Intellectual Property Law LLM

The LLM in Intellectual Property Law offers you the opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge of this contemporary subject, in keeping with its rapidly growing importance in enabling the legal and proper function of a global economy.

In essence, intellectual property law serves to regulate the creation and application of mental or creative labour, providing protection for information and ideas by means of a range of legal mechanisms that include copyright, patents and trademarks. The right to intellectual property is essential to success in a vast number of business and creative sectors, encompassing such disparate areas as science, art, advertising, music, product design, trade reputations, medicines and knowledge.

The course takes a national and international view of this fascinating legal world, enabling you to develop a solid grounding in copyright, patents and trademarks from a UK and European perspective through the completion of a compulsory foundation course.

You will then begin a more advanced stage of learning that will focus on current and emerging topics in intellectual property law, such as artificial intelligence, access to medicines and patents in the life sciences.  You will also produce a dissertation on an intellectual property law topic of your choice. 

The law department has a global reputation for its academic standards and the quality of its teaching which takes place in a supportive learning environment, offering a range of extracurricular activities. 

You will be encouraged to attend the various events organised through the school’s research centres, including the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences, the Institute of Commercial and Corporate Law and the Durham European Law Institute.