Course 2010-2011 a.y.

Course Objectives

This advanced course considers specific legal issues related to the EU legal environment including European competition law and policy, the construction and effectiveness of an European intellectual property legal environment, and current issues related to the European Monetary Union (EMU), the excessive deficit procedure and the Stability pact. 

The course focuses on:

EU Competition policy; the topics being discussed address the fundamental functions and enforcement procedure of the EU Competition policy; the regulation of restrictive practices and abuse of dominant position; the control of merger policy and the relation between State regulation and EU competition policy.

European intellectual property legislation, rules and practices in the light of the "modernization package" and the process of globalization as well as the European IP legislation interaction with national, US and international levels of intellectual property protection.

Economic and Monetary union in the light of the purpose of ensuring a gradual but irreversible movement of the Member States towards full economic and monetary union in accordance with the prescriptions of the Delors Report of June 1989.

The main objective of this course is to provide students with technical tools enabling them to efficiently handle in practice, in their professional future, legal competition and intellectual property issues and cases. Secondly, aims at stimulating the students to consider the current role of the EMU, the excessive deficit procedure and the stability pact in the light of fragmentary macro-economic policy-making framework of the EMU.

Course Content Summary

• Competition Law and Policy: Introduction. The aims of EU Competition law: the economics and politics of competition law; peculiar aims of EU Competition policy; enforcement by the Commission; resettlement of competition authorities according to the so called "modernization regulation"; private enforcement. Restrictive practices: Scope of Application of Art. 101 ECT; agreements, decisions and concerted practices; substantive assessment; vertical restraints. - Abuse of dominant position, market definition, dominance, abuse of dominance position; exploitative practice; exclusionary practice. - Merger policy. - State Regulation and Competition law of the EU 
• IP Law in Europe: a tool or a toll? - Patenting in Europe: the EPO system at the heart worldwide patenting: existing laws, treaties and systems, including their strengths and weaknesses and their legal and economic effects; the European patent system and current discussions on the Community Patent; business method patents and blocking patents; European patents vs. US and Japanese Patent Law; patent litigation in Europe- The fully integrated Community Trademark and Industrial Design systems; granting, opposing and litigating Trademark and Industrial Designs Rights; the strengths of the European systems for protecting distinctive signs; distinctive signs litigation in Europe- Internet and copyright issues: norm-setting activities in Europe, vs. norm-setting in the USA and in the world; Internet names.- Intellectual property licensing in Europe (legal issues) and valuation of intellectual property rights.- Norm-setting efforts at national, EU and international levels: current negotiations and their possible effects on private intellectual property rights protection and promotion.
• Economic and Monetary Union: - Liberalizing payments and the movement of capital; the move to economic and monetary union: early attempts to achieve a monetary unification; the Delors blueprint of the EMU; Economics of monetary unification and the Maastrictht convergences criteria- Economic policy coordination in Europe:the fragmentarymacro-economic police-making framework of the EMU; the excessive deficit procedure and the stability pact. - the Institutions of the Monetary Union: the European Central Bank and the European System of Central Banks.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Written exam.
Active participation during classes will be taken into consideration for the final mark.
Depending on the active participation by students seminars may be organized.

Textbooks

For the lessons on EC Competition law and the European economic and monetary union the basic text is: D. Chalmers, G. Monti, and G. Davies, European Union Law (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Further materials, cases and articles will be made available at the beginning of the course and will be published also on web-learning. For the lessons on Intellectual Property, the reading material will be made available online at the start of the course and it will be possible to download it from http://www.antitrustisti.net/

Prerequisites

In terms of the introduction it would be useful for students to review http://www.europa.eu/, which is the EU's website and get a general familiarity with the EU, its institutions, policies and so on.It would then be useful to review generally, the Treaty establishing the European Community ("EC") (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12002E/htm/C_2002325EN.003301.html) so as to obtain a general familiarity with the Treaty and the EC. One should then review, again with a view to obtaining a general familiarity with the topic, the Treaty on European Union: http://eurlex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/11992M/htm/11992M.html#0001000001, and, finally,with main innovations introduced by the so called Lisbon Treaty, http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm.