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Unit of study_
LAWS3479: IP: Trade Marks and Patents
2026 unit information
This unit focuses on legal rights concerning the marketing of products, specifically, trade mark law and passing off, and legal rights concerning invention, specifically, patent law. Most aspects of the law of registered trade marks, including some references to passing-off and misleading and deceptive conduct will be covered in the unit, as will the effect of these areas of law on new marketing practices on the Internet. Some specific topics which will be covered in depth are: the differences between registered trade marks, passing-off and unfair competition; character merchandising and the protection of the celebrity persona; the nature of signs and the special problem of shape trade marks; counterfeiting and parallel imports; trade mark infringement; the badge of origin, private property and cultural resource functions of registered trade marks. In patent law, there will be a particular focus on the requirements for patentability under Australian patent law; the requirements for patent specifications; the concept of inventorship and ownership of patents; and patent infringement and defences. Although the unit of study emphasises legal doctrine and is taught from the perspective of a relatively depoliticised formalism, it is also recognised that the deployment and the regulation of intellectual property inevitably have substantial cultural and economic consequences, which in turn inform and shape the development of legal doctrine. So, for example, pharmaceutical patents are both valuable assets to their owners, who accordingly demand extensive legal protection for those assets, and also the target of vigorous criticism in the developing world for the patents' potentially detrimental effect on access to quality and affordable medicines. There will, accordingly, be some attention paid in this unit to the cultural and economic consequences of intellectual property laws, to the significance of access to the public domain and to the effects of international trade pressure in the area.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Sydney Law School
| Study level | Undergraduate |
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| Academic unit | Law |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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LAWS5179 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Understand and critically evaluate the historical development, principles, cultural specificity and institutional foundations of Western intellectual property systems.
- LO2. Understand and critically appraise the capacity of Australian and international intellectual property frameworks to recognise and protect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), including Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems, Cultural Expressions (CE) and Traditional Knowledge (TK).
- LO3. Understand and analyse the structure and regulation of the Australian registered and unregistered trade mark systems their economic and social rationales, and the legal institutions which support them.
- LO4. Understand and critically evaluate the Australian patent system, including its economic and social rationales, and the legal institutions which support it and/or alternate systems for protecting inventions.
- LO5. Understand and critically assess the influence of international trade mark and patent regimes and transnational policy debates on Australian intellectual property law and practice.
- LO6. Understand and apply Australian law relating to trade marks (including passing off) and patents.
- LO7. Construct clear, logically structured written and oral legal advice and arguments on complex trade mark and patent issues for specialist and non-specialist audiences, using appropriate legal research methodologies, case analysis and statutory interpretation skills relating to the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth), Patents Act 1990 (Cth), Australian Consumer Law and attendant cases.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2026
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney | |
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Semester 2 2026
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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