LLAW6132 International and Comparative Intellectual Property Law

How LLAW6132 is assessed

The published syllabus lists these three components and they total 100%. The examination is described as a three-hour take-home paper of problem-solving and short questions, and participation is described as both voluntary and called-on, so you may be asked to contribute whether or not you volunteer. The same three weights appear on the final slide of the first lecture. Check the course Moodle page for the examination date, the release and submission arrangements, and whether any component must be passed separately.

What LLAW6132 covers

Ten chapters follow the opening teaching topics, from the international framework and its institutions through non-discrimination and territoriality to trade secrets and unfair competition compared across the United States, the European Union and China.

Its published aim is that you understand how the IP system operates in national and international contexts, how international and national IP laws interact and influence each other, and the debates about the international system's role in technology, the public interest and social development.

In practice that means handling every problem at two levels: the treaty that binds a state, and the national law that protects or fails to protect a right holder.

IP in a Global Economy: Internationalisation and Its Limits

The opening chapter starts from territoriality, the characteristic of IP that makes an international framework necessary at all, and separates two projects that are easily confused.

Internationalisation extends protection across borders while keeping national diversity; harmonisation unifies the substantive rules.

The chapter then compares the IP chapters of the United States, Mexico and Canada agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and closes on the pressures now straining the system, including national security measures that single out foreign right holders.

Berne, Paris and TRIPS: The Treaty Architecture

Three instruments carry most of the system.

The chapter sets out their dates, membership and core principles, compares Berne and Paris feature by feature, and explains how TRIPS turned treaty obligations into trade obligations by incorporating almost all the substance of both conventions, moral rights aside, and adding minimum standards with staged transitional periods.

WTO Dispute Settlement and WIPO

A TRIPS obligation is enforced between states through the Dispute Settlement Understanding.

The chapter walks through the sequence from consultations to authorised retaliation with the article for each stage, explains why the stalled appeal stage matters for any realistic advice, lists the criticisms of trying IP disputes in a trade forum, and contrasts WIPO's role as the body that drafts treaties and runs the filing systems.

National Treatment and Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

The two non-discrimination principles use different benchmarks: one compares a foreigner with a national, the other compares foreigners with each other.

The chapter compares how Paris, Berne and TRIPS phrase and scope national treatment, explains points of attachment and the country of origin, sets out the exceptions, and reads the WTO disputes that applied the principles to copyright review, geographical indications and origin marking.

Territoriality, Jurisdiction and Extraterritorial Reach

The law of the country where protection is claimed governs an IP right, but conduct crosses borders.

The chapter teaches the lecture's three-step method, categorise, localise, apply, and then shows how national laws reach abroad through outbound and inbound regulation, with the American cases, the long-arm doctrine and the 2024 amendments to China's Civil Procedure Law.

Trade Secrets: Definition and TRIPS Article 39

Trade secrets need no registration and last as long as secrecy does, but they do not stop reverse engineering or independent discovery.

The chapter separates the civil law approach through unfair competition from the common law approach through contract and property, including a Hong Kong authority, and works through the three conditions of Article 39 and the protection of regulatory test data.

Trade Secret Regimes Compared: US, EU and PRC

All three regimes build on the TRIPS floor and diverge above it.

The chapter compares the federal civil action and the criminal distinction between espionage and theft in the United States, the reasonable steps cases and public interest exceptions in the European Union, and the Chinese rules on what counts as public, what counts as reasonable measures, and how large damages have become.

Unfair Competition: Article 10bis and Legal Traditions

Paris Article 10bis defines unfair competition as any act contrary to honest practices and names three acts: confusion, discrediting and misleading.

The chapter compares that clause with the wider WIPO Model Provisions and sets the common law, which prefers free competition, against the civil law, which prefers fairness, with the United States as a third model.

Misleading and Comparative Advertising

An American class action over beer packaging carries the chapter: which statements were mere puffery, which were specific facts, why a truthful address could still mislead, and why a disclaimer inside the carton did not help.

The European rules on misleading practices and the conditions for lawful comparative advertising follow, with two references to the Court of Justice.

The PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law and Platform Disputes

The 2025 Law keeps the general clause and named acts and adds provisions aimed at platforms, data and dominant firms.

The chapter maps the statute, then reads the cases: a 2004 software conflict between two search firms decided on the user's right to choose, a voice command protected as an influential identifier, a long packaging dispute, and the Supreme People's Court's recent selection.

How to use this guide

Work the chapters in order the first time, because the principles in the early chapters are the tools the later ones assume.

Each chapter ends with a worked problem and practice items with answers; write your own answer first. The practice chapter runs one cross-border problem through four chapters at once, and the closing chapter plans the three hours of a take-home paper.

Evidence and assessment control

Assessment labels and weights follow the published syllabus for this offering.

The syllabus lists the teaching topics through copyright, trade marks, geographical indications and designs, patents, public health and traditional knowledge, and international enforcement; this guide develops the framework and the first two topics in depth and points to the treaty and principle chapters for the later ones.

Teaching explanations, worked examples and practice items are independently authored and are not University assessment material. Confirm dates, submission arrangements and any pass requirement on the course Moodle page.

