“No matter how terrible life may be, the very existence of creative activity—with no other purpose than itself—is enough to justify it. Play, of course, seems at first glance to be the least useful of our actions, but it becomes the most useful as soon as we realize that it heightens our zest for life and makes us forget death.”
Elie Faure, *The Spirit of Forms*, Volume II, Pauvert
“Without culture—and the relative freedom it implies—society, even a perfect one, is nothing more than a jungle. That is why all authentic creation is a gift to the future.”
Albert Camus, *Actuelles II: The Artist and His Time*, Gallimard
This master's program is designed for anyone passionate about creativity and communication who wishes to understand the legal issues and mechanisms involved.
It is the act of creation, as well as the result of that act, that lie at the heart of the issues addressed in the Master’s program in Intellectual Property and Digital Law.
The subject matter of the law is intellectual creation, and the mechanisms for addressing it are those of intellectual property law, which is conceived as a specialized branch of law that is nonetheless intertwined with the principles of general law (tort law, law of special contracts, property law, etc.).
What matters is creation —whether it involves traditional forms of creation or new ones: transformative works, musical or olfactory brands, plant varieties, business “tips”…—creation that grapples with contemporary issues and challenges: the online dissemination of hateful content, illegal downloading, filtering and net neutrality, collaborative platforms,open data,open innovation, open source, etc.
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Cross-functional approach
The teaching approach is thus designed to be cross-disciplinary and therefore covers all areas of intellectual property.
The following topics are covered:
- copyright,
- the rights of performing artists,
- design rights,
- patent law,
- trademark law,
- plant variety protection,
- and finally, database law.
This approach stems from a practical reality: legal situations are rarely confined to a single area of intellectual property.
We are witnessing necessary intersections that require specialized legal professionals to master how these mechanisms interrelate. For example, it would be inconceivable to analyze a case involving design or ready-to-wear fashion without simultaneously considering copyright law, design law, and trademark law.
Digitization
Furthermore, the philosophy of education is comprehensive in this era of digitization: for example, genetic resources, just like museum artifacts, are intended to be incorporated into digital databases that can then be shared via communication networks…
Intellectual property law is therefore now necessarily and closely linked to information and communication technology (ICT) law, or digital law. The various projects involving digital libraries or the dissemination of scientific information through open science are concrete and timely examples of this.
Beyond that, the dissemination of information is also a focus of attention, both in terms of liability issues (particularly regarding technical service providers) and with regard to the protection of personal data.
Ubiquity
Finally, as an intangible asset, intellectual creation has a ubiquitous dimension—one that has been amplifiedby the digital revolution—which complicates the application of national (or territorial) rules and therefore requires knowledge of the rules of public and private international law.
Specialized legal professionals are therefore also confronted with the international dimension of intellectual property and must, in particular, have a thorough understanding of European Union law.
- Is the online infringement of a trademark through an online retail site or an e-commerce platform accessible from France governed by French law or by another legal system?
- Which court has jurisdiction when a crime is committed in multiple locations?
All of these issues justify the program’s emphasis—which it does place—on both international law and the procedural law specific to intellectual property law.
