Intellectual Property Teaching in Countries in Transition

IP Teaching Tool

The purpose of this Tool is to identify the special needs of countries in transitions with respect to intellectual property (IP) training and education, to define the different goals and objectives of such training, and to facilitate the development of a core curriculum and innovative methodologies for teaching IP in countries in transition.

Teaching IP is a very challenging task. It is nothing like teaching any other area of law. First and foremost, IP law covers many areas. Unlike tort law or criminal law, IP law deals not only with patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets but also with unfair competition, right of publicity and more. Moreover, IP interacts with many other areas of law such as antitrust, torts, property law, and contracts. To get a thorough understanding of IP, one should also have a good grasp of its economic rationales, political ideology and the prevailing theories that brought this area to life. Understanding some aspects of IP, mainly in the area of patents, requires prior technical background in engineering, biotechnology, computer science and so on.

The Tool defines the goals for IP training in countries in transition, and makes recommendations regarding developing such IP training programs based on the current experience accumulated by the countries in transition which are providing such training.