91app

You will gain an overview of key current issues, examine some of them in more detail through case studies, and in so doing develop skills and understanding which you can apply to monitor further developments in this fascinating area of the law. You will study the laws of various jurisdictions in the course. Much of the discussion focuses on English law, as shaped also by European Union (EU) legislation, but the aim here is more to illustrate broader legal principles than to give you expert knowledge of this particular jurisdiction, and we will also look at relevant international law and various other national laws. Indeed, the issues raised in this course go beyond the details of particular laws and involve critical socio-economic analysis of the relationship between intellectual property frameworks and the various industries contributing to medical innovation, the possible interaction with research practices and developments, and the consequences for various questions of public health, including individual property interests as well as access to products and information.

Module A: Intellectual property of medicine and its sources

LWM23A

• International framework and history of intellectual property relevant to medicine
• Categories of intellectual property relevant to medicine
• European and National systems (UK and designated jurisdictions)
• Applications of intellectual property in medical and pharmaceutical industries

Module B: Access to medicines

LWM23B

• Overview of the issues and history of the campaign
• Human right to health and the ethics of patents
• Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement
• Doha Development Round (Ministerial Declaration; Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health; Decision on Paragraph 6)
• Paragraph 6 System

Module C: Patents and life forms

LWM23C

• Legal and socio-legal concept of life form
• Ethical considerations and exceptions
• Medical biotechnologies
• International, European and designated domestic frameworks (including European Biotechnology Directive)
• Genes and gene sequences
• Cloning
• Germ-line modification technology
• Embryos

Module D: Property in the person

LWM23D

• Medical and genetic privacy and intellectual property
• Genetic privacy
• Genetic sampling and collection; genomic libraries and databases
• Traditional medicine and genetic resources

Assessment

Each module is assessed by a 45-minute unseen written exam.

Sequence

It is strongly recommended you attempt Module A first.

How to apply

You can apply to study a module individually as a standalone unit or as part of a Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Master of Laws qualification.

These modules also contribute towards the following specialist pathways for Laws:

• Commercial and Corporate Law
• Common Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• International Business Law
• International Intellectual Property Law
• Medicine and the Law

Study Material

• Study material: Intellectual property and medicine