Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law

Aim

On completion of the course, the student should be able to - demonstrate knowledge of intellectual property rights and market and competition law, and how the rules interact and influence the relation between the actors of the market and their scope for action, - demonstrate skills in law interpretation and legal case analysis concerning the above mentioned legal fields, - identify, analyse and solve practical legal problems in the stated legal fields both in groups and individually, - both orally in writing, communicate and argue for advocated solutions, - integrate previously mentioned rules with one another, - reflect on conclusions of results from both interpretation of the law and case analysis as adjudication, - reflect on the interplay of said rules.

Content

Immaterial resources constitute an increasingly larger part of the value building process in enterprise, and an increasingly more important competitive weapon. This course includes studies of both the intellectual property law rules, and competition law and market law rules and the interplay between the rules in a market economy. The course begins with competition law regulation, which above all means regulations intended to maintain open competition. Apart from the historical background, the course includes studies particularly of the central rules concerning the prohibition against restrictive cooperation between companies, abuse of dominating positions and company concentrations. After that, the course is focused on an overview of the systematics and legal sources of the Swedish and European intellectual property rights. This part is followed by the different sole rights, such as copyright, patent law, design law, trademark law and company law. Finally, the regulatory system that applies in marketing situations is covered.