Subjects 2010
Competition Law and Intellectual Property 730839
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in Communications Law 518; Graduate Diploma in Competition Law L06; Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law 276; Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies L08; Master of Commercial Law 504; Master of Intellectual Property Law 277; Master of Laws (LLM) 502
Objectives
A student who has successfully completed this subject should:
- Understand the policy goals that underlie the legal recognition of intellectual property and competition law
- Have a broad familiarity with economic concepts such as ‘competition’, ‘market power’, ‘public good’, and ‘property right’ which define the interaction between intellectual property and competition law
- Be aware of the extent to which intellectual property laws limit the exercise of intellectual property rights in the interests of competition
- Be able to analyse the provisions of Part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) and apply them to dealings in intellectual property.
Syllabus
This subject provides an examination of the interface between the legal property rights created by intellectual property statutes (and at common law) and the body of law that controls and regulates anti-competitive practices.
Principal topics will include:
- Theoretical approaches to the accommodation of intellectual property rights to competition law
- Policy goals of intellectual property and competition law
- Limitations and controls placed over the grant, subsistence, scope and infringement of intellectual property rights under statutory and common law regimes
- Statutory and compulsory licensing under the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) and Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)
- Part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth): Outline, concepts and special provisions in respect of intellectual property
- Dealings in intellectual property under intellectual property and competition statutes.
