Handbook home
Intellectual Property & Popular Culture (LAWS50128)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5Online
From 2023 most subjects will be taught on campus only with flexible options limited to a select number of postgraduate programs and individual subjects.
To learn more, visit COVID-19 course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Summer Term
Lecturer
Professor David Tan (Coordinator)
Email: law-aso@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 4475
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | Summer Term - Online |
---|---|
Fees | Look up fees |
Intellectual Property and Popular Culture (IPPC) is designed to offer an interdisciplinary cultural studies perspective on the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights with a focus on the relevance of an understanding of cultural production and semiotic consumption to legal doctrine. It discusses the application of intellectual property laws to aspects of popular culture such as movies, television, music, sports, fashion, and lifestyle.
Contemporary culture in industrialised nations is characterised by a vibrant kaleidoscope of images and spectacles that permeate the fabric of everyday life, influencing consumption choices and political views, and providing meaningful materials out of which people may shape their own identities. It is in a hybrid mode as consumer-citizens that individuals participate to express freedom, choice and identity. The conceptual framework of cultural studies can help one better understand why certain cultural artefacts are universally popular and their significant impact within the environment they inhabit, and more importantly, can provide insights into how the law may respond in the context of this cultural milieu. In particular, this subject will examine the cultural and semiotic significance of celebrities (e.g., Lady Gaga, Rihanna), fictional characters (e.g., Superman, Mickey Mouse) and iconic status symbols (e.g., Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin).
IPPC uses relevant insights from cultural studies in a pragmatic manner to evaluate how an understanding of the contemporary production, circulation and consumption of such cultural products like celebrities, fictional literary characters and status symbols could ultimately assist in a more nuanced development of copyright, trademark and personality rights laws.
There is no prescribed textbook for this subject., although students are encouraged to have access to The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity & Passing Off. Students will be referred to the foundational writings of Roland Barthes and Stuart Hall in semiotics and audience/media studies, the more recent works of star studies scholars like Richard Dyer and Graeme Turner, and the interdisciplinary IP legal scholarship of authors like Rosemary Coombe, Sonia Katyal and David Tan. A comparative approach will be adopted to examine cultural themes in cases that involve the enforcement of IP rights to protect the celebrity personality, well-known fictional characters/movies/books/songs and iconic brands primarily drawn from the jurisdictions of New York and California, with some references to the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia. This is not a course on Australian IP law.
This subject is designed for both students who have previously taken modules in intellectual property (e.g., copyright, trademarks) and students who are exposed to intellectual property for the first time.
The objectives of this subject are to:
- introduce key intellectual property rights (IPR) that are relevant to pop culture and popular iconography that includes the celebrity personality, fashion brands, movies and music, with a focus on claims brought by IPR owners in the United States, Europe and Australia;
- provide an interdisciplinary cultural studies perspective on the production, circulation and consumption of the celebrity personality and status symbols in contemporary society, and the relevance to the development of legal doctrine;
- highlight the transnational similarities and differences in the protection of IPR relating to popular iconography, especially in relation to the influence of free speech constitutional provisions; and
- examine, through the lens of cultural studies, the operation of four prominent causes of action in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, with selected references to other jurisdictions: copyright infringement; trademark infringement and dilution; right of publicity tort; and passing off.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students will have:
- acquired an advanced understanding of the key writings and insights from contemporary cultural studies on the production, circulation and consumption of cultural artefacts such as the celebrity personality, famous literary/dramatic/ musical/artistic works and status symbols in contemporary society;
- gained an understanding of four relevant causes of action that are often used to enforce IPR relating to cultural artefacts today;
- demonstrated an ability to apply an interdisciplinary cultural studies perspective in a pragmatic manner to analyse the development of legal doctrine in relation to IPR;
- shown advanced skills in written analytical communication and legal problem-solving; developed the capacity to identify the salient transnational similarities and differences in the protection of IPR relating to popular iconography, and be able to compare and critique legal concepts across different jurisdictions; and
- augmented their specialised knowledge and skills to work more effectively in a multi- jurisdictional professional practice, undertake cross-jurisdictional research in an advanced academic setting or further graduate-level studies either in Australia or overseas.
Generic skills
- Critically assess the nature and role of the legal frameworks providing for copyright, trademarks and personality rights within a cultural context;
- Evaluate these frameworks against defined policy objectives;
- Analyse judgments, statutes and secondary materials which relate to these laws;
- Orally persuade and argue in class particular perspectives; and
- Write legal assessments of particular scenarios in which copyright, trademarks and personality rights issues are implicated, including being able to comment on the desirability of the application of the law.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
All of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning | Summer Term (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50024 | Principles of Public Law | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50025 | Torts | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50026 | Obligations | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50028 | Constitutional Law | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50029 | Contracts | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50031 | Legal Theory |
Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville)
November (Dual-Delivery - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
LAWS90140 | Disputes and Ethics | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Take-home exam
| 2 Weeks after the end of teaching | 100% |
Additional details
The due date of the above assessment(s) will be available to students via the Assessment Schedule on the LMS Community.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Summer Term - Online
Principal coordinator David Tan Mode of delivery Online Contact hours 36 hours Total time commitment 140 hours Pre teaching start date 12 January 2022 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 2 February 2022 to 18 February 2022 Last self-enrol date 17 January 2022 Census date 4 February 2022 Last date to withdraw without fail 25 February 2022 Assessment period ends 11 March 2022 Summer Term contact information
Lecturer
Professor David Tan (Coordinator)
Email: law-aso@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 4475
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Additional delivery details
This subject has an enrolment quota of 50 students.
All timely JD elective enrolments are subject to a selection process, which the Academic Support Office will perform after the timely re-enrolment period ends. Late self-enrolment is on a first-in basis up to quota.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law School website for further information about the management of subject quotas.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Juris Doctor - Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024