Course · Interpersonal Skills
Intellectual Property Law
How the law protects what people create and the names they trade under: copyright, trade marks, patents, designs, trade secrets and other rights, who owns them, how they are licensed and how they are enforced, with the international and European framework.
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Most of the value in a modern business sits in things you cannot touch: a brand, a program, a design, a formula, a film. The law protects them through intellectual property rights, but each right has its own subject, test, duration and way of arising, and the commonest errors come from confusing them. A founder finds that the logo was drawn by a friend and never assigned. A start-up shows its invention at a trade fair before filing. A product ships with a library whose licence forces its code to be published. This course follows the rights from the map of the field, through copyright, trade marks, patents, designs and secrets, to ownership, licensing and enforcement, including the open questions about generative AI. It is global in outlook, marks the European Union’s rules where they differ, and uses invented businesses and three working tools.
The Curriculum
The map of intellectual property: what it protects, why, the main rights, territoriality and the international and European framework→
Why IP exists, the main rights and how they differ, territoriality and the international and European framework. Practice: Which Right, First Question and Spot the IP Mistake.
Copyright: works, originality, the idea and expression line, authorship and ownership, moral rights, infringement, exceptions and licences→
Protected works, originality, idea and expression, authorship and ownership, moral rights, infringement, exceptions and licences. Practice: Protected or Free, Who Owns It, Spot the Copyright Mistake and the IP Right Finder.
Trade marks: what a mark does, distinctiveness, registration, likelihood of confusion, reputation, infringement, genericide and domain names→
What a mark does, distinctiveness, registration, likelihood of confusion, reputation, infringement, use and genericide. Practice: Strong or Weak, Confusing or Not, Spot the Trade Mark Mistake and the Trade Mark Clash Checker.
Patents: the bargain, patentable subject matter, novelty, inventive step, the application and claims, infringement, defences and international filing→
The patent bargain, what is patentable, novelty, inventive step, claims, the application, infringement and defences. Practice: Patentable or Not, Novel or Obvious, Spot the Patent Mistake and the IP Right Finder.
Designs, trade secrets and other rights: appearance, confidential information, geographical indications, databases, passing off and personality→
Designs, trade secrets, geographical indications, databases, passing off and personality rights. Practice: Which Right Fits, Secret or Not, Spot the Mistake and the IP Right Finder.
Ownership, licensing and exploitation: employees and contractors, assignments, kinds of licence, open source, competition limits and IP in deals→
Employees and contractors, assignments and licences, open source, competition limits, and IP in deals. Practice: Assignment or Licence, Who Owns It, Spot the Mistake and the IP Ownership Checker.
Enforcement, remedies and the digital world: stopping infringement, intermediaries, takedown, cross-border disputes, AI and strategy→
Warnings and litigation, remedies, intermediaries and takedown, cross-border enforcement, AI and strategy. Practice: What Should the Owner Do, Which Remedy, Spot the Enforcement Mistake and the IP Right Finder.
Capstone: Capstone: Lumen Atelier→
A logo drawn by a friend, code written by a freelancer, a copyleft library, an invention shown at a fair, a secret method taken by an employee and a rival with a near-identical name. Map, fix, test, weigh and enforce.
What It Covers
“You will be able to say, for any creation, brand or invention, which rights protect it, who owns them, where they apply and what to do when someone copies it.”
- Follows the asset: a six-question order of thought (what is it, which rights, who owns it, where and how long, what is infringement, what are the remedies) that works on every problem in the course and the capstone.
- Starts with ownership gaps, which sink more deals than weak rights: the freelancer who never assigned, the friend’s logo, the copyleft library.
- Three tools with invented data: an IP Right Finder, a Trade Mark Clash Checker and an IP Ownership Checker, each showing how the answer changes when a fact does.
- Honest about limits: IP law is territorial and differs between the United States, the European Union, the Commonwealth and civil-law systems, so the course teaches structure and reasoning and does not state any one country’s rules.
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Cooling the Room$15 →How conflict escalates, mapping a dispute, de-escalation, hard conversations, choosing a process, mediation, power, culture and ethics, with practice mediations.
The Client Conversation$15 →Trust, the first meeting, fees and scope, updates in plain words, advice and decisions, bad news, boundaries and ethics, with practice meetings.Part of a program
Step 8 of 10 in the Foundations of Law, Year 3
Remedies, regulation and the world beyond one country: administrative, international, cross-border, employment and immigration law. Each course is sold on its own; the whole program is $69 once and unlocks every course in it.
See the whole programModule 1 is free to try. Sign in, pass each module quiz and the course average, and your Certificate of Completion is emailed to you automatically. This course teaches method and technique with invented people and figures; it is general education, not legal advice, and professional rules differ from country to country.
Common questions
- Which legal system does it follow?
- It is global in outlook, written in neutral terms with invented businesses, and notes where the United States, the European Union, common-law Commonwealth systems, civil-law systems and the main treaties differ.
- Is it useful for the bar exam or for practice?
- Yes. Intellectual property is tested in many qualifying examinations and is central to technology, media, brand and start-up work. Check your own jurisdiction’s rules, which differ.
- Can I use it to register a trade mark or file a patent?
- No. It is education, not advice, and each right has strict local rules and deadlines. See a qualified lawyer or attorney where you operate.
- Are the tools real data?
- No. All businesses, people and figures are invented. The tools use simplified rules to show structure and cannot tell you whether a right is valid or what a court will do.
- Does it cover generative AI?
- It sets out the questions (training, output, authorship, personality rights) and states that the answers are unsettled and differ by place, which is the honest position.
- How do I get the Certificate of Completion?
- Sign in, pass each module quiz and keep a course average of at least 75. The certificate is then issued and emailed to you automatically.
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