Report written by Jie Liu, PhD Candidate in Intellectual Property at the University of Glasgow
The CopyrightX:Glasgow affiliate course at the University of Glasgow offers an opportunity to assess US copyright law through a curriculum created and administred by some of the world’s most highly regarded copyright scholars. The course covers a broad range of topics and aims to explore current copyright law and policy, as well as the impact of copyright on culture and the entertainment industry.
The degree to which the copyright system incentives and regulates intangible property is examined in a blended learning teaching method: A set of 12 recorded lectures by Professor William Fisher from Harvard Law School, assigned readings, and weekly seminar discussions organised by Dr. Thomas Margoni and PhD Candidate Amy Thomas.
Given the University of Glasgow’s international reach, the students participating in CopyrightX:Glasgow’s 2018-2019 course come from a variety of international backgrounds. Dyuti Rikhi, an Indian student in the CopyrightX:Glasgow course and IP LLM Candidate commented:
“CopyrightX was an exceptional experience for me, I had an opportunity to learn and read about both EU and US copyright laws and draw parallels between both the systems and my own jurisdiction. CopyrightX:Glasgow helped me develop a more critical, comprehensive and conceptualised thinking. I am thankful to Dr. Margoni for giving me this opportunity and to Amy Thomas for conducting very interactive and well-organised discussion sessions.”
Jie Liu, (PhD candidate) said of her experience in CopyrightX:Glasgow: “Obviously, from the perspective of copyright’s history, the law is subject to a dynamic and changing environment currently. I was greatly inspired by this course and discussions regarding the influences from technology and lobbying processes among different industries. This is very helpful to my reform-oriental research.”
Although lively discussion seminars were the main focus, technical aspects of copyright theory and controversial arguments were often explained by Dr. Margoni in class.
“Some economic analyses of legal theories and technical terms are fairly complex. These issues were solved not only via participants’ active debate, but also by the course convenors. I greatly enjoyed all seminars; especially the case study and comparison analysis of different jurisdictions. It is an exciting program for intellectual property students who are interested in copyright” said Wannika Maithi, an LLM Candidate from Thailand.
CopyrightX:Glasgow is not only a copyright course taught by renowned copyright schoolars; it is an academic seminar engaged by students with all kinds of backgrounds, with shared enthusiasm and insights regarding copyright law. CopyrightX:Glasgow continues to be an exciting offering for students of the School of Law and CREATe centre at University of Glasgow who will be eligible to take part next Spring.