Course offerings
June 28-July 23, 2010
Curriculum
Contemporary Issues in
International Copyright Law (1 cr.)
Mary Wong
Current Anglo–American copyright law traces its development to rules first adopted in England in the eighteenth century. Since then, copyright principles have proven both flexible and applicable to challenges posed by rapidly–developing technology and increasingly complex commercial demands.
International trade and globalization have also ensured that the adaptation, adoption and further evolution of copyright laws are sensitive to circumstances and factors beyond domestic borders. In recent years, the rapid growth of the Internet and related technology has only highlighted the important role which copyright law plays in determining the flow of and access to information and media globally.
This course will introduce students to the fundamental principles governing international copyright law, with a view toward enabling students to examine critically contemporary legal and policy issues such as database protection; digital rights (including questions of technological circumvention, fair use and peer–to–peer networking); computer software licensing (including the "open source" movement); and other selected topics. see syllabus
Introduction to Chinese Intellectual Property Law & Institutions (1 cr.)
Bing Wang
This course will cover the Chinese patent, copyright, trademark, unfair competition law, computer software protection and technology transfer regulations. The course will introduce, briefly, the historical development of the intellectual property system in China over the past 25 years. Students will visit the State IP agencies, courts, the Zhongguancun High–Tech special Economic Zone and the Tsinghua University Science Park.
Introduction to Chinese Law and Legal System (1 cr.)
Shujie Feng
In history, the Chinese law was one of the four major law families in the world (the other three being Common law, Roman law, and Islamic law.) This course is a basic introduction to the Chinese law and legal system in contemporary forms. The contemporary Chinese law and legal system was established in the 1950s and has been under radical reform since the 1980s.
All the major sources and categories of law will be briefed in this course. Important components of the Chinese legal system will be addressed. These include constitutional review (judicial review), criminal justice, administrative litigation, civil litigation, the court system and judicial independence, the public prosecution system and the legal profession.
World Trade and World Intellectual Property Law & Institutions (1 cr.)
William O. Hennessey
This course provides an introduction to some of the major international instruments and institutions regulating international trade and intellectual property, which a U.S. lawyer engaged in international commerce or a foreign lawyer with U.S. contacts is likely to encounter; primarily the agreements administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] and the World Trade Organization [WTO].
The vehicle for illustration of the process of world trade regulation is International Intellectual Property Law, focusing on the Agreement on Trade–Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS Agreement.].
Other areas of trade implicated by China's accession into the WTO will also be covered, as will the ongoing issues in US–China bilateral trade relations.
European, American and Chinese Approaches to Intellectual Property and Competition Law: A Comparative Overview (1 cr.)
Paolo Farah
The course deals with the interplay of intellectual property and competition law. The course examines the European and the US experience in constructing and developing the goals and institutions of competition law in light of the potential relevance of those experiences for China's decisions about competition law. In addition, the course addresses the application of competition laws to Intellectual Property. Through the examination of antitrust regulations and case law, the course analyzes the frameworks for evaluating antitrust restraints in the EU and the US and the different approaches of the European Commission and the US antitrust agencies towards exclusivity clauses in licensing agreements. Here, a particular focus will be put on the regulation of exclusive licenses under EU Technology Transfer Regulation and US Intellectual Property Guidelines.
Further, the course analyzes IP regimes and their impact on competition with the objective of providing a better understanding of the competition-dimension of IP rights. This impact, along with the need to prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights by right holders or the resort to practices which unreasonably restrain trade or adversely affect the international transfer of technology, will be discussed through an analysis of the jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice with regard to relevant issues of patent law such as the doctrine of essential facility and the patent flooding phenomenon.
The course also provides an overview of the different approaches to the protection of intellectual property rights concerning computer software as well as a brief comparative analysis of the patentability of computer software under the US and the EU legal systems
Faculty
Professor William O. Hennessey
Franklin Pierce Law Center
Co–Director (CHIPSI Program)
William O. Hennessey is a Professor of Law at Pierce Law, where he teaches courses in intellectual property and public international law. He is co–editor with Dinwoodie and Perlmutter of the recent casebooks International and Comparative Patent Law (LexisNexis 2002) and Intellectual Property Law and Policy (LexisNexis 2001).
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Worldwide Academy of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and has served as a consultant for the Asian Development Bank; World Bank; USPTO; the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State and Justice; U.S. Agency for International Development; and the Governments of Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia, on intellectual property matters.
A registered patent attorney, he received his bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Chinese language and literature from the University of Michigan, and his J.D. degree from Pierce Law. He was Fulbright Lecturer in Law at Tsinghua Law in 1998, where he taught Introduction to Intellectual Property and Contracts (in Chinese).
Mary W. S. Wong, Professor of Law & Chair, IP Programs
Franklin Pierce Law Center
Mary Wong is a law professor at Pierce Law. Her areas of specialization are intellectual property, information technology and Internet law. Before coming to Pierce Law, she was an Associate Professor of Law in the School of Business at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
Prior to her appointment at SMU, Professor Wong was a tenured senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore (NUS), during which time she also taught in summer law programs at the University of Victoria in Canada and for the University of Santa Clara in Singapore.
Between 1998 and 2003, Professor Wong was concurrently special counsel to Morrison & Foerster LLP, associated with its Technology Transactions Group and resident primarily in its New York office, with specific assignments to its Brussels and Singapore offices.
Professor Bing Wang
School of Law, Tsinghua University, Co–Director
Bing Wang is vice dean and professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, where he teaches classes in intellectual property law and management. Prior to his appointment at TULS, he was deputy director in the Science and Technology Office, Tsinghua University, where he was responsible for international technology transfer and international collaboration in R&D for the University.
Professor Wang is the author of many articles on collaborative R&D and commercialization of Chinese technology. He has a degree in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University and studied as a visiting scholar at the Law School of the University of Ottawa. He received his Master of Laws degree from Pierce Law. He has also served as a visiting professor of Chemical Engineering at Ohio State University.
Professor Shujie Feng
School of Law, Tsinghua University
He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Shandong University, and a Master of Laws degree from Renmin University of China. He also has a PH.D. from the University of Paris I - Pantheon Sorbonne. Porfessor Feng is the Vice Secretary-General of the French-Chinese Legal Study and Research Association.
Professor Paolo Farah
University of Milan
Professor Paolo Farah is Lecturer of WTO law at the Alma Mater of University of Bologne (since 2006) and at other Universities and institutions (since 2005) in Bologne, Turin, Forlì, Pavia, Lugano, Cosenza. He is also Senior Research Fellow of International trade law and Chinese law at University of Milan, Faculty of Law and at the Centre of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China (CASCC) in Turin. He has studied at Catholic University of Milan, he has obtained his degree (J.D.) in International and European Law from Paris X Nanterre University and a Master of Laws (LL.M) in European Legal Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. Visiting Researcher at the Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL) in Georgetown University Law Center. He spent one year (2005) at the Faculty of Law of Renmin University in Beijing for his doctoral thesis on "China's Integration into the WTO, the Problem of Internal Barriers and EU-China Trade Relations" for a Joint doctoral degree (Double PhD) in International Law at the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche Internationales et Communautaires (CERIC), University Paul Cézanne Aix Marseilles III (Aix-en-Provence) and at the Department of Public, Civil procedure, International and European law, University of Milan, Faculty of Law.
