisciplinary having key interfaces with market, competition, contract and tort law.

This programme is designed for persons who wish to deepen their understanding of intellectual property law, whether they are qualified, practicing lawyers who wish to improve their knowledge of this area of law, students who wish to proceed into post-graduate education to further their specialisation, or persons who work in areas influenced by IP law and are interested in the area. Given the international dimension of the programme, as well as the fact that EU and international law has an increasing impact on legislation regulating intellectual property in the Member States, the substantive parts of the programme are primarily focusing on EU and international legislation. The EU has adopted several regulations and directives regulating intellectual property rights, and these are studied thoroughly. There are however national and comparative elements, in particular with regards to non-harmonized rights. Apart from pure intellectual property law, students also study competition law, trade secrets and marketing law. Overlaps with the four freedoms of the EU, in particular the free movement of goods and services, as well as data protection law, in relation to rightholders’ intellectual property rights, are also part of the curriculum.

The pedagogical approach at the Faculty of Law at Uppsala University is tutorial-based teaching where students are expected to participate actively by preparing for seminars in groups of three to five students and present their answers and discuss them with fellow students and the teacher. The role of the teacher is limited to a supervisory role and ensuring that the discussion is kept at an appropriately high level.

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The Faculty of Law has a strong section of researcher dealing with intellectual property law.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the programme students are expected to possess:

• a broader and deeper knowledge of the principles and sources of international and EU intellectual property law as well as knowledge of how these have changed and are changing as a result of globalisation,
• a detailed knowledge of intellectual property law methodology,
• an improved knowledge of oral and written techniques of presentation of EU intellectual property issues,
• an improved ability to argue, analyse and evaluate complicated legal issues from an intellectual property rights perspective,
• the capacity to discuss, in a qualified manner, intellectual property law issues,
• the capacity to write an academic thesis on international or EU intellectual property law issues satisfying the requirements of objectivity, structure, analytical reasoning and independence.

Layout of the programme

The Master Programme in Intellectual Property Law encompasses a total of 60 ECTS. All students must take a compulsory 7.5 ECTS course (Module 1), which is a general course focusing on the fundamentals of EU intellectual property law. Thereafter, students are given the opportunity to specialise in a specific area of EU intellectual property law by taking three courses of 7.5 ECTS each (Module 2). The final component of the programme teaches students legal scientific methods and students write a thesis worth 30 ECTS credits. Students should decide the subject of the thesis on their own in dialogue with the supervisor. The teachers of the programme courses will also serve as supervisors.

Programme Syllabus

MODULE 1 - Advanced Intellectual Property Law (7.5 ECTS)

• International Conventions and Treaties
• Patents
• Copyright
• Designs
• Trademarks
• Overlapping Protection
• Contracting Intellectual Property
• Competition Law and Parallel Importation
• Private International Law

MODULE 2 - Specialisation: three courses (3 x 7.5 ECTS)

1. Advanced Trade Mark Law
2. Copyright protection in the digital society
3. Patent Law and Pharmaceuticals

MODULE 3 – Legal scientific methods and independent work (30 ECTS)

Instruction

Teaching is mainly in the form of seminars and lectures. Attendance at seminars is, in principle, compulsory however some absence can be accepted.

All students are expected to prepare and actively participate in discussions and other class-room activities. The students will be required to complete papers during the modules.

The grades given for the courses are Pass with distinction (AB), Pass with credit (Ba), Pass (B) and Fail (U).

Degree

On successful completion of the programme students obtain a Master of Laws (60 credits) LLM with Legal Science as the main field of study.