SOI-001 Intellectual Property Rights

The course is aimed at providing students with the basics of intellectual property rights (IPR). In particular, the fundamental characteristics of copyright, sui generis right and patent law will be described. Furthermore, the forms of IPRs exploitation by means of contracts (licenses) will be analyzed. The software scenario will be taken as paradigmatic field in order to study  the different possibile business models: the proprietary and the open source licenses.

• Intellectual Property Rights
• Copyright in the Digital Era
• Database protection: copyright and sui generis right
• Patent law
• Software Protection:
• Software exploitations:
• Proprietary and Open Source Licenses

The course will alternate theoretical expositions of the topics with detailed analyses of practical cases.

• Caso R., Guarda P., Margoni T., Moscon V., Open Science, Open Access, Open Society, Trento, Università degli studi di Trento – (Trento law and Technology Research Group Research Papers; 27 (in Rete: <https://iris.unitn.it/handle/11572/138385>)
• Guarda P., Creation of Software Within the Academic Context: Knowledge Transfer, Intellectual Property Rights and Licences, in IIC – International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 2013, vol. 44, n. 5, 494-523 (also available at: http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/4351/ and http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2491667)
• Guarda P., Looking for a Feasible Form of Software Protection: Copyright or Patent, is That the Question?, in European Intellectual Property Review, 2013, issue 8, 445-454 (also available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2366751 and http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/4250/

Other possible readings will be provided at the beginning of the course.