Intellectual property in international and EU law 2200-1I033-ERA

Part I – International IP law

1. Notion of intellectual property in international law. Overview of major global agreements and regional agreements in the field of IP law. Main phases in the development of international IP law.

2. Genesis of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the TRIPS Agreement (the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). Relations between those acts.

3. Main principles of international IP law: national treatment, minimal standard of protection, Paris Convention priority right, most-favoured nation treatment. Territoriality of IP rights. Issue of exhaustion of IP rights. Issue of direct applicability of international IP conventions.

4. International copyright and related rights law - the Berne Convention, TRIPS, other instruments (in particular: Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations; WIPO Copyright Treaty [WCT]; WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty [WPPT]; Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled).

5. International patent law - the Paris Convention, TRIPS, other instruments (in particular: Patent Cooperation Treaty [PCT], European Patent Convention [EPC], Patent Law Treaty [PLT], Budapest Treaty, Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification).

6. International trade mark law - the Paris Convention, TRIPS, other instruments (in particular Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and Protocol to the Madrid Agreement, Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, Trademark Law Treaty [TLT]).

7. International law in the field of protection of geographical indications, designs, trade secrets and combatting unfair competition – the Paris Convention, TRIPS, other instruments (GIs- Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods, Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration; Design – Hague Agreement, Locarno Agreement).

8. WTO settlement procedure. Overview of main areas of controversy in the development of international IP law in the post-TRIPS era. Intellectual property in regional trade agreements.

Part II – Intellectual property in EU law

1. Intellectual property in primary EU law – significance of Art. 34 and Art. 36 TFEU; unitary IP rights – art. 118 TFEU. Overview of secondary law instruments in the field of IP law. Significance of the case law of the CJEU. EU participation in the TRIPS Agreement; effect of the TRIPS Agreement for the EU law and for the law of the Member States.

2. Copyright law – in particular: Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society; Directive 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC; other secondary law instruments.

3. Patent law - Regulation No 816/2006 on compulsory licensing of patents relating to the manufacture of pharmaceutical products for export to countries with public health problems; Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. Unitary patent – current status and perspectives (Regulations 1257/2012 and 1260/2102, Unified Patent Court Agreement). Supplementary Protection Certificates (Regulations 469/2009 and 1610/96).

4. Trade mark law – harmonization: Directive 2015/2436 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks. Unitary rights - Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark.

5. Design law – harmonization: Directive 98/71/EC on the legal protection of designs. Unitary rights - Regulation No 6/2002 on Community designs.

6. Geographical indications and designations of origin – in particular Regulation No 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs; other secondary law instruments in this field.

7. Other IP rights - Directive 87/54/EEC on the legal protection of topographies of semiconductor products; Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases; Regulation No 2100/94 on Community plant variety rights. Horizontal legislation in the area of IP: Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights; Regulation No 608/2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003.

8. IP rights as property protected as a fundamental right in the EU - Art. 17(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Conflicts with other fundamental rights, notably freedom of expression. IP rights and competition law - Art. 101 and 102 TFEU; Regulation No 316/2014 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of technology transfer agreements.