Worked example · free

Choose the instrument before you argue the merits

Key terms

Territoriality

The principle that an IP right exists only within the state that grants or recognises it, so protection abroad needs a separate national right or a treaty obligation.

Lex Loci Protectionis

The rule that the law of the country where protection is claimed governs whether an IP right exists and whether it is infringed.

National Treatment

A non-discrimination rule requiring a state to give foreign right holders at least the treatment it gives its own nationals.

Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

A TRIPS rule requiring any advantage given to one country's nationals to be passed at once, and without conditions, to every member's nationals.

Point of Attachment

A connecting factor, such as nationality, domicile or place of first publication, that links a work or right to a treaty country.

Country of Origin

The country where a right was first filed, registered or granted, or for a published work the country of first publication, used to cap the term abroad.

Negative Consensus

The adoption rule under which a WTO dispute ruling stands unless all members agree not to adopt it, which made the system judicial.

Undisclosed Information

The TRIPS term for trade secrets: information that is secret, valuable because of that secrecy, and protected by reasonable confidentiality steps.

Honest Practices

The Paris Convention benchmark for unfair competition, read nationally as honest trade usage, good faith or professional correctness.

Puffery

A vague promotional claim that cannot be proven true or false and so cannot found a misleading advertising claim.

Extraterritoriality

The reach of a national IP law beyond the border, either to acts abroad or to foreign conduct with substantial effects at home.

LLAW6132 FAQ

Questions students ask in each LLAW6132 chapter

Why is territoriality the most important characteristic of IP for this course?

Because it is the one that creates a need for international law. A right granted by one state confers nothing in another, so a creator with foreign markets depends on separate national rights or on a treaty obliging each state to recognise foreigners. Every instrument studied later answers that problem in its own way. Chapter 01 · IP in a Global Economy: Internationalisation and Its Limits

Why is TRIPS called a Berne and Paris plus agreement?

Because it incorporates almost all the substantive provisions of both conventions by reference, through Articles 2.1 and 9.1, and then adds its own minimum standards and access to WTO dispute settlement. The plus is the enforcement machinery as much as the extra rules, and the one substantive gap is Berne's moral rights article. Chapter 02 · Berne, Paris and TRIPS: The Treaty Architecture

Can a company bring a TRIPS complaint to the WTO itself?

No. Only members are parties to WTO disputes, so a right holder needs its government to take up the complaint, and the claim concerns a member's law or practice rather than a particular infringer. The lecture lists this mismatch between state litigants and private right holders among the concerns about the system. Chapter 03 · WTO Dispute Settlement and WIPO

Does national treatment mean foreigners get exactly what nationals get?

Under TRIPS the standard is treatment no less favourable, so a member may treat foreigners better but not worse. Under Paris and Berne the foreigner enjoys the advantages national law grants its own nationals, subject to the exceptions each convention preserves, of which the comparison of terms is the most important. Chapter 04 · National Treatment and Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

Does registering a trade mark at home protect it in other countries?

No. Under territoriality the right exists only where it is granted, so protection abroad must be established in each country, by registration there or through a system that files into national offices. The lecture adds that the same rule governs copyright, even though no registration is involved. Chapter 05 · Territoriality, Jurisdiction and Extraterritorial Reach

How long does trade secret protection last?

For as long as the information remains secret. There is no fixed term and no registration, which makes the right flexible, but protection ends the moment the information is disclosed, and it does not stop a competitor who reverse engineers a product or discovers the information independently. Chapter 06 · Trade Secrets: Definition and TRIPS Article 39

Why were the espionage charges in the AI chip case dismissed?

The lecture reports that the court found the prosecution had proved the theft of trade secrets but not an intent to benefit the Chinese government, which economic espionage requires. The seven theft counts were upheld, with a twelve-month sentence, damages of $198,000 and a $2,500 fine. Chapter 07 · Trade Secret Regimes Compared: US, EU and PRC

Is unfair competition an intellectual property right?

The lecture raises the question. Paris treats its repression as part of industrial property, but it protects a trader's position against dishonest conduct rather than granting exclusive ownership of a creation, which is why it can reach conduct no registration covers and why TRIPS builds trade secret protection on it. Chapter 08 · Unfair Competition: Article 10bis and Legal Traditions

Can a statement that is literally true be misleading advertising?

Yes. In the Kona order the brewery really existed at the address shown, but the court held that the question is the overall impression the statements create. True statements combined with imagery and an invitation can create a false impression about where a product is made. Chapter 09 · Misleading and Comparative Advertising

When did the revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law take effect?

On 15 October 2025. It keeps the structure of a general clause followed by named acts and adds provisions on data, platform rules, below-cost pricing and abuse of a dominant position, together with a rule reaching conduct abroad that harms competition in the domestic market. Chapter 10 · The PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law and Platform Disputes

How to study for the exam

Keep one imaginary business with IP in three countries and ask each chapter's question about it: which treaty protects it abroad, which principle stops discrimination, which court hears its claim and whose law applies. Then build a single page of exact articles, dates and conditions as you go.

Rehearsing the order of analysis on one set of facts is worth more than a second reading, because the take-home paper tests method under time rather than recall.

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