General provisions

Determined on March 6, 2014 by Faculty of Law’s Teaching Committee, Uppsala University, by virtue of Chapter 6 Section 14 and 15 (1993:100) of the Higher Education Ordinance. The course plan enters into force on August 25, 2014.

In General

The course is 15 university points (15 ECTS credits) and optional course at advanced level in the studies for the degree of Master of Laws, according to the degree requirements adopted 16 April 2007 by the Board of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University. The course is held in English.

Entry requirements

In general, Swedish students must have attained five passes out of the six courses given at basic level of the LLM programme. All the obligatory phases of the course in which the student has not attained a pass must have been fulfilled.

Foreign students shall have studied law for at least two years, including a basic course in intellectual property law.

If special reasons exist the Board of Exemption may grant exemption from the acceptance requirements.

Learning outcomes

After this course students should be able:

• broader and deeper knowledge of the basic principles and sources of international intellectual property law and human right law as well as knowledge of how these have changed and are changing as a result of globalisation,
• detailed knowledge of and insight into the interconnections and relationships between intellectual property rights and human rights, how it is used in practice and how it can be used by lawyers, judges et. al.,
• detailed knowledge of intellectual property law and human right law methodology,
• an improved knowledge of oral and written techniques of presentation of international intellectual property issues in relation to human rights,
• an improved ability to argue, analyses and evaluate complicated international legal issues of intellectual property issues from a human right perspective,
• to discuss, in a qualified manner, of intellectual property issues from a human right perspective.

Examination Criteria

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

For the grade “B”, the student is required to achieve all the learning outcomes in a descriptive, summary, thoughtful and analytical fashion.

For the next grade “Ba”, in addition to the requirements for grade “B”, the student is required to demonstrate the capability of taking an analytical approach through structured, independent and critical thinking.

For the highest grade, “AB”, in addition to the requirements for grade “Ba”, the student must demonstrate good analytical skills through well-structured, well-thought thoughts and critical thinking, enabling him/her to take positions based on convincing arguments and a high degree of independence.

Good oral presentations during seminars are taken into account when and if a student’s written work is on the border-line between two grades.

Content

The relationship between intellectual property rights and human rights is one of the emerging subjects among academics and practitioners at the international level in the twenty first century knowledge society. The importance of the subject has been accentuated by the still largely unexplored links between certain human rights and a variety of issues such as the ACTA Agreement, the TRIPS Agreement, the WIPO Development Agenda, indigenous peoples rights, the rights of the blind and the visually impaired, biodiversity, open source developments, creative commons licensing, free speech and the access to knowledge. These links have generated a heated, contemporary and vital debate both from the theoretical and practical point of view.

During the course different questions will be dealt with. Questions like: Do international intellectual property rights help or harm development in the society? Do intellectual property rights place the poor at the centre? What values are placed at the centre of intellectual property rights concern? How can human rights, science, technology, and society influence the change in the intellectual property law policy and why? What is WIPO’s, WHO’s or UNESCO’s role with regard to that? What is the most sustainable human rights framework for intellectual property? How can we introduce such a framework at the national/international level in the most effective way?

The course will engage into an in-depth comprehension of the special characteristics of Intellectual Property Law and Human Rights Law. The course runs over 10 weeks and consists of several days of lectures and seminars led by established intellectual property and human rights specialists. There will be several written assignments. The course will end with an essay submission and its oral defence.

Instruction

The teaching is mainly in the form of seminars and lectures. Attendance at all seminars and lectures are compulsory.

Each student must actively participate in the teaching, by preparing for the seminars and actively taking part in the seminar discussions. Presentation of short written papers will also be required.

The required preparation for the seminars consists of the literature for the course as a whole, and whatever special reading instructions are given for each seminar.

The student acquires knowledge and competences as described above through the self-study of course literature and other course materials, and by taking an active part in lectures and seminars.

Assessment

Examination is based on an examination portfolio, consisting of examination modules of which some are pass/fail modules, whereas others are graded. Examination is carried out in accordance with examination criteria and, where applicable, grade criteria.

The final grade is based on a balanced assessment of the entire examination portfolio. The portfolio includes the following modules:

• written essay,
• written memorandum, and
• oral presentations at the seminars.

Among these modules, the written memorandum and the oral presentations are individually graded. Therefore, these modules have the greatest impact on the final grade. The other modules are pass/fail examination modules but may have an impact on the balanced assessment carried out to set the final grade.

Requirements for Final Grade

Approved written assignments. Approved essay. A 4-gradescale and the grade is determined by the result on the essay.

Other Information

It is prohibited to attempt to use deceptive means to influence the outcome of an exam or other ways of evaluating student performance such as essays. So, for example, may students not use non-permitted aids or materials during a written exam. It is also prohibited to pass off another person’s work as one’s own work, in other words, to engage in plagiarism. In addition to the result of the exam or other way of evaluating student performance being reduced or declared null, a student who, in the above or other ways engages in cheating will be reported to the University Disciplinary Board. The Board can issue formal warnings or disbar the student from studying at the university for a period of up to six months.