Intellectual Property Strategic Management Law

Learning Outcome 1: Develop a critical awareness of the application of their knowledge of IP into the business environment
Learning Outcome 2: The ability to identify, research and analyse relevant legal issues resulting from the protection and use of intellectual property
Learning Outcome 3: The awareness and knowledge and a practical understanding of and the ability to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the legal environment controlling and affecting the development, protection, acquisition, infringement and commercial exploitation of intellectual property in an international context.
Learning Outcome 4: The ability to design a plan of action relating to the strategic management, valuation and commercialisation of intellectual property (licensing, joint venture, borrowing, raising capital etc) in the business environment.

Task Details:

Students are provided with 2 possible options that can be completed as coursework for BLM137. Both options incorporate the diverse issues withinIP law, including the legal basis and the practical issues of defining an IP strategy but offer a difference in approach between a critical essay and a client-based report to draft. The length of both options are the same (3000words), and both assess the student's ability to understand and apply the substantive elements of IP lawand building a commercial strategyvia appropriate use of statute, case law and valid secondary sources written in a manner that is appropriate to the audience.

In compliance with the Law School Handbook, the word count is a limit and must not be overridden. There is no 10% +/-. This limit does not count footnotes that are ONLY used for reference, Additional description on the footnotes WILL count towards to word limit. The bibliography does not count towards word count. A bibliography is required of sources you have used and / or read but not used. Please use the separate paragraphs within the bibliography ie legislation first ( statute only not every section), law cases with full reference, then secondary sources. You are advised to follow examples in your core textbook as good practice.

OPTION 1
You are working for the Director of Strategic Development in Enterprise Rent-a-CarLtd. She is going to take part in a high level discussion with her fellow directors at an Away Day for the corporate board as they decide their future strategy regarding their intellectual property. The review will start with a broad conceptual discussion of the extent of one key threat to their strategy, namely :-

"The expansion of the internet could cause harm to the existence and value of our intellectual property and hence the achievement of our commercial goals"

Write a brief for the Director providing the details of 4 key issues that must be considered in this discussion. You should include points both for and against the statement above i.e. that the internet can harm the company's IP AND that it can benefit it, giving a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Note you will need to

Question 1: identify and describe Enterprise's commercial goals and
Question 2: identify and describe the elements of the likely IP that you judge them to have. However, mere description is not the learning outcome for a masters module, thus

you MUST spend most of your word limit on identifying 4 KEY ISSUES that may harm or benefit the specific IPRs and Enterprise's commercial goals that you have identified.

As your audience will be the Board of Directors you will need to research and make reference to the products, IPRs and market positionof the company,both present and, in your view, potentially for the future. However this is description is NOT your main task. You must research and identify the issues of the question above

You can start with the provided Case Study as a resource , but you will need to present the results of your further research into the company's strategic aims. You can assume that all the directors have some knowledge of IP so you should use primary sources of law to an appropriate level, using the formative assessment guidance and feedback.

We will have practised these skills in seminars thus attendance at seminars is vital and you should use the feedback from the formative exercise and seminar exercises on constructing this report.

You should reference your cases using the OSCOLA system, including a bibliography. You may write in the first or third person. You may also use opinion from secondary sources of reasonable validity.

OPTION 2

You are working for the Director of IP Development in JD Sports Ltd. He has asked you to prepare an IP audit of the present and potential IP that will increase sales for the company, either by ownership or licence agreement.

Writing in the form of an essay, you should identify 4 separate IPRs and explain their likely contribution to the company with reference to the contents of an IP audit covered in this module. Specifically, you should identify

(i) the legal basis for the IPR, with reference to statute and case law, and
(ii) their current strategic value to the JD brand (not monetary) and any likely identifiable threats to the value of these IPRs.

Please consider that mere description is not the learning outcome for a masters module, thus you MUST spend most of your word limit on identifying the strategic value and any specific threats to the IPRs you have identified.

If you wish you may submit a 500-word extract for your chosen coursework for comments.

Please note that attachment is the summative coursework so has the summative submission date on it

The case studies for Enterprise and JD are in the Times 100 Case Study booklet attached