LLM Intellectual Property & Information Technology
Program Overview
It develops critical thinking, legal analysis, and research skills in students, equipping them for careers in law, policymaking, and more. The program offers a variety of teaching methodologies and assessment options, including seminars and a dissertation, and is available as both a full-time and part-time option.
Program Outline
The program aims to:
- Conduct independent research and write coherent, well-structured papers.
Outline:
The program includes modules such as:
- On Line Regulation: Examines current issues in internet regulation, considering the legal, regulatory, and technical framework within which internet activities take place. It assesses the notion of the internet as a borderless space and tackles how the law has responded to reassert jurisdictional boundaries. It also examines the growth in technological responses (such as internet filtering) which may bypass the legal system. Areas of particular focus include responses to domain name disputes, cybercrime, online harassment/defamation, and filesharing.
- Patent Law: Examines the relationship between the patent law system and biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Patent law under the European Patent Convention, in Ireland, and the UK will be considered, although students will be encouraged to conduct comparative research of jurisdictions such as the US and Japan. The European and American approaches to the regulation of personal information differ sharply, and these differences illuminate assumptions embedded in each regime. It will also introduce the fundamental legal rules governing the handling of that information, including constitutional law, tort law, contracts, and statutory or administrative regulation.
Assessment:
The program includes a 30-credit dissertation on a topic devised by the student. There are also dissertation seminars in weeks 1-4 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 11-1 pm (Jan-May term).
Teaching:
The program makes intensive use of teaching, learning, and assessment approaches such as small group teaching, in-class presentations (individual and group), and academic writing.
Careers:
The program aims to equip graduates with the knowledge, skills, and capacity to work in the area of information technology and intellectual property law, whether domestically or internationally, as a practicing lawyer, in-house legal adviser, policy maker, or researcher. Companies include Arthur Cox, Slaughter & May.
Other:
The program is offered as a full-time or part-time option. Part-time students take the degree over two years and have the same timetable as full-time students but take fewer credits per semester. January start full-time students are expected to submit a dissertation title as soon as they have registered for the program, in January, and will have to submit a proposal and poster within the first weeks of their first semester.
- EU fee per year - € 11500
- nonEU fee per year - € 22600
- EU fee per year - € 5340
- nonEU fee per year - € 11300
