Intellectual Property and Competition

Intellectual property plays a fundamental role in knowledge-based business and society. Intellectual property law supports the legal system in protecting the results of cultural creation as well as creative achievements and technical innovations. This legal field is affected more than almost any other by advancing digitalization and networking. The associated legal issues are as diverse as they are challenging and demand comprehensive expertise. Competition law is traditionally closely related to intellectual property law and plays an important role in business transactions. Competition law aims to guarantee fair competition and maintain competitive market structures; both are central to a functioning market economy.

Against this background, the university course "Intellectual Property and Competition" offers academically-based, but at the same time application-oriented, continuing legal education consisting of in-depth specialist lectures and a wide range of practical exercises. The course focuses on copyright and intellectual property law as well as on unfair competition and antitrust law, with particular regard to national and European legal practice.

In addition, the course examines a cross-section of practice-relevant intellectual property and competition law implications relating to the digitalization and networking of business and society, for example in connection with blockchain technology, open innovation strategies or artificial intelligence. It also cross-references complementary legal areas (in particular media law, personal protection and e-commerce law.)