LAWS12068 - Innovation and Intellectual Property Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit introduces you to the innovation ecosystem and the place of intellectual property (IP) within that ecosystem. In the first half of the unit, you will learn about Australia’s statutory IP rights, including copyright, patents, designs, and trade marks, and the associated international IP conventions and treaties. You will also consider other rights regarding confidentiality and passing off. IP is an important business asset, and in the second half of the unit, you will investigate the commercialisation of IP; assignment, licensing, and the business risks involved in anti-competitive licensing. You will also be introduced to some fundamental considerations in the negotiation of IP licences, including relational contracting.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Co-requisite LAWS11057 and LAWS11059 for Law students.

Pre-Req of LAWS11030 and co-requisite of LAWS12076 for Business students.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
2. Written Assessment 30%
3. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 81.25% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 39.02% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE 2023
Feedback
I wanted to pay tribute to you for a truly wonderful experience in this unit. Regrettably, my timing was out with contracts so I missed out on you moderating that one when I was scheduled to do it, never mind. I wanted to say that you have been one of the best lecturers that I've had. What you bring to the unit and to my experience is high energy, enthusiasm, skill and deep knowledge, wisdom and understanding. You take the time to make every student feel important and part of a team effort.
Recommendation
Retain teaching strategies and style for maximum student engagement and enjoyment of the unit.
Action Taken
Continued in 2024.
Source: SUTE 2023
Feedback
Amanda is a highly enthusiastic and well-known scholarly academic with real-life practical judicial experience as a Legal practitioner and is also a renowned Legal Academic within the IP & Contracts sphere, with several publications. This experience, combined with her passionate approach to teaching and supporting students' journeys, is unmatched by any other academic I have encountered. Amanda appreciates the benefits of integrating her legal and research experience with education to enhance the experiences of her wider audience. Amanda is determined to generate an atmosphere where her students are provided with special customised high-quality utensils to benefit their understanding of the principle of IP law and successful ways to relate to them in real life. While having Amanda as my Unit coordinator for IP law in Term 01-2023, where I attended her unit, she was delivering, I experienced an unreal exceptional teaching style in person, which was full of passion, determination, deep knowledge, excitement, and genuine willingness to part the knowledge to others so they can make a difference in the IP law world. IP Law was a practical unit requiring not just up-to-date knowledge of the legislation but also the advancement outside of the legal arena (research), and with Amanda's extraordinary grasp of the content, her exceptional teaching skills and willingness to elevate our ability to analyse and thought process, I was able to enhance my understanding on the components that formed part of the unit. Amanda's teaching style has been instrumental in carving into me; what makes a Legal professional successful while collaborating with clients and other constraints that can sometimes be challenging due to the changing boundaries a legal professional has to work within the IP world. This unit has been one of my highlights of the Law degree due to its sensational and innovative delivery style and engaging content. This learning model promoted a prominent level of engagement, enthusiasm, and focus, which in turn shaped us to perform to the best of our ability and understand the role IP law plays in the modern world driven by AI and its enhancement. The carefully compiled study guides for the unit were beneficial in enlightening our understanding of the subject. Amanda's tutorials were highly engaging, and her delivery focused on the wider cohort and their understanding, not just the high performers. Her delivery was customed to the group's needs, which was an exciting approach to experience as if we were unaware of the content dynamics; she took us on a journey to ensure we could understand what was required. This often got her to go past the tutorial times and probably effecting her personal commitments but she never displayed that and was always keen to carry the discussion on to answer any and all queries we had. The post-assessment feedback was truly relevant to my work and was not a generic response either, which shows how much she values the contribution made by every individual. We were informed of our strength areas that we need to continue with but also of areas that needed focus and how to enhance our practices to accommodate these gaps. Amanda was frequently available to support me with any explorations concerning the coursework, projects, and assessments when I wanted guidance on an ad-hoc basis and at times with no notice. Due to the support of Amanda, I have improved my analytical learning with the ability to critically reflect on the elements that form part of the IP Law world. I want to thank CQU for making her services available to us and Amanda for her continued support, guidance, and unmatched dedication to ensuring her students are supported throughout the term and beyond.
Recommendation
Retain teaching strategies and style for maximum student engagement and enjoyment of the unit.
Action Taken
Continued in 2024.
Source: SUTE data T1/2024
Feedback
This was a great unit. We were provided with a lot of information and resources that assisted with our learning. AJ provides students with a range of different learning aids that are invaluable to neurodiverse students and those who are juggling their study commitments whilst working and young kids. AJ is inclusive and supportive of every student and committed to providing us with a valuable experience. Her individual assessment feedback assists with understanding how we can improve. I particularly enjoyed the last assessment in this unit. At first I found it challenging with needing to decide on one of three the options. However, once I started, I really enjoyed the opportunity to consider how the changes in government policy have effected innovation in Australia. I had not had an assessment like this and I found it gave me a greater understanding of our system as a whole. We are commonly taught how the judicial and justice system operate and not how the government system and policy impacts society.
Recommendation
Retain topic on innovation policy.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE data T1/2024
Feedback
I thoroughly enjoyed the unit and would commend it to any student. Some extra time issue spotting problems with example IP Agreements may be useful. Additionally, the exposure to real world Australian competition law improved my understanding and is something that could possibly be adopted in other units. The lecturer's enthusiasm and energy provided enormous inspiration. The opportunity for feedback was outstanding and I always felt encouraged and supported each week of the term.
Recommendation
Retain topic on competition law. Consider expanding the IP agreement clause weeks.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE data T1/2024
Feedback
This subject was hard. I really struggled with it in general but the AI side of the assessments I found really difficult. Trying to understand the principles then which ones do not apply to AI I really struggled with. I know AI is a new challenge but I think I would have struggled less in this class having taken it earlier in my degree when this was not discussed.
Recommendation
Emphasise to students that the work on foundational IP principles in the first 6 weeks will be critical to both their mid-term and end of term assessments, and advise they need to keep up with their readings and clarify any queries on the way through, rather than trying to catch up at the end of the unit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Identify and apply legal principles relating to confidential information, copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and the protection of business reputation.
  2. Assess the legal and practical steps needed to ensure that intellectual property rights remain valid and enforceable.
  3. Analyse ownership rights and marketing protection under intellectual property law as applicable to information, ideas, creativity and innovation.
  4. Critically analyse intellectual property protection and commercialisation issues, and potential business and competition law risks.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes)
2 - Written Assessment
3 - Written Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
6 - Information Technology Competence
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10