You must select between 80 and 100 credits from the following courses:

• Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights (20 credits) 

  The purpose of this course is to consider the law relating to copyright, design rights, database right, and performers’ rights within their institutional setting at international, European and national level.
  Recent years have witnessed an expansion in the scope of intellectual property rights, and having examined the institutional setting in which policy is formed, the reach and impact of these rights within the UK will be analysed.
  The teaching sessions will also highlight areas of particular topicality.

• Intellectual Property Law 2: Industrial Property (20 credits) 

  The purpose of this course is to consider the laws relating to patents, trade marks, passing off, and breach of confidence. Noting the international framework and context, the focus will be on European and UK law.
  Recent years have witnessed an expansion in the scope of these intellectual property rights. This course will examine in detail the law on subsistence/entitlement to protection, infringement and defences for all of the relevant rights, alongside discussion of wider policy, economic and other considerations.
  The sessions will also highlight areas of particular topicality.

                       

• International Intellectual Property System (20 credits)

  The IIPS began developing in the 19th Century in response to the then advances in cross-border trade. As intellectual property laws are territorial, so some mechanism had to be found through which protection could be accorded to authors and inventors as their works were traded abroad. The response, over the ensuing 150 years, was the establishment of a number of international bodies responsible for the development and oversight of a variety of Treaties and Agreements providing both formal and substantive norms which were (and are) in turn translated into domestic law. These measures have had a significant impact on the shape of domestic intellectual property laws, the development of which has quickened with the growth in international trade coupled with innovative technological advances. However there are significant tensions within the system. Many of these have been brought about through linking of IP with trade through the TRIPs Agreement.
  This course will examine the IIPS with a particular focus on patents, copyright and trade marks and within the domains of information and communication and international trade. Having analysed the architecture of the IIPS and considered the ways in which the laws are developed and the tensions that have been brought about through linking IP with trade, this module will go on to look in depth at formal and substantive aspects of the Treaties as well as current developments.

• Intellectual Property Law, Innovation and Creativity (20 credits)

  Intellectual Property laws are often associated with the aims of promoting ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’. But how do Intellectual Property laws impact upon innovation and creativity? Do they promote or hinder them? What is the relationship between Intellectual Property Laws and the variety of activities that they are designed to affect in everyday life? Are there gaps between what Intellectual Property laws aim to achieve and actually achieve? Why do these gaps exist and how can they be filled? How should Intellectual Property policy be formulated? This course will explore these questions in order to examine the nature of Intellectual property from a law and society perspective.

• Contemporary Issues in Exploiting Intellectual Property (20 credits)

  Intellectual Property (IP) is of fundamental importance in the modern economy. In certain sectors, IP rights ¿ whether copyright, trade marks, design rights, or patents – can be the most valuable asset a business owns. Such value is realised through successful exploitation of those IP rights.
  This research-led, but practice-focussed, course will examine important contemporary issues in exploitation of IP. The course will be highly responsive to legal and policy developments in both the commercial context and other contexts such as the cultural sector.
  Due to the nature and focus of the course, the teaching content and programme will be flexible and may change substantially from year to year, as topical issues are resolved and new issues emerge.

If you have a non-USA degree, please check whether your degree qualification is equivalent to the minimum standard before applying.

Postgraduate study in the field of law requires a thorough, complex and demanding knowledge of English, so we ask that the communication skills of all students are at the same minimum standard.

Students whose first language is not English must therefore show evidence of one of the following qualifications below:

• IELTS: total 7.0 (at least 6.5 in each module).
• TOEFL-iBT: total 100 (at least 23 in each module).
• PTE(A): total 67 (at least 61 in each of the Communicative Skills sections).
• CAE and CPE: total 185 (at least 176 in each module).
• Trinity ISE: ISE III (with a pass in all four components).

Your English language certificate must be no more than two years old at the beginning of your degree programme.

We also accept an undergraduate or masters degree, that was taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country as defined by USA Visas and Immigration . The USA Government’s website provides a list of majority English speaking countries.

View the USAVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, or equivalent, that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries.

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about the University’s English language requirements

Your application may not be successful if you do not currently satisfy any of these requirements; alternatively, you may be offered a place conditional on your reaching the satisfactory standard by the time you start the degree.

Applications are made online via the University Application Service, EUCLID.

Please follow the instructions carefully and make sure that you have included the following documentation with your application:

• Degree certificates showing award of degree.
• Previous academic transcripts for all past degree programmes.
• A reference in support or your application. The reference should be academic and dated no earlier than one year from the start of study on the LLM programme.
• Evidence of English language proficiency, if required.

If you are currently studying for your degree or you are not in a possession of an English test result you may still apply to the programme. Please note that it is your responsibility to submit the necessary documents.

After your application has been submitted you will be able to track its progress through the University’s applicant hub.

Application processing times will vary however the admissions team will endeavour to process your application within four to six weeks of submission. Please note that missing documentation will delay the application process.

You will be informed as soon as possible of the decision taken. Three outcomes are possible:

• You may be offered a place unconditionally
• You may be offered a conditional place, which means that you must fulfil certain conditions that will be specified in the offer letter. Where a conditional offer is made, it is your responsibility to inform the College Postgraduate Office when you have fulfilled the requirements set out.
• Your application may be unsuccessful. If your application has not been successful, you can request feedback from us or refer to our guidance for unsuccessful applicants, which explains some of the common reasons we why we reach this decision.
  View the University’s guidance for unsuccessful applicants

• The University’s terms and conditions form part of your contract with the University, and you should read them, and our data protection policy, carefully before applying.

  Northampton University admissions terms and conditions