Certificate in Intellectual Property Law

The Certificate is designed exclusively, for trainee patent and trade mark attorneys. It is a one-semester (13 weeks) course offering the same compulsory subjects as MSc course in Management of Intellectual Property, although there is greater concentration on many of the practical aspects of patents, designs and trade marks and greater involvement of patent and trade mark practitioners to complement the academic treatment of the subject matter.

The course of study extends over one semester and consists of instruction in the following subjects:

Copyright and Designs
Law of Trade Marks and Unfair Competition
Patent Law
Competition Law
Basic Principles of English Law, Practice and Evidence

There is an intensive coverage of the law and practice of Patents and Trade Secrets (15 sessions), Trade Marks and Unfair Competition (12 sessions), Copyright and Related Rights (10 sessions), Competition Law (10 sessions), which is included because, in a sense, it is the antithesis of 'monopoly' or exclusive rights, which intellectual property law affords and protects, and is today relevant to all intellectual property practitioners, and an introduction to those General Principles of Law and Practice which are of especial relevance to intellectual property practitioners. The emphasis is primarily, but not exclusively, upon United Kingdom law: thus, considerable attention is paid to the European Patent Convention and to EC Law, which, today, are at least as important as UK domestic law, and to other regional arrangements and international conventions which affect the activities of the UK practitioner.

Students who complete their examinations successfully are exempt from the foundation level papers of the Joint Examination Board of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents and the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys.

Those who have difficulty in meeting the tuition fees could consider approaching the Intellectual Property Education Trust, which has some limited funding available for bursaries to assist with academic studies.

For further information, please contact:

Sharon Watson
MSc & Certificate Administrator
Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 3447
Email: s.b.watson@qmul.ac.uk

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