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Patents & Designs

duration Duration: 1 Teaching Period

unit code Unit Code: LAW30011

contact hours Contact Hours: Recommended 10 hours of study per week

About this unit

This unit introduces students to the legal regimes that protect patents and industrial designs and the rationales for such protection. It considers the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) and related case law including the patent application procedure, patentable subject matter, objections, infringement, defences and remedies, as well as patent ownership and exploitation. It also considers the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) including the design/copyright overlap. International aspects of both patent and design law will be considered, as will the crossover with other areas of law, including competition law, and the law of confidential information. The aim of this unit is to enable students, through the study of cases, statutes and other material, to acquire a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of, and competence in, Australian patent and design law.

Content

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Describe and evaluate Australian patent law, the law of confidential information and design law and related policy debates and reform proposals
  • Apply patent law, the law of confidential information and design law to factual situations and effectively advise and communicate with clients and others about their rights and obligations to those factual situations
  • Locate and interpret legislation applicable to patent law, the law of confidential information and design law
  • Conduct patent and design law related research and use the results of that research to reach well-reasoned conclusions