Overview

This unit introduces students to the legal regimes that protect patents and industrial designs and the rationales for such protection. It considers the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) and related case law including the patent application procedure, patentable subject matter, objections, infringement, defences and remedies, as well as patent ownership and exploitation. It also considers the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) including the design/copyright overlap. International aspects of both patent and design law will be considered, as will the crossover with other areas of law, including competition law, and the law of confidential information. The aim of this unit is to enable students, through the study of cases, statutes and other material, to acquire a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of, and competence in, Australian patent and design law.

Requisites

Prerequisites
LAW30011 Patents and Designs

150 credit points in Law units

Teaching Periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
26-February-2024
26-May-2024
Last self-enrolment date
10-March-2024
Census date
31-March-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
12-April-2024
Results released date
02-July-2024
Teaching Period 2
Location
Online
Start and end dates
08-July-2024
06-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
21-July-2024
Census date
02-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
23-August-2024
Results released date
29-October-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Describe and evaluate Australian patent law, the law of confidential information and design law and related policy debates and reform proposals
  • Apply patent law, the law of confidential information and design law to factual situations and effectively advise and communicate with clients and others about their rights and obligations to those factual situations
  • Locate and interpret legislation applicable to patent law, the law of confidential information and design law
  • Conduct patent and design law related research and use the results of that research to reach well-reasoned conclusions

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class
3.00 12 weeks 36
Online
Lecture
1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning
8.50 12 weeks 102
TOTAL150

Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning
11.50 12 weeks 138
Live Online
Class
1.00 12 weeks 12
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AssessmentIndividual 50 - 70% 1,2,3,4 
Case StudiesIndividual 30 - 50% 1,2,3,4 

Content

  • Introduction to Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
  • Rationale for protection
  • Types of patent protection
  • Criteria for validity – standard patent
  • Criteria for validity – innovation patent
  • Disclosure requirements
  • Exclusions
  • Entitlement to apply
  • Exclusive rights
  • Duration of protection
  • Exploitation
  • Infringement
  • Defences
  • Crown use
  • Remedies
  • Industrial designs
  • Confidential information and trade secrets

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.